Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Sunday confessional - Week 2

Sunday confessionalOkay people, I have not spent. It has been 7 days since my last confessional.

I actually didn't buy anything this week except for essential food items. Well, that and a few cappuccinos during the week with my husband on his last day of work and while at the cancer center. But other than those, that's it!

Because of the scheduling of all my husband's appointments gearing up to his stem cell transplant, I didn't end up going to the Seattle Green Festival. Since it was 76 and sunny yesterday (the first time since last September) I chose to spend the day with my family at the park and playing with my kids. Oh, well. At least I wasn't tempted to buy anything.

How are you doing? What did you end up buying?

93 comments:

Gypsy said...

Forgive me Crunchy - I have sinned this week! Some things that can kind of be justified - but I ordered two pairs of gorgeous trousers to be made by a WAHM and I ordered a happy birthday banner from etsy for a November birthday! I am SO off the wagon! Will be crossing my fingers for the cancer treatment coming up - it kind of makes this all seem a bit trivial I guess.
http://domesticallyblissed.wordpress.com

Robj98168 said...

Okay Okay- Yeah I sinned last week- I bought a Paint Stick and The
CrunchyChicky Lady has already threatened to beat me with it. I don't care- my back is killing me from doing the ceiling the old
way.Micahelangelo I aint! I needed something to ease th pain of the job! Hey-could be worse I was looking at expensive paint sprayers
too! And this works great! I also bought $27 of lumber to finish the closet door in the office. Other than that I am sin free! Afraid I am out of the green festival as well- had to work this weekend- just gets to long of a day to go to the festival and go straight to work. I need my beauty sleep.

ehmeelu said...

I somehow forgot all about the challenge for a moment and bought a stainless steel travel mug (because I refuse to buy coffee in disposable cups with plastic lids!). Oops. Other than that, I've only bought food, and not much of that as I'm working on clearing out the freezer.

CatMominPhilly said...

This week, I didn't buy ANYTHING at an educational expo fair.....that was an accomplishment. I also convinced the sig.other to forgo a shopping trip on Saturday so we wouldn't be tempted.

Sin with a PURPOSE: We bought a giant purifying water filter/container for our fridge. BUT...it had a purpose. We are addicted to sparkling spring water and buy WAY too much. (Glass bottles accumulate, and add to waste, etc.) The filter was a compromise AND it is WORKING!! Less waste this week.

My big confession/sin: I bought several unnecessary snacks while commuting between work sights this week. ARGH......Sin sin sin. Shame. :-)

Anonymous said...

I didn't buy anything for the bridal shower! I ended up being able to convince my aunt that we could use her dishes and not disposables, yay!

I did buy two things. Swim goggles for my son on the advice of his swim instructor, and a plastic watering can to help him start to learn about caring for plants. He's four, and his purple watering can is an absolute joy for him, so I don't regret that purchase at all. Otherwise, just groceries, gasoline, and a romantic dinner out with the hubby.

Anonymous said...

New: 99Cent stamp made in China for my 2yo son who is on a stamping craze. 2 yards of netting to make produce bags to use at the grocery store instead of plastic. A white T-shirt for hubby, going to iron something on it as a gift.
Used: Corningware dishes so we can stop microwaving in plastic! Shudder...
I think that's it! Amazingly, my husband has commented that he noticed a distinct difference in what I/we buy. He even reminded me about the challenge once. I didn't think he was listening when I talked about it! Well, we appreciate this - we talked about doing it and this has really motivated us. We also took a huge bin-full of stuff we're not using to the thrift store. Thanks Crunchy Chicken for setting this up!

camp mom said...

We are so totally boring here! We managed to stay away fom buying all week. Well almost. We had a big storm roll in and we wnet and bought some beeswax candles. BUT they are natural and locally made. We didn't want to be totally in the dark if the power went out. Hubby wanted to buy this mega lantern but I convinced him that the candles were a better deal for our wallet. Fortunately we only lost power for a few hours-really we should consider those solar panels....

JessTrev said...

I didn't buy a whole lot (2 passport pics, tank of gas, fancy dinner) BUT I have my kid's 5th bday party coming up in 2 weeks. Any ideas on how to spend no $/make stuff for the party/favors would be very welcome. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Forgetting about the challenge, I bought 20# of sunflower seeds to pay our birds for entertaining us; I also got that propane refill for the mosquito defender. Not bad I think.
I did benefit from the two DVD boxed sets that my partner bought, but he's been craving them for at least six months and I said I couldn't commit him to this.

