#fiscalfast

Half way in and I’ve done well so far. However this is the point where it starts to get more difficult. As I stated in the first post, there’s one exception to my “no shopping” rule. That exception being “no shopping unless it’s something that I need/want for my upcoming travels”. I have a few trips planned, some things to purchase for those trips, and I’m still planning to stick to my budget of $250/month. I made a couple of purchases over the past two months and managed to stay within the budget. Hopefully, I can keep that up for the remainder of the fast.

Just to be clear, now I have to buy food, gas, things for vacation, and pay for any other daily expenses that may come up with $250/month. Pray for me. Also in the first fiscal fast post, I mentioned that I’d be transferring any money left over at the end of the month into my travel savings account. Here are the totals of those transfers for the first three months:

Jan. - $46.83 Feb. - $16.25 Mar. - $17.14

I’m hoping that this exercise inspires someone else to give it a try. It’s definitely a test of discipline, but it’s also liberating in a sense. It has broken me out of wanting to shop often and the need to have more stuff. Stuff that I more than likely don’t actually need, and I think twice about every purchase now. This has allowed me to save a lot more and pay down my last student loan a lot quicker than normal.

The holidays are over, I don’t have to buy any gifts for a while, and I have new savings goals for 2017. It’s the perfect time for a fiscal fast. From now until June (I started on New Year’s Day by the way), I am going to try my best to only spend money on my fixed monthly expenses and other things that I need. I don’t need any clothes right now. I don’t need shoes. I don’t need a haul of new hair products, or the new Apple TV, or takeout 4 times a week. If I’m going to spend the limited amount of funds that I’m allocating for necessities on something, then it must be something that I NEED. My “necessity” budget for the next 6 months is $250 per month. Once that $250 is gone, it’s gone. I’m cooking most of my own meals to avoid spending money eating out, and I’m not doing any shopping (with one exception that will be more relevant in a couple of months).

The post holiday sales are tempting, but so far I’m doing well. Two weeks in and I still have well over half of my budget left for the rest of the month. Creating a travel stash is one of my savings goals for this year. If there happens to be any money left over at the end of each month, it will be transferred into my travel savings account. It’s early and six months seems like forever, but I definitely feel like I can handle this!