One Mom's Frugal Mission: Thirty Days Of Nothing
by These are expensive times, and families are having to get creative in maximizing their resources. One blogger, Mary of Owlhaven, is a mom of ten kids committed to teaching her kids common-sense frugality by example.
She's hosting a carnival at her blog called 30 Days of Nothing, an idea originally launched a couple of years ago at another blog. The idea is, at once, simple and daunting: Mary and her family aim to cut out all unnecessary purchases, and focus only on the essentials, for 30 days.
But Mary's motivation isn't purely a financial one. Six of her children are adopted internationally, four of them from Africa, and she wants this to be an opportunity to teach her kids lessons about plenty and want. She reflects on this as she sits in front of a steaming cup of coffee in a coffee shop:
Meanwhile, the coffee farmer who grew my posh coffee can barely feed his family. My closet could clothe half a village, and the clothes I just discarded from my little girls’ room could clothe the other half. My 1998 Ford Econoline would make most people in this world feel as rich as a sultan (though, granted, the gas would bankrupt them). And kitchen floors in homes all over the world are just dirt.
How much am I really entitled to? And if I didn’t have such a large sense of entitlement, what could just a bit of my excess accomplish for someone else? Tough questions. Questions we’ll be thinking about this month.
And so Mary and her family embark on this challenge, one of the specfic aims being to spend only a remarkable $200 (for a family of 12!) at the grocery store this month:
Yeah. $200 for the whole month. Fifty measly bucks a week. I usually spend that much before I walk 50 feet in WalMart, let alone all the way to the back of the store to grab eggs. I may be insane.
The participants in Mary's carnival write at their own blogs about the specific challenges and victories they're facing in this experiment. Michelle of My Own Little World is learning that it's the small things:
The thermostat has been turned up 3 degrees and I'm ready to hang some laundry out to dry as soon as I get it washed.
Fawndear has mixed emotions about the challenge:
Believe it or not I'm dang excited but scared silly all at the same time. The only thing is I'm a wee bit afraid of the whining I’m going to have to deal with when we tell the kids sorry but no McDonalds or snacks or DVD rentals or something they feel entitled to, but isn't really a need.
Streams From the Desert marvels at how this experiment is changing her habits:
We moved two weeks ago and my plan was to purchase some sort of shelf and roll out keyboard for my armoire turned office. Instead of going out and purchasing these items new I am searching for them used, as well as other alternatives (like, if I found scrap wood I would make one!) This is one example, so far, of me responding to the challenge. I also was a lot more conscious at the grocery today: “Do I really need this? Can I do without this?” I even took my calculator and added up prices as we went, so I was sure to stay in the budget!
A complete list of participants, all of whom are chronicling their journey at their blogs, can be found on this post of Owlhaven's.
Plenty of other families are blogging specific ideas for enhancing frugality as well. Here are several good ones:
What are your favorite frugal-living blogs?
Shannon Lowe is a BlogHer contributing editor (Mommy/Family). She also blogs at Rocks In My Dryer and The Parenting Post.
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Comments
Owlhaven's project
I watched with fascination when Mary at Owlhaven did this the first time. Amazing. I've been busy and I didn't realize she was doing it again. I'm on my way over to see how it is going this year.
~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager
Flamingo House Happenings
Great timing...
I loved this post, partly because this was our first week in our marriage without a paycheck: DH and I are both home now, and suddenly our savings doesn't look so big anymore!
Thanks to the links for some very inspiring blogs, too.
I'm now joining that frugal group from the sidelines, but my cost-cutting will be lasting much longer than a month I'm afraid. Still, it's worth it. I'm glad we can all be home together, and buying beans insteads of Ben and Jerry's will just have to be the price!
Good luck to everyone giving it a go---
Susan
stonyriverfarm.blogspot.com
www.carersgroup.com
Amazing
I have to tell you, this would be a ton of work and commitment. I applaud Owlhaven and those participating. I wish them the best. They inspire me to do a lot better with our family, and I am anxious to learn more. I will say that I won't be as extreme, probably from sheer lack of energy, but hope to find a happy medium for starters. I believe most of us could do so much better, and we need to help each other out so much more.
Wow
I am heading over to check it out!
This is really something that I should consider wrapping my mind around-as I tend to be a bit of a shop-a-holic when I get stressed.
