No Buy 2020: June Review

I don't want to talk about it.

Okay, fine. I'll talk about it. But I went off the rails a bit this month. Big time. I spent 112% of my average spending from 2019.

And you know what? I blame my vacation. But you're supposed to enjoy yourself on vacation so I guess I just need to suck it up and deal with it. Here's some of what happened:

$325 on hotels. The drive to visit my sister was 17 hours each way and I wasn't about to do that alone in one stretch. So I had two hotels for that. Plus, we stayed in a hotel near the Rocky Mountain National Park with a balcony and a great view of the mountains.
$300 on gas, an oil change before I left, and a car wash. Sh*t, that was a lot more than I anticipated it would be.
$280 on restaurants and dining. Meals on the road, lots of fun places to eat in Colorado, and a few times I ate out this month with friends before I left. Adds up quick, doesn't it?

I also bought some souvenirs, because no travel for me is complete without a clothing item and a coffee mug. Sorry, not sorry. And we cancelled all our flights, which means I didn't get refunded that money. Instead, it's in my airline account waiting to be used by this time next year. Definitely wishing it had been a true refund...

I'm doing this No Buy with a friend, and we're both, well, really sick of it. I felt like I was doing fine with this whole thing and then I woke up recently and was like, this is a load of crap. I want to buy things without feeling guilty or having to rationalize it. I want new summer clothes and seeing my sister's new apartment makes me want some new decorations for my home.

Maybe I just need to remind myself why I'm doing this. Because I want to be a financially responsible student. Because I don't want to take out more loans than I already need to. Because I will be jobless for at least a year and there will be bills to pay and I don't want to sell my house. That's big, heavy stuff. And that requires big, heavy sacrifices.

And sure, the vacation busted the budget this month. But I felt safe by driving instead of flying. We did a lot of socially distant activities like hiking. I loved seeing my sister and her dog and new place. It was good for my soul to breathe in that fresh mountain air. So yeah, it was worth it.

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