Approved List

As promised, I am posting our Approved Shopping List for the Year of Spending Less. These are items we will need to replace, or have already decided on purchasing, that will be allowed over the course of the next year.

Approved Shopping List:

• A new (used) car
• New laptop (probably refurbished)
• Protective laptop case
• Work Gear (husband)
• Guestroom futon 
• New Mattress/Bed/Foundation Support
• A tattoo (both of us, me for sure) 
• Updated Gaming Console (preferably used) 
• Messenger Bag (for my husband) 
• Sustainable Items (to replace plastics and one-use items) 
• Candles (only one per month, if desired)
• Plants/Supplies for Herbal Cooking Garden
• Outdoor/Biking Gear (as needed for trips & planned activities)

Notes about the list...

The list was compiled in no particular order, but I did decide to list the more necessary items at the top. We will need a second car in the coming months, and a new laptop has been on our list for some time. Work gear is expected but unknown, as my husband is changing directions. And we have plans, once we clear things out, to purchase an affordable futon (that we've already shopped around for and chosen) for our guest room.

The candles are not necessary, as I have a collection I'm working thru, but I listed the option because I do use them regularly and I believe there is a good chance I may run out in less than a year. The "herbal garden" is a future plan as well, for when the house is cleaned up. I have always wanted to cook with fresh herbs available, so I've included it for when the space is ready. I don't expect everything on the list to be purchased immediately, but making this list did bring our priorities to light. Seeing everything we actually wanted listed out, we could also see that our money has been wasted on stuff we didn't really care...

Other than this list, and basic consumables, we'll be focusing on not purchasing anything new for our home. Books and videos will be rented from the library or borrowed. I will be cancelling my Audible Account for the year, which will be hard. We have canceled our underutilized gym membership, and we will be looking at the necessity of any subscriptions we currently have.

We have decided to keep our shared Spotify account, because we use it daily, and for the $10 per month, we believe it's worth it for the content. We don't have cable or internet at our home, and unless it becomes necessary for income purposes, we will keep to just our cell phone data service.

Avoiding Temptation

Something that Cait did her book (link to previous entry about this) that I thought was really smart, was that she unsubscribed from all digital adverts. She stopped receiving emails about sales, and anything that she might want to shop for. It will take us a moment to get ourselves off of every list that we have subscribed to, but we are planning to do the same.

My only exceptions for this are emails from Kroger (where we buy most of our groceries), and emails from the company that I work for... Even though the emails are advertising sales and new products, I still plan to review them in order to stay informed for our customers, everything else will have to be cut.

Clearing Out Clutter 

As for our excess of physical items, I will be clearing things out using three options: Throw Away, Donate or Sell. I think there is a lot of junk and paperwork that can just be tossed. A fair bit of it can be donated and used by someone else. And for some nicer items, I will try to resell them at a marked down cost to put toward savings.

I'm going to try to Throw Out or Donate most of the clutter, because it's too easy to put higher value on stuff than it really deserves. I don't want a whole room of stuff that I'm keeping, because I'm waiting tosell it. My planned limit is one month, and after that time I will donate any items that haven't sold.

I will still be using Poshmark, and possibly FB marketplace, to sell my items, but I will not be shopping in these forums. Hopefully, as I pare down my closet, I will feel less in inclined to shop and add more stuff back to it.

What do you think? Do you have any questions about our plan? Is there anything I haven't addressed that you'd liked me to share or keep track of? Please comment below, I'd love to know your thoughts!