Yesterday I was over at "
Sunny Simple Life" where Elaine posted the results of her self-imposed "No Spend January." What a FAB idea! She challenged herself to
not spend money while she was out and about, except for food, toiletries or medicine. She did surprisingly good.
I am an impulse buyer. I am horrible about buying I stuff I don't really need. When I'm at Walmart I always stroll down the "discount" aisle to see what bargains I can snag (that I usually don't need tho.) I am also terrible about grabbing stuff off the shelves that are alongside the check out counters - a candy bar, a lint roller, magazines.....OMG - I am a sucker for magazines....
But my biggest fall down is I-Tunes. I know, it doesn't really qualify as an
out and about kind of place, but it's so easy to go online and buy songs and apps. I am an I-Tunes addict and I need an intervention! Somebody help me!
Therefore, I am embracing the challenge and posing it to myself for the month of February. I know, I am kind of cheating since it is the
shortest month of the year, but I figure it's better than nothing. LOL! So, no unnecessary spending and no I-Tunes for one month for me.
Also of interest is that Diane over at "
Welcome to Lavender Dreams" is linking up with Sunny Simple Life and 3 other bloggers and they've started a
Thrifty Living 2012 Series. The downturn in our economy is hurting a lot more people than I realized. I was under the mistaken notion that we (meaning me personally) are some of the few who are suffering with this crappy economy and no snow situation. (when you plow snow for a living, no snow equates to NO income.) But the replies on the Thrifty Living Series Comments sections have made me realize that a lot more than
a few of the people in this country are struggling. Many of us have to tighten our belts these days. Ouch!
I was appalled when I read first hand how many people are out of work, lost their health insurance, lost their pensions, are drowning in medical bills, or lost their homes. Some of them have lost a combination of those things all at once. Yikes! So many people are earning less, however gas prices are crazy high, food costs are up, insurance rates keep going up, taxes are up. Seems like everything is up except income.
My personal favorite is how I've been putting our heat on 60 at night to save money and then the Gas Company (because their earnings were down - oh Boo Hoo for them) just decided to
raise their rates. Nice - Not! And, I recently asked my mortgage company to refinance my loan to let me take advantage of a much lower rate. They refused. So I just went and re-financed at a new mortgage company. I'm saving almost
$ 400.00/ month on my mortgage. Believe me, I did a happy dance the day the new mortgage went through. Did someone say
Snap?? I'm following the Thrifty Living Series with a notebook and pen and I am taking notes and will be applying their thrifty tips to our lives.
So does anyone else out there want to hop onto the "No Spend February" challenge? It starts tomorrow if you're interested. We can compare notes on March 1st. And I promise I won't head over to I-Tunes and buy anything before midnight tonight.... I am wincing, but I'm determined to do this.
(google pictures)