Unknown said...

oh, this was a bad week! I bought a book (and read it), a pair of jeans (only had one pair prior), some yarn (which I totally didn't need, but did knit up into a birthday gift promptly), some shoes for the baby (but I got 'em used), some wood that we used to make a toolbox as a project with my 3yo, and a feather hair clip for my 3yo that we got at the pow wow we went to yesterday. YIKES!

Well, I'd better get back on the wagon this week!

Anonymous said...

Oh I forgot ... I also bought tax software.

equa yona(Big Bear) said...

Heavenly days, we bought a new house! I should have known this was going to be a hard month for us. We got new jobs working as houseparents with Native American kids in South Dakota. But we can,t rent because the only place that had an opening doesn't allow pets! So we had to drive all the way back last weekend, looked at houses in our price range(all two) and bought one. I really thought we would be able to rent for a few months. Who knew those South Dakotans would be such schmucks about pets? Oh, and I bought carbon offsets from Native Energy.

Hannah said...

All is well here. Our coffee maker has totally kicked the bucket but we've decided not to replace it for a while and see if we're ok without it. (We drink tea during the week and only make coffee on the weekends.) I don't think we would have made this choice without the challenge--and I think it may be the right one. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Aw, we could have done much better this week.

A friend gifted us with a NEW aquarium and a cute little fishie as a thank-you for some freelance work we did for them; I spent $22 at the pet shop getting another fish, food, and a filter. Also, I bought a chai at the coffee shop yesterday during a tutoring session.

Boyfriend spent $4 at lunch, and $14 to rent a movie and a video game. In his defense, he took instant coffee in a little baggie to class instead of ordering a $2 coffee -- they charged him .32 for hot water, but couldn't charge less then $3 to his credit card.

Burbanmom said...

Forgive me Crunchy. I have spent. It has been, well, never since my last confession. I bought a pair of shin guards and athletic socks for my son (he started soccer this week and these were required items). I went to Play it Again Sports, but they didn't have any used shin guards so I had to buy new. :-(

Might as well pre-confess the fact that I'll be going to the local nursery today to buy flowers for my window boxes, as the old dead ones in there from last year are starting to look a trashy.

Jen said...

The cap to my daughter's Sigg bottle broke this week and I broke down and ordered her a lid plus a second bottle for overnights, and a couple for my baby to use instead of sippy cups because it's less transportation for one package than for two separate ones.

Niffer said...

Well, I found the ATM card! Sigh. But I still didn't do too bad. Besides food I bought cupcake liners (recycled of course) and a few cookbooks from Goodwill for my boss' birthday. I still want to find her a couple of more books, but I will be looking at the Salvation Army and Half-priced Books for used.

DC said...

I haven't bought anything in the last week -- I am shoplifting everything now to meet my consumer needs without violating the challenge ;-)

I guess you didn't really miss the green festival, Crunchy -- you just went to a different one. Enjoying fresh air, sunshine and nature with your family is really the ultimate green experience.

Chile said...

I have no sins to confess. I bought a couple of used things but they will help us reduce our water use. I'll blog about them next month probably.

Joyce said...

We did well. Mike had to buy a can of spray paint ($1.99)to finish a frame for an art show next weekend. He also went to a goodbye party for some workmates, and that involved eating out, but it was only $16.00. Other than that we only bought groceries. Still haven't bought gas, and we didn't drive at all for three days; then the storms came through and we chose to drive rather than be drowned rats!

Anonymous said...

nothing non-essential for me.

Wendy said...

I didn't do well. We had a birthday party to attend (we bought some birthday presents at Target), my husband bought a flight control system to go with the flight simulator software for his computer (but in my defense, he bought it, not me, and it's something he'd been planning to get for a while and he said he never agreed to the challenge), and we wanted some supplies to help with our sugaring so we bought 100' of rip-stop cord and six metal tent stakes. My real "sin" is the two GameBoy game cartridges I "allowed" to be bought. My excuse is that the handhelds my daughters have are being phased out and we won't be able to find any games for them in the very near future. It's an excuse, I know, and a poor one. So, that's really my sin.

