Spending Fast (the noun, not the adverb)

About six weeks ago, I decided to go on a spending fast. The rules are simple: spend NO money, except for gas for the car, which should be used only for driving to work and church. Rent, utility bills, and tithing are also okay. Well, the limitations on driving didn't last, but other than that, it's been going well.

I feel like a pioneer woman! Living off the land, as it were. Picking cucumbers out of my garden for my daily vegetable. Giving creative homemade gifts. Finding clever ways to avoid the social situation of going out to eat. Abstaining from an occasional Red Box movie rental or dollar burger.

Of course, as soon as I made this goal, things started going wrong. My blow dryer broke. I ran out of apricot scrub for my face. I ran out of shampoo. My muffler started making funny noises (okay, I had been ignoring that for a while). My online dating account expired (which reduced my frequency of eating at restaurants for free). My sunglasses broke (and my eyes really don not like being exposed to the sun).

It has been fun to find solutions to problems! I realized I don't really need to blow dry my hair and that saves me like 10 minutes every morning. I started washing my hair with body wash and it looked okay (I just used extra conditioner-- I still have plenty of that). I didn't want to eat cold cereal after I ran out of milk, so I started eating cracked wheat for breakfast every morning and it turns out I really like it! Also, it's very filling and I found I ate less all day. I also liked having to be accountable for really planning my meals (especially a lunch for work) because just going and buying something cheap (what I normally do) was not an option. I will admit that after a month, I decided that I really needed my apricot scrub, so I decided to spend the $3 and buy some-- but I used some cash that I just had laying around, so I like to think it didn't count. Also, after one week I had to buy some milk but that was the best way I could think of avoiding going out to eat with a friend (it's a long story).

And people have been so supportive of me. I have been very conscious of not wanting to accept charity because a) I'm not actually destitute-- I still have plenty of money (it would be different if I actually needed help) b) I don't want anyone else to be inconvenienced by a decision that I made (as opposed to if life circumstances forced me to not spend money). But I have been very happy to accept things people don't need. My jogging companion gave me an old pair of sunglasses she had in storage in the garage and I was very grateful for that. A lady at work, upon hearing of my goal, started bring me fresh goat's milk because her goat produces more than her familly can drink. It is so so so so so yummy and I feel very blessed. My sister Heather (after several weeks of her insisting) gave me some very nice shampoo (this was a charity case, but I realized it was important to her, so I gave in).

One thing that has been surprising to me is how I have pretty much continued to eat normally. I have been able to pretty much cook whatever I want. So I've been pretty proud of my food storage. And I still have plenty left. I'm sort of interested to see how long I can keep this up, but I don't want to totally deplete my food storage, so I'll probably only keep going a few more weeks.

All in all, this has been a very fun adventure. I might make a habit of doing it periodically throughout my life.