I read something the other day about going on a "shopping diet" where you stop spending money on anything other than the bare necessities. Turns out I've been on that one for a while, and it's a much more successful diet than the other, infinitely more sucky one where I give up eating all the lovely, delicious things that I enjoy so much. I inadvertently started shopping dieting a couple of months ago when I got a letter from Telstra telling me they were cutting the cost of my monthly internet access by $50. That’s right, they’re actually charging me less. I know, I couldn’t believe it either! So now I had an extra $50 a month to put towards my very slow growing holiday savings fund. It got me thinking about how I could save more money and, much like the other kind of diet, I knew I had to take a good look at my spending habits if I was going to make some real changes. First off I placed an embargo on all book and DVD purchases until further notice. Now normally I would consider these items crucially important to my day to day happiness, however working in a library should mean never having to buy a book or DVD, so I really had no excuse other than wanting something and wanting it now rather than waiting my turn. This one is easy to keep because I still feel a very strong sense of shame when I see the piles of unread books I’ve bought over the last couple of years that I so desperately had to have at the time. I also have a healthy collection of DVDs still wrapped in plastic. This is the reason I actively avoid JB HiFi stores, I'm a sucker of those "buy me I'm cheap" stickers. I will, however, never skimp on music. That’s a different thing entirely. I’ll always buy a CD or pay for a download of something I really want because, unlike the books and DVDs, I know I'll actually listen to it.
It was much harder to give up the things that seem fairly small on their own, but add up to a lot of wasted money in the long run. The occasional pair of earrings or a new lipstick. Magazines I skim through but never really read. Impulsive “no reason” presents for my niece or nephew. Even seemingly useful things like plastic containers (one of my major vices) are superfluous when I already have a kitchen cupboard full of them. And of course actual food dieting also helps since (in theory, anyway) I won't be buying all those lovely treats that I usually can't resist. I’ve had to re-evaluate the shopping habits of a lifetime, and the weird part is, after the initial feelings of deprivation, it turns out I don’t actually mind all that much. Maybe it’s middle age or maybe I’ve finally just learned to be sensible, but my shopping diet is nowhere near as painful as the other diet. I still miss the shopping buzz, that tiny moment of joy I’d get from buying something pretty but ultimately unnecessary, but I don’t actually miss the excess stuff. Occasionally I have to fight the desire for instant gratification to avoid paying full price for something that I know I can get cheaper elsewhere, or at least force myself to wait a few weeks until the same thing is on sale. And I can't quite bring myself to be as frugal as I'd really like to be, but I'm a lot closer than I was. I've even unsubscribed from most of my shopping emails so I won't be tempted by apparent "bargains" that really aren't. I feel smug when I don’t spend money that I could have spent, and I even get a small buzz from watching my savings increase. Now, if I could just transfer that feeling of smug satisfaction to food deprivation and weight loss I’d be laughing. Unfortunately, while I will hopefully have some temporary success in that area, I think chocolate will always win the final battle, especially if it’s on sale.
