7 Weeks of Less - SHOPPING

I'm in the middle of a 7 week experiment inspired by the book 7 - An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker. I'm calling my journey 7 Weeks of Less.  I'm 5 weeks in.  Read on to see how it's going - and join me if you'd like!

1. FOOD
2. STUFF
3. CLOTHES
4. WASTE
5. SHOPPING
6. MEDIA
7. STRESS

The Rules:

7 days of no spending - on anything other than bills that are due. Plus, I want to find places to cut spending.  I guess I better be sure the car is full of gas before this week starts!

The Wrap Up:

Another failed week -- not so much because we spent money (which we certainly did), but because I'm having a really hard time associating the "fast" with the reasons for why I'm doing it.  This week it was too easy to justify spending because it seemed silly and inconvenient to put a purchase off for a few days just because of this experiment.  It only seems effective to do the fast if I decide NOT to spend the money at all, which in some cases, I could have (Ayla's birthday party photo book) and other case I couldn't (the car repairs).

But to be honest, instead of wanting to spend less, buy less, etc., this experiment has done the opposite and made me feel as though normally I do critique every purchase I make, and I should just let up a little already!  It's completely having the opposite effect on me, which I'm SURE is not the goal...

Maybe instead of choosing Jen Hatmaker's 7 areas of excess, I should have more carefully examined my own life and where our excess really is.  That's probably why food week really WAS effective for me.  We like food -- and a large variety of foods at that.

Perhaps media week, which starts in 5 1/2 hours, will be more effective for me. I vow to be more dedicated to the cause than I have the past two weeks.  Goodbye Facebook & Pinterest. I will miss you.  But perhaps I'll have time to actually MAKE something instead!

Day-by-Day:

Day 1 - Sunday, June 17, 2012 - I succeeded in buying nothing today.  But not because of my own willpower.  Instead it was because our friends, who were in town visiting, bought us lunch at Pizza Hut.

Day 2 - Monday , June 18, 2012 - Evidently I missed the point of this week.  But because it's just a "week" and not a lifestyle decision, it seemed silly to put off purchases until next Sunday when I had the time to take care of them today.  So...I managed to buy a couple of things:

1. A Shutterfly 8" x 8" photo book of Ayla's birthday party.  I had a coupon for a free one that expired on June 30th and I had the morning to throw it together.  So I did.  And paid $11.72 for the extra pages (over 20) and shipping. 
2. Reserved a hotel room for my friend's wedding in July.  I guess technically I haven't paid for that yet...
3. I wrote a check for Paxton's first month of school in the fall.  Technically that doesn't come out until August though either.
4. We also moved some money around in our accounts today to fill up our savings, which is just good money management.
5. Plus we had to pay 6 months of car insurance which was due this month (which actually saves money month-to-month).

Day 3 - Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The Honda has been overheating some.  Turns out it's leaking coolant.  So that costs money.  We had to pay that.  I suppose we COULD have waited until next week to take care of it, and driven the Avalon in the meantime.  But, then we're just being legalistic and not getting something taken care of that needed to be done as soon as possible.

See what I mean about this SHOPPING fast being hard?  Putting it off for a week isn't really beneficial.  You'd have to instead do without the purchase completely, which isn't realistic (in this case). 

So, we picked up the car and paid for it. It was running on empty, so I had to stop and get gas before I headed to Target to do some grocery shopping and to pick up some medicine and toiletries we needed.  $$$.  Lots of spending.  I guess my total # of locations for shopping is up to 6 now.

Perhaps this week should be about justifying my purchases! That's what I seem to be doing...

Day 4 - Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Yay me! I successfully bought nothing today!

Day 5 - Thursday, June 21, 2012

It was decided we would go to Chuck E Cheese tonight as a reward for the kids for making strides towards staying dry at night.  We had to go before the coupon expired on the 23rd.  So we went tonight.  It definitely counts as an unnecessary expense.  I participated.

Day 6 - Friday, June 22, 2012

Our car payment cleared today.  That's a bill.  Doesn't count.

Day 7 - Saturday, June 23, 2012

Ben went to Target today and bought some food and other things we forgot when we went earlier this week. Technically, I wasn't there.  I did request Cheese Its and kettle chips though.