Chocolates Please

Even miracles take a little time.
-Fairy godmother

It boggles my mind every time how my attempt to not spend any money is generally thwarted by one item.

I brought lunch with me yesterday. My water bottle was full. I knew what I'd make for dinner and had everything for it at home. My resolve was strong. The work day was progressing at a comfortable pace. And then I saw the clearance boxes of chocolates; not cheap chocolates either. They were good quality assorted chocolate covered caramels. Do you think I needed chocolate?

I'm so sick of ruining NO SPEND's because of a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper, or water, or chocolate. These one item, insignificant, luxury purchases add up fast and are a really good reason to embark upon NO SPEND days. $3 a day on "little" things is $21 a week; $1095 a year. And the clearance chocolates were $5.29 not three dollars or two or one. But they were on clearance and that justifies it... right.

I didn't buy them. Yesterday was NO SPEND day 32 for the year. I'm a bit behind on my goal but 32 days of not buying anything still makes me smile.

Yesterday's Lovely: I'm stopped at a red light. There's a gas station to my left and another to my right; actually the road I'm on runs between two competing superstores (the gas stations belong to them) and the road in front of me is a highway. Needless to say, this is a very busy, filled with vehicles, people rushing places, noise, large parking lots, hustle and bustlely place. But directly next to my car is a beautiful patch of dense cattails. A little wiry fence surrounded them. It was a welcome bit of nature in the fast pace scene. Perched upon the fence was a red wing black bird apparently viewing the little wetland filled with fuzzy cattails. The stop light was red just long enough for me to bird watch and feel the kiss of nature.