The Spending Experiment
— IN THIS POST —
Overview
I’m publishing this into the void, as my website has had a lock screen in place since July 2.
The idea for The Spending Experiment came from my therapist after hearing me complain for the umpteenth time that while I’d much rather stock organic red chard (have you ever seen anything more beautiful?!) at the food co-op than perform variance analyses at the nonprofit, I can’t because I have a ton of debt and virtually no savings.
I’d told her that when I was an activist many moons ago, I’d lived off of virtually nothing, and yet today I am unable to follow any sort of budget. Because budgets feel restrictive, and despite my anti-capitalist values, I’m very much a product of consumerist culture and capitalism. It’s like the whole “Don’t think of a pink hippo with fairy wings humping a grizzly bear!” kind of thing. **Try telling me your mind didn’t formulate a mental image of that oddity!
Anyway, I don’t recall her exact words, but what I took away from our session was that perhaps I could try challenging myself to spend money in ways that aligned with my anti-capitalist values. That perhaps in doing so, it would feel so good to spend less that I’d be able to pay off old debt, not incur new debt, and reduce my reliance on jobs that keep me trapped doing work that makes room for neither my gifts nor my passions.
On creating a values-aligned budget
And so, I did something that I’d done countless times before: I created a fancy budgeting spreadsheet that accounted for all of my fixed and variable expenses, consumer debts, and income. I made adjustments to account for annual renewals, holidays, and unanticipated expenses over an 18-month period, and ensured that I had a plan for covering overages for the few times when my expenses would exceed my income. It was complete with color-coded pivot tables and lookups that told me what my gap was every month — a gap I could apply towards either debt or savings.
[Did I mention that I do this stuff at my job-that-pays-the-bills?!]
Challenging myself to enjoy consuming differently
But what I did differently this go around was to challenge myself to enjoy spending (to the extent possible) in ways that align with my anti-capitalist values.
Regarding my (formerly very expensive) grocery spending, I challenged myself to enjoy not giving Bezos an extra cent more than necessary when buying organic groceries, to enjoy avoiding groceries packaged in single-use plastics, to enjoyfurther avoiding single-use plastics (produce bags) by only buying produce that I would either eat that day or store in the quart-sized mason jars I already owned, to enjoynot wasting food, to enjoyhaving lots of empty space in the fridge, etc.
I also challenged myself to enjoy dedicating more of my free time to sourcing food from farmers markets and tiny local businesses…because while I already love frequenting them, the time commitment to do so has often felt prohibitive.
And that’s just food.
I challenged myself in other ways as well. For example, I challenge myself to enjoy combing second-hand stores for those needle-in-a-haystack clothing items and household goods that I would normally buy new, because new clothing — even organically produced Fair Trade cotton stuff (my fave!) — has a deeply negative effect on the environment. And also because I’m so fucking tired of buying into this consumerist mentality — one that is literally choking our planet and perpetuating deep global inequities — that I need the latest and greatest version of things.
A note on mindset
Just a note that adopting a new mindset is, perhaps, THE most challenging part about spending and consuming less for those of us in the West who are not living in poverty. At least it is for me.
I’m used to satiating my desires by whipping out a credit card. This is a hallmark of consumerism and is why — at a collective level — power gets concentrated by those who own the means of production. By being an obedient consumer, I grease the capitalist machine and make the rich and powerful more rich and more powerful.
And the cycle continues.
I don’t blame myself for this, as marketing practices and advertisements are designed to be deeply manipulative and elicit consumption, and our culture expects us to consume things as a result. To wear second-hand clothing or source household items from the alley ways is often viewed with disdain, at least in the US (if you’re not a college student…and sometimes even if you are).
And yet, I have agency to extract myself from consumerism’s claws, should I prioritize it, noting that it’s a helluva lot more pleasant to do so by changing my mindset rather than by white-knuckling it through deprivation.
