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Inspired by a creator on TikTok, I recently embarked on a Sprint Month.

If you haven’t heard about the concept of a Sprint Month, the idea is to focus all your efforts on 2-3 specific goals for the relatively short period of a month.

I have been struggling with recurring viruses of late and general symptoms of perimenopause and wanted to level up my nutritional habits and find an exercise routine that worked for my 40-something ailing body. While my eating habits have definitely improved, my exercise goals haven’t progressed quite the way I would have liked: just 5 days into Sprint Month, I woke up with a scratchy throat and the sniffles indicating that yet another virus was on its way.

However, one goal did stick – and that was No spending for a month.

Now, just to clarify, I am using this term “no spending” liberally. You see, I have discovered that it’s unrealistic at best and nigh on impossible at worst, to go a period of a month without spending a single penny: first of all, there are groceries and children during the school holidays are always looking for money. But what I did want was to put an end to the mindless consumption and accumulation of more stuff I just don’t need.

In short, trips to Aldi and pocket money for the kids are in; sprees on Cult Beauty are most definitely out…

To give you an idea of my mindset pre-No Spend Month, on the eve of embarking on this lofty goal, I spent almost £200 on skincare products on Cult Beauty, and a further £65 on “healthy” products from Holland & Barrett. I’m fairly sure there was an Amazon order thrown in for good measure. It was not unlike the panic buying of toilet roll during the pandemic…

But No Spend month was absolutely necessary to allow me to get back on track. I am paying back a large amount of debt – the result of many, many shopping sprees and general financial mismanagement and spending way above my means.

Although, I was contributing a fairly hefty proportion of my monthly salary towards my overall debt, the picture at the end of every month wasn’t pretty: so much of salary went towards debt payments, it left very little on which to enjoy myself, and I was still spending freely, using PayPal credit and various Pay in 3 options and would kid myself on that I was making progress because I wasn’t abusing credit cards. But I was still abusing credit, and, of course, that money needs to be paid back.

As I say, one of the aims of No Spend Month was simply to get back on track. To pay my bills and not accumulate more debt with unnecessary splurges and daily trips for Matcha I can ill afford.

That first week, I set about trying to establish a new exercise routine with great gusto. Most of my spare time was spent outdoors, power walking or playing tennis, or in the gym and there wasn’t a sniff of a shop apart from trips to buy groceries. So far, so good.

By the end of that first week, as I said previously, I’d developed a virus, and, feeling physically unable to venture far, my expenses were, again, limited trips to groceries shopping. In a way, I felt a little grateful for this latest virus which meant I had neither the energy or the inclination to spend frivolously.

Those first two weeks helped me break the cycle of unhealthy spending.

And then I discovered Vinted.

Or rather, my kids discovered Vinted and, having watched succeed, selling old clothes that no longer fitted, and purchasing second hand wares that did, I became curious about how Vinted might help me – both with accruing a little extra pocket money, and with decluttering unnecessary stuff.

I have used EBay for years, selling odd bits here and there – but I’d noticed it was getting harder to sell items for what they were worth and months would pass with my listings languishing with only a handful of views and no buyers.

I switched my mindset. Instead of looking to sell one or two “higher end” products, hoping to accrue face value, I went through my cupboards and drawers and shelves and listed anything that had no purpose or which I had fallen out of love with.

I already knew I had a lot of stuff. But pulling it all out that first weekend was truly shocking: a pile of stuff I had amassed reflecting years of unhealthy consumerism. I know that at some point, when my spending and accumulation was at its worst, it was almost certainly a symptom of a mental illness and a sign of something missing from the overall jigsaw puzzle of myself.

At one stage, shortly before I was signed off work, following a succession of panic attacks, and then diagnosed with depression and anxiety, I was turning up late for work, taking long lunches I was not entitled to, and making excuses to go home early, just so I could hit the departments stores to check out the latest cosmetic products. I always knew when the new launches were happening and couldn’t resist a limited edition. My biggest weakness was eyeshadow palettes and I always had to have the latest Bobbi Brown. The Holiday Collections were an event in itself, and instead of focusing on work or spending time with friends, I would be counting down the days till the first release. I spent a small fortune on palettes that were way outside my budget, and I accumulated enough makeup to last me a lifetime.

Fully recovered from mental illness, the scars remain and nowadays, I rarely wear eyeshadow, I can barely look at some of the products I purchased, and I feel physically ill when I walk past the cosmetic counters in department stores.

That said it hasn’t stopped me transferring my object of desire from eyeshadow palettes to various other shopping sub genres including bags, books and – a sign that I am finally “growing up”, homewares!

