Withdrawal

I guess it has been about five to six months since we've started the 'not buying' trend. Donuts are still my downfall, but what can you do? Recently, I found myself obsessing over some articles of clothing I would like to acquire. My wife was strong and told me "no!" After the intensity died down, I was able to see she was right.

Listen to me! I sound like a recovering addict.

I guess I am.

We are down to one cell phone now, which is saving us about $25.00 a month. We recently disconnected the internet home, so there is another $45.00. This weekend we are going to surrender our previous dog, Macey, to a rescue (not to save money - it is other dog conflicts) That will be about $70.00 a month in food and care. We are also looking to get rid of our Vue and get something that would take our car payment and gas to about 1/2 of what it is now... that would be about $300 in savings there. So, without even trying, we're close to not spending another $440.00 a month. (which will make up for the rent when our boarder relocates at the end of this month).

As with all addictions, another opiate always shows itself. It seems I have taken to binging on food. We are both working very hard to limit our portion sizes and eat only when we are hungry, not eating for comfort.

Literally, I feel like I'm in rehab or something!

Heidi has had a lot of convictions on the foods we eat lately, so we've been eating even more fresh foods and less meats. The problem: Organics are expensive. However, this will work out in the end. Because we are spending so much more money on organic and whole foods, we decided that we are getting the necissary nutrients from the foods we eat. So, we will not be reodering several of our usual Shaklee vitamins. We're going to stick with Alfalfa and the B-complex...the rest we are sure we're getting from our food. We still believe in the products, but we don't need them since we have changed our diet so much. (so you can still order from us, if you like!) :-)

It's kind of boring when you don't buy things... there is no where to go.

I Can Make That Happen

One of my best friends has spoiled me for years on my birthday. In fact, every year it seemed like I had school canceled and we'd spend the day together eating out and shopping - all in honor of me. Whatever I wanted to do he would say, "I can make that happen." This year was really no different, except he was working when school got canceled and the event took place several weeks after my birthday due to busy schedules.

Instead of a whole day of fun, we agreed to meet on a Tuesday night while Heidi was at class. I was very excited to spend time with him and just be with one of my guys. He was too, but was excited to bless/spoil me with a nice dinner and something I needed. Undershirts are a need of mine these days, but we started discussing the possibility of getting me a new tie. I love ties. I love when I can get them to not match, but go with one of my shirts. A new tie can revive an old shirt! I was very excited for the gift.

We planned a route for the evening. We'd stop by Express, go over to Red Robin for dinner, then head to J. Crew if I still didn't have anything. I found four great ties that I was interested in getting. The patterns were similar but the colors were different - and they would really go well with some of my shirts. But then something started to hit me...

I thought at first that I felt guilty because it was like cheating on our year of buying nothing...but it was more than that. I started to feel very overwhelmed in deciding which one to get. I caught myself wanted to ask if I could get 3-4 of them (mind you it was the same tie in different colors.) Then I saw shirts on the shelf that would go REALLY well with those ties as well - so I started imagining what it would look like and if my friend would give in to me 'need.' I started looking for sale signs. Shirts were cheaper if you bought more than one. So I started looking at the shirts I'd like to have and figured I could get two (for cheaper) and one tie. Then I saw these KILLER pants! They were so cool - I knew that I could wear them with half the clothes I currently have. So, it is true that everything that I picked was cool and also versatile! But it started to get bad. It was like this vacuum inside of me wanted just about everything I saw (Express does have some pretty ridiculous looking clothes aside from their nicer stuff.)

My friend was hungry and you don't mess around when he's hungry - so he recommended we go eat and come back if I wanted. I agreed and it was off to Red Robin where I had a great burger. But my mind was still consumed with what to get. I was excited because our next stop was my favorite store: J. Crew. I was hoping for good sales, since that is the ONLY way I can afford to buy anything there.

We had great discussion over dinner, as always, but I started to feel really bad about the whole thing.

Then it hit me - I don't want any of this stuff. I have lots of nice stuff now. Sure, these things would be nice, but I don't need them and I don't think I even really wanted them. I was getting what I wanted.... a nice time and good conversation with one of my best friends. It kind of shocked me because how could I be passing up new clothes?? Has God really been using this not spending time to work on my heart? So next year I've decided that I just want him to keep being my friend...which I'm sure he'll respond, "I can make that happen."

