Generosity (a no-spend week update)

Hello everyone!

I hope you have had a wonderful weekend. I have spent the weekend hanging out with my beautiful children, catching up with friends as well as managing to fit in a bit of exercise. ...and I have managed to not spend a single cent. (insert little dance here)

I thing not spending is NOT an excuse to not be generous. Oh dear, how many negatives is in that sentence (its a triple negative!)...perhaps it would be better to say: spending does not have to have a direct relationship with generosity. Unfortunately, associating generosity with spending is something I have mistaken in the past and in some ways I still do now.

"Generosity" Photo by Hasby

The funny thing though is that I know that I don't appreciate spending generosity as much as I appreciate other forms of generosity.... perhaps its because I too, have Stuff-Overload-Blindness (SOB)?

Seriously, there is one form of generosity that I truly appreciate and that is those who are generous with their time. We always seem to be soooo busy (I'm including myself here). So when someone lends a hand or an ear by giving me a bit of their time, I truly appreciate it.

This weekend, friends of mine came over and took photographs of me and the kids. As a single parent and always the photographer, having someone else take photos of myself and the children is a gift of their time and talent that I will always treasure. Thank you R and O!!

But enough of my rambling! My no-spend buddies have also been very busy.

Tricia's had her first experience of dumpster-diving. (yay!)

Alison's done her first menu plan in many many years! (Congrats Alison and truly, it does get easier)

Tara's also celebrated Earth Hour (wasn't it great?). You may want to read her post on how she is feeling about not buying... Tara - I can so relate to those feelings! And like every change though, it does get easier.

Still waiting for Eef to update - I hope this means that she has been very busy with job interviews.

The next two days, I'll be at work during the day. I think this will be where my challenge gets hard. Wish me luck!

No-spend week starts with Earth Hour!!

Hello everyone!

Well as of tomorrow, my no-spend week starts (yes, I'm starting a day late because I'm a dick and didn't plan my groceries till today). I have menu-planned for the week and have also talked to the kids about thinking up of activities we can do that don't cost any money. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm happy to say that a few people will be joining me for my no-spend week. In fact, some have already started!! Here they are:

Tricia at Little Eco Footprints - has already started! In fact she is doing her no-spend week with no prior planning! You are an inspiration Tricia!

Eef is also joining me and has started today! As an aside, good luck with your job interviews Eef!

Alison has also started today! You may want to check out her recipe for chicken pot pie - it sounds so yummy and easy!

Tara is currently doing her no buying brand new year (good luck with that! I know that my year had profoundly changed me) and she also started today. And how cool that you get a weekly metropass! Now there's the universe looking after you!

I will try to blog every 2 days over the next week to update everyone on how I and my fellow "non-spenders" are going.

Now, the other cool thing about my no-spend week is that tomorrow is also Earth Hour. My family and I have celebrated Earth Hour in the past - we first started to do it to help the environment...but now we do it because it helps us connect with each other. Without TV, the net, or any other distractions, we find that we usually end up sitting around just talking, singing and playing games together. Its a wonderful way to spend an evening. After such a busy period for us, having a quiet night like this is good.



As my kids are still little, Earth Hour for us actually starts at 6pm and will go till the next morning. The only things we don't turn off at the power points are the fridge and the garage door (only 'cause I can't find the power point to turn off the garage door electronic thingymajigy).

Are you celebrating Earth Hour?

What do you do for Earth Hour?

As another aside, I checked out the footprint calculator on the Earth Hour website and found that if everyone lived like me we would need TWO planets. *sigh* My love of travel (I am on a plane at least once a year) and the fact that I eat dairy and/or beef or chicken every day is a problem. Anyway, lots to think about.

"See" you all on Sunday!

Yep I'm going to do it again! (No Spend Week)

Hi everyone!

I hope your weekend is going well. I hosted a dinner party last night and am about to go to another dinner party tonight. Yep, my year of celebrations is going great. I am loving catching up with everyone solely for the purpose of celebrating our connections. I am also finding that I go through this extremely sociable phase, that the celebrations are also a way of strengthening and deepening those connections. I am feeling more and more comfortable being part of my diverse community!

Now a few weeks ago, I blogged about wanting some new stuff. Anyway, I've decided to go ahead and buy a digital SLR. I want to get this camera before I go overseas, so I've decided that the easiest way to save up for it is to have yet another no-spend week.

Photo by Steffe

For new readers, my no spend week means exactly that - not spend a single cent. That means no cash or debit card will leave my wallet for a whole 7 days. I do have exceptions to the rule though:

1. Medical stuff - I'm not risking mine and my children's health to complete a challenge.

2. The bills that automatically come out of my bank account will continue. Auto-fortnightly payments for my mortgage, utilities etc have been a great way for me to manage my money. I don't want to throw out good practices for a week!

