We make money. We spend money. Welcome to our family. Welcome to America.
We were sick of our overspending on crap. Crap that we cherished, got excited about and bargained for. But crap nonetheless. We wanted to be good stewards of our money. Steward, meaning managers... not helping it fly away in the friendly skies. It was time to save for a house for goodness sake.
I have had this idea on my heart for a while. I prepared to do it in 2012 by binging at every store around me in December. I really thought I was going to do it and I stocked up like the greater depression was about to hit. I stocked up on Michaels craft supply, Target, Macy's, H&M, Craigslist, consignment shops, you name it. I felt sick to my stomach, like a bulimic would feel after purging uncontrollably. You feel sick. I surrounded myself with the packages and took a 'before' video to document how far I will hopefully come in the end. Only problem was Russell was not on board. I need him. So I backed out. Now I had a years worth of crap for a year that hadn't even begun.
We up and moved from San Diego to Oregon in November of 2012 and in January of 2014 Russell was on board to a zero materialism year. When the two of us are united, we can move mountains.
We sat down and wrote out our contract and signed it.
We can buy anything non material (food, beverage, entertainment, etc.)
We can buy material stuff for work and for the kids school (I homeschool).
We can use cash gifts and gift certificates from holidays (mostly from my mom) to buy stuff.
Nothing else.
No clothes, shoes, accessories, sporting equipment, gifts, tools...or outdoor brooms- even if they have broke 3x and you have tried every possible fix it solution!
Clearly this is not easy. Yet it is. It is cleansing, it is simpler, it is refreshing, it is miraculous. And sometimes very tempting.
We are excited to share this year of no spending with you -the ups, the downs, the miracles.
We were sick of our overspending on crap. Crap that we cherished, got excited about and bargained for. But crap nonetheless. We wanted to be good stewards of our money. Steward, meaning managers... not helping it fly away in the friendly skies. It was time to save for a house for goodness sake.
I have had this idea on my heart for a while. I prepared to do it in 2012 by binging at every store around me in December. I really thought I was going to do it and I stocked up like the greater depression was about to hit. I stocked up on Michaels craft supply, Target, Macy's, H&M, Craigslist, consignment shops, you name it. I felt sick to my stomach, like a bulimic would feel after purging uncontrollably. You feel sick. I surrounded myself with the packages and took a 'before' video to document how far I will hopefully come in the end. Only problem was Russell was not on board. I need him. So I backed out. Now I had a years worth of crap for a year that hadn't even begun.
We up and moved from San Diego to Oregon in November of 2012 and in January of 2014 Russell was on board to a zero materialism year. When the two of us are united, we can move mountains.
We sat down and wrote out our contract and signed it.
We can buy anything non material (food, beverage, entertainment, etc.)
We can buy material stuff for work and for the kids school (I homeschool).
We can use cash gifts and gift certificates from holidays (mostly from my mom) to buy stuff.
Nothing else.
No clothes, shoes, accessories, sporting equipment, gifts, tools...or outdoor brooms- even if they have broke 3x and you have tried every possible fix it solution!
Clearly this is not easy. Yet it is. It is cleansing, it is simpler, it is refreshing, it is miraculous. And sometimes very tempting.
We are excited to share this year of no spending with you -the ups, the downs, the miracles.
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