Somehow the last couple of days got away from me, but it doesn't matter because I was working the whole time and didn't buy anything except for yesterday, and what I did buy was necessary. That being, a pedicure and light lunch. Before you think that I blew my challenge, I need to explain. I mentioned early on that memories and friends supersede the no shopping challenge, and this is one of those occasions.
My heart is sad because a friend of mine is facing a health challenge that is making her anxious and worried. I would feel exactly the same way if it was me. Another friend and I took her out to give her a pedicure so she'd have a few moments to relax and let someone pamper (rather than poke) her. It was spa day for us at 675 Nails as we sat together, up in the chairs, and ate chocolate while our feet were sent through wringer. After our pedicures we went to a little tea shop and drank tea with a light lunch. I know my friend felt our love and concern, and hope that she healed and gained strength from the fun we were having. One of the gifts of the day was that my heart healed a little today as we laughed and enjoyed each others company. Friendship truly is a priceless gift, and I am a rich woman because of my friends.
Normally a pedicure would be decadence; yesterday it was a lifeline for all of us.
I began today doing homework and getting ready for work. It's not an easy task to get ready for work when half your beauty regiment is eliminated due to a lack of beauty products! The good thing was it took me about 15 minutes to get ready for work. The only thing that kept me from being frustrated as I said, "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall..." was that at 5:00 p.m., I would reach my 30 days, and I could buy the necessary beauty luxuries that I need to convince myself that the lines of time are not showing on my face. Likewise, I could cover up the blemish that is in direct contradiction with crow's feet. How can a person have crow's feet and a zit at the same time? Old age and adolescence join together to confound this 50-year-old. It defies logic!
Anyway, my plan was to make a beeline to Dominicks after I finished working today to buy some groceries, but while I was driving there I was actually feeling hesitant. Not shopping has become a habit -- a good one -- and I was feeling torn about ending my adventure. Still, my refrigerator and freezer are, for the the most part, bare. Over this 30 days, I successfully managed to put together meals without having to buy more groceries. I really missed salads, yogurt and sandwiches, but I survived. I don't miss Lean Cuisines or other frozen food.
I felt slightly disoriented as I drove into the Dominick's parking lot. I was looking forward to having lettuce, lunch meat and half-and-half in my refrigerator again, but I was determined not to stockpile things I didn't need. It's a funny thing, though. When you eat all the food in your house in the hope that it's going to save you money, you quickly realize that is not the case. Once you deplete everything, you need to replace it. Regular grocery shopping basically supplements what's already in the house and prevents the huge grocery bill at one time. The only real way to reduce one's grocery bill is to be selective, buy things that are on sale, and stay away from the processed food. So that's what I did. I spent $200, even with my Fresh Values card. Seriously, I have no idea what I bought that cost so much money. Maybe it was the Bing cherries. Or maybe it was the shrimp. Pasta was $1.00/box, so it wasn't that. It was probably the coffee or the cheese. Whatever it was, my food supply isn't that grand. I guess if you look at it, $200 for a month's groceries is not bad. Maybe I did save money.
Was I successful in my challenge? Certainly I saved money because I wasn't buying anything else. Remarkably, that part was easy. I simply didn't NEED anything so much that I had to buy it. I think I was true to the challenge: I didn't shop. Couple that with the fact that my checking account has $400 more in it than it would've at this point in the month if I hadn't done my challenge. In that sense I was VERY successful! So I'm seriously thinking about continuing my challenge with a few modifications. Food, for one, will be allowed -- including the half-and-half and Diet Coke. Other tangible things like clothes, and everything else I've pissed money on, can be avoided.
So I'm going to continue my challenge and only buy things that are necessities. When I determine that something is a necessity, I'm going to make every attempt to buy it used or borrow it. Nothing new.
I like this plan. We have too much in this world....too many 'things.' Perhaps I can make a difference simply by not buying any other products that will clutter this world. If I buy used things, they are already existing, so in a sense I'll be recycling.
So Karrie's No Shopping Challenge has a new face and new rules:
- Buy used things whenever possible. (New stuff that is a gift for other people is okay. I can't be tacky here.)
- Buy only necessities.
- THINK about something before buying it -- no impulse shopping or buying.
- Do not charge anything -- only pay cash.
That's it. We'll see how this version of the challenge works. I'll check in again soon. It's been fun writing this blog, and I thank you for reading it.
Maybe a little richer,
Karrie
Twelve crappy things:
- Last night I got home late from work and had to go to a Board of Trustees meeting for my townhouse complex. I'm on the Board, and it was important business....no missing it.
- By the time I got home at 9:00 p.m. I was starving, so I ordered Chinese food. I think I let out an actual moan when I put a piece of General Tso's chicken in my mouth. (This is a multi-layered "crap" b/c I spent money at a restaurant, I ate GT's chicken (fattening), and I ate it at 9:30 p.m. (Not good.)) I don't think I'll even try to rationalize this as a necessity. If I was going to cave, at least it was for something really delicious!
- The charge at NLU for $3385.00 has wrecked havoc on my checking account because the credit did not go through until today and payments to my bills did. Overdraft, overdraft, overdraft. Luckily, my bank -- Chase -- was all over it because I alerted them. They kept the charges and overdrafts as "pending" so nothing actually posted. Despite this, I have been on edge since I kept watching 'overdraft' stamp itself all over my account.
- The salad Liz brought me is all gone. I haven't had time to go to the grocery store to pick up necessary salad fixings.
- I am worried about my son Ellis' survival in this terrible economy.
- I'm worried about my survival in this terrible economy because I didn't get the job at Glenview Public Library. They hired a woman with 5 years reference experience, which is interesting because I technically have 15 years of reference experience. Maybe she doesn't have a job and really, really, really (3x) needed one. I have a job and only really needed the job (1x).
- I'm sick and tired of the ice because I'm paranoid I'm going to fall (I think I'm too young to worry about this!)
- I completely ran out of Touch Base eye stuff, and I want it to keep my eye shadow on for the entire day and night since my days start at 5:30 a.m. and end at 9:00 p.m.
- I have completely run out of the spray hair conditioner I use before I blow dry my hair. This is something I can wait for because it's only 4 more days till the end of my challenge.
- I was up until 3:00 a.m. last night and my alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. I managed to squeak it out until 6:00 a.m.. Numerous students commented on my "new" hairstyle. I call it flat and limp.
- I ran out of Diet Coke today. I'm not sure I can wait four days....
- Oh, and last night I was desperately seeking chocolate and the only place I could find it was on a FiberOne bar. Like I said....oh, crap.
Only 4 more days....
Karrie
This is getting really hard. I noted in my last entry that I'm out of a bunch of things -- hair goob and touch base for my eyes, for instance. But that is not what's so hard. I haven't had a salad in probably 12 days. I live on salads. I LOVE salads of all types. Simple greens, add chicken or shrimp. Add green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, mandarin oranges, croutons, pecans (the kind Janet loves or plain), walnuts, cranberries, sunflowers seeds, purple onion, chick peas, green peas, mushrooms, crumbled eggs....just about anything you can think of can go into a salad. Different ingredients makes for a different salad. So crisp and versatile.
I've really missed having a salad -- even found myself craving one. I've substituted cooked veggies of all kinds, but it just hasn't cut it. Granted, having cooked chicken, brown rice and Brussels sprouts is perfectly good for me, it just isn't a salad.