One of my most delusional habits was acknowledging that I couldn’t afford something – and then spending the equivalent on several, smaller items. I call this frittering and I definitely don’t do this as much now. I used to spend far too much time in shops like Flying Tiger, where one can pick up all sorts of odds bits you didn’t know you “needed”. I still love a browse round Flying Tiger but I only buy things I know I will find useful.

But back to Vinted. Although I am a massive procrastinator, once I get going, I don’t do things by half measures and that first weekend I listed dozens of items and they rapidly began selling like hotcakes.

Having ADHD means I am often in hot pursuit of cheap dopamine and Vinted delivers: it’s not just the selling – its seeing that people are viewing your items, adding them to their Favourites, sending you offers, and then haggling to find a mutually acceptable price. It’s exciting.

But it was actually selling stuff that flicked a switch in my brain. I would often fantasise about a sudden cash boost that could allow me to make a significant dent in my debt, and via Vinted, this was actually happening. It also felt good to declutter and re-home my stuff. It was a simple pleasure to offload a Jelly cat plush to a buyer who wanted to present it to her little girl for her first birthday. I sold the Jelly cat at a lower price than I had originally planned because it felt so good to know it was going somewhere it would be loved.

Money was trickling into my account and I noticed my balance wasn’t looking quite so desperate.

I am results-driven and lack patience so seeing the difference my new Vinted selling habit was having on my debt, gave me an incentive not to fritter money on things I didn’t need. I was getting back on track and I was enjoying seeing the stuff I owned, exiting my home and freeing up space – and for once, not for more stuff, but hopefully space for creativity, simplicity, gratitude and sense of peace.

I love that Vinted gives me a way to boost my finances; at first, it was just about having enough resources to get to the end of the month/next pay day, by the time I’d paid my bills, without plunging further into debt; then I was able to pay a bit more towards my bills; beyond that, I had a little pocket money and could enjoy the odd matcha or replace a favourite toiletry item, guilt-free and instead of having to wait till next month.

So long as my items are selling, I can make a deal with myself that, once a balance is paid, I can have a little treat – or put something towards a bigger purchase. I would like an Oura ring to help me track my health goals because fluctuating hormones are impacting my sleep, my recovery after exercise and my overall health but even with my spending tendencies, I know this is not a luxury I can extend to. With the recent launch of the Generation 4 ring, the previous version went on sale at a reduced price. The pre-Vinted/pre-No Spend month Me might have jumped at this opportunity to acquire this much coveted tracking device, but he new Me, who enjoys being frugal and actually saving money, hesitated long enough that the ring went back up in price. Instead of being gutted at having missed the boat (alright, I was a little gutted), I took this as a sign that it wasn’t for me. Not right now and perhaps not ever.

I need air, water, food, love. I don’t need another health tracking device.

Another unusual benefit of selling on Vinted has been the little trips to post my packages. My daily morning walk has a renewed sense of purpose. A few weeks ago, I was fixated on cardio load targets, active zone minutes and step counts and it was ruining my morning walks. Constantly checking your heart rate and progress towards your fitness goals, your face turn almost permanently towards a tracking device or mobile phone does not a mindful walk make. Having packages to take to the local shop gives me a reason to leave the house, and adds value to my walks.

As the shop would be on the way, I found myself popping into my local supermarket most days. This could be a bad thing because, you know, no spending and all that, but actually I find I am eating better and creating less waste by going to supermarket more often to buy only what I need. This has become a surprisingly pleasing daily ritual: I find myself enjoying the simplicity of it and the knowledge that many of my goals – moving my body, eating better, saving and making money, decluttering, purpose – are wrapped up in this one act that I perform each morning.

By the end of No Spend Month, I am astounded by how much money can be made just from selling items that no longer serve you. I am keen to build on this momentum but recognise that I will eventually run out of things to sell.

As I have been trying to stick to a rule of spending only on essentials like groceries, toiletries etc., I have been keeping a much closer – and more analytical – eye – on my outgoings, and this has been quite the eye-opener. Even without the meaningless sprees that cause the most damage to my bank balance, there is still a large amount of money exiting my account, just on so-called essentials, or the everyday bits & bobs that all add up. I now see how easy it is to overspend if I don’t keep a lid on it.

I’ve made good progress this month but there’s still a long way to go. This isn’t some faddy, short-term exercise in cutting costs; this means completely overhauling my spending habits and a lifestyle change that will hopefully see me continuing to declutter my home (and my headspace) and gradually reduce the debt I have accumulated.