Happy February! It’s a great feeling to look back at the month of January and know I stuck to my plan and did some refining to my original intentions.

As I enjoyed getting my financial mojo back I spent a lot of time early in the month exploring some new podcasts and even found a couple creators on YouTube that were a great supplement. (I’ll link them down below.)

In particular, I spent time revisiting tools and interviews in the FI (financial independence) community which inspired a shift in my intention for this year. Last month I wrote that I wanted to get my car loan under $10,000 by the end of 2025. Well, now I want to get it as low as possible. I really wanted to stack up a big emergency fund and increase my monthly investment amount while moderately paying down the car. Now I’m back to recognizing how much of a waste it is to pay that interest and have a certain amount of my take-home pay going to a purchase I made in December of 2023. Let’s just pay the dang thing off!!

So now my plan going forward is to put all extra cash in the month of February into my emergency fund, then starting in March I’ll put $500 into the emergency fund, and the rest toward my car! I should be able to make triple payments on my car every month so I’m shooting for that. I will have it paid off in 15 months if I stick to that! Woo hoo!

Here’s my January recap:

Wins

• Increased the amount of my retirement contributions by the amount of my salary increase. (This brings me to 17%)
• I mentioned in a previous post that I run most of my expenses through a credit card and then pay the statement balance each month. While I never accrue interest, I don’t like that I’m always paying off transactions I made a month ago. In January I was able to pay off the statement balance AND every single transaction I ran through the card during the month! It feels awesome to be starting a new calendar month with a $0 balance. I will pay the card to zero at least weekly going forward.
• Stuck to my approved spending list! For non-consumable items I purchased one pair of road running shoes, bonus joy for buying them from a locally owned running store.
• Replaced one non-consumable items – Ainsleigh’s dog bed. His last one was a few years old, and this new one was $49.99 at Costco. He was absolutely joyous about the replacement.
• I actually returned things! I’m historically lazy about that and have been known to keep ill-fitting items just because I don’t feel like going through the return process. In this case, I had ordered two pairs of trail running shoes in different sizes, hoping one of them would be the Cinderella slipper fit I was looking for. It was close, but not perfect. If I wasn’t so focused on this no-buy year I would have kept at least one pair and used them for hikes and dog walks. (They were also SO pretty, and I don’t often love the look of a running shoe these days.) Double win that I not only returned them, but did it in-person to avoid the cost of returning via shipping. Total return amount was $173.
• I also returned an Amazon purchase from December. It was an off-brand stylus I wanted to use with Procreate on my iPad. I finally shipped that back (after it rode around in my trunk for 6 weeks) and had the $21 credited back to my card.
• Only Amazon purchase was $4.09 for a movie rental! (It was to watch I Origins. The movie was a slow starter, but got WAY more interesting in the second half.) I also cancelled my Amazon membership! I pay for it annually so it won’t be done until April, but I’m very happy to not be giving them any more money.
• I only picked up take-out in Eugene once for Spencer and me. Usually, I do that twice, and come home with multiple ‘treats’ every time I go there. I estimate that I probably spent a solid $150 less by only doing this once, and just getting treats from Sundance one time.
• I stuck to the two-book limit for each month and supported a small business with the purchase.

Temptations

• Honestly, there weren’t a whole lot of these! Though I did notice that if I had a really light night of sleep, I’d be more apt to have spending impulses the next day. Yet another reason to prioritize good sleep hygiene consistently.
• I did get tempted to buy grounding pads for both of the beds. I could see doing this down the road, but for now, we’ll stand barefoot in the yard for grounding goodness.

Missteps and UGH moments

• Nothing big here! The only thing that comes to mind is that I was at Costco THREE TIMES. I want to go just once a month, know what we need for a month +, and not have to go back in there again. But alas, I grossly miscalculated some things. A pleasant surprise is that they now sell Zevia variety packs! This is the only carbonated thing we buy (outside of when Costco has ginger beer in stock) so I’m happy to see that I can get them cheaper. (For a price comparison, non-sale Zevia in a regular store is $1.16 per can, Costco’s price is $0.59. Big difference!)

New Resources

• I discovered the Catching Up To Fi podcast which I really enjoyed, particularly episode 055 called Money Zen.
• I revisited the ChooseFi podcast which is my absolutely favorite finance platform that I listen to. I’d highly recommend episode 032 if you’re just starting to get your financial life together, or are just learning about the financial independence movement.
• Christina Mychas YouTube channel: I had no idea that people doing a No Buy year was such a thing, and what a nice surprise to see that it was! I found her by doing a no-buy search on YouTube. She is a self-proclaimed shopaholic turned intentional spender and has some really lovely content.
• Caleb Hammer YouTube Channel: Have you heard of Financial Audit? If you have any kind of interest in the behind-the-scenes look at people’s finances then you may like this! Caleb had his own messy finances in his younger years so he can relate with a lot of his guests, and he brings a dramatic flair to a lot of the conversations. The image tiles for the videos look dramatic and click-baity, but the content is worth while, especially if you’re trying to surround yourself with motivation to get your shit together.

Reflections

In summary, this month was awesome. I felt a lot of progress, it didn’t feel like a struggle, and I didn’t find myself coveting anything out of boredom or insecurity. I found myself thinking often about how this No Buy Year and my financial goals are about so much more than just my net worth. I intentionally supported small businesses more than normal while having my lowest Amazon spend in months. I noticed that I valued the things I owned even more because I knew I wasn’t consuming more shiny new things. I even shopped in my own closet by wearing every single sweater I own! Some of them I hadn’t worn in a couple years or more, but was happy to find that I still really liked all but one of them. (That one quickly went into my donate box in the basement.)

I paused to think more about things that may be broken or damaged, like my bird feeder. A bear had made a meal out of the seed twice this fall and there are some puncture wounds in the body of the feeder. Instead of buying a new one, I cleaned it out and then covered the holes with electrical tape. It doesn’t look amazing, but the birds don’t seem to care. They’re just happy to have dry seed again! I also looked into replacing my iPhone as it’s an iPhone 11 and is having some functionality issues… but does that really matter yet? Maybe it disconnecting from WiFi often and being slow just helps me to stay off the damn thing.

There was a sense of contentment to this past month. I knew I was making solid choices for my financial future which in turn gives me more choice over time.

I hope you had a good January too! (Or whatever month you’re reading this.) I’d love to hear your wins, missteps, temptations, or favorite new resources in the comment section below!