take a shopping sabbatical - no more stuff!

I did it! And for the most part I did it properly too. This has been a really interesting exercise to go through and I can see the benefit of doing something like this for a week each month.

I’ve been spending a bit more but mainly on food, and have stopped short of buying books that have been tempting me.

I have some things for sale on our version of ebay but no bites unfortunately.

well, yeh.. i did it for a couple of weeks.
and i am definitely going to revisit this but at the moment i need to shake up my goals and so I’m putting this one aside for a wee bit..

not sure where I’m up to on this anymore but I am sticking to the basic principles and keeping within my budget.

I’ve never really committed to this goal with the whole of my heart.

I don’t really just buy ‘stuff’ normally. Most purchases are carefully considered & if this goal is about reducing the purchase of clutter & items that are not really used, I cannot say I do that too much anyway.

For example, the last thing that I bought was a new wok – not frivolous & has been used about 6 times since I bought it 4 days ago…

I bought a pair of earrings the same day & have worn them each day since. I only have about 4 pairs of earrings… One of which needs repairing.

I’ve also been thinking about this goal in terms of the Law of Attraction. I feel like this goal speaks of lack when I want to focus on the quality of abundance. I feels incongruent with that.

Sorry folks, I am bowing out for now. I might take this up at another stage when I feel like there are not things that I still I need to acquire and can commit to the goal with true dedication.

Can you believe the one day I bring my lunch from home over the last 2 years is the day I forgot I was meeting someone for lunch and it was their shout?! So I had my lunch for dinner instead. But it was pretty good and I think I’m going to bring my lunch again – if I can get organised in the mornings…

I had a wonderful fortnight from jan 1, then work and life got in the way. When I’m crazy busy at work, I live on takeaway and I know that isn’ta good excuse… but seriously, when I have an artist in town I have no life. I go out to dinner with them (expensed, so that’s ok) but it’s really exhausting …so the absolute last thing I have time to do is go shopping for groceries… and barely eat.

I love my job, but I think when I am expecting work to be busy I need to pre-prepare myself.

I will do this!

Anyway, went grocery shopping (essentials) today and for the next week I should have no worries about having to eat out or spend… fingers crossed!

I knew that yesterday was going to be a tough one. My friend is getting married and leaving the country so we had a day of celebrations with her, starting with a movie and ending with a pub crawl. I forgot about the whole “shouting rounds” thing though. I just thought I’d get by on cheaps drinks at a few of the pub stops. So much for that idea. It turned out that I ended up spending about $65 which makes me shudder just to think of it considering my new frugalness! I had budgeted $50. I have no regrets though. I had a really fun day, met some great interesting people, saw a fantastic movie and honoured a special friend of mine.

Only spent $5.20 today. Trust me, this is really good for someone who buys their lunch every day. I think this is going to teach me some really good habits. I know I’m going to go over budget tomorrow because I have a special day with a friend who is moving to the States, but I am prepared for it. Admittedly I am worried about the proposed pub crawl but plan to make good decisions.

Starting today!!
No unnecessary purchasing. Groceries are absolutely fine, eating my lunch or dinner out = not fine (aside from my one night in Auckland where I won’t be able to cook)

No clothes, no music, no books…

This will be easy now that Summer holidays are not part of the equation :D