Week 1 of my June Spending Fast brought a few unexpected situations that involved spending.
First, I had planned to attend the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game on Wednesday; I had a free ticket to attend with my daughter, her boyfriend, and one of their friends. Shameless brag: my daughter’s boy friend was honored (on the big screen, no less) as the Serviceperson of the Game. He proudly serves our country in the US Army, and I was honored that he included me in this special day.
Typically, when I attend a Cardinals game I park in a parking garage a 10 or so-minute walk from Busch Stadium; the charge is more than reasonable at only $5, and the walk is a pleasant one. However, because I’d hurt my knee the week before, I was worried about walking . . . well, limping along . . . that far in the heat. I checked into parking at Ball Park Village, just across the street from the stadium, and discovered that reserved parking is $20. Parking for the game was a necessity, of course, and I decided that the knee injury made the additional $15 expenditure a necessity as well. I made the reservation.
On Tuesday, I learned that the father of one of my daughter’s best friends had passed away unexpectedly. My husband and I went to church with this wonderful man and his wife for 4 years and knew them fairly well. The funeral was planned for Friday, and I knew the ladies of the small rural congregation would prepare a wonderful meal for the family and those who attended the funeral. I wanted to help in some way, so I offered to bring a dish.
I scrounged through my cupboard, but I didn’t have enough of any one thing to prepare a dish large enough to take. I picked up 2 large tubs — one of cole slaw and another of potato salad — at a local grocery store and took both to the church.
Was that a necessity? Absolutely not. Was it the right thing to do? To me, yes. And that made a non-necessity a necessity.
In both cases, I felt confident that I had not “violated” the spending freeze. Other than those expenditures, I only purchased gas and personal groceries, so I consider week 1 of the freeze to have been a success.
A couple of things I learned during this first week:
1. Big ticket items don’t tempt me at all. I can’t think of a single non-necessity over $7 that came across my radar those first 7 days.
2. Staying away from Barnes & Noble, amazon.com, and Starbucks are crucial if I want to go the remaining 23 days without purchasing a non-necessity. 🙂
3. I love a challenge! If you want me to do something — even something I don’t necessarily want to do — turn it into a challenge with a time frame and I’m in!
Today marks the beginning of week 2 of the spending freeze. There’s still time to jump in and join me! If you do — or even if you don’t — I’d love for you to share your thoughts, experiences, tips, etc., either as a comment below or on my facebook page (Patti Miinch).