I think that's it, but ... well, it's certainly too much, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

I did great the first week with nothing to confess. This week is a different story.

I was painting the kitchen and ran out of pre-purchased paint. So off we went for another gallon. I suppose I could have lived with the two-colored kitchen.

Secondly I had to buy brakes and front wheel bearings for my truck. I consider those to be essentials though. We live WAY out in the country. WAY out.

Kim

Anonymous said...

No objects bought, but I still bought way too many snacks/meals out. For the rest of the month, no eating out for me except for Saturday breakfast if we take the bus to morning services (that results in us getting there rediculously early and having nothing to do until someone opens up the building, so we often get breakfast at this lovely little bakery across the street.). And it's getting warm enough that even that shouldn't happen too often any more.

I'm going to buy a train ticket today to visit my sister the first weekend in May, and possibly something as a graduation present for her (though I may also just make her a card and get her something more concrete once she has a firm place to live).

Linz said...

I bought a used bike for commuting to school because it was the cheapest one I had seen in a while. I didn't want to wait until April was up and it was gone. But I sold my old bicycle (couldn't use it for commuting because it always gave me back problems) for twice the amount of the "new" one, so really I just traded down with excess cash, is that wrong?

scifichick said...

I did so well the first week, but this week... I bought few things. First, I paid for a bellydancing class. I wanted to take one for a while, and now I found one ten minutes from the house. Maybe this is not so bad, since I'm supporting a local business ;-) Then it was the end of a quarter in school, and my son did a wee bit better than before, so he got $10 to spend. And, I had to buy yarn for my little business. Shameless plug: http://knit.by.olga.googlepages.com. I didn't buy anything else though. I will try better next week, but after that we are going on vacation. And I'm sure I'll buy something there.

Anonymous said...

I was very bad. :(

I had to go on a roadtrip to see a couple of grad schools for next year, so I blame it on that.

I bought a foam roller because I injured my hip flexor during mini marathon training.

I also bought a bunch of books at a salvage store because I hadn't been able to find them at the library. But they were mostly green related - "Simple Prosperity," "The Little Green Handbook," "Cradle to Cradle," "End of Oil," and a couple of books on container gardening.

Books are my downfall. :(

Anonymous said...

i did pretty well this week. i bought groceries and also a used couch off craigslist. i also got a copy of in defense of food with a credit note to a local bookstore from a return i did months ago. other than that, nothing. no juice bar either. but now i just feel sluggish without my juice... i've also been tempted several times to buy my mom a travel mug from grassroots, but i guess she'll have to make do for now.

lauren said...

No non-food/gas/bills expenses this week!

I guess my 13 hour workday that makes it so hard to garden/cook/line dry clothes is finally coming in handy. Instead of destressing by shopping this week, I cleaned, spend time with boyfriend, and went to farmer's market.

I need to cut down on eating out, though...Another challenge, another month. :)

Anna Banana said...

I made lunch for 14 workers at my church yesterday, so felt justified going out for pizza with my family instead of cooking dinner. It really felt like a reward for cooking dinner every other night this week. Love the challenge. Best wishes for Mr. Crunchy's treatment.

Kerry said...

Forgive me Crunchy for I have sinned. I went to a benefit for the Granny to Granny program yesterday night and I bought a cup of organic fair trade coffee. This morning I bought 10 cast iron hooks at a garage sale for our front closet. I know I am justifying my wanton purchasing, but 1.00 each for second hand cast iron hooks we've been looking for for 4 months, versus 8.00 new ones seemed an environmentally sound bargain we wouldn't see again.

Anonymous said...

its me CTDaoffodil - I cant log on as me (totally unknown why)

I've been very good this week - I actually had to make 3 trips to the grocery store (all necessary food items for sickness hit the house) - but combo'd them with trips to the drs office and the bank or postoffice - unfortunately all on separate days.
This week will be a challenge only because its spring break week and all my kiddies are home - which means there could be the need to just get them outa the house/yard for a bit - maybe I can take them to the thrift store - you can't imagine the deals they can find with $2 each! (plus it makes me sort the closets again to take in a bag or 3 of donations)

Theresa said...

I have three sins to confess, although the first one was pre-planned and might not count:

1)A colleague and I took our student out for dinner because she was accepted into her first choice of graduate schools.

2)Just went out for lunch for the heck of it, because I was too lazy to make my lunch the night before.

