Just over a year ago, I moved for the third time since graduating college. (For the record, I’ve moved again since, but it’s not like I’m counting or anything.) It was in that move that I realized how many book I had accumulated over college. I say “accumulated” because I hadn’t read them; I just accumulated them.

That was the realization that prompted my first ever spending ban leading into the Q3 2016. After a whole year of categorical spending bans, I’m excited to be diving into my fifth quarter- the beginning of a second year. The idea of categorical spending bans was to start being conscious of my spending behaviors in areas of my life where I was careless. After a failed No Spend Month back in January 2016 (okay, arguably not too bad), I decided that was not a strategy that would work for me. In that first categorical spending ban, I started with books. I’ve slowly expanded to more and more categories, a trend that I hope to continue going into the next quarter. Before moving forward, though, I think it’s important to reflect on where we’ve come from.

Books

Books were and have always been the root of my spending ban.
Last quarter I gave myself permission to buy ONE book and I did. I originally laid out three possible books, and I know myself well because I ended up picking right off the list I laid out. I bought Rachel Cruze’s Love your Life, Not Theirs on Audible, but then ended up with BOGO situation and also got It Starts with Food on Audible. I’m not super into audiobooks because I consume so many podcasts, but I enjoy Rachel on podcasts, so I figured it’d be worth a whirl.

Otherwise, I’m glad to say that I have been successful at my spending ban. I have still accumulated books, primarily through the generosity of friends and my clout with this space (the opportunity to review books prior to their publication is preeeetty cool, not gonna lie), but at least I haven’t spent any more money books.

I’m also doing well at reading books, the other half of the process of getting rid of book. As I write this, I’ve finished 16 books this year. This puts me one book ahead of where I need to be for my goal of 30 books this year.

Cosmetics

Honest question: What are cosmetics? Is it all beauty supplies? Is it make up? Meh, not really sure.

This quarter I bought two new nail polishes. I used to never do my nails. When moving to North Carolina, though, I thought this would be one of the few “lifestyle inflation” things that I was going to indulge in. That was the plan and I did execute on it for a couple of weeks. Then I decided it was too expensive and stopped getting my nails done.

In January, when my friend Blair came to visit, she emphasized that I could do my own nails. Listen: I never did my own nails before. It was just not something we did growing up and not a habit I developed. Since then, I had been doing my own finger nails. I only had the one nail polish, though, so going into summer I wanted more options. Plus, I’ve proven to myself that this is a thing that I do use. In some ways, it’s even an investment because I’m not spending money on getting my nails done by doing them at home by myself. I bought one nude and one bright pink/coral-ish color. I’m sure that over time I’ll start to get better at my nails.

I also splurged on a pedicure for my birthday. Just a pedicure, because I did my manicure myself.

The other thing I bought, which to be honest, I vacillated on whether or not to list here, were two new conditioners. I ran out of the usual conditioner that I use, so that needed to be replaced. I also got a leave-in conditioner because this North Carolina summer is no joke on the hair follicles.

Finally, I bought a couple of new essential oils that I need to replenish oils I had finished- lavender, joy, and fitness. These are all part of my regular EO routine, so this is replacing things I’m actively using, as opposed to spending for the sake of spending.

Clothes

I question sometimes if I think through the things I write. When I said that I wasn’t going to spend on clothes, I said/wrote that in large part because I hadn’t been spending on clothes. I hate shopping and my wardrobe was doing the job.

Well, unfortunately, my wardrobe is just not doing the job anymore. Especially with the season change, I realized that I didn’t have crucial summer items. I have, much to my chagrin, worn a whole into my favorite jersey dress. I actually did wear it so much that a wore a whole into it. Bummer.

In addition to being out of my current fave casual do-anything dress going into my favorite dress-wearing season, I also found myself out of key staple pieces. For example, I didn’t have any sandals. While maybe wearing flip flops all the time is acceptable as a teenager, I can’t get away with it now. I bought a $25 pair of black and gold sandals from Target. With no bikinis going into bikini season, I also needed a new bikini. I bought these two sets off Amazon (1 & 2) for $28.

For my birthday, I also got a StitchFix box. In that box, I specifically asked for white jeans, a leather jacket, and the emerald dress from Erica’s box. I got the white jeans and the leather jacker I wanted, but only the jeans matched my style. The jacket was just… odd. I love these white jeans so much. I wore them last weekend when Casey and I went out to dinner. These pants are perfect.

Fitness

When I hastily decided to ban the category of fitness, I laid out a definition for what that meant, aiming to not set myself up for failure. I specifically banned Fitness Clothes, Gear, Supplements, and Coaching. And… I did it!

