I am Catholic and yesterday being Ash Wednesday kicked off the Lenten Celebration that will continue for 40 days until Easter. During that time we try to focus on sacrifices and without getting too religious and sparking debate, we give up something during that time. Well, I can't decide what to give up and Ash Wednesday has passed.
My children said they would give up candy....I doubt that will actually happen given they have a birthday party this weekend and several others during the 40 days. I read yesterday where Amy at MomAdvice.com issued a no-spend challenge for her and her family during the month of February and others have joined. This means - outside of food, gas, and utilities - no spending. No new clothes, no eating out, no impulse purchases at the grocery store, no birthday gifts, no nothing.....she is using her own resources to fill these "voids" - handmade gifts, homemade "take out" food, etc. I jumped on the bandwagon for this thinking that I could totally give up extra spending for Lent.....then I jumped off.
Is it fear? If so, what am I afraid of? I don't spend extra really, well, not all the time, but I am already very frugal - could I just make "Watching my spending even closer" my sacrifice versus "No extra spending" - it seems so final, so rigid, so not possible! How about I could give up spending any money on extra stuff Monday thru Thursday?
I don't know what I'm giving up yet, I'm hoping at some point during the 40 days I will figure it out.....I know I have the option of doing more of something - and there again I struggle because don't I do enough already?
As a side note....I didn't spend any money yesterday AND I went to the mall on my lunch hour and walked out of Victoria's Secret with a new pair of underwear and a small thing of lotion.....I had coupons for both and I practically skipped to the car because I was so excited! The sales lady did her very best to sell me a bra to go with the underwear, but even with my $10 off coupon, the bra was $19.50 and I couldn't justify it....I'm happy with my Wal-Mart Hanes Her Way Bras at $9! ha!
3 comments:
There was a book that got a lot of hype last year about a woman who gave up buying non-essential things for a YEAR. I haven't read the book and don't know what her family situation is (I doubt she has small children at home), but it seemed interesting:
http://www.amazon.com/Not-Buying-Year-Without-Shopping/dp/0743269365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235737166&sr=1-1
One time our daughter said she would give up pussing buttons. (She was quite young) When you think of it, giving up pusing buttons would be quite a sacrifice.
I meant "pushing" buttons. I don't know what's wrong with me.
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