I Completely Failed My 2 Week Spending Ban
I am completely ashamed to say that I failed my 2-week spending ban. I had decided to try and do a ban for just two weeks in order to see if I could do it but also to make myself think more about purchases.
My first fail came when I realized I needed to order the artificial grass for my balcony. This mini project is something that’s been on the go for a little while and in order to get use of my balcony more in the warmer month’s, I knew if I was going to do it I needed to just bite the bullet and order it so this blew about £100 straight away. I know this is a purchase I’d thought about, researched and wasn’t spur of the moment but it just didn’t start me off in the right way.
The next thing happened when I fell in love with a light in B&Q which was typically discontinued. I have been saying for ages I wanted to update the light fixings in my flat because I have some cheap plastic hanging things which I’ve had since I moved in 4 and a half years ago, crikey where does the time go?! I was going to wait and not buy this light but after looking online and seeing how few were about and that it wasn’t available for home delivery I ordered it from the store and that was another £75 spent. The good thing was I haven’t ordered anything for the other five light fixings I need to replace despite knowing which one’s I want. In order to not splurge too much, I am going to stagger these purchases and try and wait out until I get some freelance/ blog month through so it doesn’t feel as much like it’s coming from my normal bank account spending.
As well as the two larger purchases it happened to be Amazon Prime day during my spending ban which was a pain. I’d thought about getting an echo dot for a while and when it was reduced from £50 to £35 I thought it was as good a chance as any to grab one, and while I did a new brush holder, a book on coding and a hair drying brush just happened to fall into my online basket too.
So as you can see my spending ban didn’t go all that well and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to properly do one so I’m going to change it up and do two different things. Firstly I am going to start writing down what I spend on things so I can look back and properly see how much I am spending, perhaps at some point this will scare me into spending less. And secondly, I am thinking about starting a monthly series of ‘Things I’ve Bought This Month‘ again to think about exactly what I am buying.
How do you control your spending?
24 responses to “I Completely Failed My 2 Week Spending Ban”
Leave a Reply
All About Me
Rhian Westbury
Travels and Destinations
Nothing currently planned
I think those are brilliant buys! Sometimes you just have to think more about being a savvy shopper than completely banning yourself from purchases – at least that’s what has helped me manage my spending. x
Sometimes we have to control our spending but there are other times that it is ok. For example you have been planning your grass project so you needed to spend the money x
But I think you’ve done some brilliant spending there… All those things you actually do need, or will make a difference to your life in some way, the only time I think you really should curb your spending is on stuff you don’t really need, like I make myself walk past nail varnishes when I know I have stacks at home! Makes sense to me. Not so much to my husband! 😀
Whenever I try and control my spending, I always fail. But it seems you picked up some good bits x
I wouldn’t be able to manage a spending ban I don’t think, thought it would be interesting to try. I am loving that light as well – how different it is!
I bought the Amazon Echo discounted as well, I had too, the price was too good, right? And it’s so much fun! But now I am definitely under a spending ban, hopefully I’ll do better in August that I did in June and July.
I wouldn’t cope with a spending ban so wouldn’t bother trying lol. The light looks great what a great design no wonder you couldn’t resist.
Bless you, I would be hopeless at this. I quite fancy giving it a go though!
haha im the same , ive literally just sat ourselves down this week wnt through all our finances and relasied we should have a savings of 14, 000 a year ,im ugtted were wasting it on things i dont need or lavish items i dont get to see much of x
Ph dear! I really don’t know how to…i spend way too much money!
You got a good plan with taking note of your expenses. Baby steps to your goal.
I don’t think I would do so well with a spending ban, I just try and reduce amount I spend
I’m not sure I would manage to go one week, never mind two. Well done for trying.
Spending ban! Are you crazy! I could never manager that!!!! I do try to minimize my spending but fail miserably. I have to stay away from shops and just limit myself to something nice a little treat like a nail polish or a nice coffee. Good luck!!!
Haha I’m terrible at not spending. I don’t think I could do it either. I love the things you’ve bought. x
I don’t really know how to respond to this post Rhain. Mainly because I know I wouldn’t be able to complete a spending ban! Haha. It looks like you got some good stuff 🙂
Louise x
I couldn’t stick to a spending ban lol I’m wild for shopping I would need my phone and laptop taken off me if I stood any chance x
I’m not sure I’d be able to manage a spending ban either! Writing things down is definitely a good idea for curbing spending.
I wouldn’t cope with a spending ban. I try to balance things out so there are no major expenses all together so we can afford little splurges
I’m like this too, I always say to myself I’m not going to spend much this week but inevitably something comes up and it never works!
I think you can let yourself as you needed the grass and it wasn’t like you were buying yourself a handbag right? But I love the idea of writing things down to curb spending! x
We also got ourselves an echo dot in the Amazon Prime sales, good choice! xxx
Oh, I’m the absolute worst at spending bans, so don’t worry! I think the best way is to budget rather than go on a complete spending ban.
we are pretty good at not spending other than on food and bills. I guess I just reached a point where I have enough ‘stuff’