No-spend February, Week 1: How’s it going?

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Last week I proposed a no-spend February. The idea appealed to some readers, for very different reasons

First – and worst! – was Yvonne Wilder’s situation. “We just went through a no-spend month in January, with the government shutdown,” she says.

All discretionary spending was cut, to the dismay of the three children in the household. (Not that what it was much fun for the adults, either.)

However, the stressful situation wound up becoming a teachable moment: “We talked quite a lot about the shutdown and budgets and they were definitely on board.”

Although the family is generally thrifty, Yvonne thinks they could stand to step up their game. January’s crash course “made us all aware of spending on wants instead of needs.”

Which of course is the point of the no-spend February: not that you can’t spend money, but rather that you become super-mindful about how and why you spend.

 

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What would you pay to relive your first kiss?

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Assuming it was worth reliving, that is. For some, the first kiss is pretty dreadful.

A company called Bid On Equipment decided to survey a couple of thousand people to find out what certain once-in-a-lifetime moments would be worth to them. A few examples of average payments:

Relive the birth of first child: $100,622

Attend a Tupac Shakur concert: $4,991

Be at the “Star Wars” premiere: $11,757

Hear the Gettysburg Address: $26,896

It wasn’t clear whether we’d get to relive childbirth knowing then what we know now about things like epidurals.

 

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Join us for a no-spend February.

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Is your budget suffering a holiday hangover? Were you caught in the government shutdown? Or are you just interested in getting control of your cash? A no-spend month could be the right first step to take, and NerdWallet is sponsoring one for February.

To be clear: That doesn’t mean no more fresh fruit until March, or having to shine on a prescription refill. A no-spend month is actually more like a “spend-super-intentionally month.”

On the NerdWallet “Community” message board, my former MSN Money colleague (and now NerdWallet columnist) Liz Weston describes the event as a month where you try to avoid any non-essential spending. Each participant gets to define what is and isn’t essential.

Having done a no-spend month before, Weston describes it as “kind of magical.” Specifically:

“Not only do we save money, but we get creative finding no-spend workarounds when unexpected situations pop up.

“We get clearer what’s a necessity and what isn’t, which can really help us get a grip on our spending going forward.

“We appreciate that having any discretionary spending is a blessing. For many, every month is a no-spend month because they don’t have any extra money beyond what it takes to survive (and sometimes not even that).” 

Sound good?

 

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A few Polar Vortex essentials.

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Lately I’ve been amusing myself by searching “current temperature in Chicago (or Minneapolis, or Madison)” off and on.

Amusing to me, maybe. If the Polar Vortex made it 30 below zero outside my own window I wouldn’t be laughing at all.

That’s especially true this week, when the worst cold (as in “rhinovirus”) in living memory knocked me off my pins. Since Sunday evening I’ve mostly felt like homemade shit and, despite the relatively mild outdoor temperatures (low 30s) I’ve frequently had trouble staying warm.

That’s why I feel qualified to offer some tips on remaining at least moderately comfortable if you’re living through a cold snap (or even just a cold).

 

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Marie Kondo minimalists: Don’t give away the store.

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GetAttachmentThumbnail(Happy Throwback Thursday! This article originally ran on April 11, 2016, but its subject – Marie Kondo –  is hotter than ever, what with her new book and her Netflix series. The piece has been slightly updated to reflect those facts, but its basic theme remains the same.)

Over at the Budgets Are Sexy blog, host J. Money shared a startling fact: He almost gave away his coin collection.

The mohawked numismatist is known throughout the personal finance blogosphere to be someone completely devoted to what he calls “tiny pieces of metal.” Yet he’s reflecting on whether such attachments are entirely healthy.

“That’s right – the guy who only has one main hobby left, and created an entire blog dedicated to these historic beauties, almost gave up collecting entirely,” he wrote in a post called “When it’s time to detach yourself from your things.”

The collection was “the last remaining ‘thing’ I owned that I was still overly attached to and didn’t want to be anymore.”

