What a breeeeeze! Spending freeze in October is much easier than spending freeze in January. And the exceptions we built into this one have made it much more of a sustainable concept than a struggle.
Tory described it this way:
Last time we were trying to prove how little we needed.
This time we are acknowledging that we have needs (mostly food and gas) and allowing those to be less strained.
In January, although we found that abundance still lurked everywhere (except the gas tanks) we wanted the challenge of really spending nothing that month besides automated bills.
This time, we are living much more along the lines of how I hope to live my life all of the time!
- We have plenty of luxuries but we aren’t pulling out a credit card or cash in day to day life
- We decided to tip on meals so we could still use the expiring groupons and even went to the Dakota Jazz club for free dinner, drinks, and an awesome show on account of my work perks. Between the work perks and groupon deals, we find ourselves eating out about once a week - that’s plenty!
- Tomorrow we are planning to bike to First and First’s pop up Spyhouse coffee shop in North for a morning date because they are giving out free coffee until the end of the month! Keeping track of new and creative outings is something I would love to do more.
- The biggest puzzle for me so far this month came when I popped my bike tire on my way to work. I was debating whether I should stick with the letter of the law and do without a bike for the rest of the month or if I should go with the spirit of the freeze, spend the money on a new inner tube, and have a bike to ride for the rest of the month! But creativity and good community won out anyways when I posted my flat on facebook and Chelsea came my rescue! I would love to be more of a resource to my friends and community.
- On Sunday, Laine is hosting a clothing swap for friends. So I’ll be able to share some of the excess I’ve been building up and leave with a few special new things. Swapping is free!
- I even went “shopping” at American Apparel last weekend to try on some things that I can add to my family’s Christmas list
- The CSA from Farmfarm has made the food portion of the spending freeze non-existent. We have a constant influx of fresh veggies, and this has been invaluable!
- And of course, people are kind and generous around us and we are spoiled by a bought beer or lunch or chai. Practicing both gratefulness and generosity is a constant goal for me.
We still have two weeks to go, but with a full fridge two and a half weeks in, I don't imagine we'll be running to the store on November 1st. And in terms of non-food related things, the funny thing about needs is that sometime if you ignore them, instead of becoming more apparent, they go away. And the real needs find their way to being fulfilled somehow anyway.
