No Buy? More like Low Buy

Yup, it happened. I broke. I bought a pair of shoes.

Which, if you know me, is kind of strange because I'm not really a big shoes person. But I have a bunch of sandals that are old and worn out, and I've been dying to have a pair of Birkenstocks for over a year now (which are obviously too spendy). So I think this longstanding want plus too much deprivation led to me ordering a nice pair of White Mountains (with a discount, of course).

It took me days to actually pull the trigger and buy them. I knew it was breaking the rules. But then I said, "to heck with it!" and here we are.

In my post about June's No Buy results, I mentioned that my friend who is doing this with me and I are really getting sick of this whole thing. We've been at it diligently for 6 months and even though we were both cruising along just fine for quite awhile, we've majorly hit a wall.

A big part of me wanted to say, "well, we did it for six months and that's already a big accomplishment so let's just quit now and be glad we made it as far as we did."

And yes, six months of a no buy is an accomplishment. But I still have a goal to reach and I know that if I don't have rules I will go off the rails. Just being budget conscious isn't enough because, believe me, I can justify spending money on a lot of stupid crap.

None of that stupid crap, though, is worth having to take out more loans down the road.

So, we adjust. My friend and I came up with a plan to have a $40 fun budget each month. $40 to spend on things that don't fit the rules of the no buy (which, I suppose, is now technically a low buy... but I digress). Honestly, $40 isn't much but my spending-deprived self has already come up with a hundred ways to spend that money.

For July, that money was my new shoes. Here's hoping they're worth it! 😆

Thanks for reading,
Olivia

Comments

PA School Interviews: 35 Practice Questions and Tips for Zoom

Getting ready for PA school interviews? Congratulations! And while interview season may look a little different this year (Zoom calls, anyone?), the importance of being properly prepared is still the same! I used to work in advertising and public relations, and sometimes I would prepare experts to talk to the media. What was the most important thing for the experts to do? Know your key messages. There's going to be topics you know will likely be addressed in an interview, so be prepared to speak to those specific things. Same goes for PA school interviews. Yes, I've heard of programs asking some off-the-wall questions that you probably wouldn't see coming, but generally speaking there's a variety of likely topics that will come up. My advice? Think through how you want to answer those questions ahead of time. For me, this looked like an 11-page Google doc with sample questions I prepared answers for. It forced me to think through scenarios I'd want to share and my ...

Resiliency: PA School During a Pandemic

I saw this article on Facebook and it really hit home for me: "Your 'Surge Capacity' is Depleted -- It's Why You Feel Awful." I strongly encourage you to read the whole article yourself, but a few things stuck out to me that I feel compelled to share. First, what's surge capacity? It's your adaptive abilities for dealing with acute stress. The problem with a pandemic is that it isn't really acute in the same way that a massive tornado or other disaster might be. We're in this for the long haul, and if you're like me, those adaptive abilities have worn thin. For me, this has looked like feelings of helplessness and exhaustion. I've spent a lot more time on my couch watching bad reality TV than I'd like to admit. But with school starting in up in less than a week, that really isn't going to fly. So how does a student (in an intensive graduate program) keep moving forward? "Both-And" Thinking One of my favorite lessons fro...

How I Study During PA School

Many students find that they need to adjust their study habits when it comes time to tackle the information overload of PA school. I was certainly in that camp. My study skills up until that point were effective, but I knew both the time commitment and complexity of material was going to be a challenge. If you're starting PA school and freaking out about your study habits, don't panic! Take a deep breath and consider what has worked well for you in the past. For me, I'm old school and I like writing things out by hand. Plus, I've found that digital flashcards are a great way to practice topics that require a lot of repetition. My study habits may not work for you. But, I still wanted to share so you have some ideas as you build your own studying framework. 1. Use OneNote to take notes on PowerPoints during class. My laptop is an HP Envy x360 , so it flips into a tablet. I import any provided materials, like PowerPoints, into OneNote and use my tablet pen to jot d...

OJ the PA

Search This Blog