The spending challenge... no spending

I came across this story, just before shutting my laptop down and getting on with my day. For some reason I kept recalling it and mulling it over. Could I contain myself for a whole year and spend only what is necessary on food and basics?

http://www.cbc.ca/video/popup_nlp.html?http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/news/features/dunn-nospend-081226.wmv

Could I? I'm certainly intrigued as I consider it. It raises a tricky question for me. What does money and spending mean to me? As I contemplate the answer I then wonder... have I really fallen into the cliche where I've somehow tied money to feelings of self worth? I've used a mantra for a while now relating to money and not spending what I don't have. Since starting with it I have a new washer and dryer, a new house and just last week a new snow blower. This week... a new crock pot. The more I think about it the less I feel intrigued and instead feel fearfully compelled to take this challenge on. I have nothing to lose and lot to gain by such an adventure. (this is me talking myself into it)

But am I up for it? I want to be. I want to be rid of the pangs of disappointment I feel with myself as I consume. (the consumption tax) I don't want to be a "consumer". I wanna be real about this challenge and so I think I'll consider it a 6 month challenge. I take some relief in knowing I have a whopping $400 plus in gift certificates in my wallet.

As my ever supportive and enthusiastic husband and I discuss the rules of how this will play out I'm unwittingly trying to figure out if there is anything I need before I start. I may not feel up to the challenge but I definitely need it!

A lesson from Weatherwood

Six months till moving day. Six long months.

Sometimes I indulge and let the excitement of our first home creep to the front of my thoughts and take over. I play with colours and furniture arrangements. I lay out my garden and think about landscaping. Other times I push the thoughts and excitement away thinking I'll surely be exhausted by it all by the time we step into it.

I'll obviously miss Weatherwood. The trees, space and privacy are charming. The memories here are long-standing, 22 years to be exact. I've grown up here and found what was short in my life previously, roots. Moving every two to three years as a kid was fine with me until I found what had been missing... home. Weatherwood was home. Course I didn't know it at the time. In all the years I've been here it's kinda been temporary. Oddly enough in the months to come I'll be nesting and improving things in order to show and sell it.

If I had it all to do over again I would nest from the start. My evanescence at Weatherwood is regrettable but will be a valuable lesson for the future.