Friday, August 5, 2016

Weird Confession on Abundance


Please read this somewhat tongue in cheek, but I think I manage myself better in lean times than I do in times of abundance. Remember two weeks ago when I was down to my last $29 in my grocery budget and had done a careful inventory and a aster list of meal options? I was so successful at that, I want to keep it going to keep our grocery budget on track.  However, DD2 and I went grocery shopping on Monday night, intending to only shop for two weeks, but $169 later in groceries, I am bursting at the seems and now over whelmed with what to cook, what to pack in lunches, and what to snack on. I am pushing fresh fruit and vegetables on everyone-can't let any of it go bad. Yesterday I brought three pieces of fruit for my lunch. No one gets to eat any canned goods until all the fresh is eaten up. 

I need to keep purging my closet. When I gave it a good clean, I thought how simple it would be to put back only five t-shirts, exactly five outfits for work, two pairs of jeans, etc. and not be bogged down with choice. A simple rotation would keep me from perpetually losing or misplacing the one blouse I want to wear as I look through 10 I don't. I look at each area of my life, and think if I had to ration, I would be in so much more control.

Anyone else remember your high school and college days when with your friends, you'd collectively pool your odd change and maybe a dollar or two, to figure out what you could do on a Friday night? Sometimes it was barely enough to put a little gas in some one's car and gather with others in a park-until kicked out at 10:00, or hang out in some one's basement with a two liter of pop and some chips. In college, it was figuring out how many beers could be bought before 9:00 on quarter beer night, knowing you'd be drinking warm beer later on. Decisions were easy, because not much fit the budget. 

I hope I don't come across as making light of poverty, not my intent at all. As many times as I have been really skint in my life, I never experienced true poverty and there was the ever stretched safety net of family I was blessed to have been born into. It's just now I notice the difference between needing to be careful with money and resources because both were may be  limited, and the overwhelming feeling abundance causes me. Enforcing my self prescribed austerity is liberating in a way. We have so much taken out of our checks before we even see them, that makes deciding what to do with the balance much easier because we've already taken care of long term savings, life insurance, and medical expenses. Still, we have additional goals in the savings area, and with today being pay day for us both,  I'm trying to take those targets off the top as well as paying the regular bills, leaving very little wiggle room left in cash for flexible spending. More than just living below our means, I'm trying to live at a spending level, and resources on hand level, that adds calm and order. Does anyone else have these odd mental view point of abundance? Who's got tips for absorbing the minimalist mentality?

9 comments:

  1. I don't enjoy being poor (I have been there before and it is not fun) but I do enjoy self imposed spending limits. I work and feel better with parameters, even artificial ones.

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    1. I understand-not knowing if you'll have food at all is very different from getting creative in the kitchen. Maybe its partially lack of creativity and ingenuity I feel when overworked.

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  2. Thank you so much for writing this post! I too struggle when things are more "abundant". I tend to lose focus and become more careless with all my available resources in all areas of my life. I need to find a way to do some self imposed limits too! =)

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    1. As much as being poor would be wearing, it is easy to overindulge with a little extra money,food,time whatever it might be. Procrastination is s luxury ad well-I seem to work better with pressing deadlines.

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  3. "I think I manage myself better in lean times than I do in times of abundance."-Why is this? I think that is my problem. I guess the mind set is gone when you have more money to work with. I need to try harder but I can't seem to cut back.

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    1. My mind set is very different. I don't feel like I have to make choices. Instead of this or that, I think this and that, when I probably could be fine without at all.

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  4. This is a great post, thank you. I understand what you mean about choices, when your choices, too many are a negative, it's a drain and can lead to sloppiness.

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  5. I am the SAME way with money. If I have more than $100 to spend, it's gone. If I have $39.25 left until pay day. It's CUPBOARD and FREEZER eating folks!!! my kids fork over money for an odd pizza in that case!

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