January review and mindful spending
January was a month of big-spending, I was going to chicken out of tracking it all and say ‘Er yeah, I bought a car and a bunch of accessories to go with it’ and not have a trace of it in my book, then again I love using my Kakebo book and seeing the end of year pie charts like this one here. It was an exercise on self-discipline and comparisons throughout the month, obviously, I’m not buying a car each month.
Two interesting things about this January:
I drew a page in my journal of my best buys through January in Covid-19 Lockdown from tracking in my journal. I went through my Kakebo book and had fun drawing. The most surprising thing is the drawings are very simple however the process is very slow and long. I draw, outline, and water colour it, seeing as I can’t always do this in one sitting, it takes a while. This helped me think more about my purchases and slowed me down not to buy anything else for a while! From it, I got the idea to draw self-care I had been doing on the other page. I highly recommend Draw your Day by Samantha Dion Baker or start drawing and see what happens.
Secondly, I moved out of the cycle of consumerism by not buying anything or waiting for the postman. Since the start of January I had sent off important documents that took 2-6 weeks to come twice, my family sent presents that took 3 weeks to come and I was buying items here and there for child play and general living.
It feels like Covid heightens the buying experience as you buy, wait, use, buy stuff again repeat as much as you like! We’re not physically going to shops though at a click of a button it’s ours. This can put us in an entirely different energy, call it eager or in anticipation even a high from buying.
Surely I could be saving money not going to soft play, for car parking, to the farm or petrol to our parents? Yes, I am to some degree, though with the job hunting (it feels like a hunt right now) I’m saving a little, save for when I do need petrol or kiddie places open and spending on needs over wants.
I feel like the character Julia Robertson plays in Erin Brochovich ‘I don’t need your pity I need a paycheck. I’m smart and I’m hard working. I am not leaving here without a job’.
Getting out of the internet spending cycle feels freeing, seeing a row of NO SPEND DAYS is great too.
Here is are some drawings I did on the ipad drawing of the spending cycle/trap I’m talking about, buying needs and mindful spending.