My Plan

I have this silly little idea running through my head about a consumer-free April. I’m not sure where it came from but it doesn’t seem to be going away. I only call it silly because I know it’s going to be difficult. I would like to dismiss it as a silly little whim, but I just can’t.

 For the month of April, I am not going to buy anything, other than necessary food or other consumables, with a few planned exceptions. Nothing new, nothing used.

I wonder if I can make it. Already my heart is racing and my palms are a little sweaty. Is it really that unsettling to even think about not spending money? Out of necessity I’m pretty frugal as it is, although I am aware of a few areas where I’m not as careful as I could be.

 Here’s what’s out:

New or used anything that isn’t a necessary consumable such as food or toilet paper. If it’s something that can wait, it will wait until May. If one of the boys suddenly grows out of, or totally destroys, their shoes (again), that would be a necessity. But if the TV remote breaks (again!), that can wait.

Unplanned eating out. It is just too easy to give in to tiredness or just plain laziness and stop for fast food or call out for pizza. The convenience of the cafeteria at work is tempting, but the money adds up quickly. Truthfully, the only reason I buy food in the work cafeteria is because I didn’t want to make a lunch at home.

Yarn or other craft supplies that are not absolutly necessary to complete a project that absolutely must be completed NOW. Ninety-nine percent of the yarn and related supplies that I purchase is, at some level, an impulse buy and could easily be postponed. Yeah, I know, it’s on sale… it’s a deal… I’ve been wanting to try this yarn and how can I pass it up… but it’s money I don’t need to spend.

Books. Oy, this is going to hurt. Is there anything more pleasant than an hour spent in a bookstore, wandering the aisles, listening for the ones that call out to me? And I do listen and more often than not bring one or two (or more) home with me.

So what is allowed?

Necessary consumables such as food, etc., although I want to be more aware of how I’m spending this money. I need to do more planning for our meals and snacks and then follow those plans.

Planned meals away from home rather than the spontaneous. My monthly Team Lunch. My “date nights” with the boys to Caribou Coffee. Pizza or some other non-homecooked meal for the family once and only once.

Can I be successful limiting myself to only these items? I’d love to confidently say yes, but I honestly don’t know. I don’t waste a lot of money simply because I can’t afford to, but I know I blow it in the areas above. I’ve learned that the best way to avoid “retail therapy” and impulse shopping is to simply avoid even entering a store without an iron clad list in hand. But knowing that doesn’t keep me away from Hobby Lobby or Borders.

I’ll begin this April 1. It’s difficult to resist the urge to run out and stock up now but if I’m honest with myself, what do I really need to stock up on? I already own more books than I could possibly read through in the next month even if things like work and sleep didn’t get in the way. The same thing could be said for craft supplies. There is very little that I really need to add to my life.

Anyone care to join me?

Goals for the new me

2007 was a year of transition. I began my transformation from an overwhelmed, chronically exhausted, stuck-in-survival-mode, robot of a woman into an overwhelmed, merely tired instead of exhausted, beginning-to-figure-out-my-new-life, learning how to laugh again woman. I learned that often when I faced the ghosts of my past instead of hiding from them, they lost much of their power. I started to live my life instead of merely moving through it.

I want to keep moving forward in 2008 and this is the direction I think I’m headed. I’m still learning who I want to be so maybe some of these goals will change as I change and grow this year. I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions – every Resolution I’ve ever made was some variation of “Here is one more thing I think I should be doing that I’m not doing now and most like won’t be doing in two weeks.” Instead of Resolutions that are destined to fail, this list of Goals shows where I am on my journey, and where I’m headed next.

In no particular order, meet some of my goals for the new me:

1. Wear lipstick more often – For years and years I never wore makeup at all. Now I usually wear a little foundation and blush. I’d like to add lipstick to the daily routine.

2. Stick with the budget – At least I have one now. For way too long I just muddled through. I’m still learning to follow it.

3. Finish getting out of debt – I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel here and if I focus, I can be debt free by the end of the year (except for maybe one loan).

4. Do something really memorable for my 5oth birthday – I have nine months to figure out what. I would love to visit the ocean but I’m not so sure that a vacation fits with the getting out of debt goal above. Whatever I do, I want it to be a celebration. I’m done with crappy birthdays.

5. Add some more recipes to the family cookbook. Maybe add some pictures even.

6. Hug my kids and tell them I love them every time I see them (or at least once a day for the ones at home)

7. Fix my sewing machine and sew again – I have projects I’d like to do and I’m beginning to have the time and focus to work on them. Plus one of my boys wants to learn to sew and he can’t learn on a broken machine.

8. Clean out and de-junk the garage. Again.- I’ve moved twice since my divorce and each time I got rid of insane amounts of Stuff. The first move was more about purging the Ex, getting rid of his stuff and loosening the hold he had on my life. In the move this past summer I let go of my old life and started to move forward. There’s still a long way to go. I only want to keep what I really want to keep and not be burdened with all the crap.

9. Learn to knit socks – This time next year may my blog be festooned with pictures of feet in my handknit socks

10. Sit down to dinner with my kids more often instead of simply saying “food’s ready, go get some.”

11. Take more pictures – I have rolls of film waiting to be used (and developed! Don’t forget that all-important step!) plus the handy dandy digital camera. And how often do I actually use them? Almost never.

12. Fix my grill and use it often – The bottom burned out around the drip pan right before we moved last summer. It should be a simple fix, I just need to do it.