I get it. Marie Kondo and her “Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” is all the rage right now. The underlying theory is good: Get rid of what you don’t use/may never use/no longer matters.

But allow me to point out that fads come and fads go. Minimalism may be one of them, and joining in could mean shooting yourself in the frugals.


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About my daughter’s divorce.

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In a post on Nov. 14, I apologized for having maintained radio silence for so long and suggested that at some point I’d explain why.

That point is now. As the headline indicates, my daughter (whose blog some of you follow) was recently divorced. When I wrote the Nov. 14 post, I’d been back in Anchorage for only three days. Prior to that I’d been in Phoenix – for nearly three months.

Those were pretty awful months. Abby’s trio of posts on the process will give you some idea of why:

I’m divorced

I’m divorced, part 2

I’m divorced, part 3 (and the end)

It will take a bit of time to scan these, but I hope you will – because I can’t do justice to her side of the story. One reason that it’s taken me so long to tell my own is that processing it took time. The other reason is that I couldn’t think of a way to explain what happened without making it all about me.

But the experience did take a toll, so I’ve decided to present some of my own recollections the way a book gets a preface or an afterword.

 

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Adventures in the clearance section.

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Yesterday I was the most reluctant of errand-runners. I’d slept poorly the night before. I’d gotten a late start on the day. I’d needed to deal with a retirement planning thingy that required visits to two different financial institutions.

At that point all I wanted was to go home. But the bag of emptied printer cartridges was rattling on the floor. For ages I’d been meaning to drop them off for recycling.

Grumpily, I forced myself to drive to Office Max. Once I’d handed over the cartridges at the front desk I was ready to bolt for home.

However, I have an ironclad policy: Always check the clearance section.

I headed for the rear of the place. And boy, did I score.

 

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Found money, food money.

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All year long, I find money: on the sidewalk, on the floor in the checkout lane, in the Coinstar return bin. And every year I count it, round it up and donate it to the food bank.

This year’s take is $10.25: a dollar bill, 12 quarters, 45 dimes, seven nickels and 140 pennies. This adds up to $10.25.

Picking up found coins is one of the tactics I suggest in the “Challenge Yourself to Save” chapter* of my first book. The reason? It works. Despite my not walking nearly as much in Alaska as I did in Seattle, and despite my mostly staying out of the stores, I still managed to glean a little over 10 bucks.

 

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Giveaway: Dollar Dig swag, $50 Amazon card.

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Dollar Dig widget

Recently the creator of the Dollar Dig cash-back site sent me a box of logo items. Bless his heart.

While I will donate some of these things to a local shelter, I’ve also decided to pass along a few to my readers.

Not only is it just plain fun to win something, I figure the fruity-bright colors will add a little cheer to the dark days of winter.

Bonus: Winning a T-shirt is God’s way of saying, “You can put off doing laundry for one more day!”

Or, if you’re more virtuous: “Look! A brand-new T-shirt to wear to those workouts you swore you were going to do every day in 2019!”

Either way, here’s what’s up for grabs:

 

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Charity overload.

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I’m drowning in end-of-the-year charity solicitations. Social causes, political action groups, health-care organizations, educational advocacy agencies…Some I’ve never heard of, some I’ve helped in the past. All of them worthy.

Thanks to texting, social media and e-mail lists, marketing departments have more ways than ever to reach out to us. “They know that we have a tendency toward (giving) at this time of year, and they really double down on it,” says behavioral finance expert Dr. Ted Klontz, co-author of books like Mind Over Money: Overcoming the Money Disorders That Threaten Our Financial Health.

You’re aware that need exists, and would like to help. But giving without a plan could potentially turn you into a charity case.

“If you harm yourself financially, you’re creating the same kind of problems you’re trying to solve,” says Manisha Thakor, vice president of financial education for Brighton Jones and author of On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl’s Guide to Personal Finance.

I talked with Manisha and several other money experts for an article on a new website, Considerable.com. All of them told me pretty much the same thing:

 

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