Social media has gifted me with the videos of a woman who reminds followers they don’t need to buy anything today. She has a lovely Puerto Rican accent that makes everything she says sound charming. 

Her videos go something like this:

You don’t need anything from Target today. You do not need anything from TJ Maxx today. You don’t need anything from Amazon today. You don’t need anything from Ulta today. You have plenty of things already. What you need to do is clean.  Don’t shop, go clean your fridge.

Sometimes she instructs viewers to make an extra credit card payment instead of shopping or to declutter instead of buying more. I don’t know who this lady is but I like her!

There are few hills I’m willing to fight for but one is that cleaning and decluttering are the most powerful tools for curbing spending. I have said this repeatedly in my Winter No Spend Challenge stories and agree with her belief that cleaning is a lowkey way to save money. 

When you find yourself decluttering the stuff you once thought you couldn’t live without, you are reminded of the money wasted on small things that don’t matter. There’s something calming about cleaning what you own and appreciating what you already have. 

I don’t need someone to film a video every day telling me not to stop for coffee when there’s free coffee at work or that I don’t need to bargain shop at Marshalls when my kitchen is packed with gadgets. You may not either. 

But after years of watching the rise of the social influencer – you know, the ones who do videos of Walmart hauls and who color coordinate their Stanley cup to their outfit- it’s awfully nice to see people out there reminding us that what these people do isn’t normal. 

I have a good life. I have everything I need and much of what I want. I would travel more if I could but that isn’t in the cards right now.  I have a birthday coming up and the people around me are asking for gift ideas. I’m coming up short unless they want to buy me a kitchen door or maybe another book. Ha! But isn’t that a wonderful problem to have?

If you find yourself in the habit of shopping regularly – for entertainment, for stress relief, for a chance at keeping up with the Jones’ or for whatever reason, today is the day to ask yourself why. Look closely. There are patterns to your behaviors. You just have to pay attention to see them.

Do you need the things? How else can you entertain yourself? What do you already own that you can be using instead? How else might you use that money? 

You don’t need a bunch of random stuff and clearance shelf junk. Go for a walk, clean something, declutter your closet, cook a good meal or call a friend. Focus on building a better life that doesn’t require an avalanche of random things you didn’t know you needed till you saw them at the store.  

Have you considered doing a No Spend Month? Here’s a story about my No Spend Challenge rules!