The only real patterns of spending behavior that would mention is that I got a couple of WODBody sports massages. I also spent some money (from the grocery budget) experimenting with protein-packed food like OatsOvernight, these Kodiak Minute Muffins, and BuffBake’s Cookie Almond Butter. These were not banned; in fact, they were explicitly okay’ed, but I thought I’d mention it anyway.

Violations Recap

To recap, here is what I did buy that I shouldn’t have:

• Love Your Life Not Theirs by Rachel Cruze (which was okay)
• It Starts With Food by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig (which was also kinda okay)
• Nude Nail polish
• Coralish Nail polish
• Pedicure for Birthday
• Conditioner
• Leave-in Conditioner (This is the one I bought, but I got it at Walmart.)
• Young Living Lavender Essential Oil
• Young Living Joy Essential Oil
• Young Living Fitness Essential Oil
• White Jeans through StitchFix
• Black & Gold Sandals (Similar)
• White Bikini
• Blue Bikini

While that looks like a long list written out like that, it’s really only 14 things over the course of a whole quarter. Three months! Even though the idea of a ban is to not spend anything, the intention of my categorical spending ban is to force me to be more conscious of my spending habits. It is with that in mind that I consider this ban a success to this point.

Next Quarter

Looking forward to the next quarter of the year- July, August, and September- I am going to continue to push on with the no books ban, making an exception for audiobooks through Audible if they’re one of the perks at my new job. Also, I must finish one audiobook before getting the next one.

Again, no cosmetics. In fact, I would like to actually push to finish at least one of my face masks and two other “beauty things” (purposefully vague). I may need a new moisturizer. If I run out of my current one, I am giving myself permission to replace it.

For clothes, I am aiming to add five new pieces of quality to my wardrobe, assuming my StitchFix stylist comes through. This means I will not have a ban in this category this month.

The fitness ban will roll over to this quarter as well. I will need to buy Whey protein (in fact, it’s now part of my Subscribe & Save from Amazon), but I won’t have to take any action on it.

This quarter I’m not going spend on Etsy, something I’ve really been tempted on lately. I don’t know what it is, but I find myself on Etsy way too often probably because we’ve been decorating the house and I want to buy all the things.

That being said, I’m also not going to be spending on decorating the house! We’ve got the big clock. We’ve got the bible verse and the family calendar. There’s the collection of photos and some art. Two afghans, a tapestry, three diplomas, a commissioning certificate, multiple Baltimore prints, a collage of photos, a bible verse, and some printed canvases cover our walls. I don’t need anything more.

In summary, this quarter I will not be spending on:

• Books, exception for audiobooks if they are a work benefit and only after finishing ones I have
• Cosmetics
• Clothing, except for 5 pieces
• Fitness (Clothes, Gear, Supplements, and Coaching), exception for whey that I’ve already ordered
• Etsy
• Home Decor

Let’s chat: Have I inspired you to start your own categorical spending ban yet? 

The internet is an interesting place. There are lots of promise for “free money” out there that are nothing. I really wonder if most of those do our surveys for money opportunities are just email address collectors. Whatever the case, I’ve now developed a serious thick skin before diving into the FREE-MONEY-NOW tagline that I see on apps and on Pinterest.

I don’t think you’re going to find a get rich quick app, but I do use some of them for a little extra money. Get real cash back with these apps, and use that money towards paying down your debt a little bit faster or just to have some extra spending money without having to invest a lot of your time.

Chances are you spend quite a bit of time on your phone, so why not download a few apps and make some money while you’re at it. A lot of these apps are going to make you money based on things you already do like shopping, working out, and, yes, even eating.

Achievemint

You walk. Achievemint gives you points for the steps you take. That simple. Okay, more details.

This app is going to pay you for achieving fitness goals. Achievemint is a website that connects to apps you already have. Fitness apps are great for keeping you on track and you likely already have them on your phone.

Achievement is great because you don’t need to start over with a new fitness app. It syncs to fitness apps that you probably already have on your phone. This includes Apple and Android friendly apps such as MyFitnessPal, Fitbit, Apple Health, and Jawbone.

All you have to do is sync your apps to Achievemint and it will start collecting data. You collect points based on your daily healthy activities. You earn points for things like running, posting activities on your social media sites and logging meals. Earn up to 80 points per day for activities like biking, walking, and other forms of exercise. You can also earn up to 6 points per day for social activities such as logging meals and sharing your healthy activities on your social media sites.

Once you reach 10,000 points, you earn $10. You are given one year to get to the 10,000 points before your points start over again. It might take me all year to get $10, but that’s $10 for doing nothing different than I would have any way, so I consider it free money.

Achievement Referral Link: http://tinyurl.com/yaa7dqys

Signing up with my referral link will get you 250 points!

