No Buy….

I was just peeking at the Disney Boards as we’re leaving for our “almost free” trip the day after tomorrow and am excited. I’m feeling guilty about going on the trip because I’ll be away from work when I have 3 new people in my dept and we’re totally strapped for cash. BUT, I really, really, really, really, really need the break for my mental health and because Alex’s company is paying for the transportation to/from the airport, his airfare, the hotel room, and his half of the meals all I need to pay for was my airline ticket (very cheap on Southwest) and my part of the meals. My park tickets are more than completely covered with Disney dollars earned on my Disney Visa this past year. We both know that this will be our last vacation for a very, very, very long time so since we’re already committed to going and since it will be just about the cheapest vacation ever I’m going to try and just enjoy it.

Anyway… On the Disney Boards, there is a Budget Board which I’ve been visiting and “listening in” on the strapped for cash ppl out there to see how they deal with budgeting and saving. They apparently do a thread every month called “No Buy (month)”. Here are the details:

No Buy November (with a twist!)

The Game Plan: Everyone sets their own lists of essentials and exemptions. Think carefully over the month and try to plan ahead. For example, if you know you have a birthday coming up and need to buy a present, or if your Disney trip is coming up, list the trip period as an exemption. Remember that Thanksgiving and the Holidays are coming, but if you plan them in, you will save yourself from impulse buying. Everyone sets their own rules.

The Goal: To become aware of everyday spending habits and save a little money. Or, as I think of it, to end the $100 detergent habit. What’s $100 detergent? It’s when you run in Target or Wal-mart for laundry detergent and end up spending $100. Now, you may use everything you bought and it may fit into your budget structure, but if you are in a saving mode, did you really need it at that time? Or is it a money leak?

Posting: Try to post your progress every Monday. I found that the more often I posted, the more it kept me honest and the more I thought about it while I was in dangerous situations. If you need/want to post more often, that’s up to you. We love lots of posts!

The Twist: With Thanksgiving coming up and with us all having a lot of exemptions to deal with, we are going to try and add a little gratitude to our posts. This can be as simple as mentioning that someone opened a door for you, thankfulness that a loved one is in your life, or the mother of all Black Friday snags that will save you big bucks come December!

Take the next couple of days to get your lists together! In the mean time, if you haven’t checked us out before, try reading through the No Buy October thread. We’d love to have you along as a participant or even just for support.

We’re too late to do this for November, but I’m going to ask Alex to try this with me. We really need to start making some drastic changes if we’re ever going to get out of our “debt-hole” that we’ve dug for ourselves. The last week in particular has been incredibly tough in the “debt related field” and I’ve been really, really depressed. I’m so afraid that we’re never going to be able to afford a house or start a family. I know that sounds really dramatic but that’s where I’m at right now.

OK. Hold back the tears, Ali. You’re at work. Breathe. Enjoy the next week. Things will be better some day.

Filed under disney, money | Comment (0)