No Spending Week

I was leafing through the magazine rack the other day and came across the latest Real Simple. In their money section, the author wrote about a No Spending Week that he implemented much to the dismay of his wife. Now, it wasn’t entirely a no spending week. He still engaged in activities that required money – just so happened that whoever was with him ended up footing the bill. In light of recent market events, I decided to see if I could do this too.

Monday
28 bucks spent at Trader Joe’s for groceries. I don’t necessarily count this as a frivolous expense because it’s food. I need it. To live. I didn’t purchase anything fancy. The basics like eggs, bread, salad, etc. I had made Khichdi the night before. Jazzed it up with some awesome Indian style skillet potatoes for dinner.

Tuesday
Nada. Yay me! Dinner was whole wheat penne pasta and a homemade pasta sauce – tomato sauce with golden raisins, celery and white onions. A splash of vinegar and it reminded me a lot of my Caponata.

Wednesday
When I woke up, I was craving an egg sandwich from a local bread shop that I pass on the way to work every day. Given my no spending rule, I was inspired to try my hand at it. Needs some work (read: more butter) but it hit the spot.

$1.77 on a tall Starbucks coffee. I had to walk a few blocks in the rain to go to my Board Meeting after work. I was wet. Cold. And grumpy. The Starbucks was right there and I didn’t even put up a fight. Mind you, I haven’t had coffee in nearly three months so I’m not sure what compelled me to get it but get it I did. It was eh. Next time I will do a better job of fighting the urge. Or get a green tea instead. Ha! ;-)

Thursday
Zilch
Basmati rice and Rajma (almost like Mom’s!). Super yum.

Friday
Stay tuned…

The point is to see how quickly little things add up and which activities really bring you joy. (I’ve come to find retail therapy is not as therapeutic as I had once thought. Go figure!) I’ve been eating at home every night and walking home for lunch every day. I love it. I get a break from the office in the middle of the day, I get to enjoy a healthy and homey meal at night, and experiment with my cooking which I in turn get to share with you. Did I mention, my Rajma almost tastes like Mom’s? Very exciting development for me. The no spending directive has also forced me to do things I’ve been stalling on and slow down long enough to take a deep breath. I caught up on phone calls and emails during the week. I got started on projects I had been putting off. I actually read through entire articles rather than skimming. I’m making progress on the book I’ve been trying to finish for months: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I went for a walk today after making a healthy dinner. My head is extremely thankful for this past week. Good stuff all around.

It’s definitely not something I can keep up long term but it’s a good exercise to engage in every once in a while. If I were to do it over the course of a month I would modify it by setting a spending limit and trying to adhere to that.

Ok, my nerdiness is starting to show. I’ll stop now. Night folks!