LENT SPENDING BAN & SAVING TIPS

I'm not really sure where the hell 2014 is going and tbh I'm still pretty behind when it comes to dates and stuff (someone asked me the month and I said January lol). I was kind of shocked and pretty worried when I found out half way through school yesterday that it was Pancake Day and that I had no clue. The fact that I thought Pancake Day was a few weeks away also explains why I didn't think lent began any time soon... yeah I was wrong.

Anyway during the month of January spending ban posts littered my Bloglovin' homepage and I really commended the people who gave it a go, along with making it clear how I would never do such. Look what  am doing now...

If you know me you probably know that I am a compulsive buyer and my reasons to buy certain items are pretty feeble "OMG it's £3 off", "OMG it's only £1", "OMG if I happended to lose every item in my wardrobe that looks like this it would be so handy" (Yeah I say OMG alot) but I hope you get the point. I was going to do a March spending ban but I decided since it coincided with lent I'd just go that extra bit longer.

The Ban

• Beginning Wednesday March 5 and ending Thursday April 17.
• No clothes to be purchased within this period. 
• No make-up to be purchased.
• No skincare products (except essentials eg. face wash).
• No other beauty products (eg. nail polishes).
• Only one meal out during this period (except Mcdonalds because how will I manage?).
• Transport and other essentials can be purchased.

The main reason for deciding to do a spending ban is because I am going on holiday in Summer with the girls to Zante (eeeeeeeeeek cannot wait) and I need to pay the rest of the holiday and shop for it! Here are a few tips I'm probably going to try to get through this ban:

How to curb compulsive shopping and save

• 'Shop your stash'- you would be surprised at the amount of items you have in your make-up collection or clothes you have in your wardrobe that have been abandoned after one use. Go through old items and products and you could you find something you once loved but totally forgot about.
• Clothes Swap- I am a bad offender of buying too many clothes, most of them I do get a good wear out of but with going out clothes (especially dresses) I tend to wear them only once. If you tend to buy a new dress every time you are going out try swapping outfits with friends or borrowing one of their dresses- clothes can look totally different on different people.
• Wear clothes more than once- No one likes repeating outfits, I am guilty of sometimes but you can get so many wears out of one item by wearing it different ways- layering and accessorising are just two ways you can make something like a dress look completely different, even if it's the same item.
• Pay with cash- This doesn't really tend to help me but in theory paying with cash can help you spend less when shopping, you can physically see the damage from that 'quick trip to Topshop' and know when you are running low on funds. Paying with card makes you almost oblivious as to how much shopping you are doing.
• Think of the bigger picture- You can make whatever you are saving up for your lock screen on your phone or just have a reminder somewhere. For me having the Zante countdown app on my home screen will remind me why I shouldn't get those shoes and encourage me to save.
• If all else fails...- Keep your money in cash and hibernate. This will mean you can't get tempted and sorry no internet shopping either! On a more serious note Pots of Dreams are really good piggy banks that you have to smash to get the money out of, they are so pretty you won't want to damage them.

I feel somewhat hypocritical giving advice that I am probably not going to follow myself but I will give it a shot! Hopefully by writing a post on this and putting it on the internet for all of you to see I will actually have to stick to it.

Have you attempted the spending ban? What are you giving up for lent? Let me know and make sure to follow me on Bloglovin', thanks!