Buy Nothing Challenge Week 2 Update

“There is only one success -to be able to spend your life in your own way.”
-Christoper Morley


April 17, 2009

This was the second week of the buy nothing challenge where I stopped spending money for 30 days. Check out the the beginning and the week 1 update. Today is Day 17.

I felt much different this week than week 1, where I was thinking about spending money all the time. Avoiding stores feels pretty good. It was great to not have to race around and worry about going to the store to buy stuff.

I’ve still been stretching, trying to find activities that don’t cost money. I took my friend up on her suggestion that we go to our gym’s kickboxing class, which was a fun change. I liked that there wasn’t any financial component of that at all, except the gym membership that I already have. I also went to the library to work on Honest Personal Finance, which was a nice change from writing at my desk in my living room.

Easter Sunday was a lot of fun, I made oatmeal cookies which I already had the ingredients for and I went to my parents house. They gave me cans of chili and tuna to make sure I was still well fed. After all, they provided the toilet paper that made it possible to get to this point.

Also, I had spend money one time. I needed postage for my state taxes and stamps to send in my bills. So the USPS got $14.64 on April 13th. I could have stretched and borrowed the money from a friend or did some kind of tweak, but instead I just charged the money on my Amex. I didn’t consider this a loss, and wanted to continue the last 16 days of the challenge, so I’m going to keep at it.

Here are more questions that people asked:

What keeps you from buying all the things after 30 days that you would normally have bought during that time?”

For food items, I’ll only need to buy enough food when the 30 days is over to feed myself in the future. I will have used up some of my reserves, yes, but I probably won’t be replacing those items like old pasta, which I have just had in my cupboard as a staple.

I’m not planning on going on a shopping spree afterward, although I will go to the market to get fresh fruits and vegetables. I don’t want to kill the savings during the month by going crazy at the end.

Another interesting thing that I’ve experienced is the lack of desire to shop at all. I just don’t feel like going near stores and buying things. The self discipline seems to be getting easier as this challenge continues.

How much has gas cost? How does this single cost compare to how much you usually spend in a month?

I fill up my car about once a week. So far, I’ve filled up 2 times since I started the Buy Nothing Challenge. This has cost me $51.63.

Normally I spend anywhere from $50-$100 for groceries each week, and eat out at restaurants 2-3 times. This costs anywhere from $25-$55 a week. I also usually get coffee once or twice or buy some incidental item like ice cream or a book, on average spending $20-30 a week. These little expenses add up, totaling about $95-185 a week. I know this is a wide range, but over a two week period incidental purchases average somewhere in between.

If I average my expense ranges, I’m at $140 a week spent in food and incidental purchases each week or $20 a day.

If I add gasoline, I’m at $165 a week, or about $23.57 a day.

I’ve been doing the buy nothing challenge now for 17 days. I have saved $20 a day, which equals $340 total!

I haven’t noticed this money as much as I originally thought I would. When I go back to the normal spending world, I’m going to need food, but I think I could easily cut my food bill to around $50 a week by skipping the restaurants and eating healthier food from the grocery store. If I spent $50 a day on food, that would be $7.14 a day. That is a savings of $12.86 a day, or $90.02 a week, or $4693.90 a year. Not chump change.

If I modified my budget to $50 a week for food and incidental expenses, and gas held steady at around $25 a tank, I’d average about $75 a week for expenses, which would be a savings of about half from before, when I averaged $140 a week. Saving that much toward other goals sounds like a wonderful plan, especially since I’ve been pretty content since I started the Buy Nothing Challenge.

What habits did you pick up during the 17 days that you’ll continue after the buy nothing challenge is over?

I’m going to eat out less, and try to make the food that I buy stretch further.

In the last 17 days I have become much more conscious of my eating, and stretching my staples as far as they will go. I’ve also lost a pound and a half. Weight loss was not my goal, but the weight loss makes me realize how much the overeating at restaurants and on the weekends was affecting my waistline.

Finding ways to connect with people besides over meals is going to be a higher priority for me in the future. Going to kickboxing class was a good example of a frugal social activity that I’ll try to do more often. I normally spend a lot of time connecting with people over meals. I’m going to make a conscious effort to cut down on the meals but continue the social contact, which is why I’m really at the table in the first place.

Another side effect is that I’ve eaten more plant based foods since the challenge started. Carrots are cheaper than meat, and I’ve become reacquainted with them. I made the mistake of refusing some that my Mom offered me on Easter, and that wasn’t smart, because I have become reacquainted with vegetables and realized I really do like them after all. Normally I would just stick with what I liked and buy that. This activity has challenged me to start trying things I would have just avoided out of habit.

The changes have been really positive. I haven’t noticed any real negative side effects to not spending money for 17 days so far. At first I thought about it a lot, but this week I’ve been much calmer and clear headed. I don’t feel the same pressure to “get things done” that I did before.

I realized that shopping was additional stress for me. With that weight lifted I’ve noticed a surge of creativity and forceful action to get the things I really want to finish, done. I have written more pages written on this site this week than ever. I think this was partially due to the buy nothing challenge. I simply needed something to fill my mental space besides stuff. This has been a freeing experience.

Inspiration

This week I was inspired by Susan Boyle, a Scottish woman who went on Britain’s Got Talent on April 11. Check out her performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables here.

At 47, this is her first appearance on the stage besides doing karaoke and singing at church. She appears on stage wearing an outfit that looks like a throwback from the Eisenhower administration and gives the judges attitude. She tells a condescending Simon Cowell that she wants to be a professional singer. It looks like another William Hung-esque revival, until…

She belts out “I Dreamed a Dream” like a pro, shocking everyone.

Susan Boyle has already spoken with Sony. Based on one performance a week ago, she’s guaranteed a recording contract. The YouTube clip has had 22,892,789 views as of this writing. If she follows through, she’ll get her dream.

The tragedy is that this woman has the pipes to knock you out. The song brought me to tears. She has never gone after this dream until now, at 47.

I’m glad that she did, because I needed to be reminded that sometimes you can just be pounded with success. What if Susan had made the world give her the dream sooner? Would we have already been listening to Susan Boyle for 20 years now? What does that wasted opportunity cost add up to?

Imagine how different your life would be if you had gone after the thing you really wanted, that thing that keeps you up at night, sooner? What if you were doing it now? What if, instead of keeping your song buried under a dress from 1954, you were out sharing your music with the world?

The song from Les Miserables is appropriate, as the last line is “life has killed the dream I dreamed”. What dreams do you have? Are you letting them die? Wake up. The only “right time” is now.

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