The Quest Goes On

How is it going? Well, I made it through January only spending $2, I realize that I was breaking rules, but after several days of only internet shopping (which Scott tells me is great because I can look and look and look and even fill up a cart and then NOT buy it) which I found tremendously unsatisfying I went to the DI to find the materials for David's science fair project. He is making a model of SPUTNIK (the Soviet satellite) and we were looking for the material for the sphere. I found a two piece Wilton cake mold that was perfect for a 1/4 size model. (Fifty cents for each part) On the same aisle was a beautiful copper and ceramic double-boiler. GORGEOUS! I had already seen copper cookware on the shopping channel over the month and I have to say it looked wonderful. Since the price was only $2, I thought it was a good idea, and maybe because the value of the copper itself was already more than the $2 it will be excusable.

As far as not spending money on the kids? That is much harder. Violet had a ski trip for honor society in January and February always brings up the science fair . . . where we have to get presentation boards year after year. I still have not found a way to satisfactorily re-use a science fair board two years in a row. I have tried, but it never really works.

I already have other concerns, about how to update a blog at a reasonable pace. Daily seems too often, but just once a month is not really enough. Maybe I just have to think of things to say.

So far, I have done pretty well with my goal. It is difficult to stay away from shopping for entertainments sake. It is odd that we shop for fun. Shopping is primarily meaningless as an end itself, yet our society thrives on shopping as a pastime. That is an inherent problem; it feeds consumerism and instant gratification. Both negative characteristics of our time. I have been turning back to traditional forms of entertainment instead. I have read four books in the past month and have spent some quality time with my husband. I have not felt more motivated to lean the house or to cook but i have been sleeping better. We will see how it goes from this point on.

Colds on the Cheap

Yesterday I felt the ominous beginnings of a cold. The sore throat, fatigue and headache started quietly. As I slipped two yellow tablets (the last of the 'real' antihistamines before we were saved from their harmful effectiveness) in with a glass of water, Scott filled the humidifier. NyQuil is my cold medicine of choice. But a few family members with flu and cold symptoms eliminates my stores of cold medicine, and really these medicines are only intended to treat the symptoms. What happens when I run out of the basics like cold medicine? Is it a necessity or a luxury?

The old advice of "take two aspirin and call me in the morning" has been neglected in a world of anti-virals, antibiotics, anti-germs. This germ-phobia seems to be contributing to weakened immune systems in children as well as creating a microcosm of super-bugs resistant to medications. We stopped using anti-bacterial soaps years ago hoping to do our part in discouraging super-bugs. Now, I am looking at ways to treat cold symptoms in a back-to-basics way.

Web MD provides 9 tips to treating cold and flu symptoms the natural way. Web MD suggests an extra pillow to elevate the head while sleeping. Getting rest sounds great, drink hot fluids, ( I am thinking licorice tea . . . If you have never tried it, you should . . . it's aromatic and soothing. Warm lemonade is also incredible), steamy showers and ointments like mentholatum. I am reminded of having a cold as a child where my mother would tuck me in to bed tightly with orange juice, Vicks on the chest and Mentholatum on a sore nose. We were even give our own roll of bathroom tissue (Kleenex were rare in my childhood.)

I am thinking the Vicks and a humidifier is less expensive and more comforting than those two yellow caplets. If it is only about treating symptoms, then a couple extra hours of sleep will only do a body good.

Wanting a Sunday

Sundays are easy for me, as far as shopping goes. We just take it easy.
It leaves a great deal of time for thinking.
That can have its drawbacks because I can question all the decisions I have made during the previous week.

A while back there was a program on PBS that placed certain families in different places, recreating the living conditions of the time and seeing if these groups could develop communities and survive as those who lived in these conditions. One was a Victorian home, situated in England, I believe. One was a Texas Ranch House. . . in the late 1800's. One was on the Prairie, during the mid nineteenth century. There was even a program with a community placed in the Pilgrims time on the East coast. I was interested in the different adaptations the people made in their communities. Often they were assigned roles . . . servants, landowners, aristocracy.

There were so many conflicts during the different programs because people struggled with the assignment of class and station. So many people of today have no idea how to live and cope with conditions that made them uncomfortable. I was particularly entertained with a pair of teenage sisters from Los Angeles who actually spent the time in their prairie household to create mascara . . . because they could not live without it. They spent time and resources making mascara instead of gathering and chopping wood or cooking, gardening, doing what it takes to live in that environment. I wonder why.

These are the questions I ponder when I consider what sacrifices I am willing to make in order to achieve what I set out to do. I think I take much of the ease of my life for granted, primarily because it is. Yes, I work hard and try to instill a healthy work ethic in my children, but we certainly live in a world of privilege and richness. It isn't much of a sacrifice to manage the day to day living. I wonder how much of our economic woes now could have been avoided if we all would have taken a step back and deprived ourselves of some of our wants. We are in a want over need state. Too much mascara, perhaps. When did that become a need?

Happy New Year

This year, for Christmas, I decided to give my husband a rather unique gift. Several years ago I promised him I would not use credit cards for a full year. It was tough but an amazing experience. The best thing was being able to turn down the credit cards offers over the phone.
"Would you like to try this card?"
"No, thanks. I'm trying to stop."
uncomfortable laughter from the other line "Well, we have an offer that you will love . . ."
"You know, I promised my husband I wouldn't use a credit card. It was his Christmas gift."
pause"Wow, I wish my wife would do that!"

So, how do I compete with that as a gift? This was my solution.

Part of the issue comes from the fact that I am a sales maven. I love not spending full price. I love penny-pinching, as long as I only do it in theory most of the time and practice when it is convenient. All my christmas decorations come from year-end 90% off- but I design a new tree every year and only reuse the ornaments when they fit into my new design scheme. I cook from scratch (when I take the time). I can sew almost anything (when I take the time). The reality is that in the last ten years working full time as a high school teacher, I have taken less time doing the things I love and more time purchasing the materials to do the things I love. Something needs to change. So here I am.

The rules for my experiment are pretty simple. I committed to only shop for edibles . . . until I have used up our stores of soap (probably 50 pounds), toothpaste (thirty tubes . . . all purchased on sale, btw), cleaning supplies, etc. they are off the list as well. No yarn, no fabric, no scrap booking supplies. We are remodeling our kitchen, so carefully planned and approved building materials are not included in the DO NOT BUY list. Hopefully limiting my spending, as I do the bulk of the shopping, will allow us to save for the remodel of our 130 year old house.

So here goes.