I didn’t go into this stunt knowing exactly what sort of impact it would have on me emotionally, but it’s been a little crazy. I also didn’t expect it to be as easy as it has been or as difficult as it has been.
Here’s how I’ve spent the money I’ve spent so far:
Disney Annual Passes for Five (& Food & Souvenir Stipend)
We purchased our Disney annual passes and took the children to Disney for 4 days. This was always going to be a thing as we told the kids they had Disney annual passes for Christmas and we fully intended to make good on our promise. We stayed in a Disney value resort at the Florida resident rate, and made one of our children sleep on a nap mat on the floor because the value resort rooms technically only sleep 4 people. We packed our lunches in and ate breakfast in the hotel room – food we had brought down with us. We did eat dinner at the parks, but only at quick service restaurants, and we treated the kids to one ice cream per day. They each got $20 to spend on a souvenir and we encouraged them to make good choices so that they wouldn’t regret their purchases later. We will go to Disney a few more times this year to get our money’s worth out of our annual passes. We will be staying with friends in the area in the future unless we can find phenomenal rates on value resorts on Disney property, in which case we’ll spring for one of those. On future trips, we will do the same for food as we did on this trip, including ice cream, but the children are no longer going to be given stipends. Instead they will have to use their own money to purchase souvenirs they wish to purchase.
Sandals during our Disney trip
Don’t crucify me yet! I took TOMS and my Tieks to Disney with us thinking they were the two most comfortable pairs of shoes I own that simultaneously look good with skirts, because this gal cannot and does not wear shorts. I was wrong. By day 3, I literally couldn’t even walk. I was in tears from the pain in my feet. This wasn’t a blister problem, it was a plantar fasciitis problem and it was very painful. I was tempted to go to the pool for the day and let Kyle take the kids to the parks alone, but instead he offered to buy a pair of Sanuk yoga sandals for me. We went to Downtown Disney where I got 10% off of a pair of Sanuks because I am an annual passholder, and I was able to do two more full days at the parks with my family. Clearly these are my new Disney shoes.
Two candles
I know, totally a want and not a need, but there was a bit of a miscommunication here. I thought Kyle told me we were out of candles and that he wanted me to buy more, so I went to Walmart and purchased some Christmas-theme Glade candles that were 70% off. I won’t make this mistake again.
Skin Care
I believe it’s important to take care of your body, so not included in the freeze is good skin care. The thing is, I switched from Exuviance which I used to purchase at Ulta for quite a lot of money, to Beautycounter which is safer skincare. My friend, Stacy had signed me up as a distributor a few months ago and I purchased the complete
Kids Bath Collection
(it’s gluten free so Grady can use it), and the
Lustro Shimmer Oil
for myself. I love the kid’s line, but the last time I had tried the Nourishing line, my skin went haywire and it made me want to scratch my face off. As I was wondering what I was going to do with my skincare as part of this experiment, my skin suddenly got very, very dry. I had to stop using my Exuviance. I purchased a cheap wash from Target and it made the problem even worse. I did a lot of soul searching trying to figure out what to do, and I decided that I would give the
Essential Nourishing Collection
from Beautycounter a try again. I came to this conclusion in two parts.
1. I can tell my readers about the skincare and hope that they’ll use my links to purchase things from Beautycounter so that I make some commission from them in order to recoup some of the costs of purchasing a whole line of skincare.
2. This challenge is about making *smarter* financial choices, not necessarily becoming a literal miser. Using products on my skin that are good for my skin and that offer financial gains just made sense to me.
I ordered the Essential Nourishing collection and started using it and I’m really, very pleased. My skin feels great, it is no longer itchy and dry, and I feel good about the investment. If you’d like more information on the company and why it’s important to choose safer ingredients to put on your skin, visit my Beautycounter website .
And to measure your current skincare and makeup products up, check out the NEVER LIST for a list of things you should never use on your body.
Chiropractic Care
My youngest son has been complaining of neck pain for quite some time so instead of take him to our primary care physician, I decided to take him to the chiropractor. While there with Madilyn, I decided we would go ahead and get scans. My back was absolutely JACKED, which explains a lot of my health issues. As part of the chiropractic care, I made the decision to pay $45 for a DenneRoll which should correct the forward curve in my neck. Your cervical spine should curve forward, mine curves backwards slightly. This should greatly help with my migraines AND ADHD issues. Believe it or not, I’ve been super motivated the last three days, like Adderall-induced motivated and I haven’t taken any Adderall, so I’m super stoked to see what happens in the next few months.
Reebok Crossfit Shoes
I’ve partnered with Momentum Fitness and will be writing for them in exchange for Crossfit classes and nutrition counseling. I literally had nothing but running shoes to wear, and if you don’t understand the importance of good shoes for fitness, I implore you to look into it. You shouldn’t run in walking shoes, and you shouldn’t do Crossfit in running shoes. I did go to the Reebok outlet, shopped the clearance rack, and used a $20 off coupon, so the shoes wound up costing me about $50. Bonus: I can write them off on my 2017 taxes as they are technically a business expense.
Things I didn’t purchase but would have purchased before:
A fancier hotel at Disney
More Souvenirs at Disney
Music (this has been the most difficult change for me, but I’ve found Amazon Prime music which is awesome, but there’s no Chance the Rapper, so I’m still a little disappointed)
Movies
New clothes to wear at Disney
Gym Membership (I’m partnering with Momentum Fitness this year and will be starting Crossfit THIS WEEK!)
Hair services
I’m Here mugs from Starbucks at every park in Disney
Workout gear for Crossfit (aside from the shoes)
Another pair of Sanuks (because OMG)
I’m an emotional spender
I had a difficult time last weekend and really wanted to go spend money. Before this freeze, I would have gone to World Market or Target and purchased things to clean and spruce up the house, new clothes for the kids, a new movie for the kids, and you know – whatever else popped off the shelf and into my cart. I didn’t spend any money on things we didn’t need, but I did cry my eyeballs out all evening on Saturday. It was hard. I full intended on making an emotional video when I got home, but the kids enticed me to watch a movie (that we already own) with them and we all passed out.
I know I’m going to want to buy Crossfit gear soon because everything I own is ill-fitting, but I’m going to do the best I can with what I have, and when I get to that point, I’ll either post a poll about whether or not I can purchase something inexpensive or I’ll try to partner up with an athletic gear company.
How are you doing with your spending in 2017?
Find out what my motivation behind this freeze is in the original post.
Angela Bishop says
Girl, you know there’s tons of Chance the Rapper on Spotify, right?