Last night, my friend Liz brought over dinner for me: pork tenderloin and mashed potatoes. Her daughter gave me a homemade cupcake for dessert. I've been eating well, but the dinner that Liz gave me was to die for! Why is it that when someone else makes it, the food always tastes better? I know it's not just me feeling that way; restaurants survive for that reason alone, I think. Anyway, I had a delicious dinner last night because Liz is a great mom and needed to drive her son back to school, just as dinner was ready. Lucky me!
Liz works in an office where lunch is brought in for all the employees, and today's lunch was Portillos. At the end of the day, a HUGE green salad was left untouched so Liz got to bring it home, and she gave me half of it. She was barely out the door when I was dishing it up; my mouth was watering just looking at all the bright greens of the various kinds of lettuce and I swear I've never seen more orangey carrots than were in that salad! The cucumbers were chunky and crisp. Heaven...I was in heaven as I ate the delicious salad. Thank you so much, Liz!
I was feeling under the weather today. I was headachy, dragging and sleepy, which isn't my usual state. Granted, doing homework all day when it's overcast and snowing will do that to a person, but I worried all day that I was getting sick. After eating my salad, I'm feeling much perkier. My headache is subsiding, too. Can it be that a salad brings homeopathic relief to make a person feel better? Or is it because I have a friend who is generous and kind in spirit because she's really an Angel in Greens?
Either way, I've decided that salad fixings is a necessity and it won't break my challenge if I go to the grocery store tomorrow and buy the stuff to make a really terrific salad!
Crunching away on fresh salad,
Karrie
p.s. I've got one more Diet Coke left. I worry I'm about to meet my Waterloo.
What an easy day of no spending! I spent the entire day reading. No driving, no shopping, no spending. It was cold and overcast, so I hunkered down under a blanket, drank endless cups of green tea and read. It was the perfect day, actually, and it cost me nothing.
When I got hungry I rummaged around my refrigerator for food -- that was my only challenge today. There's very little food in there, so I'm having to get really creative with fixing things. Late this evening I did manage to create a masterpiece: fresh fruit pie, made with all the random fruit in the frig. The heavenly aroma of blackberry, pomegranate, and strawberry pie filled the house. I took a little taste of the hot, bubbling juices as the pie cooked and it was so delicious! Given that there isn't much else in the house, the pie might have to sustain me for a couple of days.
These are the things I've run out of and haven't replaced:
hair goop
hair conditioner
touch base eye cream
yogurt
Diamond pecan-pie pecans (my friend Janet loves these so much. I could make a serious argument that they are truly one of the necessities of life.)
apples
lettuce and other salad fixings
tuna fish
english muffins
bread
popcorn
cream of mushroom soup
ramen
and, of course, half and half
I'm almost out of:
milk
eggs
fat-free cheese
frozen veggies
tilapia
coffee
beer (left over from New Year's Eve)
pasta
chicken
The best part about tonight is knowing that I've got 2 more days off of work! I can have a repeat tomorrow and Monday, and there will be only 6 more days of necessity vs luxury. Frankly, I look forward to going to the grocery store and buying the things I love most, like yogurt....and did I mention this? Half and half.
Content and slightly richer,
Karrie
I love pay day. It's my favorite two days of the month. Bill paying days not so much.
On the news today I learned that Illinois is raising taxes for all us working folks, and that our paychecks are going to have less money in them starting at the end of this month. I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to get ahead. Over the past couple of years I've had to pay Illinois every year when I file my income taxes. I pay 8.5% sales tax every time I buy something, and I'm sure I'm paying a plethora of other taxes to Illinois that I don't even know about. What am I getting for that? Our libraries are deeply in debt and having to close branches or layoff employees. School lunches are being cut. Social services are being cut and people who rely on the state to help them are sadly disappointed. The list of things that Illinois cannot pay for is getting longer and longer everyday.
So on one hand, I know that taxes need to be raised. How else will we get out of the billion dollars of debt we've racked up? What a vicious cycle, though. If I have less in my paycheck, that's less money I can use to purchase items. My expenses seem to increase, and my income decreases. I'm applying for a 14 hour a week part-time job to help make up the difference. At what point will things even out? At what point will the tide turn and I'll make money again? I used to be so much richer when Bill Clinton was our president. I really wish he was in charge of our economy again, blow job or not. I never went to bed and worried about losing my job or what would happen if I did. I could use some of that comfort right about now.
With this economy and the state of our country, I actually worry about these things now. I'm old enough that an income disaster will be almost impossible for me to recover from. I am holing up, clinging to everything I've got and hoping like hell that I can weather this economic storm. Everything is cyclical. I figure I need to hang on for another 15 years and the economy will be back. Then maybe I won't need to be so concerned with whether I'm spending money on luxuries or necessities.
I worry about my sons and how they are going survive this crisis. They are fighting an uphill battle and they haven't even begun the fight. My older son graduated from college in May and is doing everything he can to support himself. He wants to be a police officer, but municipalities are not hiring officers, just like they aren't hiring librarians. He works two jobs and has no money. I don't have any to give him, regrettably. My younger son is in college, so hopefully the economy will be better when he gets out of college in three years. At least he wants to go into a business that is not supported by tax dollars. Ironically, he'll probably be the wealthiest of us all -- he wants to be a tattoo artist. No matter what state the economy is in, people seem to continue getting tattoos. Lucky him!
Don't mind me -- I've been out of half-and-half for a week and I'm feeling cranky.
Watching the 6:00 a.m. news is always an unreal reality check. There was a 'professional shopper' woman on this morning talking about the great deals on clothes that one can find on the internet. She was comparing dresses at stores vs dresses online, raving about what a deal you can get at www.gilt.com because the little black dress she was featuring was only $250.00.
$250.00!!!! Really? That's a great deal? I've never in my life spent that kind of money on any clothing, including my wedding dress. When I got married I went to a bridal shop in town and emphatically asked to look at the budget closet. I ignored the skepticism of the saleswoman and managed to find a lovely wedding dress for $75.00. 
When it came time for me to order flowers for my wedding, I just picked purple roses, and emphatically told the sales clerk that I did not want to talk to the wedding consultant because I knew what I wanted. We made our own invitations, had a friend cater the affair and another friend took the pictures. We spent days putting together music tapes for dancing, had a keg and jug wine, all under a rented tent with tables and chairs. Thankfully my betrothed nixed the wrought iron arch my mom and sister wanted, so we saved a lot of money there. We put on our entire wedding for 100 guests for a grand total of $700.00. It was a good thing I didn't spend more on my dress because we were married outside and it poured rain the night before. At the end of my wedding night the bottom of my dress was black with mud.
Now that was a frugal wedding! And you know what? My marriage lasted 24 years. That averages to about $30.00 year. Not a bad return, I'd say. Of course our divorce cost us 50 times that in money and a million times more than that in sadness and hurt.
Opps....I was talking about the perky blond woman on the 6:00 a.m. news who was talking about the great deals she found online, and I wondered what planet she was from. Honestly, with the unemployment rate so high, foreclosures dotting every neighborhood, and people desperately trying to hold onto their jobs, I couldn't imagine worse timing for a 'news story' about $250.00 dresses. The day before the same segment covered cheap vacations: 4 night cruises for $600/person. Again, what are they thinking? I can't afford a $45.00 night in a Kenosha, WI hotel!
Are people really going on vacations? Do they really spend that kind of money on dresses and other clothing items? Maybe I've completely lost touch with the real world because I've been buying my clothes at Target for so long. My idea of a vacation paradise is to rent a little ramshackle cottage in Frankfort, MI and sit on the beach.
