Shopping Ban Budget + Plan Update

Okay, so I think that I have finally figured out how I am going to do the shopping ban.

I spent some time making sure all of my finances were in order: balancing every account and accounting for every purchase. I moved some money around, paid off my credit cards, and planned for my upcoming trip and other purchases.

In looking at my accounts, I realized I was carrying a significant cushion in my checking account “just in case.” But that just in case amount was too big, so I moved the excess to my savings account until I had $1200 left as a checking account cushion.

I also made sure that all of my automatic payments for my car, insurance, phone bill, and gym membership were set up and running smoothly. Additionally, I reconfirmed all the automatic withdrawals to external savings accounts for things like travel, Christmas gifts, wedding fund, and my personal savings.

In looking at my credit cards, I also took the time to cancel or suspend some subscription services. I went ahead and cancelled HBO Now and suspended my Rocksbox, Dollar Shave Club, and Native subscriptions. (I found out in the inventorying phase of the Shopping Ban process that I have enough razors and deodorant to last literally 6 months….)

Then I started to plan out my budgets for the ban.

In addition to paying for my essentials, i.e. rent, car payments, gym membership, insurances, and Netflix; I am allowing myself to spend $400 on groceries and $400 on going out for dinner & drinks/experiences.

This should give me ample funds to buy groceries for Nate and I as well as allow us to continue to go out and enjoy time with family and friends. I am a strong believer in spending money on experiences like concerts, dinners, shows etc rather than things hence the $400 budget for going out/experiences.

I calculated that with the ban, I should save at least $830 or more each month. And that’s in addition to the roughly $1200/month I am already saving habitually.

The plan is that every payday, my automatic savings and bill pays will trigger, I will go in manually and pay all my credit cards, and then any amount over that $1200 checking account cushion will go right into the shopping ban account.

I already keep a running tab on what I spend on groceries and non-essentials, so it will be easy for me to keep track of how much money I am spending and where it is going. Having the automatic triggers for car payments etc as well as for my other savings goals will also help me stay on track and make sure that everything is being paid and saved as it should be.

It will also give me peace of mind that I am not shirking on any financial responsibilities and keep me accountable because I will have to look at my accounts at least every two weeks if not more.

I plan to continue with my budget tracking in my spreadsheet and I’ve added additional tabs for wedding spending and my shopping ban.

The Shopping Ban sheet looks like this:

It has a running total of what’s in the account and a seperate section for my monthly budget. As you can see, there is an Atlanta budget in March because I am traveling there this month and a hair appointment budget in April.

I started with a little over $300 so I could keep the account in good standing and it was some of that over $1200 excess from my checking account.

I decided that I am allowed to travel and pay for wedding related things, as long as those funds come out of the designated savings accounts. For example, the $500 for Atlanta has to come out of my travel savings account and the hair appointment has to come out of my wedding savings account.

After looking through all of my finances and figuring out what I have to pay and when, I feel really confident that I can successfully complete my shopping ban for at least 3 months, if not more. I’m really kind of excited to get started and learn more about my shopping triggers and what prompts useless purchases. I think it will be a good experiment.

Update to come about Atlanta trip budgeting and how I end March.