I went shopping yesterday - or rather, met a friend for coffee and walked through some thrift stores on my way back. Although I did spend money (3.00 for coffee and tip, 3.50 on thrift store items to turn around at a garage sale in the future), most of the trip ended up being a foraging trip. From two different boxes of free books, I got: a book written in 1957 on hypnosis for hysterical neuroses (and it is hysterical -- I'm going to turn it into an art book); a book of photographs of food art -- onion heads turned into faces with black-eyed pea eyes and the like; a John Grisham novel; and an old book on Katherine by Anne Sexton Chase, published sometime in the 1950s, a little water damage but otherwise in good shape, no mustiness.
I also found a desk lamp, the kind without a base and that screws into a desk, dumped in the parking strip on the street uphill from my house. I got it because it had four good-looking springs that I was sure I could do something with later, and I could take it apart for screws and interesting metal pieces. But I put a bulb into it to make sure it didn't work -- and it did! It worked fine! Since I've been needing a source of brighter light in my room, I gerried it into place between my bed and the wall for now, and now I can read in bed. Yay! One for the team! And my favorite coffee person gave me an unworking Disney Mickey Mouse watch. I'm going to experiment with trying to get it running again. Otherwise, fodder for mixed media and collage art. The thrift items I found were 50% off an already low price ($1 - $2). I picked up a votive holder and a few saucers to use in my room for now, and as garage sale filler for later. I'm already planning a garage sale this coming spring -- maybe April. I started a file for my expenditures, and another just to list impulse buys. And...that brings you up to date! My goal this month is to stay within $10/week of discretionary spending after planned purchases like a one-month subscription to the meditation app I've been using for the last 45 days.
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There is nothing wrong with the word "budget" in its purest form. Merriam-Webster defines it as "a plan of coordination of resources and expenditures" and as a "statement of the financial position" of an entity. I have no problem with that, right? It's a good thing to be able to take stock of what you have and what you need and design a way to make sure the lights don't go off. Culturally, however, the word "budget" has negative connotations. It is something one "goes on" (or worse, is "put on") when one is in dire straights. In our fundamentally Puritanical culture, if one "has to go on a budget", it's generally after someone has done something irresponsible or stupid with money. One "lives within" a budget like an invisible cage. Budgets crunch and squeeze. Movie producers are said to "run over budget" when they've spent too much, meaning that the movie is now in debt to what it might be able to generate in revenue. One has "champagne tastes" but a "beer budget," meaning that what one truly wants is probably beyond the ability of that person to get it. One lives on a "shoestring budget" when one is "as poor as a church mouse". Over generations, the "budget" has taken on layers of meaning that use disempowering language about the person who has one. Enter the Spending Plan. A spending plan puts the power back in your hands. Where a personal budget is often experienced as a reaction to a resource crisis, a spending plan is proactive. Where a budget is seen as restrictive, a spending plan is seen as flexible. Where a budget starts with needs, a spending plan starts with values. In a budget, needs come first. In a spending plan, you decide your priorities. You start with your resources, not with your bills. A budget reflects a scarcity mentality, while a spending plan starts with abundance. To many, the difference between a budget and a spending plan is as different as saying "I can't" instead of "I choose not to." This was my understanding when I sat down to create my spending plan. I've been thinking a lot about it. I want to live simply, but I also want to make sure that I can have what I want and need, and that I don't forget all the fun stuff in the midst of making sure my needs are met. What is most fun to me? What have I missed the most while spending nothing? Mostly just those mornings I can leave the house, head out into the city, and find a good cup of coffee somewhere. I wanted to make sure that any spending plan I had allowed for enough to do that, so I created a "discretionary fund" category. I don't need to spend money just for fun, but I might like to go into a thrift shop or a used book store now and then. Or I might want to give $5 to Mary's Place or a food bank. So the first thing I did was to say "I want to have $10/week to spend" and make sure that particular priority came first. A second priority was to start saving. I'm 51, and while I'm actually already retired, I'm one disaster away from living in the streets. So saving became the second thing on my spending plan. There are three things I want to save for: an Emergency Fund, a Retirement Fund, and a Purple Mattress. I've worked out a savings plan that will have me buying one by December of 2018. Sooner if I find enough money on the sidewalk to add to the fund. By December, I'll know if my housemate Sam's bed is still as comfortable as it is now (Heaven!). If not, I'll have a good chunk of money saved to find something better. In my spending plan, I'm also starting to allocate money to retirement. That won't start until after the new year, but it is a long-term goal, and as I pay down other debts, the money becomes available for a retirement fund. As above, about 22% of my income will go to savings eventually. The next thing I want to spend money on is "self-care". That's a category that covers everything from rent to the occasional counseling session. That's where I put the things that make my life easier: a bus pass, food. The occasional massage or hair cut. And then, my decision: to pay off the bills that I owe money on. It feels good to me to be able to pay down what I owe. The spending plan I came up with today. I planned not just for one month, but for several months in the future, and I could see how things would crystallize down the line. By December of 2019, I could have an Emergency Fund of 3 months worth of expenses, and a retirement account that I put $250 into every month. This spending plan is the culmination of what I'm learning in this Buy Nothing Month. This month has given me freedom and clarity, and I plan to do a Buy Nothing Month every third month to get a better grounding in this lifestyle and in being less dependent on capitalism. Do your spending priorities match your values?
