No. 104: How to Start and Stick to a Spending Freeze in the Hardest Time in History Ever to Pull it Off.

A spending freeze at the start of the ‘Ber’ months is so crazy it just might work.

I shared this post introducing our spending freeze on Isntagram a couple weeks ago and the response was genuinely surprising to me. I had no idea how many of us were walking through different seasons and yet coming to the same conclusion and the comment section is a beautiful picture of that. O and I have implemented a spending freeze many times over the past few years, usually after seasons of over-the-top spending including unexpected moves, building a home or unintentionally extravagant summers. One, because it’s a great practice to counteract gluttony and excess and two, because finances are tighter than comfortable and it’s time to reset.

Can you step back with me and look with ‘Big Picture’ goggles with me for a second? Is a stack of Amazon packages at the door every single day really the picture we want to paint? Whether your heart is for the planet or for your kids’ perception of what’s normal in this world or for your own contentment and self control—this just doesn’t seem to be “it,” right?

In an age where most of our purchases are an impulse buy after being influenced by content or an impulse buy to snap a photo of, or in, for content, it’s no wonder we’re in a vicious cycle.

I’m aware it’s September, arguably the hardest time of year to pull this off. Depending on your specific over-consumption personality and tendency, you may find yourself itching to ensure your front porch rivals genuine pumpkin patches themselves. There’s the ever-growing “must-have” Halloween trend, whether it’s sticky bats, “floating” hats or ghosts of all kind. If you’re anti-Halloween, surely you’re on the hunt for new candles and tea towels, Target got you with their Autumn faux-stems and landscape print and you want a fresh door mat for cute front door photos. Then there will be the Fall wreaths swiftly followed by the Winter wreaths. The cute tray and individual jars for hot chocolate stations. The things we buy simply because someone else bought them stack up and up and up in the last four months of the year.

It feels like an impossible rebellion. The internet will tell you it’s unnecessary, I’m here to tell you it’s life giving.

The Odds are Stacked Against Us.

Again, we live in a society built for over-consumption. We’re all addicted to devices that plant a seed of want and water it with every minute spent staring, scrolling and screenshot-ing. If you feel frustrated with your spending, if you’re discouraged at the endless cycle of purchasing constantly, if you feel shame about the amount you spent instead of saved over the past year—you’re not alone. The odds are stacked against us, that’s for sure, but thankfully we all know this quote. Some of us (is your hand raised?) wear it as a necessary reminder.

The Spending Pause

I’m sure we all notice the way the urgency to purchase has ramped up at an undeniable speed. I can’t tell you how many times I used to be fully through the three-step Amazon Prime checkout process before even considering what it is I was even buying and whether or not I truly even needed it. I noticed years ago that it started to feel better to hunt for something and hit “purchase” than to even open the package once it arrived.

In our most healthy seasons, O and I have a weekly meeting where we plan our spending for the week. You’d be shocked you often the “desperate need” on Thursday is revealed instead as a “weak want” by the time the Sunday meeting rolled around. Pausing on a purchase and having the accountability of sharing the stirring with the person you do life with is a game changer. It’s a simple switch to implement and is less dramatic than a spending freeze but still will have a gargantuan impact on your purchasing habits and self-control.

What Exactly Does a Spending Freeze Look Like in Our House?