View Blogs By Author: Bonnie Ungaro

(Guest contributor) In July of 2010, I decided to quit shopping and spending money excessively for one whole year. A woman I saw on the Oprah show inspired me to make this commitment. She and her partner quit shopping for one year and she managed to pay off her $8,000 credit card debt and saved another $8,000 on top of it. My first goal was just to save money. Fortunately for me I did not have much debt, only a couple thousand that I had to pay off from purchases I made right before I quit shopping. My goal now is to continue to save money for a trip to visit my friend in Italy. I have never been; I have always talked about visiting but never had the money.

When I first began this adventure, I did not tell many people about it. I have always shared silly ideas similar to this with friends in the past. However, I did not stay committed to my ideas. I knew I wanted to finish this challenge. So about one mouth into it, I started sharing with people that I quit shopping and spending money for a year. My close friends and even my husband said that it was a stupid idea and that my life would be boring and suck if I did this. Well I am proud to say it has almost been 5 months since I have gone shopping or spent money excessively. I have gone on two vacations since this challenge began, purchased before I quit spending, and I successfully fought the urge to splurge on these trips. Instead I gifted items to the people I was visiting. Really I felt so much happier giving to another than purchasing anything for myself. I have learned quite a bit about myself and have a renewed sense of appreciation for the gifts of life that are most important since I began this journey. I look forward to the continued challenge this journey brings as I have until July 6th 2011 before I can shop or spend again. I quit Shopping (on BlogSpot)