My Year of Intentional Spending

This year I am hoping to be more intentional about how I spend my time, energy and money.  It is related to a goal my husband and I have set to try to save as much money as we can during a very costly year- the first year we will have a child in college (followed the very next year when we will have two in college.)  But we are determined to do this without going into debt so in the fall we started looking at ways to increase our savings while decreasing our spending and still maintaining a good quality of life.  (In other words we did not want to resort to our college days of cup-o-soup and ramen noodles for dinner.)

The first round of cuts were pretty easy- no more Green Chef, an organic meal delivery service that would send us two meals per week with recipe cards and all the ingredients I needed for cooking.  We dropped Netflix DVD and started using the library.  (I needed more errands for my son's driving lessons anyway.)  At the same time we dropped Sling.  We had dropped cable years ago so now we are down to streaming Netflix which is now included in our cell phone plan since we switched from Verizon to T-Mobile (another cost-saving measure.)  Next week we will drop to the smaller garbage can as we have become pretty good at composting and recycling and rarely fill our current can.  Last but not least we sold our larger family vehicle, a 2011 Honda Pilot and shuffled the cars around so that now I drive the electric car and no longer use gas for my commute.  My husband, who was using the electric car now drives a very fuel efficient Hyundai Iconic which he also uses for his side hustle of Uber and Lyft.  The teens share the CRV which we also use for family road trips.

Our cost saving choices are not just financial but also a small step to improve our environmental footprint.  So while it is good to save money on the gas and garbage, it also feels good to know we are adding a little less to the landfill each week and less dependent on fossil fuel.  We certainly still have a ways to go but at least it is a step in the right direction rather than just using more and more of everything.

So far this journey has been fun and eye opening.  There is something called Lifestyle Creep which is when you start to spend money a little over time but it can really add up.  At the end of a rough work day you can say lets eat out.  We deserve this.  And next thing you know you are eating out 2 or 3 times a week and it really is not that satisfying.  Now we have pulled back to about once a month and it is back to being a real treat.  (Not to mention the weight loss that occurred along with more meals at home and the major cost savings.)

So to keep me on track and working towards more ways to cut down on time wasters and money waster I am going to try do the following "free" days once a week.  Mainly I am just trying to test habits and see which changes I can adjust to and which might be more than I am ready for right now.  I figure if I just do a day at a time I can at least experiment a little and then hopefully work up to week free as the year progresses.  But for now, this is what I am aiming for one day each week:

Meat free Monday- Shouldn't be too hard for me but I will read labels on that day so maybe it will be harder than I think
Animal Free Tuesday- This will be a lot harder than meat free but I figure anything is possible for a day and maybe I will decide I can make it a weekly standard
Garbage free Wednesday-  I admit I use way too many ziploc bags.  On these days I will need to use my reusable containers and not put anything other than tissues in the garbage.
Spend Free Thursday-  No matter what comes up the wallet can not come out on my spend free days
Screen Free Friday- Aside from work no screen time
Car free Saturday- This means I will need to bike, walk or (if needed) carpool everywhere that I need to that day.
Sunday?  Still trying to think of another free thing- any ideas?  If not I might make it a double yoga day.... still a work in progress

What FI Means to Me

About 18 months ago my husband introduced me to the Mr. Money Mustache blog.  He is a local legend from my town who I have never met but he blogs about the FIRE Movement- Financial Independence Retire Early.  Since then we have been reading more and more about this movement and learning about how this philosophy might fit into our own life.

While we are still working we like the freedom that FI offers.  By reining in our spending and increasing our savings we have more choices.  I know that I could stop working sooner if I wanted to but I am choosing to work as long as I find my work fulfilling.  It is no longer a case that I HAVE to go to THIS job, but I am choosing this work.  If I really decide I am not fulfilled I can choose to do something lower paying but more fulfilling since we have lowered our expenses while also increasing our savings.

Related to having choices, I am using time with intention.  Ultimately time is our greatest asset and FI gives us time to do more of what fulfulls us.  So while I am working and as I make decisions of what I will do when I work less, I ask myself how I want to spend my days.  It is these deep conversations about what makes us happy and how I want to spend my days that helps me solidify what really matters and how I want to use my time.  These are the top ways I want to use my time:  Being with friends and family, hiking, yoga, eating healthy, reading, growing my mind, and traveling to connect with new and old friends and see natural wonders.  

By spending less and using less I am also making more sustainable choices.  Sometimes the differences are not necessarily huge financial gains but they are still worth doing because it is saving money and still making less garbage.  For example, we have tried to eliminate paper towels.  That alone will not lead to FI but it is also rewarding to switch over to rags simple because I like knowing that I am not literally throwing dollars in the garbage when I could simple use a rag.  I also enjoy biking to and from work when the weather allows.  Not only does it save a little on gas, it also gives me a little exercise and I actually enjoy starting and ending my day with some fresh air and sunshine.  
 

In case you are interested in learning more about the FIRE movement, here are some good first steps.

Here is a video from PBS that introduces the Fire Movement.

Mr. Money Mustache lives in Longmont.  Here is his blog.  

I like the ChooseFI podcast- pick and choose the episodes you like but here is a good place to start.