Attempting $11 a day has me feeling so deprived. I went several days without any coffee. I feel like we're eating scraps for dinner lately. I've been avoiding all the Christmas candy in the stores like the plague. I am truly in love with peppermint bark. I'm noticing all these little things that we need around the house and I'm getting whiny about not having the money in the budget to get them: a furnace filter, the cat food is almost gone, trash bags, underwear. Oh, woe is me right...
Have you ever thought about all the STUFF we buy on a regular basis? Next year I'm going to track my spending but I'm done itemizing. It takes too much work. I think I'll track household items, groceries, and a few other categories of spending separately though. I'm really very intrigued by how much of our money is spent on upkeep type stuff. Cleaning supplies, furnace filters, garbage bags; all these things we pay for to take care of other things we've paid for. I guess the intrigue comes from having seen how other cultures need almost nothing to get by. My living room is almost two times bigger than alot of the homes I saw in the mountains of Guatemala. And truly the "things" in my living room... oh goodness. I don't even want to get started. I'm looking around my living room right now and there is SOOO much luxury in here. We have too much stuff. Funny to, because we are on the lower end of the middle class scale in the US.
So back to my train of thought, it's almost a vicious cycle. The more you have the more you end up spending because of all that you have (time spent on up keep as well). Slowly realizing these things really does make me want to live a more frugal more simple life. I truly believe you can only accomplish said task if your mindset is right. You can't just try to be simple, try to be frugal. Your heart has to be in it.
I feel like I'm rambling but what I really wanted to say is that attempting $11 a day has me feeling so deprived. Thankfully I know that I am not. I know that we've eaten more food already today then some people will see in a week (we're piggies). I know that my messy home is filled with stuff that we are so lucky to have (even if I do need to change the furnace filter). I know that I am blessed and quite the opposite of deprived. I'm growing.
Have you ever thought about all the STUFF we buy on a regular basis? Next year I'm going to track my spending but I'm done itemizing. It takes too much work. I think I'll track household items, groceries, and a few other categories of spending separately though. I'm really very intrigued by how much of our money is spent on upkeep type stuff. Cleaning supplies, furnace filters, garbage bags; all these things we pay for to take care of other things we've paid for. I guess the intrigue comes from having seen how other cultures need almost nothing to get by. My living room is almost two times bigger than alot of the homes I saw in the mountains of Guatemala. And truly the "things" in my living room... oh goodness. I don't even want to get started. I'm looking around my living room right now and there is SOOO much luxury in here. We have too much stuff. Funny to, because we are on the lower end of the middle class scale in the US.
So back to my train of thought, it's almost a vicious cycle. The more you have the more you end up spending because of all that you have (time spent on up keep as well). Slowly realizing these things really does make me want to live a more frugal more simple life. I truly believe you can only accomplish said task if your mindset is right. You can't just try to be simple, try to be frugal. Your heart has to be in it.
I feel like I'm rambling but what I really wanted to say is that attempting $11 a day has me feeling so deprived. Thankfully I know that I am not. I know that we've eaten more food already today then some people will see in a week (we're piggies). I know that my messy home is filled with stuff that we are so lucky to have (even if I do need to change the furnace filter). I know that I am blessed and quite the opposite of deprived. I'm growing.
(Yep, I'm back under $12 a day. Yippee!)
Number of days in a row
Not buying food at work: 6
Not making large unnecessary purchases or luxury purchases: 6
Since we last ate out: 9
And I'm at 9 out of 18 NO SPEND days so far this month
The daily upkeep on life can be very expensive. The more we own, the more we pay to maintain it. I haven't gotten the hang of living simply (by a long stretch), but I've certainly opened my eyes to how much we spend. We're better, now that we track all of our expenses, but have a long way to go toward simplicity. That's for sure. :-)
ReplyDeleteDon't be so hard on yourself. Go ahead and splurge on some peppermint bark -you have been working so hard you really deserve it. Also, change the furnace filter. Your furnace will run more efficently (yeah, I can't spell that and I am too lazy to look it up) and the air in your home will be cleaner. Best sales of the year on underwear is back to school time, although... I always got underwear for Christmas :/ As for the cat, my advice is don't piss him off ;)
ReplyDeletehaha, I'll buy the cat food today. I put the last bit of her food in the dish this morning. As for the peppermint bark I'm on a mission to not purchase any until December. I can wait. I'll get a new furnace filter when they go on sale. They're on sale at least once a month so I just have to keep a look out. I just get so annoyed with all the little purchases.
DeleteEverytime I think I'm on top of things, oh, one more thing we "need."
Love how you have perspective.
ReplyDeleteSeveral days w/o coffee is just, wow, I could not do it. :)