So when will my no-spend week start? It will start as at Friday, 26 March. That's the day when I should have finished paying off my trip overseas later this year and so will have no excuse to withdraw cash to make a payment.

Anyone want to join me in my no-spend week? Let me know and I'll add your blog here and give updates every second day to see how everyone's going.

Oh and if you want to know a bit more about my thoughts re: whether no-spend weeks really do save money, check out my previous blog post here.

I hope the rest of your weekend goes well!

Putting money in its place

Hello everyone!

Firstly, a big thank you to all of you who are persevering with me and this blog of mine, despite my infrequent posting. I am still quite busy at work (major deadline coming up at the end of the month!) as well as with my family. Thank you to all those who emailed me to ask if I am okay. Yes, I am very well and though I'm busy, I am enjoying my year so far. I have to say, dedicating a year to celebrating the big and small things in my life has been very fulfilling for me - everyone should try it sometime!

My hedges are now looking...well if not quite perfect, then at least much neater and in some ways more beautiful than before. A huge thank you to all my friends who helped me get it under control. I truly enjoyed working and celebrating with everyone. My not perfect but now beautiful hedge is beautiful to me because everytime I look at it, I am reminded of my friends and how much they have helped me.

Anyway, on to the purpose of this post!

Photo by Cimexus

With me working so much at the moment, I have been thinking about the role of money in the context of a simple life. In soooo many ways, I can see how my journey has made me less dependent on the acquisition of more money....but....I would be lying if I say that it is still not important.

In fact, I think in many ways, managing money well is a key part of being able to live a simple life. I have learned that living a simple life demands having a clear understanding of what I need, can afford and then having the discipline to stick to it.

Now, you would think that understanding my needs and what I can afford would be the easy parts of my journey and the discipline being something I've had to work at....but strangely enough, that hasn't been my experience.

For me, I have found it harder to define what are my needs and wants and to learn what I can afford. Its been a hard journey and there are still days when I confuse my needs and wants, but I know that I'm getting there.

In some ways, I can equate my approach to money along the same lines as my joyful consumption ponderings. I found it easy to discipline myself with money because by having a truly clear and concrete understanding of my values (as opposed to having vague half thoughts about it), it seemed logical to then spend according to it.

And when I learned skills such as sewing, repairing and sourcing second-hand, and I found that my choices on what to spend and when to spend it became easy for me.

This year, as part of my commitment to celebrate my connections with others, I am going to do a little bit of travelling to visit friends interstate and family overseas. I have been saving up for it and I'm almost there. I have done this without having to borrow money or use a credit card (indeed, I no longer have (nor need) credit cards).

Sometime ago, I came across this quote and its stuck with me:

“Don't tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I'll tell you what they are.” - James W. Frick

This journey in living simply has been a very satisfying one for me...and one of the most satisfying has been that I've finally learned how to put money in its place. Money, and managing money, is now one of the many (but nevertheless important) ways I am able to live according to my values.

I hope you are all well and I wish you a good week ahead.

P.S. This weekend, I want to squeeze in a bit of crafting and sewing. Its been awhile since I've done it and I'm really missing it! Hopefully my next post will be me showing off something I've sewn (or started sewing).

Busy!! Housework as a way to celebrate bonds

Oh my goodness, its been a long time since my last post!

Work is particularly busy for me at the moment and I'm finding that between that, spending time with my family and friends and keeping on top of the housework, there's not much time for much else.

Oh look, I've just listed "keeping on top of the housework" as part of my priority list! Housework had always been a bit of a challenge for me but strangely enough, since moving back into and decorating my house, its not been so much of a trouble.

I have stated before that perhaps this change in my housework habits is because I now pretty much own only as much as I can look after (ie I don't have that much stuff anymore). Or perhaps its because I am now in a better place all round...who knows?

Lately, I've taken to doing little bits of housework with friends. And its been so much fun! Sometimes I am at their house, sometimes at mine.

With me so busy with work at the moment, having friends help me with little (and big) things have been a wonderful source of practical support.

I am also proud of the fact though, that I am finally starting to ask for help (a well-being challenge I failed at in November). It is still hard but I'm doing it.

Tomorrow I am going to try and tackle my 25 metre long haven't-been-trimmed-for-a-year hedge with a couple of friends and neighbours. Afterwards we will celebrate with a little barbecue here at my place. Working together and eating together - its a wonderful way to celebrate our micro village!

This pic made me laugh, so I thought I'd share. "The Village People" Photo by Dunechaser.

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend (and for ONC'ers - hope you are also having a wonderful long weekend!)