And then there are some days the money hemorrhages out of my wallet. Today was one of those days. In between work and my first Thursday night grad class, I had a bunch of errands to run. First, I needed to buy gas because I was, as Jackson Browne once sang, runnin' on empty. I also had to get to school early because I had to pay my fees so I wouldn't be kicked out of the program this close to the end. I was tight on time so I had to buy fast food. I hated to do it, but there truly times when life just takes over and there's nothing you can do about it. So it was Jimmy John's.
As soon as I got to school I had to pay my fees. Instead of charging my checking account the $60.00 I owed, the clerk charged me $3,385.00. Luckily I caught it and they put a credit through right away.
Keeping perspective on things, I was feeling poor tonight because I paid $28.00 for gas, $6.00 for dinner, and $60.00 for school fees. It's been so long since I've spent money, I felt completely drained of mula at the end of the night. Of course the only thing that made it okay was that these were all necessities.
Let's see what tomorrow brings. I think I have 10 more days of buying only necessities.
Karrie
The dog and cat hair in my house has reached epic proportions. There are tufts of fur that should be paying me rent because they are residing on my stairs, under furniture, and all over my couch -- because, of course, that is where my dog sleeps. It's disgusting, and I finally gave in and decided to vacuum. The vacuum bags became a necessity and I had to go into the hardware store to buy them. Old habits die hard, though....the first thing I saw was something that I've been wanting to buy for quite awhile -- a Dustbuster hand held vacuum. I know...the woman who hates to vacuum wants a Dust Buster? You 'betcha, as a certain Alaskan woman would say. A Dust Buster can get a small job done without me having to get out my canister vacuum. If I had a Dust Buster I could just suck up those fur balls quickly and easily. Because I haven't seen one in a store in recent years, I had to restrain myself from buying that Dust Buster. I added it to my mental list of things to buy on January 24th...the day after my 30 day challenge, though.
Canister vacuums are a pain in the ass. They ram into the furniture, suck up the edges of rugs, and make a lot of noise that makes my dog follow me around the house barking manically. My vacuum requires switching the carpet attachment with the upholstery attachment, and then I have to put the top-of-the-ceiling attachment on to get the cobwebs. Vacuuming always reminds me just how gross my house gets.
I should note that my hatred for vacuuming has been a life-long thing. When I was a kid, on Saturdays I was supposed to vacuum my bedroom but I would actually turn the vacuum on and just let it run without touching it. While it was running I would take my hair brush and brush my rug to make it look like I vacuumed! It would take me 3 times longer to brush my carpet than it would've if I had just vacuumed. Surprisingly, my mom always seemed satisfied with how clean my carpet looked. Go figure.
The truth of the matter is that I have a cleaning lady twice a month, so I don't vacuum very often. I'm not sure if I have a cleaning lady because I hate to vacuum or if I hate to vacuum because I have a cleaning lady. In the debate of necessity vs. luxury, I would normally put a cleaning lady in the luxury column. Given that I'm currently getting a masters in teaching by taking classes at night, doing homework every night, working a full-time job, writing lesson plans when I'm not doing homework, and occasionally working a second job, cleaning my house doesn't happen. I don't have the time, and since I don't want to live in a dirty house, I need to have a cleaning lady. This need won't always be there; I will eventually graduate (this June), and I hopefully will get to a point when I don't have to work two jobs (when I retire at 75). Until then, my cleaning lady is a God-send. I worship the ground she walks on, and I will be hard-pressed to let her go. My favorite day comes every 2-3 weeks, always on Thursday. I come home from my night class at 9:00 p.m., walk through the door, and bask in the cleanliness of my sweet little home. Definitely a necessity. Say what you want. :)
The other thing that sucks is that one of my best friends told me that she has cancer. My heart aches for her, and I will be worried about her until she gets a clean bill of health. My friendship with her is an absolutely necessity in my life, and I wish I could take her cancer away from her. We are blessed to have friends over the years who grow with us, help us, laugh with us, entertain us, and remind us to keep perspective on all the weird twists in life. My friend has been all these things to me, and it will be my honor to be these things to her. God-speed, my friend. I'm here for you night and day.
Fur-free but worried and praying for my friend,
Karrie
My paper thin slice of soap slipped out of my hands this morning and went down the drain. Bye, bye!
This morning I had to stop by the grocery store to buy some American cheese for my 3rd grade class. It was the first time I have been in a grocery store since New Year's Eve, and I was there only to buy the cheese I needed for my class. I know what you're thinking....what in the world would I be doing in my class that I would need American cheese? I'm reading a book by Sarah Weeks titled Oggie Cooder, and the boy -- Oggie -- does a neat little trick called charving with American cheese. Charving? Yes. He takes a piece of American cheese and chews the edges off the cheese until he shapes it into one of the 50 states. His specialty is Texas and Wisconsin. The story is hilarious, complete with a snobby girl, Donnica Perfecto, who wants to steal his talent so she can win $10,000 on a show called Hidden Talents. She befriends Oggie and talks him into teaching her how to charve, and then pulls a fast one so he can't be on the show and do his own charving. Is charving as easy as it looks, and is her talent to charve as polished as Oggie's? You'll have to read the story to find out!
My third graders were laughing out loud when I read this to them, and they got their chance to charve after I finished the book....and that's why I needed to buy American cheese (soy cheese for the kiddos who are lactose intolerant). Each kid got a slice of cheese and a picture of a state. It was a great moment in the Baker Demonstration School library as 15 little 3rd graders looked like little rabbits as they charved their cheese. It was hilarious! What was even funnier is that after a bunch of the kids were able to charve Wyoming, Texas and Wisconsin, they all complained about the icky taste of the cheese and wanted to throw it away. Good thing -- American cheese isn't good for anyone!
I honestly can't count this as break of my challenge. I absolutely needed the cheese for my class. On my way to the check-out, with only cheese in my basket, I walked past the bath soap. I gave in and bought a package of two bars of soap (only thing available) and was shocked at how expensive it is -- I guess everyone thinks of soap as a necessity, otherwise it would cost less. Two bars of Dove cost me $3.39! Good thing a bar of soap lasts so long! I won't have to buy another one for a year! The harder thing was NOT buying this week's People Magazine because Valerie Bertinelli got married, and she was on the cover. I really, really, really wanted to read that story. I watched One Day At A Time when I was a kid, and have always liked her, but I left it.
I'll be glad when this challenge is over and I can buy a few things that will indulge me....like chocolate and People Magazine. It'll be nice when my chocolate cravings aren't met by eating chocolate chips. My wants are simple....my needs appear to be even more basic, as I'm discovering.
Only 12 more days to go,
Karrie
Two days since I last wrote. No stores, no spending. I realized today that I haven't been in a grocery store since New Year's Eve. That's 10 days without buying food of any kind. A couple of days ago I ran out of the cream for my coffee that I found in the back of my refrigerator, so I'm using milk in my coffee. Let me just say this: Yuck. Not the same thing. And now my supply of coffee is quickly depleting, but I'll just switch to green tea when I'm out. I've run out of bread, and I'm quickly running out of fruit, especially since I used the rotten bananas I had to make banana/chocolate chip/pecan bread. Salad fixings do not exist. A quick inventory of what's still in the house that I can put together into something edible: 2 cans of tuna, 4 veggie burgers, 4 fillets of tilapia, 6 fillets of salmon, lots of bags of frozen veggies. Can a girl live on fish and veggie burgers alone? I know many vegetarians who would be really happy with that fare. What's getting out of balance is that I have dips and chips left over from NYE because I don't normally eat that stuff. I have a feeling that as I eat up the good stuff, the bad-for-you stuff will remain. Probably the most disturbing thing in the refrigerator inventory: I have 4 cans of Diet Coke left. (I'm breaking out in a sweat as I write this.) How am I going to make that last?