3)Change of plans yesterday meant I had to meet husband in town instead of him coming home, so we had dinner out before vising family in the evening.

I haven't bought any actual 'thing' though, but really, this week I've got to just buy nothing at all, period!

Theresa said...

Oh crap. I just remembered the microfiber blind-duster husband talked me into yesterday. Dang!

Anonymous said...

I'm doing really well with the non-food purchases - none again this week. But eating out/snacks, which are a personal hotspot for me...didn't do so well. I ate out three times for lunch and bought a morning soda and snack twice during the workweek. Argh. I woke up late a couple of times, which didn't help - prior planning is crucial to bringing lunches from home.

But I did round up some old books to donate to the library, so maybe the good karma from that will balance it out, with plenty leftover to send Mr. Crunchy's way. Your family will be in our thoughts.

Anonymous said...

I didn't confess last week, so I've got to do double duty! Last week I bought a pair of jeans. Did I need them? No, but they were a great bargain and fit me well, which is hard to find.

This week was spring break for my kids and I renewed my zoo membership and allowed them to buy a toy there that they have been saving up for.

I'm going to try hard this week!

Rebekah

Melissa said...

Not too bad...I bought a gel seat cover and lock for the bike I got used and free last week. I'm still in pain from trying to ride it without this, so I think it's ok since I'd be driving if I didn't have a comfy way to ride.

Best wishes with the treatment.

Tara W. said...

Hmmm, technically I didn't buy anything. But my husband bought a whole hell of a lot. And I'm pretty sure my handing him the debit card doesn't really count for staying spend-free.

I guess in my defense, the things we bought were to help us save gas (a bicycle for me and a motorcycle for his trips to/from work). So at least they were sorta "green" purchases.

Oh and they were both purchased used off of Craigslist! Yay!

Anonymous said...

As I confessed last Sunday spending money on my daughter's spring break has been my problem. This week Spring Break continued for my teen. My family ended up eating out once this week and renting some DVDs from Blockbuster which we don't normally do (usually we rent from the library). Fortunately tomorrow all will be back to the regular schedule and I won't feel compelled to spend on extras.
CLM

lae21 said...

I did good this week, buying nothing but food and paying bills. I still bought lunch on campus a couple days this week, but I only bought what I needed to eat instead of buying drinks and candy to go with my bean and rice bowl.

However, we are now looking at buying a house! Not sure yet how things will work out, and nothing will probably happen until May at least, but....

Segwyne said...

I didn't do as well as I had hoped. It is amazing how much stuff you suddenly "need" that never would have been terribly tempting before vowing not to get anything. Let's see, this week I got more ice cream, some candy and I let the kids take their saved up money to the candy store when I went there to pick up some free 5-gallon buckets so I can start gardening (they spent $1.50 each and bought a stick candy for their baby brother as well). We got paper plates for the birthday party today (probably the only time we ever get them, but I don't own enough regular plates to serve everyone at once, and I got enough so that we don't have to buy them for the other birthday party in 2 weeks).

Cool, I did better than I thought. Ice cream is my weakness. I'm hoping not to have to buy any more yarn to finish the birthday present I'm working on.

Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

forgive me, crunchy, for i have sinned. i was doing great until thursday and then i just. couldn't. get. motivated. to make dinner. so we got (gulp) taco bell and brought it home. oh the shame i tell you. :( other than that though, this week was great! i love the $ we're saving as a result of this. :)

Anonymous said...

Happily, I have nothing to report.

Melissa Anderson said...

We bought a gift for a 5-year-old birthday party and I bought lunch at Panera Bread this week. Other than that, just essentials!
Melissa

Anonymous said...

Other than my lovely new cork floor, I bought groceries and a couple of mochas. Keeping you in my thoughts with the upcoming transplant.

Anonymous said...

After 1 week of a nasty virus that I just cannot shake, I broke down last night and ordered pizza. I just kind of forgot about the buy nothing challenge until after I had ordered it. But, other than that, nothing for the past two weeks. Yay! Best of luck to your hubby :-)

Jennifer said...

Did well this week... bought NOTHING except gas for my car (previously approved exception). Looking forward to next weeks

Della said...

