Day 6 (Yesterday) & Day 7 (Today)

It is not hard to stay out of the stores. I don't really spend my days strolling through the mall or driving from shop to shop to kill time. I spend most of my days at an elementary school, and the only thing you can buy there is a soda from the vending machine. Not exactly a huge temptation. David and I were talking that this isn't really a big sacrifice--not buying anything for a month. If I run out of shampoo, I have another bottle in the linen closet. I could lose a shoe a day for a week and still have a pair to wear next Sunday. We're clothed, fed, and content. I'm still paying for gas that goes in the car. Still paying for the cell phone. Still living a comfortable life. It would be a much bigger deal to attempt this for an entire year. One woman did, and you can read her story in the book Not Buying It.

But even though I'm not suffering too much, my list of things I'd like to buy is growing. I want to start swimming laps again and need a bathing suit that does not depend on a simple knot behind the neck to keep it up. Carver has busted through the knees of every pair of pajama pants he owns. The holes grow a little bigger every day. My bottle of window cleaner is getting low. I also don't want to sound cheap when I'm invited out to lunch and have to decline. Hasn't happened yet, but there are still 3 weeks left of this experiment. I'm afraid that come December 1st, I'll go out and stock up on everything I've denied myself for a month, and I don't want to do that. Taking the month of November to not purchase necessities should not mean going overboard in the month of December.

To reiterate what I said in my last post, not spending money takes planning ahead. If you plan ahead, you're golden. I don't foresee any reason to break my stride.