No Buy Month is Here!

If one of your financial goals this year is to save more money, participating in “No Buy Month” might just be one way to bring you one step closer.

February is “No Buy Month” as declared by Natalie P. McNeal, author of the Frugalista Files, a delightful book that chronicles how the blogger got out of debt while maintaining her fabulous life. She also reveals how not spending extra money for just one month helped her save a whopping $400 in just 28 days!

No Buy Month is an annual challenge in which McNeal and her loyal Frugalista followers take the shortest month in the year to achieve the largest savings they can by cutting out ALL non-essential spending. Instead of dining out, participants opt to grocery shop and cook at home.  And, this doesn’t include simply driving past the drive-thru; it includes even avoiding snacks at the vending machine!  Professional manis and pedis are out and don’t think about going to the hair salon! If you don’t need it for your absolute survival, you just don’t need it this month!

Related Post: Financial Book Review: The Frugalista Files

Financial Book Review: The Frugalista Files

“I don’t leave my low-paying, dead-end job, because I need money to pay down my rent, car, and school loans, and to bring down my credit card bills.”

Sound familiar? 

If so, you’re not alone. And that was the great part about reading Natalie P. McNeal’s The Frugalista Files: How One Woman got Out of Debt without Giving Up the Fabulous Life. Knowing you’re not alone in getting a possibly long-neglected financial house in order is one of the most important steps in beginning your journey to financial freedom.

As a sister in the “fab while frugal” struggle, I adored Natalie’s transparency.  She shares more than just her passage from being a pauper to becoming the poster child for personal finance success, but includes candid insight on her professional transformation, personal obligations to family and friends and the real life challenges that take place in a single woman’s life, all while juggling being a staggering five figures in debt.  The way Natalie utilizes metaphors to explain her money woes are both hilarious and relatable. “My student loan is like an old boyfriend who just won’t go away. We had a good run, but it’s time for the relationship to end.”

If you’re a blog rat (no shame in that, I am too), you’ll love the fun and carefree tone of the book. Unlike most money books you’ll find in the “self-help” section, Frugalista Files won’t bore you into a sound slumber or present concepts that are so complex you have to phone a friend. As a blogger myself, I found the tone of the book to be uber friendly and non-condemning. Reading the diary entries allowed me to connect with Natalie in a different way than the Suze Ormans of the world. (Sidenote: I do love Suze. In fact, Suze, if you’re reading, you’re the only white woman I’ve ever wanted to be like.) Ahem. I digress.

Discipline over deprivation is Natalie’s reoccurring theme. She doesn’t preach complete abstinence from spending because really, who the hell would listen anyway?  Rather, she strives to maintain a somewhat fashionable lifestyle by incorporating the idea of “ballin’ on a budget” . . . yes, similar to what the group, Nappy Roots sung about circa 2002. For example, she attended social events, but decided which ones she would go to based on parking rates and the other “hidden fees” of being a social butterfly.  She limited herself to one drink to save money and to prevent alcohol-induced munchies . . . otherwise known as food binges. She began styling her own hair and giving herself mani/pedis, while only visiting a salon on a truly as needed basis. And at the end of it all, the moral of the story is: moderation is key. Frugalista Files shows us how much small changes can make enormous impact by highlighting her decreasing debt balance at the end of each month, or chapter.