Have you taken the Get Out of Debt Pledge and you planning on starting a Spending Fast soon?
Here are a 7 ways to prepare for your Spending Fast…
1. Make a few last purchases
Yep, look at me giving you the go-ahead to shop! Now just don’t go out and buy yourself hundreds of gift cards;) Decide what things might make your life a little easier throughout the year. I bought a few silly things before the start of my Spending Fast (hair ties and dry shampoo), and later I kind of regretted not giving it a bit more thought (see what I bought). I would recommend that you make sure you have a versatile and sturdy work shirt and work pants. I wore black cotton pants throughout the year of the Spending Fast, and then re-dyed them to make them feel a little bit fresher. You might also want to stock up on your craft supplies so you can easily make gifts throughout the year. Heck, buy something stupid for yourself too. Hair ties for all!
2. Tell your family and friends
By telling your family and friends about your upcoming Spending Fast you’ll help to prepare them about what to expect, and it will help you strengthen your commitment as you get closer to your start date. Often it’s the relationships with those closest us that will get hit the hardest with the Spending Fast since it’s such a lifestyle change. Explain your reasons, get them excited with you, and do your best to gain their support. By getting your family and friends on board it can help tremendously but then again, if they aren’t supportive don’t let that deter you from changing your life because you can still do it; it just might be a little harder. The Spending Fast will get tough at times and having support in place can really help (remember there is always #4- see below). Also, another little tip: if your family and friends ask you a zillion questions and you don’t know the answers to all the questions (that happened to me) just say, “I’ll figure it out along the way. I just know I have to get out of debt.” Trust me, I didn’t have a lot of answers when I started and it worked out juuussttt fine!
3. Go out to eat and really enjoy it
If you’re going head-first into the Spending Fast that means no more eating out. Seriously, you can make it through this! Enjoy that dinner out (I gotta say it, in moderation, of course;).
4. Get involved in the And Then We Saved Community
The Community area on this site is a great place to get support and it’s an awesome spot to get and give encouragement to others. If you’ve figured out a perfect way to deal with a social situation then it can probably help someone else too (and I’d love to hear what you learn along the way too). In the Community you will also be able to write out your Wants and Needs list. It’s fun to see how different each person’s list is based on each person’s different life priorities.
5. Read up on How to do a Spending Fast
This post on How to do a Spending Fast lays it all out.
6. Sign-up for the Free Updates
There is a ton of support and encouragement that I want to give to you! You can sign-up here.
7. Get excited! You’re going to change your life!
Can you even believe what you’re about to do?! You’re taking your own life and you’re going to change it, and all without a big lotto win and without a new job. Do you feel pro-active and in control of your life? Well, you should! You can SO do this! I can’t wait to hear about how your life changes and about the new freedoms that come to you from living a debt-free life.
It is going to be so awesome!
You CAN do it!
Are you going to do a Spending Fast? How are you preparing for the year ahead?
P.S. Ready to get out of debt ASAP? Check out the Spending Fast Bootcamp!
My husband and I are PUMPED to officially start the spending fast on Monday! Technically we switched into the “diet” mode this month in preparation. We even skipped out on traveling for Christmas, which was a HUGE deal for us.
It’s amazing what happens when you stand in your truth, especially with finances. People respond with genuine understanding. I think it allows other people to he truthful about their situation!
I’m starting the diet on Jan. 1. Would like to do the fast, but with a 1 year old who needs clothes (and all of my friends had girls, so no hand-me-downs) and a husband who likes to occasionally go to a movie, etc., I thought a diet would be more realistic. Need to get out of credit card and medical bill debt so we can think about having baby #2. I’ve been reading the archives and I’m pumped. It has completely changed the way I look at spending money. Online clothes shopping sites are my weakness. I unsubscribed to all the emails I get re: sales, etc. I’ve been shopping my closet and have been surprised, and quite frankly a little mad at myself, at how many clothes I’d forgotten I had. Thank you for your blog!
We’re not doing an official spending fast, but we’re desperate to get rid of my husband’s student loan debt (ugh) so we’re funneling as much money as possible toward it in 2013. That means hardly spending on anything outside of necessities – but were giving ourselves a bit more leeway. We’re frugal as it is, though, so we feel we can trust ourselves.
How long is this spending fast lasting for?
I did mine for 1 year
Maria, the best advice I got was to unsubscribe from those emails. If you can’t bring yourself to do that, at least set up an alternate email address so you only check the ads when you NEED something. Good luck!
I have a car loan to pay off and am doing the fast until March and the diet afterwards. :)
I unsubscribed. Painful, but necessary.
I just quit my job and don’t have another one lined up yet – cue spending fast!
This is off topic … but I absolutely love the photo you used in this post!