No-Spend Year

I am a shopaholic. It's true, I can admit it. As a teenager, some of my favorite memories with my mom were going shopping together (she is quite the bargin hunter, a trait that I unfortunately did not inherit). Throughout college and grad school, I loved to go shopping with my best friend. Now that I live in Nome, Alaska, there are no stores but Amazon is my weakness and I still love a good online shopping spree.
I am privleged enough to have a well-paying job and a comfortable salary. However, I have always had a tendency to spend over my means. Some of my spending comes from a place of seeking comfort. When I'm feeling stressed, anxious, or sad, new clothes make me feel better. But more than new clothes, I think it is the satisfaction of clicking the "purchase" button and having something to look forward to that will be arriving in the mail! I am a sucker for a good advertisement and "instant gratification" should be my middle name. For pretty much my entire adult life, if I want something, I buy it for myself. I've never created a wish list, I've never waited to order the item.
Obviously my shopping habits (as well as the tendency in my younger years to buy random plane tickets all over the world) have lead to some pretty significant debt. To be transparent, I am working on tackling about $50,000 worth of debt right now (and that's not including my student loans!). It'a an alarming number, but honestly, I don't think I'm the only millennial facing a lot of personal debt.
One thing that I like about myself (in a post full of a lot of my weaknesses), is that I hustle and find a way to make things happen. While I have made some financially-dumb decisions, I have also worked hard and made some good decisions for myself (buying a house to build equity, buying reliable vehicles so we don't have the stress of braving the elements in freezing Nome, securing a job that is paying back my student loans, worked towards building an excellent credit score). My fiancé and I have some big life plans over the next couple years, and those are very motivating to me. For me to contribute to and accomplish our long-term goals, I have to pull my finances together!
I have some concrete financial goals for 2025:
Pay down all my debt to $0 balances with the exception of student loans, house, and cars.
Put at least $15,000 into savings (I already have $3,000, which is embarassingly more than I have ever really had in savings).
How the heck am I going to do to accomplish my goals?
A no-spend year!
Usually my TikTok feed is full of influencers who are doing their job well, and influencing me to purchase all the (unnecessary) things. Recently, though, I have fallen into underconsumptionTok, where many people are doing no-spend years or deinfluencing. I'm loving it.
Here are the rules of my no-spend year:
No purchasing any new clothes, shoes, or bags
No purchasing new make-up or personal hygiene products unless I run out of something (like face wash)
No purchasing any new books unless they are for book club and not available at the library
No new electronics or any other unnecessary item
Eating out only 1x per month, or when we travel to Anchorage (usually twice per year for my MS treatments)
Some things I can purchase are:
Gifts for loved ones, although I'm going to try to focus on making more gifts
Toiletry essentials
Groceries
Necessary items for our fur babies
Personal training, as this has been very beneficial to my overall health and wellness
To begin my no-spend year, I went through my closet and donated two entire trash bags full of clothes to the thrift store. Decluttering is so important for clearing my mind and getting a fresh start. I am also selling some high-ticket items that no longer serve me.
A no-spend year is a very ambitious goal for me, but I am really determined to prove to myself that I can do this. I have no doubt that my debt and bank account will both thank me, and I am going to set my future self up for more security and financial freedom. I will gladly post updates and even more details about where I am with my debt as the year goes on. I think transparency goes a long way in general, but especially when trying to overcome some bad habits.
Let the no-spend year begin!
I love this, and I can honestly say I very much approve, and am glad that you are aware of the issue, and are trying to remedy it. I came from a family that were not big spenders. My parents made sure we always had what we needed, and mostly what we wanted, too....but we did not have the availability of purchasing things on credit card, or so easily, like over the internet. We didn't have that constant pressure to buy, and my parents were sticklers about paying with cash (way back in the ice ages!). I am not a gambler at heart, or an over-spender, and I am grateful for that. We have always had enough to live comf…