It all started when I had this crazy idea...

It's no secret that I like to shop. It's also no secret that I have an over exerted credit card that suffers from an ongoing bout of whip-lash.

There is a four letter word I can't resist, and at this time of the year it's everywhere I look. SALE. I can't resist a good sale and post-Christmas, you don't have to look far to find one.

It's not just shoes that do the damage. There's the lunches with friends, the dinners out, concerts, nights out with friends, frequent visits to the cinema and an endless array of activities to keep myself entertained.

I am a self confessed serial spender. I spend money when I need to, when I want to, when I've got nothing else to do and even when I really can't afford to.

Yet even with a wardrobe that could rival the international headquarters at Vogue and a posse of go-anywhere, do-anything friends I still find myself complaining that I have nothing to wear and nothing to do, not to mention no money. So I spend even more on more things that I probably don't need.

Unfortunately they don't make pre-quit patches for shopoholics, which means I'll be doing the big quit good old fashioned cold-turkey style.

So for a whole month, starting on February 1st I will be engaging in what I have decided will be my 'no-spending-month'. A whole month without spending a cent. Coming from me, this concept is grounds enough to question my sanity.

Of course there are some exceptions to the rule here, given that I need to live and my landlord probably won't be embracing this as wholeheartedly as I am.

Things I am still allowed to pay for are:

• The rent
• The groceries
• The bills
• The car
• Public transport
• Medical expenses

Essentially for a whole month the only things I am allowed to pay for are the things I wish I didn't have to think about.

I've drawn up some guidelines to help keep me on the straight and narrow for the month:

• I can borrow things from friends if I need to, the catch is they can only be things that my friends owned prior to the start of the month. If this is meant to be a no spending month then I need to be firm regardless of who does the spending.
• I can buy groceries, but I can't buy food when I'm out. So all work lunches will need to be prepared at home in the morning. It will also mean cooking dinner every night. This will be hard because I don't remember the last time I went a week without Nandos, let alone a whole month.
• I'll be having a lot of BBQ's and beach days this month since all the activities I do with my friends will mean that I can't spend money on anything. I will be allowed to purchase food for the BBQ's from the grocery store however since this isn't a diet, it's a curb on my spending.
• If I go out with my friends I'll be doing all the DDing since I can only drink the free water. I can't have my friends shouting me drinks, dinners, movies or any other items or activities. It defeats the purpose of not spending money if other people are spending more to cover me.
• I do have a couple of birthdays in February so I've decided that I can buy gifts for these birthdays. It's probably not fair on my friends to try and get myself off the hook like that.
• I can't buy any clothes for a whole month, so this means that I'll have to make do with what I've got. This part shouldn't be a problem though...

I'm sure there are plenty of variables I haven't thought over yet. However the rule of thumb is that if it's not essential to survival then it can not be bought for a whole month.

For someone who shops every single day without fail, just the thought of not shopping for a month is giving me withdrawal symptoms.

I'll be reporting on all the ways I manage to keep myself entertained and out of trouble this month. Please post suggestions on free things to do around Brisbane that you think I should try out. I need all the help I can get.