Hi Everyone, I hope you had a very restful Christmas/New Year.
I’m usually not a fan of having a New Year’s resolution — I think the mindset alone almost guarantees failure by relying on motivation during a period of liminality (more liminality here).
Using motivation as a springboard is already starting off on the wrong foot in my opinion — what happens when you’re out of motivation? The answer is almost always slipping back into your old ways. The goal, as always, should be a focus on shifting your habits and building willpower.
Willpower, I’ve found, is kind of like a muscle — train it and it’ll grow to fit your needs.
If you’re looking to make a positive change, you’ve likely already identified the bad habit that you’ve accumulated. All that’s left is to put measures in place to stop yourself from relapsing. Namely, don’t take on too much too soon. Just put one foot in front of the other and you’ll be on your way — attempting to train like a marathon runner when you’re still in your Couch to 5k phase is a great way to fail.
As the old saying goes, positive change at the personal level is almost always simple, but rarely is it easy.
A Challenge
Anyway, my wife and I are getting serious about trying to afford a house in one of the most expensive areas in the US and are taking a look at our discretionary spending for the past year. To be frank, we spent an enormous amount of money on “stuff“.
Now I’m not saying discretionary spending is bad and I’m in no way advocating for the miserly mindset that a lot of personal finance gurus suggest (*cough* Dave Ramsey). It’s good, and often beneficial, to spend your money, and hidden opportunities are everywhere (and generally not free).
Simon Sarris, one of my favorite Twitter follows, nicely sums up a healthy approach to money in this thread (you’ll have to click on the tweet to read the entire thing):
Note: This mindset is way different from ordering delivery or briefly stopping into the store to pick up your order. You have to engage with the world to reap its innumerable benefits!
That being said, my biggest area of spending, as you might guess, was clothing (almost all of my purchases were online too). Any additions to my wardrobe generally come from a sense of frivolity or impulse (damn you, J. Crew sales!).
A wardrobe that emphasizes ivy/prep/timeless style is pretty simple, all things considered, but mine has advanced well past the “basics“ and is pretty bloated if I’m being honest.
Having identified this area of excess, I’ve decided to make my New Year’s resolution to not buy any (non-essential) clothing for the whole of 2023.
I have a closet full of beautiful things that are just asking to be worn to tatters! This year I will look to fulfill the wishes of my inanimate objects — to stop viewing them as a collection to be stowed away and manicured, and instead beat the shit out of them to build up that beautiful patina that we all desire so strongly.
I imagine that this will be tough for me — I have a pretty ingrained habit of browsing clothing websites, weighing out deals, perceived value, and what have you (something definitely not helped by running this newsletter and Instagram account).
Even today, I think I spent about a half hour looking at Notre’s end-of-year sale (good deals on Birkenstocks!), which, in addition to chewing up a good chunk of time, puts me into an impulse mentality.
It’ll take a lot of willpower and a bit of discretion regarding the redirection of my attention to toe that line between “doing research“ for this newsletter and mindlessly impulse shopping while writing my pieces here. At any rate, I think it’ll be a cool write-up for the beginning of next year.
And please feel free to join me in this resolution! I think it’ll be a fun challenge overall.
Some Quick Notes
I’ve been giving some thought into expanding to some other platforms lately — I spend a lot (read: way too much) of my downtime lurking on Twitter, so I think it might make sense to just start /poasting/ there. I’m also considering starting up a video format too (Tik Tok or Youtube).
Anyway, I’m not particularly attached to the account names I’ve chosen (I find the “ivynewengland“ name kinda restrictive if I’m being truthful), so if/when I choose to expand I’ll likely try to switch to something a little more general.
If you have any name suggestions, I’d appreciate you commenting below with it — I can’t think of anything that I like at the moment lol.
These posts take a lot of time and effort for me to write out — if you liked this post, I would greatly appreciate a like/subscription. Engaging with you guys really does make a difference in my ability to dedicate time toward putting out quality content.
If you’re feeling really generous, I do offer a very cheap paid subscription option ($5/month or $40/year). Either way, your readership is very appreciated.
Thanks for reading and see you next time!
preach
One thing that helps me is getting an American Express card. Since it’s due monthly, it puts a check on spending. What I do is have an account that I use only to pay my AMEX bill from. Every time I use it, I transfer the same amount from my primary account into that. That way you see how much money you have spent, what you owe and you can earn points etc. A credit card can do the same but it can be tempting to run up a balance and not pay it off vs an AMEX it eliminates that temptation.