30 Days of Nothing

Okay, so it won't be 30 Days of Nothing, more like 21 Days of Nothing. I don't know if I'm up for it with absolutely no preparation! I only discovered this yesterday or the day before, and visited Owlhaven today. I'm feeling incredibly guilty about my rare trip to Wally World yesterday where I bought things I "needed" totaling over $100. Honestly, can anyone get out of that place for less than $100?

I only bought things I needed but, I'm re-evaluating the word "needs" now.

I needed to replace my aging, nasty tupperware that is close to 20 years old. Or could I have just thrown it away and used serving bowls w/ plastic wrap? Does it count that I didn't get as much new stuff as I wanted?

I needed a new mop. But did I need it before I actually used up my supplies for the Clorox Ready Mop? Mil will be glad to know that I didn't opt for the fancy Swiffer Wet Jet that I fell in love with at a friend's house, but I got the much cheaper-and-no-need-to-buy-pricey-refills Libman Wonder Mop that I can use with my own, homemade cleaning solution. We even had a good time mopping the floor last night, something we had not been having with our Clorox buddy.

I congratulate myself on passing up new lamps for the family room which were on clearance and really cute. Okay, I know we're talking Wal-Mart lamps, but they're better than what I have, one of which seems to be dying.

It will be hard for the rest of the month to say No to little things that we don't even think about normally. Even harder to stay within our gi-normous grocery budget. Today is the 9th and we're already halfway through it!

I'm thinking we have to just bite the bullet and behave ourselves. The month of August was just the worst! Schoolbooks for homeschooling weren't too bad, but the cost of books for our college student and 2 high schoolers was probably more than $1200! I could check the receipts, but that would be too depressing. In addition to that there were the payments for the privilege of playing football, deposit on senior portraits, Boy Scout dues, Cub scout dues, necessities for KT's college apartment (though, to be fair, she paid for a lot), my birthday (dh is way too good to me!). And I'm sure there is more that I've forgotten. We were soooo excited last night when Hitch brought home an envelope containing $220 dollars for books I had consigned at their school!

I should point out that we have a very nice income, thanks to Dh's very sacrificial labors, and I'm extremely grateful for it. Owlhaven talks about a sense of entitlement which I think we all buy into, even though we don't realize it. So many of our neighbors have this and that and participate in these or those expensive activities. But they don't have large, beautiful families like ours (yes, they may be beautiful, but usually small!), and it is easy for us to get sucked into spending here and there, thinking it is a need, when it really isn't. Just a need to keep up with the Joneses on some level.

I'll try to keep you posted on how it goes. Anyone care to jump in?