Spending Hiatus

Thanks for all the comments, everyone! Glad to have your support and to see that others are doing their own spending hiatuses. It's been an interesting journey for me, so I'm glad I could help other people with it.

The End of the Spending Hiatus

Man, those three months really flew by, huh? What's that? You forgot that I started this blog to talk about my spending hiatus, because I stopped talking about it. That's true, I did. Why?

-It's boring to talk about not spending money. I didn't really do anything to fill the void of spending money, apart from not going to stores. So that's not that fun to talk about.

-I didn't stop spending money altogether. I did buy some stuff, some makeup, 4 dresses, a pair of shoes, some summer clothes, etc. So I guess I was a little ashamed of that and didn't want to tell you guys.

But here are some things I did do:

-I stopped going to Target as much, which saves me $50 for every visit. I swear, I can drop hundreds of dollars a month at Target, no problem.
-I took the time to think about my purchases. One of the things I bought was a cocktail dress, because I don't really have one that fits anymore. But I will wear that dress to each of the 5 weddings I'm attending this year, so I reasoned that I will get my money's worth. So I try to think about how I'm going to use things when I buy them and if they're worth it.
-I try to use coupons more. I used an Amazon gift certificate to buy my onion goggles. That wasn't really money spent.
-I feel no qualms about returning stuff. This black dress that I bought? I returned it, because I felt bad about buying things I didn't need.
-I reject even the smallest purchases. I bought a Rimmel eyeliner the other day cuz I needed one, but only one, even though they're like $2. I reasoned that I didn't need another one, no matter how cheap it is.

So I didn't stick to the spending hiatus whole hog, but I feel like I did spend a lot less money. I used to go to Target and World Market and wander around, just finding new things. I don't really do that anymore. I'm gonna try to stop doing that. I still have some debt to pay off, and I want to get an iPhone to replace the cell phone I've had since 2003, so I really want to buckle down now and save.

Spending hiatus over! Did anybody else try a spending hiatus? How's it going?

Guess what we got?

Shiny!

P.S. John actually bought this using wedding gift cards and some returns and coupons. So this doesn't count in the spending hiatus, mmmkay? It doesn't! I know you were thinking that! Why you always gotta rain on my parade?!?

How's that spending hiatus going again?

Well, it's going...hmm. Not the greatest, I guess. I have been shopping recently, to buy some shorts that fit. I bought a couple things at Old Navy recently too.

So I'm not sticking it to it as strongly as I'd like. There have been some dinners out, some unnecessary items purchased. But I don't believe in going cold turkey either. I didn't when I tried to lose weight.

I'll have to do a more complete post when July is over, which will finish my 3 month hiatus and talk more then about what worked, what didn't, my cheating, and what I learned.

Dresses I should own

ANOTHER UPDATE: The strapless dress was too big, so I returned it. And then John made me feel so guilty about it that I didn't buy the fuchsia dress.
UPDATE: I bought the first dress. They sold out of the last dress in both yellow and black. Contemplating buying the fuchsia dress.

I went shopping with my friend Amanda (Amanda, are you reading this? You have summers off, you need to spend it reading my blog!), I told her I like to play a game when I shop, called "Dresses I Should Own." Basically, I window shop.

What do you call it when you window shop online? Browser shopping?
This looks like the perfect summer dress. Casual and light enough for shopping at the farmer's market in 100 degree heat. But can be dressed up for nicer events. Love the belt.

I love this color! Same color as my bridesmaids' dresses. I picked that color because I love it, but I don't own anything that color. This looks great for all the weddings I'm going to this summer.
I've gone on record saying I don't like yellow, but I like this dress. Maybe it's just the details I like, the studs and the boatneck. I always like an empire waist.

So...

Readers, should I break my spending hiatus and get one of these? If so, which one? Or all three? I must say, I'm inclined to get the first and second ones, for the hot summer days. The third I would like better in another color, I think. That yellow would be something that would hang in my closet, unworn.