The hardest thing about having food that you have to cook is that...well, you have to cook it. It takes time and preparation. Time is not on my side anymore because my graduate classes started tonight. Now that I'm back in school during the day and in grad school at night, this is where I'm likely to falter. Sometimes I'm just too damned tired to cook or prepare anything. It's so much easier to go to the Jimmy John's on the way to my night class and pick up a sandwich. I have to be strong, though. No restaurant food.
I've got 13 days to go to finish the challenge. I foresee my meals getting weirder and weirder as the food disappears out of my frig. My hair conditioner has about 3 more sprays left in it, and then I can expect my hair to look like I've been in a wind tunnel. Between that and no coffee, I'm going to start frightening people because I'm going to appear a little scary.
This morning I noticed that the bar of soap I have in the shower is a tiny little sliver, barely able to suds up anymore. I think I've had this bar of soap for six months. Does anyone really know how long a bar of soap lasts? It's sort the same question as how long does a Tootsie Pop last, except no one would be willing to bit into a bar of soap! After all these months, my bar of soap looks like the onion paper that people used to type or write on decades ago. It's so small and slippery that I accidentally dropped it and had to make a mad dash to get it before it went down the drain. My friends, colleagues and students are hoping that little wisp of soap is going to last me till the end of this challenge -- and not go down the drain -- because there's no telling what will happen if I don't have soap to bathe with. Not that I stink or anything....water is cleansing isn't it? So I better make sure I don't drop that soap again, and if I do I'll have to make sure I remember to use deodorant. Or I'll have to call soap a necessity....for everyone else's sake!
Still smelling like a rose,
Karrie
I admit it. I actually miss shopping more than I thought I would. Or is it just that I miss buying things without thinking about it? There's a certain freedom in spending without thought; that's probably why people get into financial trouble. They spend without thinking about the consequences of not being able to afford it. I've been there in my lifetime. When I was first married we were dirt poor, piecing together many jobs to make ends meet. We were a team, making a life for ourselves, so we worked together in every sense of the word. Ironically, we got along much better when we were broke. Money gave us lots of things to argue and disagree about, and that broke down our ability to work together and accomplish our goals and dreams....but I digress. (I do that a lot.)
Shortly after we were married, my car died and we needed to buy a 'new' used one, but lacked any kind of credit. It was by the good graces of our car mechanic who managed to get us a car loan, that we were able to drive off his lot with our very dependable Nissan 510. Suddenly we had a credit history, which was excellent, and the credit card offers poured in faster than water in the Titanic. In short order we were sinking in debt, but we were living the materialistic life we wanted. It took us 10 years and my disability check to dig us out of it. Lesson learned.
I have no debt except for my mortgage and car payment. It's manageable, but as I mentioned yesterday, it's tight. There are times when I just want to buy something to have it. Recently, every time I get on my elliptical machine my right knee hurts as I'm pumping up and down. (Here's some twisted logic for you.) I don't want to get on my elliptical machine, nor do I want to go to the doctor. The pain isn't that bad, but I fear that I'm going to blow out my knee. I don't want to go to the doctor because my primary care physician likes to refer me to specialists and I have a higher co-pay to see a specialist. I don't want to pay that higher copay. What happened to the days of primary care physicians being able to handle most of the ills that patients suffer? So I was thinking that I should walk more to exercise but I don't want to walk outside. I admit I'm a wimp; I don't like the cold and I really don't like the ice (this is a sign that I'm getting old -- I think about falling on ice).
I decided that I should get a treadmill and alternate between that and my elliptical machine. I went to a Play It Again Sports store, and a 2nd Wind store to scope out their treadmills. I priced them out, listened to the sales guys, almost bought one at Play It Again Sports, and then used my knees and walked out. Play It Again Sports wanted $599 for a new machine. 2nd Wind wanted $999.00. If I wasn't challenging myself to not spend money, I would've bought the treadmill at Play It Again Sports. It would be easy for me to rationalize this purchase as a necessity because it relates to my health.
Patience is a hard thing to drum up sometimes, but I managed to do that this afternoon. I have 15 days before I can declare success with my no shopping challenge. In these 15 days, I can investigate the best treadmill for the money, read reviews, and -- if I still need a treadmill on January 23rd -- buy the best one for the money I can afford. Smart shopping without immediate gratification. This is a good thing.
Halfway there and still learning,
Karrie
p.s. That Datsun 510 station wagon served us well. After Ellis was born we brought him home in it. Unfortunately, a few months later I drove it into New York City to take Ellis and our dog, the first Atticus, for a walk in Riverside Park while we waited for my husband to get off work so we could drive home together. I went back to where I parked the car and there was a different car in my parking space. My car was gone, never to be heard from again. A casualty of New York City thieves. We still talk fondly about that car because it was the vehicle that drove us into new life experiences.
This No Shopping adventure has me thinking about money all the time. It's sort of like starting a diet and suddenly thinking about eating ice cream and chocolate, which you haven't thought about eating for a long time. Suddenly it becomes an obsession. For the last couple of days I've been noodling around how to cut expenses in my monthly budget. I've been doing pretty well with not buying unnecessary things but how much more can I cut? Cable? Internet? Home phone?
Tonight was budget night; I wrote out my expenses and my income to see exactly where I stand. Thankfully my income column is little bit more than my expenses but not by much. Not enough to put money into savings, which is distressing. Also, not enough to cover any major emergency expenses. Deep down this is probably why my spending freak-flag started to fly on December 24th. I'm 50-years-old -- too old to be eating hand-to-mouth.
Is my economic situation similar to other people's my age? I suppose, but there are lots of people better off than me, and in this economy there are so many more people who are worse off than I am. I feel so bad for all the people who are unemployed and trying to making ends meet so they can feed their children, pay their mortgage and survive. Someone told me that I was not helping the economy by trimming down my spending and that got me thinking. Does one person's frugality affect the economy as much as the economy affects one person's economic status? I don't have an answer to that question, but I do know the sucky economy has definitely affected my ability to make a living.
I've been working two jobs for 11 years. I've had a full-time job as a school librarian and a part-time job in a public library. My two jobs compliment one another, and both bring me great professional satisfaction. There have been times when I've wondered why I work two jobs and it always comes down to this: survival instincts. I've been working since I was 12-years-old when I got my first paper route. Remember when kids used to deliver the paper? I woke up at 5:00 a.m. every morning, folded 100 Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, plopped them into a baby buggy and walked the neighborhood throwing papers onto subscribers' porches. I liked having money when I was kid, and working was the only way to get it. I have not always been responsible with money; I used to spend it as quickly as I earned it.
I worked throughout high school, typing my way through jobs and taking on more and more responsibility until finally in college I was hired -- at 19-years-old -- to be the resident manager of a 150-unit HUD apartment complex in DeKalb, Illinois. This is how I put myself through college. I got a free apartment and a salary, but most importantly I got job experience that carried me to many other jobs.
My work ethic is very strong, and so are my survival instincts.
