Frugal Friday is here. And that means I start thinking about frugality. Writing this post every so often means that I keep the idea of simple living front and center in my mind. Because in the busyness and the craziness of our lives it’s easy to go with the flow rather than stop and think of our values, and how best to implement them in our day to day lives.
As I mentioned last week, I was in a busy season of life for the past 2-3 weeks. And not only busy, it was also expensive…a lot of spending was on the horizon. And I was ok with that. Sometimes we need to spend, because we are alive, and because life is never one steady stream.
But now that expensive and busy season is behind me. Yes, life is still busy as everyday life tends to be. But I have time to breathe, and choose my focus. Which, at this point is my art practice for the upcoming Art Tour at the end of this month.
And that means, I am able to remind myself of my values. Of simple living. Of frugality. Of generosity and kindness. Of focus and intent. I am not great at any of these virtues. But I am striving, and hopefully growing in these areas. And only by keeping these values in my mind can I hope to get better at them with practice, with catching myself veering off the track when I do.
So with frugality back in my life, and hopefully for the long haul, I am happy to contain spendings in my personal realm. It’s a good thing that I have no need for new clothes, shoes, bags, jewelry (like it’s ever a need!!), products…anything really. I have decided to give myself a gift for Mother’s Day, and the next thing I buy will be a gift for my birthday at the end of summer. Besides these two spendings, I will only buy necessary things. And at the end of summer, when I start planning my fall, I will make new plans. Till then, I am ok without.
I will be mindful about grocery spending because it is so very easy for that expense to get outrageous very soon these days, no? I think I will bring back the tracking of the grocery expenses as I did for a few months last year. And starting at the beginning of the month is a perfect time to do this. And when I say grocery, I include all food related expenses including eating out. That is one big expense for us (we are a foodie family!)
Besides art supplies and related expenses, I don’t think there is much else I need to think about spending on, personally.
What I do want to focus on instead in the next couple of months is actually getting rid of stuff as part of my yearly spring cleaning endevour. It’s a great time for me to purge my home of needless things. I do one area a weekend, and that way, I don’t overwhelm myself. Starting with the washrooms this weekend, I will slowly make my way through the house, and feel the joy of space! And live with only the required items…how amazing would that be!
That’s my frugal spiel for this week.