Stuff

Whenever I am idle - not working, out with friends, or doing work around the house - I have noticed that I have this strong compulsion to go buy stuff.  Sometimes there are specific items that I have in mind to buy, but more often it seems like I just want to go to a particular store and wander around until the thing that I subconsciously went there to buy just jumps out at me.

A year ago, this type of behavior was more common and was actually feasible because Lesley and I were DINKS (Double Income No KidS).  Now we are SIOKIDS (Single Income One Kid In DiaperS... yes... I just made that up).  Thus, it is not only irresponsible to continue with this type of behavior, it's also potentially dangerous.  We use several different budgeting tools - Mint.com, Pageonce.com, and of course - like any good engineer - there are several spreadsheets.  We've laid out a very specific budget that gets down to the details of things like: how much we spend on coffee, and how much we spend on movies.  However, all it seems that these tools REALLY do for us is promptly notify us that we've way overblown our budget in almost every category.

About two weeks ago, while standing in the kitchen, I said to Lesley, "Hey, we should try going a whole month without buying anything that isn't a necessity."  She quickly responded, "Yeah, that is a good idea." I immediately realized that what I was saying had WAY more of an impact on myself than it did on her.  In general, Lesley is not a superfluous spender.  She has something that I was not born with: Patience.

Yesterday, Lesley's dad mentioned that he has decided that he is not going to buy anything for the entire month of May.  I took this as a confirming sign that I should give it a go and partner with him.  Even now, as I type this, I'm nervous about the endeavor.  Lesley's dad is already incredibly frugal and I have, in the past, considered him a role model of how to live contentedly on less.  His lifestyle does not include the very expensive maintenance that mine does.  Running, cycling (road, mountain, and commute), flyfishing, backpacking, etc. all have the same expense in common: GEAR.  I could, right now, blow thousands of dollars at REI and Bass Pro.  This is not a new problem either, here's a photo from 2006 that should help you understand - yes... I'm carrying my Kayak while riding my mountain unicycle after my college graduation.  Our garage and basement are packed full of items like these...

Lesley's dad is going to be blogging daily about his experience, and I'm hoping to get in a few posts as I go through the experience as well (perhaps Lesley will give us some insight from her perspective).  You can follow Linden on his blog if you like, and if you're interested in joining us I'd encourage you to consider blogging about your experience as well.  Knowing there are other people suffering... er... trying to do the same thing would be very encouraging.