I can't believe it's been eight months since my last blog! Many of you may think that I gave up on my year of nothing new, however; we are still going strong. As a full time single parent, who is also building her business and working at the same time; I underestimated the time it would take to keep up with my blog. Also, I have had some minor technical difficulties with my "vintage" computer so here I am with just over a month to go in my adventure in being a non-consumer.
Instead of trying to fill in all the blanks I will give you my highlight reel:
First of all, I would like to acknowledge my AwEsoMe newly eight year old son who has been such a champ this year! Seriously, he didn't get a choice in whether or not he participated in my experiment, being my son automatically enrolled him into my scheme. And the truth is that this year has not been so difficult for me, I recognize that I still have more than I need and if I don't go to the mall or Target or window shopping downtown than I don't "want" for anything. But I can put myself in my son's shoes and remember what is was like to be a kid and to see all those cool toys on tv and wanting all of them or going to my friends house and coveting all of their things and then coming home to beg my parents to get them for me. This has not been the case all year. My kiddo committed to this endeavor that he didn't volunteer for and he has helped keep me on track as well.
This year we made all of our Valentine's cards ( he won an award for most creative card in his class), most of our birthday presents and we even recruited five boys between the ages of 6-8 to sew their own stuffed monster as a party gifts instead of doing birthday bags full of plastic and sugar. It has been fun, creative and inspiring for us both.
I have connected with 3 local consignment shops in town where I traded in our old clothes and housewares for credit so we can update our wardrobes when necessary without buying anything new and I have organized clothing swaps with friends to trade the things we don't wear anymore. In addition, I have bartered many massages for all sorts of things from haircuts to an eliptical to get me through the winter, my girlfriends birthday present and a new bedding set for my room.
I didn't take this on to try and convert anyone, but another unexpected bonus has been that I have indirectly inspired some of my friends and they have expressed that they are much more aware of what they are consuming and what they are reusing and recycling... a small ripple :)
On the other hand there are a few things that I have broken down and purchased out of neccesity and perceived neccesity: 1. batteries for my son's science project 2. concealor due to lack of sleep and vanity on my part 3. a pinata for my son's birthday party because I ran out of time to paper mache one for him and I promised he could have one. I have reconciled with these purchases and I am at peace.
Many peeps ask if I have saved money? The short answer is yes! For once in a long time I actually had a decent savings account. 'Had' is the keyword here, of course murphy's law was in effect- all of that money and more went into replumbing my house in Florida due to old galvanized steel collapsing from the meter at the street to the buried plumbing under my house. $#it still happens and to keep perspective I choose to count my blessings that I had close to half of the money in the bank when I needed it.
So that brings us to the present moment. I made it through the majority of the year and my son's birthday (this month) which is a great story- I am saving for next month. Now I have to get through a month and a half which may be the biggest challenge of all with Christmas right around the corner.
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