It's been a while since I've done a Spending Update. In 2024, I decided it was finally time to rein in my spending. You can't change what you don't acknowledge, so my first step was to take a whole year to track every penny and analyze my habits and patterns. It was eye opening and extremely helpful. Once I saw my patterns I could set a budget and start sticking to it.
Not to give away my progress report with the title of this post, but I feel like I'm on track with my spending this year. I've had a few slips of course, because I'm not perfect, but overall, I'm really proud of my progress and determined to keep going and do even better in 2026. While I will admit there were some really amazing sales or bargains on items I'd been eyeing for months or years and I did end up spending more than I budgeted for, even that seems like progress because it was all stuff I'd been watching and waiting for; I made zero impulse buys for an entire year! And not once did I sit glued to a screen waiting for the absolute feeding frenzy of a collection drop.
As far as sticking to my budget, the thing that has really made it easier is that I just haven't bought from luxury brands. I can still thrift regularly and stay well within my spending limits by simply avoiding all my favorite but insanely pricey shops. This little resolution has slashed my spending in half and not least of which because those are the very shops that do those mad drops.
I've had a lot of challenges this year, some really difficult times and it's been really tough to take it all without shopping as my emotional crutch. However, I've been working really hard at just feeling the feelings, especially the really tough stuff, and processing it without any crutches. Do I love that? Nope, not at all. Is it good for me? Well, it sucks in the moment, but in the long run, I know that I will be healthier for going through these things in this way, processing my feelings rather than using something to dull the pain or delay the difficulty.
With only a few months left in 2025, I feel really good about how far I've come this year and am more determined than ever to keep it up in 2026. We still have a ways to go before the start of the new year though, so I'll definitely be talking about my budgeting year again.
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