I'm pretty sure I have a shopping addiction.
At this point, I don't even know if I can consider it a 'shopping' addiction because I think it's more of a 'spending' addiction. It's gotten better over the years but whenever I seem to have a dollar in my pocket, I have to spend it. My online shopping habits were once so bad, I was buying things at least once a day and if I didn't stop, I started to get nervous.
It got to the point where I knew it needed to stop and being 27 years old, still living at home, I should know that I need to save my money.
I kind of had an epiphany within the last two months that the spending was out of control. I have real things to save for now: weddings, destination weddings, and bachelorette parties to be exact. I would like to be able to take a real vacation one day, save up for my own wedding and eventually a house.
The thought of real, true adulthood started to loom over my head and I realized that I was more anxious when I was spending money than when I wasn't. When I have more than $100 in my bank account, I actually feel more secure, who would've thought?
This epiphany hit a bit of a snafu when the holiday shopping season rolled around but I'm happy to say that I've purchased more gifts than I have for myself and usually it is definitely the other way around.
In addition to the fact that I need to save money, I'm really overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I have. I recently went through a huge clear out of beauty stuff and it felt so good. It made me realize that I hold onto makeup that I will never wear. Some of it was purchased, some from jobs, some I got in PR but no matter what, it was clutter and in the words of Marie Kondo, it wasn't bringing me joy.
As the year comes to close, I want to go into 2020 with a better mindset and a cleaner room so I will definitely be getting rid of more stuff whether I donate it, sell it, or honestly just throw it out.
All of that brings me to this:
How am I going to hit my savings goal in the new year? With the help of technology of course!
Apps to Help Save
Truebill: I've been using Truebill for the past few months and it was a major help! It shows you everything you're spending your money on and buckets it into different categories so you can see where exactly your money is going. You can create budgets for yourself, and the app will even tell you how much you're spending a week over week and month over month. It helped me realize how much was going to subscriptions and that I spent $85 in Starbucks over the course of a month. I can also see my 'unnecessary' shopping vs my necessary so yeah, I spent $45 in Target but it was on groceries and personal health... it wasn't things I didn't need. It keeps me accountable and on track which is the biggest help.
Qaptial: My biggest thing when it came to saving was that I wanted to see what I was saving for and wanted things to be separate. I opened high yield savings account with American Express earlier this year and that has helped me actually 'save' but I wanted something extra. Enter Qaptial. It's an app that you can create different sections for different needs and set up rules to save money without you even realizing it.
For example, I have a section for bachelorette parties and the rules are to round up every purchase $3; so for every purchase, I make on my debit card (which is linked to the app), an extra $3 goes into that bucket. You can also make manual transfers to these sections which are great. That way, I can see how much I'm saving toward each individual goal. It's exciting and nerdy in the best way possible.
In addition to those apps which are going to be my main helpers in saving, I'm going to stop shopping. I have a list of major things I want to buy in 2020 but I'm really going to cut back... I have to because I kind of feel like my life depends on it.
I'm much happier when I'm not shopping and have money in my account. I've been very upfront with my anxiety on the blog and I've realized that money is a huge trigger for me. To keep my anxiety in control, I need to be in control of my money.
To contrast the need to 'treat myself' I will probably do something small for myself every few weeks. I've been kind of obsessed with a new blowout bar in my neighborhood where it's less than $20 for a blowout and have been treating myself to blowouts every week or so; it makes me feel so good and is well worth every penny. To feel like this 'no buy' is not a punishment, I will probably get a blowout twice a month but I'm not holding myself to anything.
I'm also going to be selling a lot of my stuff so keep an eye on my Poshmark!
I need to be better so I hope I can continue to hold myself accountable and stick to the little plan I have in place. This is definitely my number one goal for the new year but more on those later.
How do you save money? What is something you have trouble committing too?
xoxo
B
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