I made good on my promise not to buy any video games for myself. I bought the new Kirby game for Matt and then we got the heck out of there. I got my oil changed and my wheels aligned. I took us out to eat at a local burger joint, supporting the small businesses. We went to wal-mart where I picked up a Knifty Knitter Long Loom kit for 15.00. While I was at wal-mart I also bought a new 12-qt stock pot because my old one has been put under the sink to catch a leak.

This weekend Matt and I stayed home he played his new game and I cooked, started my paper Mache pumpkins, finally dyed a pair of jeans black, and completed a Halloween Rag Wreath. We had a lot of fun.

Just a quick list of what I bought new so that I am being honest with myself.

Scissors

Loom Kit

Stock Pot

DS Game

Two Halloween Signs

Glass Votive Holders

4 Packs of Ritt Dye

One White Shirt

One Pizza Cutter

6 Make up bags

Blush

Make up Brush

Mascara

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The real challenge has began I actually got paid. I bought three used books from Amazon this came to 24.07, shipping included. I bought 10.85 worth of credits (3 credits) from Paper back swap. So all this is within the bounds of my agreement. I spent 20.95 at Elf.com. They had their entire make up cases 75% off. I ordered 6; none of them were for me. My mom is really bad about wanting to get everyone a little something at the last minutes and then over spending so I am trying to make sure that I have a lot of little things around that I have picked up at a good price for whomever. I did cheat and buy three things for myself, a foundation brush, mascara, and blush. ELF is a really great site most of their make up except the mineral collection is one dollar. This is also true of their make up brushes and nail polish. Shipping is a flat 6.95 unless you order over 75.00 then it’s free. Once you have ordered from them they will sometimes sent you coupons for half off the shipping fee. It’s a pretty cool site if you like make up.

I spent 92.92 at Wal Mart this was mostly on pet supplies, paper products, and the things I will need to make paper mache pumpkins and the rag wreath. I don’t think I really cheated there. I spend 41.22 at dollar tree on house hold stuff, lotion, toothpaste. The only thing I really cheated on there was a pack of glass votive holders and a spooky Halloween sign for my room

All told under 200.00 dollars. I will also have 300.00 to leave in my checking account to get me through until next pay day as I get paid bi weekly. I am going to get an oil change this afternoon and my boyfriend and I will be going to the video game store and out to eat while we wait. I have to go back to Wal-mart to pick up a few items to bring to the office pot luck tomorrow and a prescription. So unless I break the bank this afternoon I am very proud of my money management.

I don’t think I will be purchasing any video games for myself. Between us Matt and I have a Wii, PS2, XBOX 360, and 2 Nintendo DS. The only thing I play regularly is my DS as I often times play it during my lunch breaks. I don’t really have anything that I am crazy about playing on the Wii. I bought Mario Party two years ago but as no one likes that game as well as I do I have no one to play it with. If I buy any games for myself it will be for Wii or DS.

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Had a good weekend. Watched Run Fat Boy Run and the first part of Iron Man which we had gone to the movies to see. I don’t think my Netflix subscription is an unnecessary expense. Also watched Surplus it was a bit weird, but did have one very enlightening part featuring an excerpt of one of President Bush’s speeches after 911 the basic gist of what he was saying is that we should not allow the terrorists to terrorize us into staying in our homes and not going about our usual pursuits. He specifically mentioned shopping he said that we should still go out and shop !!??  That made me realize how dependant our economy is on people working all week to earn money and then shopping all weekend long for crap they don’t need. So count me out, I want off the work\ spend carousel

I made goulash with a recipe I got from this site it was very good. I made a big batch so that I would have some to freeze. I made spaghetti on Saturday which was very good also. I tried to dye two pair of jeans black, they did not come out great but I will wear them and I can always dye them again. The first pair was faded and came out more grey than black and the second pair was a medium blue and came out navy.

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A couple of interesting bits to add. Matt (my boyfriend) and I talked over buying new costumes, a decision which I was never really comfortable with, and decided instead of going to Halloween Express and spending upwards of 50.00 a piece that we would just go as “Goth Kids” which will require that I buy him a pair of black jeans and fish net stocking for myself. The best part of this is that he will have the jeans which he needed anyway.

One issue solved and I feel a lot better about buying a new pair jeans than a costume.

