Canadian Finance Blog

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 02:00 AM PST

Back in the fall I had the idea of doing a financial fast – a set period of time where one would abstain from any unnecessary spending. Mortgage, rent, food, and other necessities would of course be taken care of, but everything else would be completely cut. My wife and I talked it over, and we decided that January would be a wonderful month to try out a financial fast. It is just after the expensive holiday season, where we are completely content with all the goodies and toys that we got for Christmas, and our bellies are still full from seven or eight gigantic holiday meals. So why not start the year off with cutting back on all unnecessary expenses?

We are just over a week into the New Year, and so far, I’m really enjoying the financial fast. Here are some quick observations from the beginning of the process.

Old Habits Die Hard

I’m a deal hunter. I like to religiously watch sale sites like Red Flag Deals for awesome sales and specials. There are a couple of things that I would “like” to have, but definitely don’t need, and would normally not be willing to spend the money on those things. However, if the price was right, I would probably pounce on it. Beyond that, I just like to get a good deal on something. So it has been hard for me to watch limited time offers and one time specials come and go when my instinct says “buy it now”!

Likewise, my wife likes to watch Groupon, Ethical Deals, Living Social, and other “one day only” sites. Through those coupon sites, we’ve scored some great deals in the past, so it is extra hard during this month when we look at each other and go, “well, if only it wasn’t January…” In reality, we probably shouldn’t even be looking during this month, so that we completely abstain from even the temptation of superfluous spending, but old habits die hard. It is not even that they are particularly bad habits, it is just that they are habits that result in spending money – even if it is a good deal.

Maybe in February

Likewise, we’ve started to run across things that we “need”, but can do without for a few months. I could use a new sweater, but I can certainly wait 3 weeks before I purchase one. So we’ve started to simply say, “maybe in February”. It will be very interesting to see if we even remember what we “needed” to buy in a couple weeks from now. One of the best ways to cut down on unnecessary purchases is to put it on a 30 day waiting list. Once those 30 days are up, if you still want the item, then you can purchase it. This financial fast, while not intending to force us to reconsider certain purchases, will make us have to go through the process of deciding to buy something twice. That, in itself, will probably help us cut down on things that we once thought we needed, but will realize that we don’t need a month from now.

I’ve never thought of myself as an impulse purchaser, but this month has already challenged me to realize that I do make impulse decisions about purchases. I will, on a whim, decide to be a snowboarder, for example, and decide that I now need to buy an entire set of snowboarding equipment. Of course, it doesn’t feel like an impulse purchase because I will then meticulously research each individual purchase, ensuring that I get the absolutely best deal possible. The execution of the decision takes weeks, or even months, but the decision itself is often made relatively quickly. This is something that I did not know about myself, but I have now begun to see how quickly I sometimes make purchasing decisions.

Freezer Full of Food

One of the ways that we decided we could save money on groceries this month was by going through our freezer and pantry and eating stuff that we already had. At first, we thought that this might be difficult – until we did a freezer inventory. One afternoon my wife took everything out of the freezer and wrote down everything that we have inside of it. Four pages later, we have our freezer inventory. It is surprising how much stuff we put in there and promptly forgot about. There is probably enough food in there to feed us for two months, let alone just one, and that doesn’t even include our pantry, which we have not inventoried yet. This giant list of goodies is now on the front and centre of our fridge, so as soon as we need to make something for dinner, we can simply consult the freezer inventory, pick something, and go from there. Not only do we not have to remember what is in our freezer, we also do not have to root around looking for a meal idea.

Of course we are supplementing our freezer and pantry foods with fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as expiring basics like milk, cheese, and eggs. Hopefully the end of the month will result in a lot of space in our freezer so that we can continue to put more things in there for the future!

Have you ever done a financial fast? Any tips you can share?

Financial Fast: Week One originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on January 12, 2011.