You might think of the physical hangover of the holidays – your body readjusting from so much food, so much wine, and a full calendar.  There’s a period of detox that has to happen.  It’s like that for me with money.   

The holidays have long been a period of very free, somewhat frenetic spending in my life.  From Black Friday on, every sale taunts me.  “If I don’t get it now, I’ll just end up paying more in the new year when I really need it.”  Sometimes the bargains are just too good to be true.  I’d feel like an idiot for not buying that blouse right now, when it’s almost half off!!  And of course, there are gifts.  I have two kids, they need gifts!  This year our kids literally asked for “random things.”  This is great in that you’re not required to buy an expensive bicycle – but for someone with my spending habits, I found it to be pretty toxic.  Random things meant that nothing was super expensive, so there was no obvious point to stop.  By the time we were wrapping presents, I literally had to set some aside – there’s no way that kids need to unwrap 20 things.   

Now here we are in January, and it’s time to put the house back in order.  If you’ve ever decided that you’ll do a Whole 30 starting January 1st, or a Dry January, you’ve learned the lesson that a quick detox, while effective, feels truly awful.  There’s something about just telling yourself NO immediately that’s incredibly hard, but when you’re head is pounding from sugar withdrawals, it becomes even harder.  And yes, lots of people white knuckle through it and do the hard things.  I’ve been one of them, for sure.  But I don’t think that’s the only way.   

One thing I started doing last year in January I like to call “exchange shopping.”  Anything I bought in my holiday frenzy that I had a second thought about, or realized I bought two of (it happens), or doesn’t fit, all these things have to be returned.  I make those refunds my “shopping budget” for January.  Is whatever I buy in exchange really free?  Of course not.  But it feels like it, because the money is already spent.  To be clear – I am a massive proponent of paying of credit cards in full every month.  This strategy is likely not for you if you’re still paying down debt.  Every return reduces debt, and we like reducing debt – it comes first.  But once you’re out of debt (and have celebrated, because this is a really big deal), I think the January exchange program is a way to ease in to the detox that’s coming.  It helps me to feel like I at least got something for my money that isn’t going to get donated with tags on.  It helps me be in clothes that fit… I often go to the physical store to return items, and then I’m there and can try on anything I’m going to get in exchange, preventing another round of this whole charade.   

Making a full 180 in life is hard, and it so often whipsaws us for that exact reason.  If we’d just gone 45 degrees at a time and allowed some adjustment, we could reverse direction in a reasonable amount of time and more importantly, the change could stick.  This is just one way I’m doing change my way, and trying to make it stick.  I know these things are hard, that’s why most people don’t ever do them at all.  It’s my passion to teach more women that change is not impossible – it simply requires effort.  Consistent effort over long periods of time.  If you’re someone looking to make a change, I’d love to talk to you and hear your story.  All it takes is a comment or an email.  I’m right here.