The last week will not go down as frugal, but I have no regrets. My family has been blessed with good health, family and friends, and jobs that pay the bills and then some.While I tried not to squander money, I made intentional choices for my money and a few deliberate splurges. For my friend and my friends daughter, there are Go Fund Me pages. I made contribution to both. I don't live near enough to either to be part of a Meal Train, and besides, meals were already taken care of with sign ups through May. Same for my nieces family, but I dropped off two bags of paper and household goods. None of these were part of my budget or spending plan heading into April, but irrelevant in the scope of things.
We made contributions towards the show choir directors and team mom's gifts. Again, worth every penny and probably not enough to say thank you to all three. DD2 informed me that we hadn't purchased her school year book. Ouch! That was a pricey purchase at $85. However, hopefully in years to come she will be happy to have a total recap of her school days. Though, I doubt either of my older kids have really looked at theirs since. However, it isn't the recent memories, but the ones decades later that they might want to later look back on.
Meals out in the last eight days included drinks and apps with our friends last Saturday, DH taking his mom out for breakfast one morning, lunch out on Thursday-just DH and me, DD2 Chipotle on an early release day before play practice, and my coffee date with myself Thursday afternoon. Time with my girls was precious, and we did a little shopping damage. I took both girls out Friday night for supper, and lunch Saturday before heading home. I bought DD1 a few groceries and splurged $9 for three gourmet cupcakes at a cute little independent cake maker in my daughters town. I bought DD2 a new dress and sweater set for her banquet next weekend and to wear to her cousin's wedding plus a new pair of Asic shoes and a hoody, but these were nearly 70% off original price through my daughters company. I spent $41 on fruit for Easter.
Some weeks are just like that with more expenses for showers, weddings, DD2's play, and Mother's Day to come. Life can't always include saving money-the last week was about family and friends. There were some moments that cost us little or nothing, where we saved in the week. We hit a couple thrift stores and I was able to get two shirts for $7.00, the basic black I was looking for in different styles. We capped off Easter with a free walk along the river, wearing a happy pup out in the process. There's a ton of leftover fruit for lunches, snacking or smoothies. I'll reign in my spending on things that just don't matter, but I don't regret these costs a bit.
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?
