Weekend Confession: Successful Curbing

I have a confession to make.....

I have not made any purchases since December 31st.  I  might also add, I have not touched my credit card, AT ALL, since December 31st, 2010. 

I am quite proud of myself.  Yes, I do consider myself a bit of a shopaholic.  But unlike Rebecca Bloomwood (Confessions of a Shopaholic), I do not max out my credit cards on designer shoes/clothing.  Most of the items I purchase are on sale or marked down drastically.  The key question remains....was it a necessary purchase?  Often times, no.  Most often it was purely for the thrill of the hunt. Finding something that originally cost say $100 and getting it for $20 invigorated me.  Does the item purchased go unused? No. Was it a dire necessity? Again, no.  Twenty dollars here, another there, does add up.  So I decided to challenge myself as Shannon from The Simply Luxurious Life suggested in her New Year's newsletter, dedicate a week in which you do not make any purchases.  I wanted to prove that I can be disciplined enough.   Here is the excerpt from the newsletter.

• One Week of No Spending

         -Initially this may seem like a difficult task, but when Oprah and Suze Orman suggested

           this for their debt diet, I couldn't help but ponder if this should be something for

           everyone to do. Think about what it requires for a moment: planning ahead, being

           aware of your priorities, creativity and discipline. We are all capable of each of these

           things, some with more work than others, but we are all indeed capable. So pull out

           your grocery list and plan a week ahead for meals one week, stay home on that one

           weekend and play board games or read, and slow down. You might be surprised at

           how it not only helps out your wallet, but instills an opportunity for lovely moments to

           transpire.




After reading this, I decided to take on the challenge. What did I notice?  It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  In fact, I was able to extend it.  It has now been 15 days and counting. Not sure how long I can last, I am hoping to make it till the end of the month, if not more; but the mere fact that I accomplished a whole extra week on top of the challenge is impressive to me, and to Mr. Man!

By the way, if you haven't checked out Shannon's blog yet, I strongly suggest you take a peek.  Her blog is so full of inspiration and ideas, it would be a crime not to share her blog with others.

Have a nice weekend!