How does one cut budget expenses? I'm going to have to consult Suze Orman -- my financial advice goddess. What does she say about those expenses that you can't do anything about, i.e., electricity, heat, water, garbage removal. Today I called AT&T U-verse and I cut my cable bill by unsubscribing to Showtime. That saves me $13.00 a month. Doesn't seem significant enough, does it? That would be $156.00 a year. And now I'm starting to think that I don't really need a land line anymore -- duh. Thinking about it, most people call me on my cell phone anyway, and it seems the only people who call me on my 'home phone' are annoying salespeople who are ignoring the "no call list" when they call me to sell me new windows, people wanting me to contribute to some shady-at-best fund or a politician wanting my vote. Hardly calls worth the expense. If I cut my land line that's $35.00 a month I'd save. Between the two AT&T expenses, that would $48.00/month or $576.00 year. That is significant and something to think about. That means, though, no land line. Despite my lack of using it, there are advantages to having one. I can protect my cellphone number and not give it out willy nilly, thus avoiding those annoying sales calls. If there was an emergency of any kind, land lines are tied into the police and fire department computers to show location, and this is a life-saving benefit. Oh, and I can send a fax from my land line. I do this about three times a year. The question is: keep or give up the land line?
In the meantime, I'm applying for a part-time job that will give me 14 hours per week. The pay is good, and I'll have some wiggle room if I get it. I am grateful to have this option, grateful to have any job in this economy. I guess all I can do is my best to hunker down, be wise with spending and work hard. This has been a great learning experience so far.
The good news is that I didn't spend any money today!
A little richer,
Karrie
I wake up at 5:00 a.m. to the rich aroma of coffee brewing in my kitchen. The smell wafts up to my bedroom and it fills my nose every 9 minutes when I wake up enough hit the snooze button. This has become one of the benefits of not spending money -- I don't stop at 7-11 for a cup of coffee every morning. I figure I'm saving $3.00 a day -- if I don't buy a sandwich for lunch. That's $15.00 a week -- $35.00 if I don't get a sandwich everyday -- that I've saved simply because I set up the coffee machine the night before. That's a lot of money that's still in my bank account, but even more enjoyable is that I drink a cup of coffee while I'm getting ready for work. Who knew that saving coffee money could be such a pleasant experience?
Since I'm not buying sandwiches for lunch, I'm packing lunch. I haven't been grocery shopping since I bought the necessities for my New Year's Eve party, and I've eaten the leftovers at this point. My refrigerator is starting to look sparse. I don't have any more yogurts, nor do I have any more salad fixings. I'm snacking on red peppers and English cucumbers because that's still left over from my party. What's with those English cucumbers anyway? Is it really necessary to wrap the cucumber in plastic so tight that it's like trying to get the Illinois IRS to give you back money on your tax return? Regular cucumbers don't need to be wrapped in plastic. Putting plastic on a cucumber -- talk about a waste of money! And don't even get me started on the environmental aspects of plastic on a damned cucumber. Opps...I digress.....
Anyway, my refrigerator is quickly becoming empty. Last night I managed to whip up some pasta for dinner for my son and his girlfriend. I had shrimp in the freezer, and I made a light tomato sauce. It was really good. Later I was trying to pack my lunch only to discover: no bread, no lunch meat, no lettuce. In other words, no sandwich. I ran out of Lean Cuisines before Christmas, so the quick grab is now out of the question. I had a huge bag of Kirkland chicken breasts, so I pulled out a couple of them, plopped them into a baking dish, and then hunted in the frig for something to spice it up. Pineapple. I had some pineapple that was getting close to turning so I dumped that into the dish. I figure if it baked with the chicken there would be very little chance of me getting sick from slightly fermented pineapple. Then I took the leftover tomato sauce (the shrimp had been picked out), and dumped that it over the chicken. Baked it for 30 minutes, and wa-la! Lunch for the next couple of days. How brilliant! This morning I grabbed a bag of frozen veggies and added that to the chicken. Is it possible that not spending money is going to make me eat healthier? Maybe I'll be lucky and at the end of the 30-day challenge I'll not only be richer, I'll be thinner!
Late this afternoon my ex-husband invited me to have tapas with him, our son, and Lara. Did I mention that she's from Spain? The dinner was in her honor because she's going back home this weekend. I accepted the invitation fully expecting to pay my way...this was another one of those family moments that you can't put a price on, so I was going to declare the event a necessity. The dinner was wonderful, the company was terrific, and when the bill came I tried to give my ex-husband money, but he wouldn't take it. Chivalry is not dead, I guess. He said he invited me, so he was going to pay. It was a kind and generous thing to do. Walking back to my car I was noting that I hadn't spent any money today -- not even in the soda machine at school. I was thinking about how I was going to brag about this here, on my blog, but when I got to the car I had a parking ticket.
I saw the meter and thought I put two hours of quarters in the damned thing, but it was dark and I couldn't see the LCD screen on the meter, nor could I see the denominations of the coins I was pouring into the meter one after the other. Evanston cleverly makes the meter signs impossible to read in the dark so I didn't see that I had to put money in until 9 p.m.. Obviously I didn't put enough in, and then it suddenly dawned on me the insignificant coins that I put in the meter was money spent, and even more distressing was that I had spent $10.00 over that because of the cost of the ticket. What is Evanston thinking? Do they really need to charge people for a parking meter till 9 p.m. on a Thursday night? I'm going to have to remember this and make a point to go Glenview or Winnetka where they don't have parking meters.
Why is it that things we don't want to spend money on are frequently necessities? I have to pay that ticket so it instantly floated to the top of the necessity list. While I'm not buying food -- a true necessity for sustenance of life -- I am earmarking money to pay for the privilege of parking. That just doesn't seem right, does it? I thought briefly about not paying for it till February when my 30-day challenge is over, but then it would cost me $25.00! No, I'm going to be stuck paying for it within the next five days. Oh well....sometimes you just have to pay the ticket to eat, have fun and be merry. A necessity of a different kind, and it was worth every penny to have a enjoyable family moment with our son.
Total money spent today -- $10.75 (the 75 cents, give or take, was for the meter but I don't even know how much it was because it was dark.)
I've gotta go set up the coffee pot for tomorrow's aroma experience!
Karrie
The quest for beauty is an expensive proposition and there is so much involved with being beautiful on the outside. Creams, powders, exfoliates, foundation, blush, cleanser, buffers, zit cream, eye shadow, eye brow, lip and other body part waxing or plucking. Manicures, pedicures, mud baths, hair color, hair straightening, perms, hair cuts/styles, botox, eye tucks, curling irons, hair straighteners, hair sculpting gel, anti-frizz gel, hair spray, and the list goes on.
I'm not a high-maintenance girl when it comes to my beauty care routine. I wash my face at night after removing my make-up. I brush my teeth, floss and then I'm done. In the morning, I take a shower, wash my hair, put make-up on, dry my hair and I go. Each week I do my nails. Surprisingly, this simple routine requires the following products:
Bathing:
Shampoo
Conditioner
Tree Tea Tingle bath wash (Trader Joe's -- I highly recommend)
Toothbrush
Tooth paste
Dental flossM
Make-up remover
Clearsil face cleansing pads
Hair Care:
Spray conditioner for heat damaged hair
Goop that helps keep my style
Blow dryer
3 different sized round brushes
Hair spray
Make-Up:
Moisturizer w/sun-block 15
Cream foundation in two different colors (to get the perfect blend to match my pastey skin)
Touch base for eyelids (keeps my eye shadow on all day - Clinique product)
Eye shadow in three different colors
Mascara -- lots and lots of mascara
Under-eye cover up -- lots and lots of under-eye cover up
Hands and Feet: (The truth is that I much prefer to go to a nail salon, but in my effort to save money, I am painting my own nails. Oy vey!)
Nail polish remover
Nail polish -- base coat, color, top coat
Cuticle cream
Cuticle clippers
File or emery board
Nail conditioner
That's basically it. My entire beauty care product list. As I said, I'm not high maintenance. But as the month is going on, I'm starting to run out of a few things. First, I'm running out of the spray hair conditioner that I put on my hair everyday. I will definitely run out before the month is over, and I fear that my hair will become unruly and stick straight out like Bozo the Clown's.