Molly
www.thegirlinthemiddle.com/blog
Thanks for pointing this out
Thanks for pointing this out :) We are expecting a baby in February and I'll be doing the stay-at-home mom thing for the foreseeable future, so I know our finances are going to get more strained than my husband seems to think they will be. Anything I can do now, and then, to keep more money in our bank account and less spent in the pockets of the credit card company is welcome!
Awesome
I think it is so amazing that frugality is becoming vogue.
My Husband and I have been trying to live with out purchasing unnecessary
material goods. Though I must admit, we tend to "splurge" more on
food. I've also found that the more home made we are, the less money we spend,
and the healthier we eat. Plus, the challenge of meeting a tight budget turns
into a fun (and free) game that entertains us daily!
www.katelynsfood.blogspot.com
I love the idea of
I love the idea of frugality. I think it is one of the most freeing and calming lifestyles to choose.
And it is something that a person can embrace as much or as little as they want, and they can get off track and always come back.
I agree, L16
Living frugally is a way of life for me and I think it's made everything taste better. Sometimes when we have so much in front of us, we don't even taste the food anymore; I think living with less has definitely made me appreciate everything we have. Owlhaven's absolutely right. In fact, even a cup of coffee is a luxury really. With websites such as http://www.kiva.org, we can loan those few dollars to help others start or expand their small businesses, and even get those few bucks back (hopefully to re-loan again!).
http://watermelonmama.wordpress.com/
When I first started to
When I first started to notice this movement a couple of years ago,I was very amused. I've lived in poverty and it became a very normal way to do things but unlike people who are willingly living an Essentials Only Life (for only a month? Try years at a time!) ,I often didn't have the money to buy even the essentials. We still fall into the category of impoverished according to US statistics but it's not noticable to me . From my experiences of HAVING to live frugally, I know the ins and outs of living this as a way of life, not an experiment. It's months at a time between trips to the store and it's usually for something like glue or a box of bandaids. It's also funny to me how different it feels between choosing this lifestyle and being forced into it. It's seen as "freeing and calming" when you choose it...but good lord, when you're living it because you have no choice,you feel desperate,oppressed,angry,hopeless and just plain defeated.
favorite blogs
Thanks for the mention!
I do agree with Jupitersinclair. . ."frugality" is much more fun when it's a choice rather than a requirement. However, I like how Owlhaven is framing it as a way to teach her children about our place in the world economy.
As for favorite frugal blogs, I really like almostfrugal.com and simplemom.com!
Wow!
$200 for a family of 12 at the grocery store! I will have to keep following this to try and learn something!
By necessity over the last couple of years, we have cut out a lot of things we used to buy, and haven't missed them. I have found myself asking much more frequently, "Do you need this?" before buying something, a habit I used to know nothing about. Thanks for sharing and I will be checking out all of these blogs.
My family has launched its own get-real-about-money plan that I'm blogging about now here:
http://cashonthebarrelhead.net
Check her out!
Mary does have some great tips for saving $. Don't let the $200 fool you *wink* she has been preparing for this for a while and they have a garden that is absolutely BURSTING with great food-they won't be going hungry any time soon.I'm trying to learn at the foot of the master, so to speak.
I'm trying to follow suit with preparing meals from what we already have on hand and not letting leftovers go to waste. It is a great exercise!
Frugal blog I like:
I'm very new to blogging, but one frugal blog I like so far is:
http://beingfrugal.net/
http://cashonthebarrelhead.net
Other frugal blogs
The Lean, Green Family is a favorite. http://suddenlyfrugal.blogspot.com/
Daisy
Not buying stuff is another way to use your
purse for eco-good.
Diane MacEachern www.biggreenpurse.com Diane@biggreenpurse.com
I'm a big advocate of women shifting their spending to products and services that offer the greatest environmental benefit. It's a great way to encourage manufacturers to reduce pollution and save energy. But NOT spending money can be equally powerful, as it demonstrates that women -- not companies -- are in control of their own purse strings. Honestly, I think that companies that get ahead of this curve and actually encourage women to buy less would end up being the winners in the long run!
Perfect Timing
We just had our second child and my husband is a full-time student applying to medical school. This is just the guidance we need to make it through the next several years of a very tight budget!
Thanks for posting.
Amber
CraftingInspiration.blogspot.com