Month THREE in Summary

In like a lion and out like a lamb, March has been my favorite month of 2014. The long awaited mental shut-down occurred and I am thankful to not be filling my precious brain space with thoughts about new clothes, furniture, Spring accessories, and make-up. Part of how this happened is avoiding Pinterest! It will be terribly sad when I walk around wearing colored pants, wedges, and striped shirts, things that markedly became fashionable LAST year but I hope my friends don't drop me. Lord knows my husband doesn't stay on trend so no judgement there.

Avoiding the mall, magazines, and catalogs makes not spending much easier. It is common sense to the rest of the world. I am just now realizing if I don't want to shop, my visual intake of "stuff" needs to decrease.

Some other great things about March...

We threw a crazy first birthday party for our beloved Mack. We only spent $50 on decorations and food, and it was a blast! My friend Abby gave me the leftover decorations from her son's 1st birthday last month and since the themes were "Lots of Color" "Chalkboard Stuff" and "Deer" I added to what she gave me using what I had on hand.

My wonderful friend Beth made Mack the banner and I can't wait to hang it up in his "room" (actually a closet, pictures coming soon).

My mama sewed the deer pillows for Mack's nursery, aren't they great?!

The ages of the party guests ranged from three-days-old to four-years-old, the triplets came which brought our count of two-year-olds up to ten, but it was a fun play date and I enjoy when our home is busting at its seams with people we love.

Lou spent the entire party stealing juice boxes and eating frosting off of all the cupcakes

The kids ate mini PB & J sandwiches (crustless of course), fresh fruit, and apple juice.












 The mamas ate chicken salad and in retrospect, I should definitely have had wine on hand as well.

Wishing I had gotten a better pic of all the bambino's!

Mack loved his cupcake and ate it like a boss, he held it in his hand while methodically opening and closing his mouth with Lou screaming in his ear, "Do you like it Mackie? Do you love your birthday cake?"

Photo by Abby Jane Galleries

After everyone left, I found some banana in Lou's dollhouse, half a cupcake under the coffee table, and a can of soda stuffed into a pillow case.

Among other March Madnesses, I set a personal record in gift-card-wait-time, I received a gift card to Sephora from my mom for Christmas. I typically treat a gift-card like a coupon, just using it to take the 'edge off' the bill total! This trip I chose the cheapest items: Sephora's house brand of liquid eye-liner and a nude lipstick to make sure I stayed under the set amount. I'd rather have bought this and this because they are "better" products (they last longer) but I will survive, I think, if my eyeliner doesn't stay on during all my big outings to the park.

Hubby went over the credit card bill last night and we were both I was shocked to see we didn't save money this month-- Dang it! He rolled his eyes and sighed, but was not surprised. If there is a lesson we have learned in our marriage, it is to "always have low expectations." I compensated for not spending on myself by actually remembering to send gifts to five different wedding and baby showers. When he questioned these decisions, I gave a detailed, unwanted explanation of how each well-chosen gift was a symbol of my love.

This means we are 0-3 for monthly savings during the spending fast. In January, I over-spent on groceries and in February, we spent our extra moola on a vacation for the two of us.

People keep asking me if it's hard and to be honest, I do miss buying things. It is fun to get something new. Sometimes I miss the shopping bags, rearranging my shoes to make room for a new pair, fresh book pages, the strapping young Fed-Ex man. But I miss it like Christmas. I love Christmas, I adore the music, the cookies, decorating, all the nostalgia that comes that time of year. But do I spend every day in March saying, "Why isn't it Christmas yet? When will it come, how many more days?" No, and I'm guessing you don't either. I enjoy it when it's here, but without it, life goes on. Waiting for the spending fast to end is like waiting for Christmas to come, it will be here eventually but in the mean time there is a lot of other important stuff to do.

I have friends who fasted for 6 months and another for 90 days (refraining from shopping, so hot right now!) I'd find that harder because time is just short enough where you can see the light at the end of the no-shopping-tunnel so you can make your list and revise it and be ready to go when the fast expires. A year seems like forrreevvverrrr so there is not much point in daydreaming because December 31st is eons from now.

So I will wait until then... but am also hoping my husband gets it together and starts buying me STUFF instead of thoughtful trinkets that die or get eaten for upcoming holidays (so far I got flowers for Valentine's Day and chocolate covered strawberries for our anniversary when was really wanting floral print clothing and cheveron covered Toms!) I almost miss the days when he forgot to get me gifts so I would go shopping and buy them on his behalf. Almost.

Also, I am continuing my Lent challenge of making space and waking up earlier. I loooove mornings now. I wake up between 5:30 and 6 (yes, AM!) and spend time listening to music, reading, journaling, and chugging coffee before the babies wake up. Some days I'm wearing my jeans and sneeks and have brushed my teeth as well. The standard time for having those things done pre-March was noon! Hallelujah!

February: A Love Hate Relationship

I can't wait for February to be over. I don't want February to end.