I'm also going to run out of the Touch Base product I use to keep my eye shadow on my eyelids the entire day. I have to decide if these products are necessities. If not, what will my hair look like? Will my eyes sans shadow look old and tired? A couple of weeks ago a first grader asked me if I was okay. I replied yes, and wondered why she asked. She said, "Because you have dark circles under your eyes and that isn't good." Mental note to self: go to bed earlier, even it means you miss the Colbert Report. That's why you have a DVR. As it turned out, she had a broken nose a few weeks before and she had black eyes; she thought I had broken my nose because of the dark circles I was sporting.
My hair care routine -- the coloring and cutting -- is something I don't spend a lot of money on, relatively speaking. Relative to the women I know who go to premier salons and pay over $100 every six weeks just on a hair cut! Their color costs upwards of $175.00 each time they have it done. Honestly, are they crazy? I go to the Hair Cuttery and get a perfectly adequate hair cut for $18.00, and when I need color every five months or so, the whole color-and-cut thing costs just over $100. I get so much more for my money. Over the winter break I got my hair cut and I've got a Meg-Ryan sort of spikey, messy look going. Yesterday, on the first day back from break I saw a PreK class, and a little girl in class said, "Ms. Fisher, your hair looks strange." Again, out of the mouth of babes. A person could really develop a complex working with small children! I was relieved today when the 8th grade girls didn't say I looked weird, but in fact said they liked it.
Forget Women's Wear Daily and Glamour magazine, I have the students in my school to set me straight on how I appear every day.
Months ago I gave up manicures and pedicures. I really miss pedicures; to me, a pedicure is like a mini-vacation. It's relaxing and I love the massage. The beauty of smooth feet and perfectly shaped and painted toe nails is incidental to me. Truly, I could make an argument for why pedicures are necessities, but no one would accept the idea that when my toes are beautiful I am smarter. I don't even believe this -- but it sounds better than me telling the truth: pedicures are a necessity because I need a foot massage to feel relaxed. There have been times when I've been sitting in that big, leather comfy chair, having my feet tended to when I've gone into a trance and had to keep from moaning out sheer delight. It's the best when you get a massage of any kind and then don't have to put out. That always ruined the massage for me in the past. Back to necessity vs luxury: It's winter and there is no way I can call a pedicure a necessity. After all, who sees my feet in the winter? Come summer, I might have a prayer of convincing myself and others that a pedicure is a necessity if I'm wearing sandals. Check back with me in June!
My temporary solution to not buying beauty products is I'm using up every last drop of these products. I'm turning the goop upside down so it drains to the opening and I can get every last plop out. I'm using the spray conditioner very sparingly, trying to make it last.
There are some things that have to be considered necessities, but I'll have to wait until I'm totally out of the item before I can justify spending the money.
Money spent today -- Zero.
Yippee,
Karrie
I am a school librarian and my winter break ended today. Back to school -- sans coffee from 7-11. I could've gone to Starbucks with my $30 worth of gift certificates, but opted to set the timer on my coffee maker and take coffee to work. I was really proud of myself because I packed a lunch, too.
In my mailbox at school was another Starbucks gift certificate -- the total is now $35.00! I feel like I hit the jack pot!
The thing about working is that if you're at work it's almost impossible to spend money, so today was really easy. However, on my drive home I stopped at Borders to pick up a 2011 calendar because I had to pay my bills. Is a calendar a necessity? My mom answered that question and said, "Only if you want to know what day it is!" Considering my bills were due and I needed to see what days to pay them, I put the calendar in the necessity column. I waited, though, until after the first of the year because calendars are half price. If I'm going to spend money, I'll try to save as much as possible.
Tomorrow: A question of beauty.
Still sticking to it,
Karrie
Dilemma. The first real one, and only 9 days in.
My son, Owen, called to see if I wanted to have breakfast (at 1:00 p.m.) with him and his girlfriend, Lara. Lara lives in Spain and is here visiting for three weeks. I offered to take them to Walker Brothers Pancake House, but Owen asked me if we could go to Egg Harbor Cafe. I happily said yes and planned to meet them there. As I was taking a shower, I started to think about breakfast and how this technically is a luxury. Going out to eat anywhere is a luxury. I also assumed that I was going to be the one paying for lunch since I'm the only one amongst the three of us who is gainfully employed. How was I going to do this? It would break my challenge.
I called Owen and asked him who he thought would pay. It was an awkward moment...I had never put him on the spot before, and asking him implied that perhaps it wasn't going to be me who coughed up the greenbacks. Seriously, a question like that is a joke! He's 18, in college and not employed....who else was going to pay? I told him I couldn't go because of my challenge, and then offered to make them breakfast. To try and get around it, I even asked him if it was about spending quality time with me (lol), or was it about the food? Did I mention that he's 18 and in college? Of course it was about the food! His answer was actually humble in the mumble that it was about the place and food. And then it dawned on me -- Egg Harbor Cafe is the special breakfast place that Owen and I have gone to a gazillion times.
My son has suffered from asthma for years. The summer he got sick -- before he was diagnosed with it -- we were staying in my in-laws' cottage in Frankfort, MI (you remember Frankfort, right? Home of The Smokestack.). In this land of woods, lakes and a 15-bed hospital is where his body decided to present asthma. He would be fine all day, playing at the beach, eating, going places with his friends, and then every night the coughing would begin. I stayed up with him as he hacked his lungs into a barf bucket, and after the third night of no sleep for either of us, I took him to see a doctor, who ended up being a nurse practitioner. (I am not making any statements about nurse practitioners -- I love them and think our medical world would be in dire straits without them!) The doctor put Owen on antibiotics and sent us on our merry way. Two nights later -- long enough to get the meds in his system -- he was still coughing up his lungs. I called our pediatrician at home who cleverly diagnosed him over the phone and called in a prescription for inhalers and prednisone (because he was so bad). Owen was on his way to getting over this episode but not before he had an allergic hive reaction to shrimp, and being so worn out by the time we drove home, that he spent the 6-hour drive home in a sleepy stupor -- but he wasn't coughing.
So began our voyage into the Asthmatic Ocean. Over the next couple of years we rode the stormy waves in a raft of peak flow meters, Albuterol and nebulizers. I was constantly taking Owen to the doctor's office where they would nebulize him 3 times before the doc could hear any improvement in his little lungs. Anyone who has been treated with a nebulizer knows that it takes hours to get the treatments, so we'd leave the doctor's office and stop at Egg Harbor Cafe because Owen would be so hungry. No doubt the treatments included steroids and everyone knows how hungry steroids make a person! Egg Harbor Cafe became our special place where we'd both heal from the day -- Owen healing his lungs, and me healing my wounded and worried heart because my son was so sick. Whenever Owen had an appointment at the doctor's office we would make it a point to stop there and eat. It's been eight years since we first started going there, and if we were going to declare an "our restaurant," it would be Egg Harbor.
All these memories danced through my head as I was thinking about Owen wanting to go there with me and his girlfriend. Like the Grinch, my heart grew three sizes because I realized that he wanted to share this special thing we had with the new woman in his life. Call it rationalization, but suddenly going to Egg Harbor with Owen and Lara became a necessity. So we went, and I paid. The food was delicious, the company was extraordinary, it was a lot of fun and I was able to -- once again -- bond with my son (and his girlfriend) at the Egg Harbor Cafe. Owen and memories put buying lunch at Egg Harbor on my list of necessities because these are the kinds of things that make us who we are, love the way we do, and remember the most precious moments and memories -- even if they are made because some you love is hacking up a lung.
