Anna Newell Jones - The Spenders Guide to Debt-Free Living: How a Spending Fast Helped Me Get from Broke to Badass in Record Time

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ANNA NEWELL JONES is the creator of AndThenWeSaved.com, a blog that offers scrappy, down-to-earth advice on getting out of debt. She is relentlessly committed to showing how getting out of debt and living a debt-free life doesnt have to suck. She and her husband own Newell Jones + Jones Photography and live in Denver, Colorado, with their young son.

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Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa

Illustrations by Tuesday Bassen

This book is designed for informational purposes only, and is not meant to take the place of advice from a qualified financial planner or other professional. The publisher and the author disclaim liability for any losses that may be sustained as a result of applying the methods suggested in this book.

THE SPENDERS GUIDE TO DEBT-FREE LIVING. Copyright 2016 by Anna Newell Jones. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-236718-1

EPub Edition APRIL 2016 ISBN 9780062367303

Version 03162018

16 17 18 19 20 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For my guys, Aaron and Henry,

and for every person who has ever had the courage

to trust their gut and live the life they were meant to.

A few years ago I realized I was stuck in a bad pattern. Often I would find myself telling everyone I owed money to that there just wasnt any left after the bills were paid. Even though I always had the cutest clothes and latest gadgets, I was living paycheck to paycheck. And, despite working more than forty hours a week, I had nothing left to pay back the debts that constantly hung overhead. Deep down, though, I knew the truth. I knew that while I was having a hard time paying back the money I owed to others, when it came down to it, I was always able to find money when I wanted something. I told myself that I didnt want to spend the way I did but, really, who was I kidding? I liked it. And I still like spending money, I like new things. I love unique, one-of-a-kind, quirky things. I live for finding that perfect shirt, or decoration for my house. You see, Im a Spender. I love the hunt. I love the excitement of finding that item Ive been looking everywhere for. Adrenaline flows through me, and I happily hand over my money. Me, a self-proclaimed Natural Spender who came out of the womb with a buck burning a hole in my pocket ever living debt-free? Not likely. I knew that since I couldnt budget, a debt-free life was not in the cards for me. I knew that if budgeting had anything to do with living debt-free I was totally screwed. Plus, I had halfheartedly tried at least a dozen different methods to try to get my act together. After each failed attempt, Id tell myself that next month would be The Month that Id finally be able to nail down this spending too much issue and Id finally get the debt under control. But that next month was always just outside of my grip. Getting things under control was elusive. I wanted to find a way to rein in my finances, but the solution I was seeking had to be extremely effective and keep me motivated. It also had to be simple and straightforward. I could never find the right getting-out-of-debt combountil I did.

When I wrote my very first blog post for my website, AndThenWeSaved.com, I was casually sharing about this semicrazy idea that I had: I would go an entire year spending money only on necessities, just to see what would happen. I wanted to see if I could take on a challenge like that. Sure, I wanted to believe I could go a whole year without spending on anything but needs, but I was the biggest skeptic of all. I knew myself. I knew how much I loved to spend money. I thought that maybe if I went public about my debt and about how much it weighed on me, Id be more likely to stick to the plan and not immediately ditch the entire idea once things got difficult. When I put myself out there, when I made myself vulnerable, and when I started to share the dirty, honest details about my debt on my website, something amazing happened. While the shame I felt about getting myself into a big financial mess didnt instantly disappear, I quickly learned that I wasnt the only one struggling to find a way to get out of debt that would actually work. Turns out that other people had trouble following a budget too. Some people were also spending money on crazy things, as I had been doing. And while the readers of my blog were coming from different backgrounds and were coping with different situations, the universal theme was that we all felt hopeless and ashamed of the messes we had gotten into with our spending. We all wanted, and desperately needed, a way out that would workand quickly. I will always be grateful to the people who shared, and continue to share, their stories with me:

Unplanned expenses keep popping up. Medical bills, car repairs, friends weddings, baby showers, and so on.

I just dont make enough money.

I sit at a desk in a very stressful job. Shopping online makes me feel better, so I spend money instead of saving and paying down debt.

It was helpful to know that I wasnt the only person who felt out of control with my finances. But another commonality appeared from the e-mails I was receiving from readers. People were getting motivated by my experience and started asking me for help with their Spending Fasts, a year-long period of spending money only on what is absolutely needed. Thats when I realized that people were relying on me. They were actually coming to me for solutions. It turns out that they too had been tormented by the loud, constant swirling chatter of thoughts: But I want it. I deserve it. Its such a good deal! Its so cute! Its perfect! Its not