I watched a really interesting documentary last night. It was called “Affulenza” it’s older it was from 1997 and it showed footage of filling station and regular unleaded was 1.26 per gallon. It originally aired on PBS I had a hard time finding it and finally was able to get as a bit torrent. The video highlighted a group called ad busters that I think everyone who questions the materialistic tendencies in our society should check out. I just googled the name and it took me right to their site.

It also showed a really great book on finance called “Your Money or Your Life” that I plan to pick up (used) when I have the money.

I have another documentary “Surplus” that I plan to watch this weekend. I am feeling much better about my decision to voluntarily simplify my life and cut back on my spending. I know that this will be difficult, I have been programmed and brainwashed by advertisers since I was old enough to watch television but I am confident I that I can stop spending mindlessly for fun.

Matt seems a lot more on board with the whole thing now, which I am very thankful for. I think when I first explained about compacting either he did not quite get or just thought it would be a passing fad of mine. He is such a little activist he was very impressed by the demonstrations of the ad busters group.  

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I have spoke at length about my challenge but I have not really said much about my spending habits and what sort of person I am. I work about 20 miles (one way) from home. I don’t stop any morning for a fast food breakfast or a five dollar cup of coffee. I have oatmeal at my desk. I don’t go out for lunch I have frozen dinner or soup and sandwich in our break room. I don’t smoke or drink or buy lottery tickets. I buy very few sodas at convenience stores. I eat out less that twice per week. All in all I am not exactly a spend thrift but I am not all pleased with my relationship with money. I keep a simple word document with a table that contains what bill I must pay and when. A few days before pay day I start making a list of things I must pick up like pet food and kitty litter and paper products. Then it starts to turn into a list of stuff I want ,a hoodie, pair of track pants, video game, make up. Then I get my heart set on that list of things, I MUST have them and if something comes up and I cannot afford them I feel really bad. I feel like I must be pretty stupid or pathetic to work 40 or more hours a week and not be able to afford anything that I want.  There is something very pathological about this. Because I know that our lives are pervaded by crap that even the poorest among us have a house full of crap that they had accumulated over the years. We have so much crap that we now need to pay personal organizers and clutter busters to tell to just throw the crap away.  So I have started my challenge to help improve my relationship with money

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I have thought of a few things that I will have to buy. My disabled mother lives with me and I have promised her two bags of rye grass seed so I will be picking that up sometime and Matt and are I are going to a costume party (maybe) for Halloween and if that bears out I will buy us each a new costume. A useless expense? Probably but Matt and I do go to a sci fi fantasy convention every year and a good costume can be recycled. My Binder that holds my DVD collection is getting rather full and I will soon run out of room. That is not something I expect to be able to find at a thrift store but I am going to be wracking my brain for creative solutions until I actually run out of space. The other thing I will probably buy is the Vonage Kit to subscribe to their phone service as I do not currently have long distance service and my job is another town.

I want to keep a written record of how many brand new things that we buy so that I can keep track and I am going to try to keep them to a minimum. . I am thinking of this no buy challenge like a game that I am playing to challenge myself and to turn expectations upside down. The expectation is that the more stuff you can go out and buy the better you feel about yourself and your position in life I wans to see how long I can go without buying anything new.

Shopping should not be hobby; for a long time I have been at the point that I buy new stuff so frequently that I never give myself an opportunity to enjoy the stuff I have bought that is why I have games I have never played.

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Anything used or second hand is allowed

Used Games

Used goods

Used books

You can buy food and any item that is for health and safety

for example

Oral hygiene paraphernalia, underwear and light bulbs are among some of the things that am counting as allowable

Notable exceptions

Crochet items

DVD R

Comics\Graphic Novels

Gift for other people

Services like hair cuts

Trips to the movies  

The general idea is go an entire calendar year with purchasing as few brand new goods as possible. Any thing used is allowed. The premise is that by doing so you can save money and reduce your impact on the environment and it will discourage the alarming consumerism mindset that pervades our society by forcing us to think before buying.

Another benefit of this experiment is to eliminate the notion that personal worth is determined by amount of expendable income you have otherwise stated that the more stuff you can buy the happier you are\should be and that the more obliviously expensive stuff that own the greater you status in society.

As to the exception list the DVD’s are necessary to my DVD collection , the crochet items are needed for that pursuit, Matt and I just started collecting comics and this is important to us and I just can’t give people used stuff it would bother me

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