(all dresses from lulus.com)

How I Don't Spend Money

I've been buying things a lot less these days. And by things, I mean clothes. I really like buying clothes, especially since I've lost weight. And since I lost weight, most of my clothes are big on me, which makes me want to buy new clothes EVEN MORE.

It's been struggle to NOT buy clothes. Here's how I do it.

-Try things on. It sounds crazy and counter-intuitive but it sometimes works. Like this dress up here, I loved it on the hanger. It looks so cute and it's all of my favorite colors! But then I tried it on. It's too long on me (mid-calf), which, as a short girl, makes me look even shorter. I didn't like that it was so full-skirted. I think this makes me look pregnant. My friend Amanda said I was crazy, but I knew that if I bought it I would never wear it.

-Don't go shopping altogether. This is probably the best way to not buy stuff I don't need. If you don't see it, you can't buy it.

-But if you do go shopping, don't go with friends. The dress I bought? Bought it when I was shopping with a friend. Friends can help you stay on task, but they can also tell you how awesome things look on you.

-Don't go to Target. I love Target. LOVE. I could wander around there for hours. Instead, when I need something, I'll go to Wal-Mart, which is closer to my house. I hate Wal-Mart, so I don't linger there. I get what I need and then leave.

How's the spending hiatus going?

That depends on what your definition of hiatus is. This week I've bought coffee mugs, magazines, food I didn't need, a coffee grinder, an orchid, and other sundries. But I bought them all for sick people.

My grandma broke her ankle last week so I bought her some magazines to read and an orchid. Then John got sick so I had to buy him some bland food to eat. And my friend Jules had her bridal shower, so I got her the coffee grinder and coffee cups.

I don't really consider any of this unnecessary spending. People were sick and I helped them. It's what you do for loved ones. So that's how it's going these days.

I cheated :(

I went to Houston this weekend to visit friends, and I cheated on my spending hiatus. My name is Lauren, and I'm a cheater.

I bought this.

Cute, no? It was on sale. There were a lot of things I wanted to buy, cute summer shirts mostly. But I didn't buy them. I told Amanda that if I was going to buy something, it would have to be something really cute. I think I succeeded.

But my point is, I did cheat. What did I learn from this? That the best way to not cheat is to not tempt myself. Going shopping thinking that I just won't get anything doesn't work. I should just not go at all.

The good news is that I've made it almost a full month now on my hiatus. I'm still on it, even though I cheated. I'll just have to try that much harder for the next two months.

That is my PSA for today.

Cheap wedding bells

Since this blog is supposed to be about saving money, I thought I'd talk a little about how John and I saved money on our wedding.

-The dress. I bought it online for $230 and then had it taken in, taken up, and a lining put in, all for about $120. So I came to about $350 total. Considering what David's Bridal and other stores charge for dresses and alterations, this is a bargain. I wanted something that wasn't big and froofy and tulle. So this worked out well.

-The shoes. Bought em at DSW for $35.

-Jewelry and headband. Bought on Etsy.

-The guestbook. My friend Kate had the brilliant idea to use a cookbook for our guestbook, since John and I love to cook. We loved it! I bought a bunch of sharpies and people left us their "recipes" for love. This is fantastic because we can use our guestbook and read peoples' messages all the time.

-RSVPs. We went to Hawaii last year and picked up vintage-looking postcards for the RSVPs. They cost like $30 total. Then we had my friend Ryan do a graphic of a piece of coral for us for our invites and accommodations cards. We hand wrote the RSVPs.


-The officiant. Neither of us is religious, but we didn't want a JP either. So we asked John's dad to officiate our wedding. We got him ordained online. He wrote a great speech for us (about wine!), and it was so amazing to have everyone involved in our wedding like that.


-Favors. Ok, we didn't really save any money on favors. We found these half bottles of wine at World Market. It was Primus, one of our favorite reds. So we bought one for every family/couple and wrote notes for everyone on them. Not cheap, but infinitely better than impersonal gifts.

