The 1 thing we are quitting in 2019...
/They say there's two types of people in the world.
Savers. And spenders.
Hi, we’re Billy & Ashley and we're spend-aholics.
In 2018, we took 11 trips. So you might already have guessed that we like to spend our money.
But you may not know that one time on a trip to Chicago, we made a few purchases at our favorite store- Banana Republic. Then we walked a few blocks and found another Banana. And you bet, we went in to that one too and bought ALL THE THINGS.
Or there’s the one time we racked a bill at a spa in Hawaii equal to one month’s rent for us. ...that one was kinda on accident. But that’s a whole other story. It still happened.
But our crazy spending isn’t just on trips. Our house is full of Instagram purchases from ads and spontaneous Amazon purchases.
Actually, I just checked our Prime account. We had 202 orders in 2018. TWO HUNDRED AND TWO!
Honestly, we’re the consumers marketing departments dream of.
Things magically go from #want to #need with a “TODAY ONLY: 15% All Items!” email.
We’ve also totally told ourselves “Oh, my cart says I need $7.40 for free shipping. Let me add that $30 product.” Because ya’ know, logic.
It wasn’t until we sat down for our own mini-retreat for our 2019 goals that we addressed this. By the way that retreat took place at a resort 30 minutes from where we live. That wasn’t excessive though, right?
Curious about our process to set goals together?
Our lifestyle dramatic changed in July of 2018 when we challenged ourselves to do the Whole 30 diet. What could we do in 2019 that would have a similar positive impact?
We both knew it and slyly grinned at the same time.
EXCESSIVE SPENDING.
It’s Billy’s need to buy anything with the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl Champs logo on it. It’s Ashley’s obsession with any and all skincare trends.
And in 2019, we’ve promised ourselves to stop the excessive spending.
It sounds vague. And that’s why we made our 7 rules to cut excessive spending.
No online shopping… for things that can be purchased in store. The shipping fees alone can add up. But for how often we fall victim to the “You’re only 12.20 away from FREE SHIPPING”, we knew this was an obvious one.
All Amazon purchases must live in cart 24 hours and be discussed with the other person.
No new clothes in first half of 2019. We’ve taken over all the closets at our places including guest closets. Which is fine because our only guests are our parents and they don’t care. But the point is we have enough clothes to fill that many closets. There is no need for more.
Always ask is this a want or a need. With the ease of online shopping, everything is just a mindless click away. We will be asking this more to ourselves and to each other.
Limit spa visits to special spas. Visiting spas is one of our favorite things to do when travelling. But when you’ve been to some of the top rated spas in the United States, others just don’t hold up. So our spoiled selves are limiting spa visits to when we take vacations to Las Vegas and Hawaii. #firstworldproblems
No buying new clothes on trips. See: Banana Republic story above. We did allow for the exception of when something is forgotten or for the times we are unprepared for weather conditions.
No added trips to first half of year. We already have trips to New Orleans, Las Vegas, New York City, and St. Croix on deck for early 2019. Granted we do travel very affordably, we do not need to add any more trips. Well, unless something crazy comes up.
Are you a spender like us? Feel free to steal one of our rules. If you’re a saver, please (PLEASE!) shoot us a DM on Instagram or Twitter and hold us accountable.
