Half way!

My Kryptonite...

If shopping is an sport, then garage sale shopping is my extreme sport...and my kryptonite.  It’s the thrill of hunting and zoning in a good deal...with great zeal I kill (or purchase) my *ah-mazing* finds and bring home my trophys for my family to admire.  Garage sales are also my budget buster!   This week I didn’t do too bad and with me hosting a garage sale for the youth group next week, hopefully that will keep me in check again.  

May 9: $0
May 10: $27 at Target for cards (birthday, mother’s day and more birthdays, May is busy for us!) $15.34 at Wendy’s our first meal eating out. we had an adventure this evening and after work, loaded the kids and bikes and went to a local bicycle trail for a quick ride.  
May 11: $10 at garage sales (but I got some cute stuff!!!)  
May 12: $11, a dollar at the farmer’s market and $10 at Planet mind for Alex to make Mother’s Day crafts for me :)
May 13: $0 (spent money but since it was Mother’s Day, this goes under “gifts” and Joe’s gift to me was not having to cook! [And this is where the concept of simplicity can get complicated...what counts, what doesn’t?])  
May 14: $25.55 for gas, $2.23 for snack at Speedway
May 15: $39.60 for garage sale ad


Month total: $270.51

Basic Economics

In high school I took AP Economics.  Here’s what I remember learning:

1. Alan Greenspan is the most powerful man in the United States…maybe the world.  I think this information might be dated...
2. Bridge.  After the AP exams were taken for the last month of school we learned how to play Bridge. 
3. MR=MC.  Marginal Revenue = Marginal Cost.  This is the area of maximum profit.   Then Mr. McCarthy told us, “Tattoo this on your left wrist.”   
4. Opportunity Cost.  My paraphrase of the definition: you can make some things less expensively than buying it, but you have to consider your time and energy in actually making it.  Are you saving money if you spend 100 hours to make something and it only costs a dollar more to buy it already made?

With simplicity, sometimes the idea of convenience is mistaken for simplicity.  Is it better to buy a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop or gas station or make it at home?   Does simplicity loose its simplicity when just becomes a list of things I can and cannot do?  Does simplicity mean being green, finding the fastest or most efficient way of doing stuff, or finding the cheapest way to do something? 

My area that I wonder if I make my life better or harder is with baby food.  I strive to make most of it for X, like I did Alex.  However I use my time and energy to do so.  I'm pretty sure I save money, I feel like it’s healthier, and it’s something I can control as a working mother.  There’s something about making it that makes me feel better.   For me, the time and energy is worth the opportunity cost instead of buying.  So part of my grocery bill was spending money on fresh sweet potatoes and five pounds of chicken so I could make some baby food.  Hey a kid’s got to eat! J

May 6: $69.79 Aldi—I stuck to the list (except for eggs), probably one of my shortest trips there ever!    

$50.60 Wal-Mart—Had to buy things that Aldi didn’t have, like breakfast sandwiches, cilantro, another essential--ice cream, and butternut squash for X.  Again, I really stuck to the list! No impulse chocolate buys or anything.  Gold star for me! J

Total: $120.39.  This total is for a two week menu of breakfast, lunch and dinners.  As I was planning, I really focused on using what I already on hand.  Aside from the chicken for X, I didn’t buy any meat between Wal-Mart or Aldi.

May 7: none

May 8: $11.89 Gas at Speedway (it was only 3 gallons, but probably enough to get me through a week.  Yes, I don’t travel much and yes, my car gets decent gas mileage! J)

$2.23 snack at Speedway (this was a temptation I couldn’t resist…) 

Month total: $139.79

Broke the ice...

Day 3: $0
Day 4: $0
Day 5: $5.25

Although we didn't intend to do so, the first four days of the month ended up being a fast from all spending (but not consuming).  Yesterday I finally succumbed and took Alex took to the Farmer's Market and we spent money.  It wasn't much money and in retrospect, I did spend on a frivolous item (a new hair bow for Alex).   One day at a time...

This afternoon is grocery shopping, so we'll update again soon to see how we're doing on the goal!

Days 1 & 2

Day 1: Total spent: $0.  
Day 2: Total Spent: $0

I must admit I feel a bit like a dieter.  Instead of food I cannot eat, there are food, drinks and other junk I cannot buy.  Not that I need it, I just want it...and when I am told I can’t have it, I want it even more it...but like in the first few days of a diet, I am still thinking, "We can do this."

I spent last weekend reading Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and I started Eric Tyson’s Personal Finance for Dummies.  I know simplicity isn’t merely about the money, but it’s somewhere to begin the practice and becoming aware..  Handling, living and working with our money is our starting point.  Both books talk about me controlling it and not it controlling me.  (And that’s about where the similarities end....Dummies talks about good debt and how to declare bankruptcy and if you’re familiar with Ramsey’s works...it does not follow that theme at all!)   

And what I am feeling and learning by reading Foster’s book on Simplicity is it’s about discipline.  As a human, an American, as a weak, sinful person...I struggle with this idea of discipline.  Perhaps struggle is too generous of a word--I just don’t like to practice it.  

So with a greater strength than my own, we’ll continue on.  

~allison

Trying our hand at simplicity...

Have I really thought about what I buy?  Do I need it or just want it?  Is the need a real need or a rationalized need?  This month the Toren family is going to have a “No Spend Month” challenge.   To eliminate all spending will probably be impossible, but we are going to try to keep monthly budget to $600.  Our $600 is for things like food, gas, Target, eating out, cosmetics, clothing, toys for the kids, and other areas where we spend money but wonder if we really need to it at that moment.  The $600 will not include mortgage, student loans, child care, tithe, utilities,  work expenses, and gifts.  

The motivation for this is because Joe and a team are doing a series based on Richard Foster’s Simplicity.  Some guidelines for simplicity were found at Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends.  
Some guidelines from Richard Foster were:
1) Buy things for their usefulness rather than their status
2) Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you
3) Develop a habit of giving things away
4) Refuse to propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry
5) Learn to enjoy things without owning them 
6) Develop a deeper appreciation of creation 
7) Look with a healthy skepticism at all "buy now, pay later" schemes
8) Obey Jesus' instructions about plain, honest speech 
9) Reject anything that breeds the oppression of others 
10) Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the kingdom of God.


And so we begin our intentional walk of simplicity on May 1.