Sentimentally Yours,
Karrie
1/1/11 -- I love this!
I didn't step one foot into a store today, and therefore didn't spend any money. I guess with the internet I could've been spending, spending, spending....but I didn't. All my needs are met.
My New Year's gaming party was a success. There was more than enough food (as is usually the case when my group gets together), and we had a blast playing the game Loaded Questions. I laughed so hard my stomach and cheek (face) muscles ached by the end of the night. Talk about a necessity! My friends are vital to my existence, and they are priceless. In life we are fortunate when we have people around us whom we can call friends, and know that they are always with us in the darkest of times and the best of times. And there is nothing that I wouldn't do for them (note: chocolate dipping sauce).
I was rich today because I spent time with these dynamic women who make me laugh....and I didn't spend a dime. If we had been playing poker I would've spent lots of dimes because I frequently lose. But that's another story.....
Successfully Yours,
Karrie
The feeling of having to go to the grocery store to buy things for my party stayed with me the whole day like an itchy mosquito bite. I would forget about having to go, and then it would start itching again. Grocery shopping is my biggest challenge because I always see something that I don't need to survive but love to eat, like candied pecans, popcorn, and Diet Coke. Ugh -- how am I going to get through the month without Diet Coke? Water is the only necessity for fluids, so I guess I'll have to drink more water. Good thing I like it, but it's not my drink of choice. I thought about buying a case for my party, but I already have a 12-pack, so I couldn't put Diet Coke on the necessity list for the party. Diet Coke may be my downfall.
Before going to the store I rummaged around my refrigerator and made a list -- and checked it twice -- to make sure I wouldn't buy anything that wasn't a luxury. One thing I found in the back of my refrigerator was a carton of whipping cream that I didn't use for the Christmas festivities. My half-and-half-in-my-coffee dilemma came to a close because I can make that carton last for the whole month (I hope). A little heavy whipping cream goes a looooooonnnnnnnng way to making coffee creamy.
Finally, at 7:30 p.m. I ventured to Dominicks. I figured the advantage to going at that time was that everyone would be done with their NYE shopping and the place wouldn't be crowded. Wrong. It was packed! Either people don't care much about NYE, or they all waited until the last minute to get their goods for the night. The ridiculous warm temperatures brought out an entertaining few -- like the two guys in shorts and sandals who were putting 12-packs of beer in their carts. Most amazing is that they weren't together...they were just two Chicago guys wearing shorts at the end of December. It was warm, but certainly not shorts weather! Their mission was evident: New Year's Eve celebration. Then there were the harried ones (more than you would think) who were zooming up and down the aisles, grabbing crackers, dip, chips, and cheese like the sky was falling. They must have been New Year's Eve revelers, too. Or perhaps their NO SHOPPING CHALLENGE was starting on January 1st and they wanted to get in all the non-necessary items they'd need to tide them over. The people with lists in hand could've been either weekly shoppers or party people. I was one of the people with a list in hand.
On my NECESSITY list for the party was this: Lettuce, strawberries, dipping chocolate, pita chips (to go with the hummus I had left over from Christmas, grapes, spinach dip to go with the veggies I had left over from Christmas, and Wheat Thins. I know what you're thinking about that dipping chocolate....how could that be a necessity? I know my guests and it was most definitely a necessity. A little bit of chocolate keeps everyone happy and satiated during all the gaming activities. Sometimes a necessity is about someone else's needs, and in this case, dipping chocolate was absolutely needed! Just ask Karen. Oh, and I bought the buns because I wasn't positive my friends were bringing them. Must have been the request for vacuum bags and vacuuming that kept anyone from committing to that item. Guess I'll have to do the vacuuming myself.
I also picked up a couple of things for my son's New Year's Eve gathering because it's good to have food on New Year's Eve. I got the bare essentials for their party: buns, ham, lettuce, cheese and one bag of chips. Oh, I got them grapes because my son's girlfriend is from Spain and Spaniards have a tradition of eating 12 grapes in 12 seconds as they tick down the last of the year.
I also picked up a few necessities for the coming week because I'm going back to school on January 3rd, and if I don't have the necessities to eat properly, I'll cave when I'm hungry and I'll end up buying food at a restaurant -- a most definite luxury. That's where the egg whites, turkey, milk, baby carrots, salad and Weight Watchers breakfasts came in. In total I spent $129.88. Really it doesn't seem like I got much for that amount, but I realized that the grapes were a fortune. Who knew?
I managed to get through the day only buying these things, all of which I deemed necessities. (I still have vacuum bags on the luxury list, so I didn't buy those.) It could've been worse -- I could've bought a lot of luxury items and would've spent way more than $129.88.
Successfully Yours,
Karrie
The redirection of my brain to thinking about my consumer habits is proving to be interesting. I frequently say I hate to shop, and wouldn't be caught dead in places like Bloomingdales or Macys because the mark-up on their merchandise is shocking. Carsons has to have a really big sale in order for me to go there, and even then it's only to buy Clinque products (which they never have on sale) or clothes. My stores of choice are: Target, Wal-Mart (Don't slay me with all the political stuff about Wal-Mart, please. I can make an argument either way.), and thrift stores.
My favorite shopping experience of all time was a huge old warehouse called The Smokestack in Frankfort, Michigan. Frankfort is a little resort town on Lake Michigan. Their public library is one room, and they have a five-and-dime in the heart of town. The bars and restaurants close in the off-season, and the barbershop doubles as a gun shop. The one thing this little town had was the perfect shopping experience. The Smokestack building was a catacomb of rooms that had been added on over the years. The floor was made of concrete and was uneven from room-to-room; it was easy to trip as you turned a corner leaving the building supply room to go into the electronics room. The roof had leaks in it, and the merchanise came from the area residents who didn't want their stuff anymore. If you needed some esoteric thing for your cottage while you were up there in the North, you went to The Smokestack because it was likely you'd find it. The warehouse was like a huge unorganized garage sale. Granted, the rooms had themes of products, but everything was a big jumble on shelves, in boxes, on the floor, or wherever they could set something. If you wanted an ironing board, you'd most likely have to remove several blenders, a George Foreman grill, and antique blue canning jars from the top of it before you could haul it up to the check-out area. Over the years of going there, some of the more entertaining things I saw for sale included a boat shell with a big hole in the hull Jaws-style ($6000), a package of used foam curlers ($4.00), and thousands of cutlery and other kitchen utensils (25 cents a piece). I could list a 1,000 things and every one of them would be there, tucked into some dark little corner. If you were ambitious you could walk around the warehouse that had to be as big as a football field if you could stretch it out, and find your item in three different places, ranging in price from 99 cents to $18.00. It was the hunt that was so much fun; so on rainy days when we couldn't go to the beach, we'd go to The Smokestack and dodge the buckets of rainwater collecting as it was was pouring from the roof, while looking for a gem. I couldn't wait to get to The Smokestack every summer, but sadly, my favorite shopping venue was violently torn down and replaced with condos in this little beach town. Frankly, now that The Smokestack is gone, I don't know where everyone is going to entertain themselves on rainy days, or when they need to find a black ribbon for an old Smith-Corona typewriter. Maybe craigslist or eBay, I guess, but it's not the same. Wherever those indoor garage sales are housed, I'm sure the roof isn't leaking.
So if this is my idea of the perfect shopping experience, you can believe me when I say shopping isn't an obsession for me. And that's why this challenge is interesting for me because I'm quickly realizing that I've underestimated my shopping tendencies. Today I found myself out and about, returning products that I bought before Christmas, and seriously thinking about buying something else in the store. All the little products they put at the cash register for a quick grab-and-buy, made my return at the Dress Barn a challenge when I saw a great pair of earrings. No.
