July without purchases: Is it really worth it?
You may have heard of the “Frucal February”. But what about the “July without shopping”? The seventh month of the year has become the seasonal focus of the “without spending” budget trend, popular on social networks, when people commit not to do discretionary expenses for a period to save, pay debts or simply control finances.
Interest in “financial fasting” comes at a time when many Americans face financial uncertainties. Millions of student loan debtors are delinquent, and many others are having difficulty resuming payments after a long break during the pandemic. Delays in credit card payments are increasing. And while inflation has diminished, there is still concerns that tariffs can make it rise again.
“Things are very expensive now,” says Jasmine Renae Ray, a financial planner in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “People are asking, ‘How can I save money? What can I control?’
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Seeing how much you can save by eliminating non -essential items can turn the process into a game rather than a painful sacrifice, says Gretchen Rubin, host of the “Happier” podcast, who wrote about her own unintentionally experience. “It’s a fun experiment,” she says. “This forces you to face your consumer habits.”
There was also a cultural change, with some Americans more willing to talk openly about money – or the lack of it – and adopting a more contained consumption, according to Janelle Sallenave, Chime’s spending director, a financial technology company. “Being frugal was seen as being a hard bread,” she says. “Now, it’s seen as being intelligent.”
But why July?
February is traditionally considered an ideal month to squeeze their belt, as people try to pay for the holidays credit card bills or maintain New Year’s financial resolutions. It is not so clear because July, usually associated with vacation, has become the target of aspiring economic.
“The month of July seems to me to be a bad choice,” says Annamaria Lusardi, director of Stanford University’s financial decision -making initiative. Private yourself during a planned period of relaxation can be even more difficult than at other more structured moments of the year, she says. (When it returns to Italy Natal to rest, she likes to have two ice cream a day instead of one.) In addition, it is a month when some families with children can start shopping from the return to school, entering the way of spending.
Some enthusiasts attribute the choice of July, at least in part, to the creative title. “Rhyme and it’s very flashy,” says Rubin, which makes it easy to remember. ().
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Still, some financial planners say that analyzing consumer habits in summer can make sense. If you set financial goals in January, reviewing your resolutions in July to see if you are progressing it can be useful, says Gloria Garcia Cisneros, a certified financial planner in Los Angeles. “It’s a moment of check, in the middle of the year,” he says.
Paula Holloway, a plus size fashion influencer in Indiana who keeps a blog, says she has “wished” consuming fasting since she tried one a few years ago. She argues that it may be easier for some people to cut spending in July, as spending more time outdoors can decrease the appeal of online shopping and help fight the sense of sacrifice. “It’s summer, we have several other things happening, so we get distracted,” she says.
What learning a period without purchases can it bring?
Rubin says that deciding in advance not buying superfluous for a month has released time that he was once spent researching products and debating if he should buy them. “Decision tiredness disappears,” he says.
Holloway says she commit not to buy new clothes for a month helped her be more creative with the pieces she already had in the closet. Now she thinks about looks like recipes: sometimes, she just takes an ingredient, not a new set. “I left that more strategic about what I’m going to buy,” he says.
The process has helped her be more aware of spending, especially now that she and her husband approach retirement, says 60 -year -old Holloway. “Everything I say ‘yes’ is now a ‘no’ for something else,” he says.
Do consumer diets have lasting effects?
James Choi, Finance Professor at Yale School of Management, says he does not know research that shows if cutting spending for a short time can improve someone’s finances in the medium or long term. “My instinct is that, as in diets, sustained lifestyle changes are necessary to really change the financial situation in the long run,” Choi said by email.
And a consumer fast can be followed by a shopping outbreak, just as if depriving too much of food can lead to eating too much later. But it is unclear if with spending it works the same way, he says. “We just don’t know.”
Lusardi says he prefer a more consistent approach to budget and consumption. “My concern is that, knowing it will do this in July, you end up spending more in June,” he says. “It’s a little complicated.”
In addition, she notes, people are bombarded by marketing messages, email promotions and SMS, encouraging to buy. Without a sustainable consumer plan throughout the year, she says, “I don’t think a month’s challenge will overcome it.”
What if I want to try ‘July without shopping’?
The idea is to limit any expense beyond the basics, such as rent, accounts, supermarket and medical care.
But there are no rigid rules, and you can decide on your own what will give up and how to define a “superfluous.” Is getting a Uber released? And ask for food for iFood? Rubin says she and her sister, who also participated in the month without spending, agreed that buying gifts for other people was allowed if the birthday was imminent, but stocking gifts for the future not.
Swards recommends using the period without purchases to increase financial consciousness. “Periods without spending can be powerful if they are viewed with the right mindset,” says Cisneros. You might ask yourself, “Where is my money going? Is it going to things that really matter to me? Where should he go?”
Instead of ‘no’, try ‘less’
Periods without purchases are options mainly for those who have budget space for superfluous, says schisms. “These are people who can afford to cut.” If your budget is already tight, consider reducing for a shorter period – a week, for example – or try a month of “less shopping” instead of “no purchase”.
One tactic suggested by several people to “July without purchases” is to write down the item or items you would like to buy instead of simply clicking the purchase button. Then review the list in August to see if you still want any of them.
Rubin says her without spending month encouraged her to seek new ways to reduce purchases. She loves reading, but the pile of bought books was getting uncontrollable. So this year, she is living what she calls the “tsundoku” summer, a Japanese word for the habit of letting books accumulate without being read. Instead of buying more books, she is reading the ones she already has at home.
This article was originally published in The New York Times.