Side note: there actually are famous people who love wearing thrifted clothing to big events. When I attended a weekend workshop in Toronto in 2024 that was co-facilitated by Martha Beck and Liz Gilbert, I remember Liz sharing how the outfit she was wearing on stage was sourced from entirely from a thrift store.
Note to self: be like Liz. Fucking embrace second-hand!
On paying off debt
Back to the budgeting piece…
I kept tweaking my budget until I figured out a way to avoid paying interest on my existing credit card debt, thanks to an expiring 0% APR and the opening of a new credit account with a 0% APR. Because I can’t stand paying interest to the big banks who invest in fossil fuels and other dastardly things.
I made a very doable plan to get this credit card debt paid off before the APR jumped, which is about five months before I’ll have my other consumer debt fully paid off. Once that happens, I’ll have an extra $1,500 or so a month to work with. Maybe at that point I’ll apply for a job at the co-op, or maybe I’ll save it so that I can eventually not have to work to merely survive in a capitalist world. I have two years to think about it.
Holding myself accountable
And now, the hardest part of this Spending Experiment…
I have been sitting with whether I want to get really, really vulnerable by sharing my actual numbers with you. Why? Primarily because it will help keep me accountable to myself. But also because I believe that our culture’s secrecy surrounding money is what underlies so many of our debt problems, thanks to how it keeps us consuming when we can’t afford it, perpetuates pay inequities, and leaves us feeling shame for “failing” to “win” at a game that’s both rigged against us and is terrible for the planet (that would be capitalism).
I began testing the waters with my Spending Experiment in June of 2026 and fully implemented it in July. I wrote a blog post with my actual numbers…and it’s sitting in my “pending review” file. I don’t know if I’ll ever get brave enough to share it.
I ask myself why would you even care about my journey to spend in alignment with my values and pay off debt? I ask myself whether you’ll judge me (or yourself) harshly if you were to see my numbers. And yet, I consider that maybe you’re like me — maybe seeing me do it would inspire you to embark on your own Spending Experiment.
So with that…
The Spending Experiment
The Spending Experiment is my exploration into spending a lot less and to do so joyfully.
It’s to pay off debts and put myself in a position where I can do work that my heart yearns to do — and on my terms — rather than continue to offer my soul to the capitalist machine.
It’s to change my relationship with spending and budgeting and money.
It’s to live in deeper alignment with my anti-capitalist values while living in a capitalist world. In other words, it’s to live in a way that honors my 23-year-old self — the young woman who gave up nearly everything she knew, owned, and strived for to stand up for what her heart told her was right — and my 50-year-old self who’s in a nourishing relationship in a city and who doesn’t want to ever again source meals from dumpsters.
The Spending Experiment has no end date, though July 23, 2028 — the date my consumer loan is paid off — might be a great time to renegotiate it.
The Spending Experiment is not a hard and fast budget but rather a liberating one. Liberating in that it moves me into deeper integrity with my anti-capitalist nature and reduces my “need” to remain a cog in the capitalist machine.
The Spending Experiment is something that I can undertake because I am relatively privileged and have the resources to spend differently. I do not take this for granted. If you are reading this and are already tapped out, there is zero moral judgment being leveled at you for it! It’s truly my experiment that I hope inspires you to move into deeper alignment with your own values in whatever way you can.
Reflection prompts
What’s a small shift you could make in your spending that you would enjoy making if you framed it as an anti-capitalist or values-driven choice?
How might your life change if you could get by on consuming less?
What is a zero-cost (and highly accessible) activity that you deeply enjoy doing? When might you engage in it next?
That is all.
Hi! I’m Kristi.
I help women & genderqueer folk liberate themselves from capitalism’s self-blaming hamster wheel of “mindset work”, bootstrapping, and “never enoughness” while navigating life’s day-to-day challenges. This work is, ultimately, about helping humans move into deeper integrity with who they truly are so that they can flourish and contribute meaningfully to our collective liberation. Click here to learn more.
Subscribe to My Newsletter
Get content like this delivered to your inbox.