Things we didn't do for the wedding:
-A program. Everyone knows what happens at a ceremony. Why do you need a program?
-Save the dates. We got engaged in August and married the following March. By the time we'd booked everything, it was too late for Save the Dates.
-Linens. We just used the ones the location had.
-Full bar. We had wine, beer, and delicious prickly pear margaritas. I heard no complaints.
-Stupid chair drapery things. They are my nightmare. I don't get them.
-Big centerpieces. I had the florist give me big peonies to float in water in the center.
-Placecards. We only had 70 people at the wedding. We let everyone sit where they wanted.
-Menus. The location provided them for us.
-A DJ. We asked our friend Sam, Kate's husband, to be our "DJ". We set up the iPod with all the mixes and he just made sure the right mix was playing and all.

Things I would buy if I weren't on a spending hiatus

This cardigan from Anthropologie. It's like the cardigan I bought right before my spending hiatus, but coral. Coral is one of my favorite colors.

This dress from J Crew. I love dresses, strapless dresses, jersey dresses, summer dresses, and sweetheart necklines. This is all of those things!
A neti pot. If you live in Texas, you know why I need this.

This recipe organizer. I have recipes in all different places, and they get really dirty. This would be nice to have to store and sort them all.

But alas I can't get any of these things. Unless you good people would be willing to get them for me. :)

This post is a joke (kinda)

Even my dog Buster is into this spending hiatus. He loves to recycle and reuse things. The other day, I was in the backyard with him, and he was running around with something black in his mouth. He spotted me and threw it at me. It turned out to be a dead bird.

See? Buster finds dead things and makes them into toys! So clever!

Yesterday, John told me that Buster found a dead lizard/killed a lizard and was playing with it. I've seen him do this with insects. He'll chase them around and pounce on them until they die. Buster is trying to be a conscientious consumer by making new friends and playing with them even after they're dead.

(OK, so I don't really think Buster is trying to recycle. But he does play with dead things. True story.)

My ass hurts

I did something yesterday that accomplished two goals of mine: spend less money and exercise. I went to a free workout at lululemon, a fitness clothes store in the Quarry. My friend Kate sent me an email about some yoga classes, so I thought this was a yoga class. But it actually was a hip-hop bootcamp class.

It was HARD. We started with some running outside, some stairs, squats, lunges, jumping jacks, all in 95 degree heat. This was in the Quarry, where the crowd eating orange beef at Firebowl had the pleasure of watching us sweat. Then we went back inside to do lunges, burpees, pushups, side planks, and abs.

Today, I had to make myself take the stairs, because my ass hurts so much. My abs scream when I laugh, and my thighs just want to die.

I was going to post a photo of myself here, but I was too gross and sweaty looking. I don't think you want to see that.

But am I glad I went? Sure! It was free, and it was a good workout. I might not do the bootcamps again, but lululemon offers yoga classes too that I might try. As long as they're not as hard as the bootcamps.

Mother's Day gift

Here's my mother's day gift! It cost $0 to make. The jelly jar is an old jar from my fridge and the paper I had lying around the house.

On the slips of paper I wrote memories of my mother, things I learned from her, and questions I wanted to ask her.

I wanted to do 365 slips of paper, and tell her to read one every day. But the jar isn't that big, so I just did about 100. I'm going to include a card with this jar telling her what it is and what to do with it.

I love it! And I'm sure my mom will too.

What I did today instead of spending money

-Went to the Pearl Farmer's Market this morning. We bought lamb chops, beets, kohlrabi, onions, blackberries, spinach, leeks and peaches. I've eaten two peaches today, and we roasted the beets, cooked the lamb chops, and ate the spinach and onion in a salad. We're going to eat the leeks tomorrow. Clearly, we don't believe in delayed gratification.

Also, this doesn't count as spending money, because John paid for it. :) Hey, if I don't spend it, it doesn't count, right?

-Cleaned out my closet. I made a pile of stuff to give to Goodwill and rediscovered clothes that are cute but I don't wear them. It's like having new clothes!

-Organized the pantry. It is a crazy unorganized mess in there, but I straightened it.