 Survey Mini

I like this survey app because the surveys are really quick. You only get surveys for shops you went to (location-tracking must be on), so no wasting time trying to find surveys you’re eligible for.

Once you download this app, check and see if there are any surveys available to take. There are not always surveys available, so you just have to keep checking back for ones that get added. I keep my notifications on, so that I don’t have to check.

The surveys are often based on places that you visit. After you visit places, you will receive a survey to take for that restaurant or retail store. If you’re like me, this won’t be difficult. I am always at different stores and restaurants.

You will earn points for the surveys taken and cash them in once you have 4,000 points. You can redeem your points for coupons or gift cards to popular movie theaters, restaurants, and stores.

I have gotten one $25 Victoria Secret gift card from Survey Mini and am hoping to cash in for another $25 gift card in just a couple of weeks!

No referral link, but you can sign up for Survey Mini on their site. 

Pact

Pact is another app that is based on fitness goals. This app is really great for two reasons. You have more to lose with it, but you also have a lot to gain. Not only are you working on your physical health, you are earning money at the same time!

While you can make faster money with this app, there is one slight difference that is pretty unique. You have to make a “pact” to meet your goal and if you miss it, you have to pay the app your REAL money.

You set the amount you will pay them based on what will motivate you to meet your goal, a $5 minimum. These pacts are for going to the gym, logging what you eat, and posting pictures of your fruits and veggies. Money motivates me to do things like these apps and it sure motivates me to not lose the money I’m earning!

I have been tracking my food for over six months now. I haven’t been using Pact this whole time, but I’ve been using it since January. I earn between 30 cents and 60 cents per week. You only have to reach a $10.00 balance before you are able to redeem your cash from this app, which you could achieve rather quickly.

Because I track my food anyway, keeping my Pact is easy and it’s another one that I consider free money. You can sign up for your own Pact on their site. 

Ibotta

This is another great app for making money from things you are already buy. A lot of the products on Ibotta are everyday items, but the categories cover just about everything from groceries and clothes to pets and restaurants.

Once you sign in start browsing the categories of products for things you use. All of these offers will have a cash back offer listed on it. Some products require that you watch a very short advertisement or answer a demographic question before allowing you to select their cash back offer.

Every time you buy products you select, just upload your receipts to the app. Within a short amount of time, Ibotta your cash back rebates your account. You can redeem your money by cash or gift cards once you reach a $20 balance.

Ibotta referral link: ibotta.com/r/fpsxbgs 

Signing up with my refferal link will get you a $10 bonus! That will bring you $10 closer to your own cashback! It’s paid through Paypal which makes it super easy.

Swagbucks

Immediately after taking this screenshot, I found a way to get 10 more SBs so that I had 1300 SBs that I redeemed for $13 in Amazon gift cards. (Erica’s got my hooked on her subscribe & save plan!)

You do different activities on their app or website to earn Swagbucks, which you cash in for real money. You could probably invest the most time of all of the apps on Swagbucks because there are so many opportunities to earn points.

One of the ways you can earn Swagbucks is to set it as your browser and earn points searching the Web. You can also complete surveys. The longer the survey you take, the more Swagbucks you can earn. Some other ways include voting in polls and entering in contests. Once you have accumulated enough Swagbucks, you can cash them in for PayPal cash, gift cards for popular stores like Amazon and Walmart, or make donations to charities. You really do not need very many Swagbucks to start collecting money or donating with this site.

I don’t have the time to dedicate to Swagbucks so I use it with their Swagbucks TV app. When I’m working and not using my hone, I will put the videos to run. You can only earn 32 SBs per day this way, but it took no more energy than opening the app on my phone!

Swagbucks referral link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/emilieburke

Ebates

This is an app that I use to get coupons and cash back for things that I buy. Like some of the other apps, this one is going to make you money on things that you were going to buy anyways. This site might seem counter-intuitive because you have to spend money to make money. Stores like Walmart and Amazon are on Ebates, so you can just buy the things you need while still getting your cash back.

I use Ebates by having their extension installed on my browser. Whenever something comes up that is Ebates eligible, I get a little pop-up that asks me if I want to load it through Ebates. I hit yes! Just like that! I have to let my screen refresh one time- that’s it!

My Ebates referral link: https://www.ebates.com/r/EMILIE1063?eeid=35022

Signing with my link will get you $10 once you make your first purchase!

Found money is money that you didn’t have before. It’s that same feeling when pull out the winter jacket for the first time and you find a crips $20 bill in the pocket. This is no different. When you can do nothing (Pact, Achievemint, or Ebates) or next-to-nothing (SurveyMini, Ibotta, or Swagbucks) for a couple of extra bucks, I find it hard to say no!

Any apps you think I missed?!