I think this is called "learning."

So, for the last few weeks, if you are my friend on twitter or gchat or in real life you have been bombarded by my adoration of this personal finance blog. I cannot say enough about how much this one blog has inspired me to get real about my finances, including the mountain of debt from law school (legit) and college frivolity (not legit.) This woman essentially went on what she termed a "spending fast" for an ENTIRE YEAR (this is crazy talk to me, the consummate consumer) and found that JUST by not buying excessive things (nothing that wasn't on her "needs" list, like groceries or tampons) for 12 months, she could pay off $18,000 worth of debt. EIGHTEEN K.
I highly recommend reading this if you want any inspiration about how to spend less and save more, and be okay with that being part of your life.

Of course, I read this blog and think about how great this all is and how I can TOTALLY do this because, hell, I brought my lunch to work four days in a row! No problem! Easy peasy. Just stop shopping, stop buying drinks out, stop going to crazy expensive brunches and lunches and dinners with my friends, and start chipping away at the insane amount of negative money I have attached to my name these days.

One minor problem: After reading this blog for a week, I got a job. Great! Not so great? The thought process that led me to purchase a leather tote from Banana since "I need a professional bag for work now." Nevermind that I have another black bag. Nevermind that when I accepted the position the guy said their dress code was business casual. Nevermind that I have no money! Nope, black bag it is.

Until... it arrives. And it's gorgeous and fantastic. Except I don't need it. My mom knows I don't need it, my friends know I don't need it, and my psyche knows I don't need it. What do I do? Take the tags off, leave the invoice at home, and bring it to SF. Where I promptly decide, I don't need it.

Now I get to be that girl who, at twenty five years old, is calling her mother and asking her to dig through the little plastic Ikea trash bin to find the little pink Banana tag so she can be responsible and return it. Yep. That's me.

Moral of the story is: CUT IT OUT MADDY. I should just make it a habit to look at Mint every day and remind myself how much money I have to pay off before I can even think about buying "professional leather totes."

Challenge: SPENDING FAST. For at least six months. If I can make it that long, I will be so incredibly impressed with myself. Ack.

NEXT POST: Me trying to make these.