Austerity Day 2:
Today was a beautiful Vermont day. The perfect kind of day to stay home, drink hot cocoa, bake something delicious, and knit something beautiful. Except I didn't do any of that (except drink hot cocoa). I did, however, have a first today: snowshoeing! It seems impossible that I have lived in Vermont my whole life and never been snowshoeing before today. With just a little sunlight left to spare, our family went squeaking through the woods behind our house. It was beautiful, and such a great excuse to get out in the snow. It was fun (and free!), and I think it might become a family favorite.
On my second day of austerity, I caught myself many times thinking something like this, "Well, I could just stop by the store and buy...and that would be easy..." or "Oh, since I'm going through these photos, I should just buy some prints..." or "Maybe I should buy some dessert for dinner tonight..." Without even thinking, I clicked through on the email broadcasting the best baby clothes buys for today to see if there was anything Liam "needed."
By noon today, I had caught myself thinking of things I could buy half a dozen times. And they only formed into real thoughts because I am not spending money. I had to stop myself. Otherwise, they just would have materialized in my checkbook as debits. A dollar here, a few dollars there, and by the 2nd of February, I would have already thoughtlessly spent some precious budget capital on things I wouldn't be able to name come next week. Yikes!
Realizing how much energy I put into thinking about running here or running there to buy things really surprised me. It is energy and time I could much better use other ways, like finding deals on essential items for the household, or putting together the wedding album I've been "working on" for 5.5 years. It is time to forge new thought patterns, with meaningful spending and freedom from consumer-ism traps.
This afternoon, I forged new patterns by bundling up our baby boy, and enjoying my first snowshoeing experience in the great outdoors. It was something I didn't have to spend money on, but I WILL remember next week!
Yay! We went for our first snowshoe today also... well our first of the season, and Grayson's first ever. In the very same woods! It was wonderful, and free. (you and julia should do it together some morning) So I'm curious, what are you eating/preparing on these days of austerity? How are you getting creative at putting ingredients together? (We seem to spend a lot of money on produce.) Good for you for saying no to those easy, daily expenditures! It gets easier the more you do it...
ReplyDeleteI will call julia for snowshoeing...that would be so fun (because I WON'T do it on my own--I lack the motivation). So, tonight was the first big dinner we prepared (my chicken soup)...from here it will take a little more creativity, but I let you know if I find any tricks. How are you guys doing on your venture?
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