"Not Buying It"

I took the book Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine out of the library yesterday and put forth a dedicated effort to read it today and after 70 pages I am still finding it dull as dish water. I thought this book would be interesting and witty and would inspire my quest to stop spending but it isn't interesting nor witty and it hasn't inspired anything except boredom.

Well that was a waste of $7

A bird pooped on my car window earlier today so tonight I took the car to a drive thru car wash and it didn't get even a bit of the bird poop off.

That was a waste of $7.

The Buck Stops Here (so to speak)

I have decided that I will use November as a trial month to see how well I can succeed at not buying any non-essentials. Committing to more than a month is too daunting for me right now so I will try one month and see how it goes.

The rules I will follow are:


  • allow myself $20/week for misc items such as buying a deli sandwich, etc. (this money cannot be spent on lipgloss, books, clothes, etc.)

  • allow myself a small budget of $50 to finish my Xmas gift shopping (am very close to done already)

  • allow purchases of essential items that I run out of (though don't really expect to run of anything as I am well stocked)

  • allow myself $50 max to celebrate my Bday at the end of the month

  • allow myself the luxury of keeping my gel nails ($32/month) as my nails would be total shit if I had them removed

In addition to the rules, I plan to stick to my grocery budget of $250 and have at least 10 dedicated no spend days in November.

I want a set of new nesting tables for my living room and if I am successful at not spending unnecessarily in November, I may allow myself to purchase these at the end of the month.

Taking in an exchange student

For some months now I have been thinking of taking in an exchange student. I own a 3 bedroom townhouse so have the extra room.

The agency I have been in contact with has strict rules for their students and they do not have any students younger than 21. The students are not allowed to smoke (unless the family they stay with smokes), drink or have friends over unless they ask 24 hours ahead of time to have a friend over. The majority of these students are here to study ESL.

It would mean an extra $700 cash toward my debt each month but I have never had a roommate and really like my own space and am not certain how well I would adjust. One thing that is a drawback for me is that I do not have two full bathrooms (I have 1.5 baths) and, ideally, I would like each of us to have our own bathroom.

If anyone has experience with taking in exchange students, I would appreciate hearing about your experiences.

My Beacon Score

I wrote a few months ago when I found out my credit score was 740 and I was quite happy with that. I found out this week that it has gone up and is now at 788. I grew up learning about financial responsiblity and while I do have consumer debt, I believe I learned good lessons and I'm very pleased with my credit score.

Giving Up Shopping

I am considering using November as a trial month to see if I can go a month without buying anything unnecessary. I don't buy a lot of "crap" any longer so I really don't think that this would be too difficult of a challenge for me.

I have been inspired by
Holly Is Stopping Shopping who has challenged herself to one year of no unnecessary spending and who is doing great at the mid-way point as well as by The Frugal Trenches who is on a journey of downshifitng and has just completed 6 months of not buying anything that wasn't truly needed.

I need to give this some more thought to determine what the "rules" will be but I really am considering giving this a try. Committting to an entire year of no shopping is too daunting for me but if I take it a month at a time who knows what can happen.

Not a lot of news

Again, it has been a long while since I have posted. I just don't feel like I have much of any interest to say.

I am dedicating my time to job hunting. Last week I applied for a position that sounds really, really great with a great organization. This job is a significant pay cut from what I've been earning these last couple years. However, if it were offered to me, I'd take it. I've learned that money is not everything and satisfaction within my career means more. Sure, I need a certain salary to make all ends meet and while a higher salary would mean I could pay off the LOC quicker, money is not everything. I just left a very well paid job where I was miserable and the money didn't do a thing to make it better.

At the same time, I still have my part time job and will continue to cut back on unnecessary spending as I have been doing in order to put as much as possible toward my LOC each month.

I am putting some things up on ebay with hopes that they will sell and bring in some extra money. I'm selling some brand new, still in the box, Xmas decorations and some cashmere sweaters, etc.