Then I needed to buy gas for my car. I drive a Prius, so I buy gas every 4 weeks, and I try to buy gas only at CostCo because they are usually 10 cents less than anywhere else. A week ago buying gas would've been a luxury, today it was a necessity -- the little beeper went off and the gas gauge was flashing. So, I purchased $25.00 worth of gas, and as I drove home I went passed the street where The Village Treasure House in Glenview is located. I started thinking that I 'needed' a head and foot board for one of my bedrooms. Force of habit -- near the store and I need something. I almost went just to look to see if they had any head boards (and all the other cool things they sell. Now that I think about it, The Village Treasure House is the North Shore's answer to The Smokestack. People bring their 'junk' for resale. Of course the Treasure House wouldn't dream of selling used foam curlers, and their roof is sound.). I decided against it. What if I saw the perfect head board? I wouldn't be able to buy it because technically I didn't need it. The mattress and box spring are doing just fine sitting on the floor. Luxury. I had to admit that maybe I'm more of a consumer than I originally thought.
This is worrying me a bit because I'm trying to throw a party without having to go to the grocery store. Friends are coming over on New Year's Day to play games, and everyone will bring something, but surely there will be something that I'll need to get, right? I'll have to invoke the luxury vs necessity rule. One good thing is that there is no need to worry about the games -- I own a bunch of them. I rarely could convince my children to play games with me, so they are in the basement waiting for when I have grandchildren -- the games, that is.
Can I throw a party without buying food? This might be the ultimate challenge because I don't want to throw a Mary Tyler Moore disaster party. That being said, I have all the beverages I need, and people will bring appetizers and desserts. The question is: Can I get someone to bring sandwich buns and vacuum cleaner bags? Vacuum cleaner bags? I just discovered that my vacuum bag is full and I don't want to put this in the necessity category because I hate vacuuming. I think I'll say vacuum cleaner bags are a luxury for sure, and that way I won't have to vacuum. How convenient it would be if I could get one of my guests to bring sandwich buns, vacuum bags and vacuum for me!
Day 6 and I only purchased gas for my car -- a necessity.
Hanging in there,
Karrie
I dragged myself into the house after all my last minute Christmas shopping on -- of course -- Christmas Eve. Feeling exhausted and completely overspent, I made a goofy statement on my Facebook page that is taking on a life of its own because people are starting to ask me about it. The reason for my declaration? My feet were killing me from walking all over God's green acres to buy the remaining gifts, food, and spirits that I needed to pull off the perfect holiday party. Usually I wouldn't care that much about everything being perfect, but I was hosting my two sons and their girlfriends, two good friends, and my ex-family. The ex-family included my husband and his girlfriend, my father-in-law and my sister-in-law. I needed to prove something -- what I don't know.
Perhaps that's why I felt the need to have items for mixing drinks. Usually I'm a beer and wine girl, but I suddenly thought I needed martini mixer stuff, and the ingredients to make our favorite Christmas drink -- Slippery Nipples (Bailey's and butterscotch schnapps). Getting these things was my third trip out, and I was seriously wondering about my sanity as the snow started falling fast, heavy and wet.
Yes, desperation, that wiggling feeling that I spent money I didn't have, and a need to be in my cozy home made me say it:
ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS TO NOT STEP FOOT IN ANOTHER STORE FOR A MONTH. TO AVOID THE GROCERY STORE FOR A MONTH, I'M GOING TO EAT EVERY LAST THING IN MY FREEZER, PANTRY, AND REFRIGERATOR.It was out there and I couldn't take it back. The more I thought about it, the more I thought "What the hell was I thinking?" Yet deep down I knew I could do it. So, I decided to give it a try, starting the next day. That was easy because it was Christmas Day and I was throwing the perfect party! Besides, no stores were open.
Today is December 29th, and I'm still determined not to go into a store. But that simple declaration comes with tons of twists and turns. For instance, the store itself can't be the issue -- it's the BUYING in the store that's the problem. Frankly I'm not a shopper, but I can go into a Target store with the intent of buying dog food (they really do have the cheapest prices), and I'll come out with candlesticks, $5.00 DVDs of my favorite movies, light bulbs, People Magazine (they discount the outrageous price that is charged everywhere else), make-up, toothbrushes, reading glasses (because I lost 6 pairs somewhere in the house and can't find them without my reading glasses), and exercise equipment that I intend to use but never do. Yep, dog food can easily cost me $120.00.
Okay, so the issue is spending money IN a store. But does it count if I buy something online? And then I started thinking about the items that I absolutely NEED to have -- like dog and cat food and the ever important toilet paper. What if I run out of these things before the month is up? Maybe I should say I won't buy anything that is a luxury. Even that gets a little dicey. For instance, is half-and-half a luxury or a necessity? My quick answer is absolutely it's a necessity! What's the point of coffee if you can't put cream in it? Really, though? If I run out of half-and-half, I could just skip coffee and drink...ah-hem....tea? (That's a frightening thought as I go back to work next week and start grad classes the week after that -- all within this month.)
Just when I was thinking that I could do without coffee altogether, I remembered the $30 in Starbucks gift certificates I got for Christmas. Maybe I could use those -- but only in the drive-up. Technically that's not going into the store, right? I'm in my car. How convenient!
The real point of my declaration was to stop spending money in stores for one month. That's the challenge. Can I do it?
I'm off to a good start. I've haven't spent money at a store since December 24th. That means 5 days have gone by without going into a store or my wallet. However, tonight after work I had to go into Target to RETURN a fondue pot I bought before Christmas (yes, on December 24th), and didn't use. After getting my money back I was tempted to venture into the land of electric gizmos, gadgets, and unneeded items. I even grabbed a cart and started to go down the main aisle, but I remembered my challenge. I put the cart away and walked out with only a credit for $45.00 in my purse.
Then I went down the strip mall to Kohls because a couple of gift certificates were burning a hole in my wallet. I bought two shirts with the gift certificates. Another dilemma. Does this count? I spent money but it wasn't MY money.
Luxury vs. Necessity. It's an interesting debate, especially when you think about what Americans consider necessities because other people in the world live without these things. Cars, for instance. Computers. Cell phones, dishwashers, washing machines, air conditioning, iPods, soda, coffee (didn't I contemplate this earlier? Oh, it was the half-and-half. Most of the world thinks coffee is a necessity!), TVs, Internet, Farmville, and Facebook. These are things we consider necessities, but really they are luxuries. True necessities are: food, shelter, and water. In my own case I'd say clothes, but I have enough clothes to last me for years.
Keeping the luxury vs necessity idea in mind, I have to decide on some rules with this challenge otherwise I'm going to find a way around everything.
Rules:
- No spending money (cash or credit) in stores or restaurants on anything that is not a necessity.
- Gift certificates are okay to spend since technically someone else paid for the card.
- Necessities include items that are absolutely needed to survive. I'm not going to spend money on food unless it is necessary (half-and-half is OUT). Some items I consider a necessity: toilet paper, medication, cat/dog food (they didn't sign on to this).
I guess I'll just figure this out as I go because I can't possibly think of all the permutations of my declaration. For now I'm 5 days into my NO MORE SHOPPING (or spending money) CHALLENGE. It's not going to be easy. I have enough food in my refrigerator and pantry to eat for a month, even if it means I'll be eating peanut butter out of a jar. I'll report back here with my progress. If you're reading this, why not join my challenge? See if you can do it!
Determined to survive for 30 days,
Karrie
