i'm really excited to ring in the new year because for once i feel really ready to tackle some of my personal issues and work harder to make lasting changes. this whole project is a definite start toward taking better control (and exercising better control!) over my personal finances. i wouldn't say we are knee deep in debt or anything but i have found that like pretty much everyone these days, we don't do nearly enough saving and tend to spend when we feel like it without much of a plan. we aren't planners by nature and in lots of things this kind of spontaneity breeds a lot of joy in our life. but in terms of finances it is a disaster.
i'd love to feel that i control my own financial destiny and could work towards buying something on etsy or mighty goods i lust after, or creating a true emergency fund so we're covered when faced with another big car repair. i think it would be particularly fulfilling to learn to put aside dough for big expenses like a trip or an airplane ticket or home improvement projects and then be able to REWARD yourself with that big ticket thing. you would actually have earned it then...how novel! my credit card has made me believe that i can afford things when i want them instead of wanting them, waiting, then affording them. i feel our whole society is pretty assbackwards in this regard and clearly the toll it has taken is showing up in the big cracks (crevasses?) in our economy and banking industries. i thought this piece in the Times Magazine on Sunday was pretty inspiring in its straight talk tone. it seems the whole country could chant the "stop being stupid" mantra!
anyway, only 2 days left to spend it up before my big january freeze. i'm trying to let go of the urge i have to go out and buy 2 of everything "just in case" ...but this is certainly the opposite of what this 'buy nothing' time is supposed to be about. i want to have to turn to what i really have to get through the month, i.e. if my shampoo runs out or something, hey, don't i have one zilion little trial size shampoos from years of hotel stays? i think we all have little largesses, stashes, of things around our house that are there for the "just in case" moment, only our consumerist culture never makes those just in case times happen. instead, we go shopping.
i'm hopeful that my fully stocked pantry will be my friend in the coming month and that it will hold us over through the rough patches. pasta and rice were made for times like these right? i'm attaching a few shots of my stocked pantry and thought it would be interesting to see what it looks like when the month is over.
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