-Cleaned off John's "work bench" aka his table in the office. (I'm beginning to realize most of my day sounds like what my friend Christine would call "married stuff." Mostly domestic crap.)

-Finished my mom's Mother's Day gift. Pictures to come. I like this idea so much, I'm going to do one for my dad for Father's Day!

-Thought about going to get ice cream, opted instead for pudding I had in the fridge.

-Cleaned the kitchen.

-Played with Buster. He's our 1.5 year old mutt. He's a good dog. I'll have to write a post on him someday.

The last things

Here are the last things I bought before my spending hiatus. I used a friend's discount at Anthropologie to buy a bunch of clothes recently, which is what sparked my spending hiatus. I returned half of the clothes, but kept these. My husband didn't like any of these clothes for various reasons, which just shows you how crazy he is.

Who wants a new hobby?

What should I do with all of the time I won't be spending shopping? Not that I spend hours and hours at the mall every weekend, but I feel like this is a good opportunity for me to start some new projects.

-Reading The Watchmen. My friend Sam lent me this awhile ago and I haven't started it yet.

-Clean out my closet. Since I won't be buying new clothes, I need to take a look at the old ones, give away all of the things that don't fit, and start rewearing all the things that do.

-Take more photos. I bought my husband a Nikon D60 as a wedding gift. It's a pretty cool camera and way better than the point-and-shoot I carry around in my purse.

-Making crap. I said before that I'm making my mother's day gift this year. I worked on it last night and I think it will turn out well.

-Cleaning the house in general. I don't think John and I are messy people, but the house quickly falls to filth if we don't clean it every day. I'm not talking major cleaning, just picking up and wiping things down. We've let it get messy since the wedding, and now is time to clean it up.

Blog Break-Up

I know this isn't going to be very easy. I'm gonna have to stop looking at some of my favorite blogs until this is over. Since I can't look at them, you go look at them and see how pretty they are:

• SheFinds
• Mighty Goods
• Mighty Haus
• Simple Lovely
• Creature Comforts
• A Cup of Joe
• Outblush
• Bliss

Also, I have to stop looking at the Bargainist. It's a coupon and discount code site, and I just can't look at all these deals that I can't take advantage of.

Spending Hiatus - What I can buy

Just to clarify, there are still things I will be buying, like food. Food is a necessity. But I will stop buying random food when I have food at home that I could eat. That's one way I'm going to save money.

I'll still have to buy presents for Mother's Day and Father's Day, but I'm going to try and make gifts this year. For Mother's Day, I'm writing down memories of my mom, things she's taught me, and questions I have for her, which I'm going to put in a jar so she can open them up one at a time. It doesn't cost me anything, but better than that, it's a more meaningful gift than flowers.

I will keep buying things like shampoo and conditioner and deodorant, because while they might not be absolutely necessary, I need them in order to go to work, or hang out with my friends. But I am going to stop buying hair stuff just because I want it.

So that's what I can buy.

Spending Hiatus

I originally started this blog at the nudging of my friend Kate. I recently bought some clothes at Anthropologie and we were talking about what to keep and what to return. This led me to say something I've been telling myself for awhile: "I should go on a spending hiatus."

One of my favorite bloggers, Simple Lovely, went on a spending hiatus lately, and I liked reading her struggles with it, how she got through it, what she did instead of spending money. I'd like to pay off all my credit card debt and save more money. And I also just want to see if I could do this.

So, as of May 1, I'm going on a three month spending hiatus, through the end of July. I'm not going to spend money on anything non-essential.

Things I will not be buying until August:

• Summer dresses (this will be hard, because I don't have any really casual ones)
• Shirts (not even the cheap ones at Old Navy)
• Pants (I actually need new work pants, because the old ones don't fit me anymore)
• Jewelry
• Hair accessories
• Cards (unless it's for a birthday, holiday, thank you note, although I will try to use blank cards if I have them)
• Music (when my iTunes gift card runs out)

Wallet, I will see you in August!