Donut Downfall

I was so excited when I heard that Dunkin Donuts was going to invade Indiana by opening more than 80 stores (or so I was told). But that was in September, a few months before our declared year of not spending. But, alas, the stores started opening and I fell prey to my childhood sweets. Heidi doesn't really get it, but Grandma used to come over from Gary and always brought us donuts when I was growing up. My favorite was the white puffy one with the little kiss of white-puffy stuff on top. Or the strawberry iced one. And of course, anything with sprinkles. A few weeks ago we rationalized going to the new store in Carmel. It was a lot more trendy than I remember. But I guess that is what happens when things are new. The one I remember was the type where older overweight guys would go eat and drink stale coffee and smoke (cause you could do that in store then.) This looked more like pink and orange vomited over a Starbucks.

We have gotten donuts and forsaken our 'no spending' rules a few times. It has gotten really bad because Heidi now makes weekly trips to IUPUI for her writing class. Downtown has something worse: Long's Bakery. It isn't far from IUPUI, so it is like temptation on a corner.

As of today, I think I decided to stop flogging myself over the whole donut thing. I do need to get it under control a bit more - but it isn't a sin or anything ( at least I don't think it is.) Plus, I'm already preparing to forsake the no-spending when we go up to Grand Rapids (Hudsonville) to visit Heidi's grandparents. We will be making our stop at Russ' for lunch, and of course, Onion Rings. Unfortunately, I don't think we will be able to visit Rob this trip... but hopefully again soon.

The snow is falling and I think it is now time for me to pretend like I know what I'm doing on facebook.

Regards!
D

It Is Getting Difficult!

We put off getting a Christmas Tree for a while because we didn't want to spend $75.00-$100.00 on a cruddy tree. So, Sunday morning, while I was sleeping in, Heidi cut the tree down in the front yard. We wanted to get rid of it anyway, but now we have a good use for it. So it is now our tree! :-) As you can see, there isn't much room at the top; I actually had to cut a few more inches off so we could stand it up.

It has been getting a little disappointing to see how much of American social life revolves around spending money. We are having to make the tough decision of spending money on eating out or possibly isolating ourselves from friends. So that is a little harder than I thought. :-/

We are anticipating a great Christmas at our home. It will be a wonderful time to relax and bring in the new year.

$8 for 2 sandwichs, ouch!

We're at about 2 1/2 weeks of not eating out. The other night we had flock group. I forgot to put a chicken in the crockpot so we'd have something quick to eat for supper, and there wasn't much other quick food. We cracked, and stopped at Wendy's for a sandwich each. Later Dennis said it was $8, and that is was almost painful to pay it. The real kicker is that we easy did that once or twice a week previously, and we usually had more than just a sandwich each! We're both amazed at what a difference it's making ALREADY, just in our thinking!

Heidi

Black Friday Stress

We've already begun our shift of no purchasing. Now instead of finding myself thinking what we "need" for the house, I keep trying to figure out what else we could get rid of that we don't use or need. It's so freeing to try reducing the clutter instead of figuring out new ways to cram more in. We had been at this no purchasing thing for not even 2 weeks when black Friday came along. Like so many others, we went out to see if we could find any deals (trying to focus on what we were going to buy anyway for Christmas gifts). I've got to say, it stressed me out more than shopping has in a long time. I'm already getting used to thinking we don't need things and just browsing kicks up the desires for "stuff". Of course there is also the annoyance of how ridiculous some things are.

Heidi

ANIT-CONSUMERISM: NO PURCHASING IN 2008!

Round about 3 weeks ago Dennis mentioned the idea of not buying anything in 2008. We thought and conversed what that might mean (obviously we have to buy some things like groceries). However, there's a lot we don't need. We both currently have plenty of clothes, so no need for more this year, unless we need socks or something. We definitely don't need any more books:) We can use the library; they have most things. If they don't have it, you can request that they order it, and they do a lot of times! In fact, Dennis has asked them for several things. Anywho, we decided to go for it. The more we thought about it, the more we liked it. Also, when I found myself thinking "It isn't 2008 yet. What do I need to buy before then so that I'll be fine for the whole year", I realized that yes, we need this shift in thinking:) After all, the point is to have a shift in thinking, not just a delay of consuming. So, instead of asking if we can afford it or if we can use it, we're switching to "How could we find a way to get by without it?". We're also going by the philosophy, "If you think you need it, wait a month." If we do have to buy something, we'll try to get it second hand, following the "reduce, reuse, recycle" in that order. We'll keep you updated as to how it goes:)

Heidi