How To Do A Spending Cleanse

January 03, 2018

After the gluttony of the holidays, it’s no surprise that the word “cleanse” is floating around my world. While my waistline wouldn’t mind a little food cleanse, I’m more apt to try a spending cleanse after the spend-y days of December.

You don’t have to go cold turkey

Going on a spending cleanse doesn’t mean you don’t get to buy anything, it just means you’re limiting financial outlays to the bare necessities. There’s a difference — buying is picking up the things you need, like groceries, transportation, paying bills, etc. Spending is a choice to purchase something you don’t really need at that exact moment.

Examples of ‘spending’

  • Going to Home Depot to purchase replacement blinds for the ones in your bedroom that broke, then taking a detour down the clearance aisle to see if you can score any deals on holiday items after wandering through the succulents and picking out a few cute ones for the living room — that’s spending.
  • Heading to Costco fill up on gas, then stopping into the store and stocking up on that shirt your husband’s mom got you for Christmas that you’ve literally been living in ever since — that’s spending.
  • Stopping by the pet store to buy cat food and walking out with a new bed and toys for said cat — that’s spending.
  • Bagging the plan to make the meal you planned for dinner and ordering sushi instead — that’s spending.

The bottom line is that mindless spending is a habit. It’s not to say that I’ll never buy myself anything fun again, I’m just trying to reign in the stuff collecting and instead set that money aside for my bigger 2018 goals.

The rules of a spending cleanse

  1. Timeline: one week.
  2. Make sure you have necessities taken care of, like gas in the car, bills paid, etc. It’s not about not buying anything, it’s about avoiding unneeded spending to break a habit.
  3. For that week, when you leave the house, take just your ID and twenty dollars max. You can tuck a card away somewhere in case of emergency, but the point is not to use it unless you’re literally stranded or starving.
  4. If you have to dine out for work, that’s fine, just make sure you stick to any per diem rules you have so that you’ll be reimbursed.
  5. No online shopping or in-app purchases.

It’s supposed to feel extreme

If it feels weird to go out without any real money, that’s the point — it’s supposed to be a bit extreme, just like drinking juice for three days makes it feel like three months since you’ve last chewed anything. I’m going to try it — I’ll be traveling for work, which will actually increase the challenge as I tend to engage in retail therapy when I’m stressed. Obviously I’ll have to take my credit card with me in order to rent a car, pay for my room and eat, but beyond that, I’ll be keeping it in my wallet.

Join me?