I have sinned...but not as much as I could have! I went to Pike Place Market...and bought a baby union suit and sun hat....I did need them, but COULD have gone to Value Village. I did go to Goodwill, and got a couple long sleeved things for him, but they didn't have any sun hats, which he needed.
I normally would have bought a lot more at the Market though. There was so much cool stuff, and I have never been there before. I did manage to go to the Pacific Science Center AND walk through the store there, and not buy anything, despite my daughter's big soulful brown eyes asking me for several cool items.

Anonymous said...

I thought about the Green Fest all week, but when I saw the ticket price and comtemplating how much gas I would burn up driving to Seattle, my thoughts changed.

Wasn't yesterday an absolute wonderful day!

Louise said...

I confess also... My daughter was in the city in the hospital so I bought meals in sinful places like Pizza Hut and Boston Pizza. I also bought a George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Grilling Machine.. saving about $50. Also had to purchase a surgical Binder for my daughter
Louise In Alberta, Canada

Miss Kris said...

My husband and I went out on our second date since our 8-month-old was born. We went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday and used a gift certificate given to us by my parents.

I was considering going to the Green Festival today since I received a free ticket in the mail from the city, but I just can't seem to muster up the motivation to go. The heavy promotion of 300 eco-friendly merchants on the website makes me feel like it's going to just be a festival where you can buy stuff.

Anonymous said...

i got ahead of myself earlier when i posted. i've been bad today! i just bought two books: cradle to cradle and six word memoirs. and i got gas for my car just now. sundays are the worst for spending money... i hate overdraft :(

Anonymous said...

I bought six pansy plants for my 2-and-a-half-year-old. We were planting veggies and flower seeds (previously purchased, I should note), and she couldn't understand how the little seeds were flowers. Rather than squelch her interest, I bought pansies. Compromise, compromise.

Going Crunchy said...

I did spend, post written and pic on blog. Two sexy, sexy water bottles that just captured my interest. It will serve a greater good.

One t-shirt, PB book and box of Nerds for a birthday present and an oil change because my husband still can't do things like that and I can't with two kids hanging on me.

Fun challenge!!!

Anonymous said...

Ginger cookie and sun glasses.

Anonymous said...

Plastic Easter eggs (eek!).

rosiegirl said...

This week has not been as good as last week (last week I actually bought nothing), but still pretty good. Other than groceries, I bought some kitty food and filling for their litter box (I consider these things to be necessities). I did have lunch out twice this week. Good luck with the treatments.

cindy24 said...

I bought mascara which I knew I would after recovering from the eye infection. I also not pleased with a surprise fundraiser at the school which was to send the kids home with Spring school photos (they already had ones done) and have the kids beg to keep them. They had all sorts of fun bookmarks, etc. that the kids would want. They wanted $45 per kid. Since 2 kids came home I let them each pick out 2 sheets and sent in $48 instead of $90. The photos were really nice and CA is having a huge budget crisis. I would have preferred the school handle it differently. Worried that next week my son will come home with his packet. I bought poster board from a school assignment. I also bought some stainless steel cups and bowls to replace the plastic ones.

Unknown said...

1 cafe mocha, but my sanity depended on it :)

Anonymous said...

I keep forgetting. But our budget pretty much enforces essentials.

I did let my youngest do some school holiday activities. There were some treat eat type things and one birthday gift.

Anonymous said...

for the second week in a row i bought a birthday gift. i also bought a wee bit of perfume; i was leading a yoga retreat and forgot my deodorant. still having a blast noticing what i want to buy and when.

Grad Green said...

This week I bought 2 things, but I feel ok with both purchases:
1. Sneakers for my daughter -- she has outgrown her old ones. I bought them used, but she loves them.
2. Elastics for my daughter's hair.

Last week I spent way too much eating out because I didn't have anything appealing to eat and home and/or nothing for leftovers, so I did a big shop today so that there won't be any more eating out this week -- home cooked food is back in!

Ellen said...

I joined late (Thursday) and my only purchases since then, besides the Farmer's Market food, ware small toys for the kids. I need to work on that. I was able to dash into Target without instinctively taking a cart and wandering the aisles! THANK YOU!!

Anonymous said...

Well, I didn't do so great this week. I bought a laundry basket. We didn't have one, and I've been trying to hang the clothes on the line to dry since the weather has been nice, and I couldn't handle walking back a forth a bunch of times to take the clothes out. I also bought several books. Bad me.

