The Spender's Guide to Debt-Free Living: How a Spending Fast Helped Me Get From Broke to Badass in Record Time

After accumulating over $23,000 in debt, photographer, blogger, and "natural spender" Jones (AndThenWeSaved.com) commits to a yearlong "spending fast" and promises to "only spend money on absolute necessities." Following 15 months of extreme thrift (including an additional three-month "Spending Diet"), she successfully regains financial freedom. Along with the central tenet of the fast, Jones offers other approaches including "going public" with her plan, working with a reverse budget, and creating a "needs and wants list" to reduce expenditures to a minimum. She provides an honest assessment of the social sacrifices involved in cutting her spending so drastically, describing her communication with friends, and how her scheme affected her relationship with her husband, redefining "how we spent time together."