The teacher spending struggle is real.
Since we’ve gone turkey with the No-Spend Summer Challenge, that’s the number one thing I hear. “I can’t.”
We must defeat the “I can’ts” with this challenge.
But, not everyone can go cold turkey. You’d never let a student say “I can’t.” What would you tell that kid?
“You can do anything you set your mind to.”
This is totally true, but when this sentence gets tossed back at you… makes me want to throw hard balls at their face. It would make Gandhi punch someone out. This is the sentence most likely to make you hate someone. I’m not going to say that here.
“Every great journey starts with one step.” “Break it down into parts.” “Fall seven, rise eight.” “Two steps forward, one step back…”
These are achievable. You can take one step, break things down, or dust yourself off when you fell off the wagon and get back on. If you can’t go cold turkey on spending, then let’s go with these approaches.
5 ways to win in the no-spend challenge:
Agree to spend less. Set yourself a nice, low limit and stick to that.
Skip one category of spending. Say no to paper or pencils. Don’t buy book covers. Whatever that thing is… don’t spend on that.
Only go shopping once. Go to your favorite store at the sale… and that’s it! Be reasonable, not insane when you go.
Instead of getting a class set of something, get half. Or 25%. Plan to share those things in groups.
Procrastinate. Go the week before school and that’s it. Or better yet, two days before. You’ll be in less of a mood to shop because you’re busy prepping.
Find a friend. Share your purchases and support each other in buying less. Go shopping together and only together. Form a small Teacher’s Anonymous classroom spending support group. You got this!
Carve this up into chunks with the goal of being classroom spending free (or only spending the smallest amounts!) within a couple years, and it may be easier for you.
Photo Credit: Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash