Ask Sherry: What made me want to reduce my spending? & my macaron addiction

You asked, and I am answering every Friday once I have enough questions!

You can ask any question using the form here.

So. You haven’t mentioned macaroons in a long time. Are you over them?

Never! I actually ate a lot of them in Toronto, and have had some lately on and off, but.. didn’t think I needed to update everyone on them.

Just had some last week. If you followed me on Instagram @saverspender and watched my Stories, you’d see I eat them quite often. I post everything there in Stories as updates to my life.

Hi Sherry! Congratulations for your new website. It’s nicer and more practical than the older one and it’s easier to find information in the top menu.

Thank goodness!

Maybe you can add a link to this Google form on your Ask Sherry page. (I don’t know how to find the link to this form unless I open an “Ask Sherry” post.)

I can’t change it, I am not really an expert web developer by any means, so I actually have the form link 2 in spots aside from in the Ask Sherry posts.

1. In my sidebar menu to the right of website

2. On my CONTACT page in the sidebar

What I would like to ask you is: what made you want to reduce your spending?

I don’t know. I suspect that it is partly the influence of all of these other lower spending folks I am in more direct contact with on Instagram @saverspender which has influenced me a little.

You mentioned in a blog post that you would like to stick to a budget from now on and also gave some advice about how not to spend so much, like don’t browse shops if you don’t need anything, etc.

Is it a feeling that you now have plenty of everything?

Do you feel that time is flying and you’d like a bigger net worth when you’re older? Or what else?

The main reason I want to reduce spending in the interim, is because I actually have a set goal within reach:

I want to be a millionaire by Spring 2020

So far, it looks like I’ll get there.

It’d be nice to say I am a millionaire at 36, has a nice ring to it. A nicer more even number than 37, otherwise I’d just say “SCREW IT” and wait until 38 or 40. 😛

See, when I was getting out of $60K of debt, I saw $60K of debt as THE GOAL.

Once I was out of it, the savings part was limitless, which actually hindered me because I had no goal of “$1M by 30” or those other crazy things because I knew I wanted a work-life balance.

So, I just sort of relaxed on the spending, meandered around spending whatever I wanted, and have been doing it for the past decade.

Once I hit millionaire status, I suspect I’ll loosen back up once that position is secured.

I am really not rigid in terms of forcing myself to stick to these things and getting mad if I don’t reach my “goals” as I find all of it kind of arbitrary.

There are other things too…

I think your other points are also valid — I do have plenty of everything, and I am getting tired of accumulating.

Do I really need all this other stuff? I have started buying food more instead of things, which isn’t necessarily better for my waistline or health (working on that), but I am far more environmentally conscious these days than I ever was in the past.

I see it as a game more than anything

I have re-focused back onto savings because again, that Instagram influence, but also just seeing how far I can go if I applied myself.

I enjoy challenges to some extent. Spending $40K will be a real challenge for 2020, and a reset mindset for me, as I have not really been careful with my spending in past years.

I’m curious to see if I CAN do it, and if I can do it, I know I will be able to go back to it, no matter if I spend more the following year or not, if that makes sense.

I’d like to have a killer year making a lot of income, and see whether I can spend very little, and what the result would be in savings.

Once I do it, then I know I can get back to it. I don’t need to re-prove it to myself again that I CAN deflate my lifestyle and be happy doing it and not feel deprived.

FYI – I don’t care too much about goals of hitting certain net worths by age

The numbers themselves don’t matter, once I am past $1M.

I am already farther ahead than many in my cohort with no financial help to speak of, saddled with student debt, not having been allowed to live at home “for free” (I paid rent that entire time I was at home, and many parents never ask their kids of that except for mine, plus I am also not a freeloader), etc.

I also know that even with ALL OF THAT, I only worked 57% of the time.

When you don’t work, you don’t make money.

When you spend money, you don’t save it.

This sounds like such stupid common sense, but I know it is why I did not “make it to a million by 30” for a great headline on the blog, so I feel a twinge when I can’t say that because I know I could have reached it .. but chose not to.

What I do know is that if I looked at the time actually worked WITHOUT all the time taken off to gallivant around the world, have a semi-leisurely pregnancy with Little Bun and not be stressed, I would have been a millionaire by 30.

I can’t UNDO time, but I also wouldn’t.

I don’t regret taking that time off, I don’t regret NOT working, I don’t regret spending, I don’t regret anything.

I just accept that the headline isn’t as shocking/cute/motivating, but *shrug* WHO THE F CARES (not that I am mad, I am just expressing my general attitude towards all of it.)

There’ll always be someone richer, younger, hotter, smarter than you (and/or all of the above), so why bother beating yourself up that you aren’t them?

Just be you – hence why I don’t care about net worths by age goals.

As a former shopaholic, as you called yourself, with what do/will you replace the time spent shopping or browsing?

Still shopping. But shopping secondhand, and in thrift stores. I have stopped retail spending 99%. I draw the line at underwear and socks.. and very very special pieces like this dress:

I will be doing the following:

• Blogging more – doing more scheduled posts
• Instagramming – Yes building it up to 10K followers so I can get the Swipe Up option and then I’m golden
• Reading – LOTS OF READING. I read over 100 books one year.. if I recall correctly. I can do that again. Why not?
• Spending time hanging out with friends – I don’t have time to shop if I am hanging with friends, etc.

Basically.. anything but shopping. Which I have already been sort of weaned off on anyway. I am excited to see how low I can get my budget for 2020, how much money I can make by doing more selling on the side on Poshmark, and seeing how big I can make that gap between Earning & Spending.

HOW EXCITING IS THAT!!

Who knows if this will last. It might only last for 2020 and then I go back to being a degenerate spender. *shrug*

Thank you.

No thank you for the sweet comment and the thoughtful question. I had to dig a little deeper for this one.

Still have a burning question?

You can ask any question using the form here and all of my previous Ask Sherry posts are here.