Buy Nothing Month, Day 23. I'm getting there! It's been over three weeks now without buying anything. I wonder how long I could keep up a streak of not buying anything? Just to the end of the month? Another week or month beyond that? Maybe a whole year, as Lee Simpson did? For an unlimited period of time? I wonder what it would take for me to really take on Buy Nothing as a lifestyle, a decades-long habit, rather than a time-limited challenge?
And how could I do that living in the city? While looking presentable, or nay, even elegant? I wonder. Because a month of buying nothing -- that's an adventure. A year may be an education. But a lifetime of not buying things, other than basics, groceries, transportation...what would that look like? Would I become a run-down looking spinster with permanent worry lines and rags for clothing? Or, in a country like the United States, would stuff just keep flowing into and out of my life? I'd like to find out. But I'd also like to buy this book. Or hey -- it occurs to me that if Seattle Public Library doesn't have it, I can request it from Inter Library Loan. If I did adopt this as a lifestyle, what other kinds of resources would I need? Obviously, household sundries, the occasional cleaning supply -- I'd include those as groceries. What is it that I miss spending money on the most? Easy. Coffee, out in the world. I'm fine with not buying coffee this month. I could keep that up for awhile. But to make buying nothing a real lifestyle, I'd have to find an alternative (a) low-key go-to social activity, (b) restful place to hang out, and (c) motivation to leave the house. Low-key social activity ideas: I could meet up with people at a park at least 6 months out of the year. I could meet people downtown or on the campus of South Seattle College. I could walk with people. I could have them over for a cup of tea and conversation. There is book club. Being with a social partner means I'm often going places and meeting up with him. I also live with a rotating cast of characters who might be willing to walk out with me. A restful place to hang out (other than my home): Libraries, community centers. I could just sit in the lobby at Delridge Community Center (for that matter, I could meet someone there). I could sit in office buildings downtown. I could keep my eyes open for small, restful nooks and crannies that defy categorization. There's a rooftop garden on the 7th floor of the 4th & Madison Building for example. I could sit at the DMV without taking a number I suppose. The one near my house is pretty nice actually. Great place to people-watch. Not leaving the house has been the easiest way to not spend money this month. I love being at home, and it's been restful on my spirit as well as my budget, and I've made real headway on cooking, gardening & crafts. But it's also stagnating, and has brought about a familiar reluctance to leave the house that, if left untended, has led to phobia in the past. So, other than shopping and coffee, what would motivate me to leave the house? Getting to hang out with friends is my biggest motivation. Scouting an excellent conversation is a real treat. And there are many people all over the region whom I miss. What if I were to meet up with every local facebook friend, for example? There is walking. Once I get started walking, I love it. I could make it part of my morning routine every day, or every other day. The Chinese Garden is a block from my house. I could go there every day and not get tired of it. I could design adventures/explorations with unique themes. Spend a month riding buses just to eavesdrop and report lines of interesting conversations, for example. Go to all the DMVs and write stories about the people I see there. Take a photo every day. Visit all public libraries in alphabetical order. Visit all health club facilities in the region to get a free tour and workout. Or maybe just hang out at Seattle Center a couple of times a week and picnic by the fountain or in the Center House. These all strike me as appealing ideas. What would be the hardest thing to give up if you were to do a buy nothing month? The other day I had to take a bus to DSHS to bring in some paperwork. When I went to pay, the dreaded "insufficient funds" came up on the bus pass reader. I asked for a ride and explained that I had reloaded my pass and I wasn't sure why it wasn't coming up as reloaded. I asked for a ride. The bus driver looked at me a long time, then said "You can do what you want," I started toward the seat. Then he added, "But it's against policy." I stood in the aisle uncertain what to do. I felt ashamed. Then I just sat down.
I made that decision because it had been hard for me to leave the house in the first place. I thought if I went back, I'd probably just spend the rest of the day in my room. So I went on to DSHS. I was a little tearful, but once at DSHS I was able to be calm. I watched some toddlers run around together. I did some deep breathing. The caseworker I worked with had a bunch of DC superheros pinned up on his wall -- we talked DC vs. Marvel. I told him what had happened on the bus, and -- here's the minor miracle -- he told me that it was the first day that they were able to offer limited bus passes to people. He arranged for me to get a bus pass for $10. It's a one-time deal for people receiving food stamps. I was grateful it worked out that way, because it meant I could bus home. At the bus stop I got tearful again, which was not a bad thing, because I scared all the heroin clients and their dealer out of that bus shelter and over to the other one. I felt shame, and anger about feeling shame. I felt tired of being poor. For a few minutes I felt like a victim, rather than someone who had choices. I wanted SO MUCH to walk into Bartell's and get a candy bar. And here's the Big Realization: I've never gone into DSHS without wanting to buy something on the way home. It's the act of purchasing something that makes me feel powerful. I affirm that yes, I'm a good capitalist -- I'm putting something into the economy. I assert that I'm a person, not a disability, not a case. Thinking about that made me stop crying and remember that I am making choices, and I do that every day. And I don't have to buy something to feel powerful. --- I'm going to make a spending plan for September and stick to it. The only thing I know for sure that I wan't to buy is a one-month subscription to Headspace. It's a meditation app. I've done the free meditations consistently for 32 days now, and I'd like to sample the other meditations. But here's the thing: I think that before I buy anything, I'm going to give myself two weeks' notice that I'm going to buy it. |
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ArchivesAuthorVirginia Lore enjoys living life as an experiment and frequently steps out of her comfort zone -- when she's not hiding out in her room with the covers over her head that is. You may email her: [email protected] |