My other purchases (vegetable seeds and worms) are directly related to producing our own food, so I'm not counting them.

Ruthie said...

I bought a bar of shampoo, and I can't believe that's it!!! :-)

Ruthie said...

I also spent $25 on gas. Eek!

Anonymous said...

Didn't buy a thing this week (since the food from the CSA was already paid for!), but I did forget to post last week. We bought some beer that we'd been wanting to try that was on sale...on the first day of the challenge >.>

Laura Kaeding said...

Still in the clear. Got pretty close on Wednesday, but I managed to stay strong. Keep up the great work everyone, you are all making a difference.

Jenna said...

Forgive me crunchy, for I have sinned... well. Only a little bit at least.

Halfway through a knitting project and I ran out of yarn (the reason I don't count this as a biggie. The chart lied!). As its a small run dye batch, and the store only had three skeins left, they are safe at home with me.

Does the fact this shrug will help keep me warm enough all spring and chilly summer nights to not touch the heater earn me a touch of absolution?

I also bought a shirt for the hubby - only for ripping it apart for a pattern to make him 6 new spring shirts from fabric outta my stash.

I'll be better next week... promise.

M said...

Hmmm. Well, I've done very well on the not buying food thing - and I'm using up enough of the stuff in my freezer/cabinets that I may need to buy a few essentials next weekend/during the week this week.

On the other side of things, I've bought a couple of things - most notably a pair of running shoes as mine hit the point where my toes would go numb (there's a wear point that my shoes hit that causes this. New shoes take care of it). So new running shoes were required unless I wanted to injure myself. Otherwise I did ok last week - there was one day where I just couldn't face the leftovers for one more lunch, stuck them in the freezer and bought lunch, but then felt guilty and had them for dinner. :)

Green Bean said...

Forgive me, Crunchy, for I have sinned. After spending hours searcing for the right "mazes" for my little ones to complete and then printing them out on the backs of leftover flyers, I gave in and bought an entire book full of mazes. Then I did one better and bought one of those giant coloring books with pictures of baby animals in them because, well, yes, I'll admit this, when the boys are too crazy, they draw and I color pencil in those coloring books. Hey, it's creative! and printed on recycled paper.

Oh yeah, the last thing we bought was a used (does that count?) teddy bear for the big guy because I convinced him to trade 5 old ones for 1 new one - in the spirit of Chile's decluttering challenge after all.

Anonymous said...

I have sinned this past week, crunchy! but, i didnt do it on purpose! I bought a new car seat for the kiddo, which COULD have waited, and i bought a plane ticket to our new place of living, which really couldn't.

Laura said...

I made it through greenfestival without buying a darn thing. Phew!
I think I'm doing pretty well. Other than a few more dinners out than usual, I been sin free this week.

:)

Anonymous said...

Bought nothing new except food this week, so I have nothing to confess although I have some things to explain. Went to Goodwill yesterday and came home with 4 "new" tops. Used clothing is allowed, I think. And I haven't bought any clothes at all, new or used, in about a year.

Ate out a bunch, but as I've said, I'm not considering it a sin. It's food. And I haven't committed to not eating in restaurants. The main thing is that I didn't buy any coffee drinks... made all my coffee at home. Now if only I could start stomping my own wine grapes...

Sam said...

I sinned. And I knew I was sinning when I was sinning.

I bought brass candle stands. Used on ebay. My glass ones broke and the brass ones are so pretty!

Sam said...

I guess I didn't really sin, since my purchase was used. I retract my confession.

maryann said...

Probably counts as food/garden but I bought mushroom spawn to try to grow our own edible wild mushrooms so that I can avoid the plastic/styrofoam containers from the grocery store. Also ate out once to go for lunch. Not my spending but the hubby also purchased $85 worth of supplies from GardensAlive to try to get the grub/beetle thing under control, after dethatching the lawn yesterday there is very little grass left, the robins are loving it.

Frisky said...

i bought a pair of tights and two skirts for a photo shoot.

i probably could have gotten away with old tights, but at least the skirts were from goodwill!

Amy Paden said...

It was a bad week... I probably spent close to $100 that shouldn't have been spent- it could have waited a few more weeks- on some school supplies and flowers/soil. I justified it though because the school supplies will help keep the stress levels down, as I can organize the 4 projects I have this quarter... and the flowers brightened my mood last week when I was starting to feel down.I'm hoping to do better this week...

