In starting our journey to minimal living, we did the 100 days of less challenge (our rules). After completing this challenge, we realized that practicing minimalism was much harder than we thought. We did well with our eating out only twice a week rule (this usually kills our budget), but we couldn’t go 100 days without buying anything. We would always find reasons why we needed to buy something.
We bought the following 4 items within the 100 days of less challenge:
- Water flosser – I hate flossing, so i considered this an investment on my teeth.
- Humidifier – we needed one while we were sick since California has drier climates.
- Olive oil from napa valley – a souvenir from our trip.
- Travel jewelry roll – Was looking for this for over 3 years, and finally stumbled upon it while holiday shopping.
The first two I felt were justified, because they are health related. The olive oil we accounted for in our grocery budget. For the last item, though, I could have had more self control. Not that I have buyer’s remorse, but I know I could have. I’m not going to beat myself up about it anymore, because overall I think we did pretty well considering how much we normally spend. We are better than we were before. When we try next time, we’ll just have to be even better!
First of all, I’m thankful that we’re done with the challenge. :P But I am also thankful for a few other reasons:
- It kept more money in our pockets, so that we can give more and also spend it on things that are worthwhile.
- It helped us be more mindful and aware of where our money is going.
- We learned to evaluate whether something will really be beneficial to our lives before buying them.
Next, we will be trying out Project 333 where we pick out 33 items of clothing, including accessories, bags, and shoes and use only those for 3 months. Anyone want to try it with us? Wish us luck!
What’s something in your spending that you would like to cut back on to make room for something better?
This is week 19 of practicing gratitude on my blog. You can see all my other gratitude posts by clicking on the banner:
