Lately, I have been clearing out things that I don't use, or need. Tho' there are a few thing in the don't need category that have become "pieces of my heart". Ornaments for the sake of decoration no longer exists in most of my house. It is not that I don't want pretty things, but pretty things can get out of hand...
This shelf in my living room holds a few of my very favourite things. Two framed pictures of prairie flowers that my cousin in Manitoba gave to me -- to me reminders of walking through feilds and along country roads in my youth. Two brass bud vases -- these my father gave to my grandmother for christmas one year before he was a married man and she kept them and used them for many many years. The clay cat was a gift to me from co workers when I left to move to Victoria, BC -- it is the only gift I ever recieved from co workers and made me feel very loved and that I would be missed. The photo in the silver frame, of my mother on her wedding day, July 16, 1949 -- getting ready to stand in front of family and say "I do". The ashtray, a gift from my maternal grandmother -- only important because it came from her, not for what it is. An egg coddler -- I have a couple of dozen and they hide in a box. I like this one, and it is full of special mint quarters -- olympic events, provincial flowers and ? but really only about $10 worth. And do you see that bit of round glass? It is the strangest thing. I found it. In the mud of a flowerbed. Had it for years before I knew what it was -- a pot watcher, I'm told. You put it into a big pot of water (in the days before electric kettles) and it would start to rattle when the water came to a boil...
Anyway, back to economy. Perhaps it is that as I get older I have a desire to "live for today", so things have much less value to me -- I tried the collecting bug, and have a couple of collections now that are as complete as they ever will be and now I don't even know why I have them...
A dozen, or maybe 2 dozen beaded (prom) or evening type clutch bags -- most thrift or antique store finds. A box filled with plastic figurines from McDonalds which are the 100 figures from the One Hundred Years of Disney -- every single one!! And the Egg coddler collection... Perhaps they are all destined for ebay...
I am trying to gear up for a month of frugality -- I am planning to test myself and my family with a No Spend Month -- the month of August.
I am well prepared, and think that it will not be difficult to keep my money in my wallet so I am determined to not go and wander through the DVD section at Best Buy or Wal-Mart or any other store. I am determined not to buy beef roast on sale at the grocery store -- My hubby did an inventory of our freezer earlier this week and there is probably a month of meat in there!
Now, it is not a necessity that I be frugal in August -- it is just an exercise and a reminder that just cause I have some money in the bank I don't necessarily HAVE to spend it...
As things usually go around here, We generally have a budget of about $800 a month (not including mortgage, household utilities and car payments) and that includes all the cash type purchases - things that include, groceries, gas for the car, eating out, clothing, gifts, hobbies, and various supplies such as toilet paper, laundry detergent and cleaning stuff and personal hygene and even prescriptions... In fact we take from the bank $400 every 2 weeks so that we can actually see what is spent and what is left -- using the debit or credit card is not such an visual tracking method -- with cash (or no cash) in the wallet, it is easy to see where we stand when it comes to spending...
When there is "leftover" I move that money into my long term savings account. This month, so far I have about $60 left and the budget for next week stands at $200, so without really working hard at it and thinking about each purchase with the question "Do I really need this?" The family economy is on track.
Now just to point you over to another blog -- which is where I am trying to learn about being more organized, and more economical -- take a read there and see if it doesn't get you thinking about keeping things to only what you need... By the way -- it's good for the earth too... Go check out Small Notebook