Three reasons I am not loving this month:

1. Hubby has been off work. This is something I would have done anything for a year ago. I would even have shaved my head to have home just a few hours a week. He lived on the other side of the state, I was 36 weeks pregnant and chasing a one-year-old. Since he was gone, I moved us to our new house by myself and literally had zero sane thoughts the whole month of February 2013. It is a miracle our marriage survived and even came to thrive out of such a tough time. But now... he is home all day, every day. And I am also home all day, every day. Our small children are there as well. We live in rural Iowa. It is winter. I often parallel my life to the Shining, or to riding on an airplane on an overseas flight where you are confined to a small space and are afraid the blood in your legs will clot from lack of movement. And our house is "open concept living" which means you can't really escape each other because there are no walls. We suffer.


2. The weather. Duh.

3. A major budgeting mistake. So we decided to try spending cash instead of a credit card on groceries, clothes for the kids, and eating out. We sat down together, had a very precious excel spreadsheet, punched all the numbers and figured out what we would need for the month. We were out of money by February 13th. Because I married a rule follower, he insists  we I learn from our my errors and go the rest of the month without buying groceries. We are living off a large bag of sweet potatoes and red meat. We buy "half a cow" every year and yes, I know this is confusing to some. If you are a suburban girl like me, when your husband tells you that you are going to pick up half a cow, you might think the cow has literally been cut in half. When you arrive at the gas station at 11pm to pick it up from his old roommate, you will start to hope that there is a tarp covering the poor halved cow. You will wonder if you will see its sweet brown and black spots. Do not worry! You are instead picking up coolers filled with steaks, ground beef, roasts, that have been packaged for you. It is all very clean and proper and un-vegetarian of us.

Reasons I am loving this month:

1. It is short, which makes for less days on the spending fast.

2. Next month Spring starts. And I am a firm believer in seasons starting on their official calendar date. So on March 21st, we shall see tulips, and blue skies, and 50 degree days. Also, spring clothes are out at Target so surely they are are in tune with what the weather is doing because we need some warm days to wear cute crochet shorts like these:

3. WE ARE GOING ON VACATION! Real deal. Not that anybody has noticed, but this winter has been a doozy. And I married a man who loves living in Iowa, bless his heart, so I spend 365 days a year begging him to take me to the ocean. We are going to Puerto Rico (due to some type of specialized fishing- so much animal slaughter- sorry to my vegan readers for this post!) We fly out of Chicago and are leaving the little people with our parents. This time with Hubby  is precious because we need to stop "discussing" who is doing the dishes and instead get some quality time together before he starts to travel again. Ohhhh the emotions. I will miss this:

But not this- a small snapshot of what our table typically looks like at lunch (I am lying, it is always much worse):

In some ways, I wish February would spill over into March so that I can have more time at the beach but I will miss my babies. And once we get back from our trip, I get to go grocery shopping-- Alleluia, all will be well in the world.

End of THE FIRST month

At the end month 1, at the risk of sounding pretty shallow, a few things can be noted:

1. I frequently see things I want to buy.

It was hard for me to walk past this magazine cover at the Walmart:

I am a big fan of the Bachelor. Hubby convinced me to watch Ben's season right after we had Little Lou and I got hooked. I look forward to it for months! Listen people, I am not convinced that anyone is finding true love here;  but I love seeing what everyone wears, the places they travel, and of course observing all the hilarity that unfolds. Some wives I know don't like their hubbys to watch it on account of the scantily clad ladies but I like Mike to tune in alongside me so he sees how MUCH drama a woman can bring to the table--  makes me look totally normal!

Since we don't have cable (we just use Netflix and watch our fav network shows online), I now wait a week to watch it on ABC.COM instead of buying it the next day on i-tunes. Oh the horror! Yes, a true test in patience.

My favorite comfy clothes are Life is Good and they ran a special on Zulily last week- there were some great deals. And how fun is this beach towel?!

For Christmas, Sister gave me a $30 gift-card to Ulta, in order to use this coupon I needed to spend $40--- cheating! Hate to pass up a good deal.

Gap had their MLK sale- loved these great Winter-Spring transition pieces all 40% off! (I know there is NO sign of 'transition' in this Iowa winter that is mimicking the arctic tundra--- but a gal can hope)

2. I still do not feel grateful for all the things I do have.

I spend moments of my day feeling content with my life. It's more than contentment at times, it's even awe. But the flashes of discontentment that surge through my day are what I'm seeking freedom from. So thus this journey is more about contentment than it is about 'not spending.'

To clarify, those flashes come when I put on my make-up, I wish I had more of it or different kinds. When I get dressed, I am thinking about how a warmer sweater would just make this day so much better. When I leave the house sans kiddos, I am thinking I deserve a latte for all the poopy diapers I have changed that morning (my littles are both in diapers and have had a stomach bug for a few weeks- so I change 4-6 dirties BEFORE NOON, Lord have mercy!)

3. Something needs to change.

I do not want to be a materialistic person. Yes, I love and think about my children, the hubs, my faith, world issues, how to love my friends, cooking, health, etc throughout the day. It is not like ALL I think about all day is stuff but I am definitely 100% bought into our American consume, consume, CONSUME mindset.

And I'm starting to be NOT okay with it but to be honest, I'm not quite sure what changing that looks like. I thought that by abstaining from spending I'd start to feel free but it seems like there's more to it than that. Anyone who has tips or things to share, please join the conversation!

Thanks for stopping in! I'll continue to let you know how things go...