Britta said...

I bought a Milwaukee Brewers baseball hat that I've been coveting, a new purse because the old one had a hole in the bottom, dress socks and a Gortex jacket (from Goodwill, only $5!).

I spent a total of $32.56 on the purchases. I only feel guilt over the baseball hat.

Anonymous said...

I posted my confessional online... Finding I'm trying to find the wiggle room in all of this!

And I did stock up at Babies R Us this weekend. Balancing saving $ with the coupons with the eventual need to buy essentials such as more diapers and baby food.

But, I did hold off on buying National Championship gear from the Kansas Web site. That's a major thing for me. :)

Jamie said...

I think we're doing great on the challenge! Other than going out to lunch once and buying groceries, oh and a cup of joe at starbucks, Matt bought a $5 software CD for landscaping, BUT that was only after we sold all of our old college textbooks and some CD's to half-price books. (we made $37) I say not bad at all. We didn't even go out to dinner this weekend. wow - for us anyway. Hope we can keep it up!

Anonymous said...

I sinned AND I'm late for confession. I bought a latte, but it made me nauseous so I complained and have another free one coming. For most of the week, the only non-essential I bought was a singing card for my sister's birthday -- I consciously splurged because she could use cheering up right now, and she is a card-maker so it takes something special to impress her! And then on Saturday I forgot all about the challenge and bought some cookies to go (from a local bakery) and some yarn to take on a trip next weekend.

Anonymous said...

Since finding your challenge last week I haven't bought anything new for myself or my family. Now I DO shop each week for my mother-in-law, and I have bought things for her this week (today actually), but since it's not actually for ME, it doesn't count....right?

Our Lovely Life said...

I am proud to say that I have not bought anything besides groceries in the last two weeks!! I think that's a first for me in as long as I can remember!!!

Anonymous said...

I bought 4 recycled plastic trays for crafting with the kids- $1. Then my son picked out 2 flowers for the last 2 ornamental spots in my yard. Finally, I bought a water bottle. So, about $20 total.
Thanks Crunchy for the gentle push to do this!

Dawn said...

Wow, and how we spent. We went to a wedding out of state this weekend, and although we stayed with a friend we did have to buy food during the trip. What we actually spent the most on was the magazines my husband bought to entertain himself on the plane, and of course it was a wedding so there was the gift money we gave. A little pre sinning confessional here - the spouse is spending about 100 on supplies for an art project for class. It would not normally count, but he practically refused any suggested that were made to use items we already owned or to recycled items into the project.

Jenette said...

I did sort of sin ... I ate out several times this week but I did resist going to target and costco with my husband. He came back with 2 non food items, chap stick and his hair gel. Which is good for him since he took our daughter with him.

Anonymous said...

Okay, I mostly, didn't sin. I have spent a little:
Garden supplies for seed starting - I gave myself prior permission for this one, as I see it as part of feeding ourselves :)
I also bought 2 corningware containers with lids to take lunch to work. I'm justifying this one too, as I've been trying to find something non-plastic and the right size for a long time.

I also bought an immersion blender. I have no excuse, and no justification. But I do love it :(

Other than that, I only bought food, I've even been better, although not perfect about not buying lunch.

I'm going to do better this week!

Unknown said...

I bought some business supplies and seeds to grow lettuce/baby greens.

O, and coffee on class days. Only way I can go to class.

I've killed or grown out of several pairs of pants lately, and "only" own a couple pairs, so I see a new pair of pants or two in my future, plus hemming or having them hemmed longer. Not necessary per se, but will be since I have to dress professionally.

Anonymous said...

I was a good girl. I only spent on food. Though I did cheat a tiny bit and buy a $4 soap sampler from the homemade soap guy at the farmer's market...I suppose I really didn't need that. BUT...then the Crunchy Chicken Karma got me - I lost the soap!!!! So consider it a $4 donation to the soap guy, leaving me with nothing to confess! :D

EcoBurban said...

Does desperately needing underwear while out of town count as a sin? It probably does... Being a lousy and forgetful suitcase packer is most likely a sin! ARGH! Sorry, Crunchy! But I did spend an entire weekend in Chicago and bought only food, drinks and underwear!!!! Pretty good, considering!

Jennie said...

I totally forgot about the challenge, woops. Although all I have bought is food.