buy nothing day

i mentioned this last post, have been more or less living it out of necessity for awhile, but the actual composition got me noodling.

no longer am i robbing peter to pay paul each month. my salary now keeps apace and is allowing me to actually chip away at the glacier of debt incurred through various calamities over the last 2+ years. not long ago, i actually retired a dangerous one, which felt very good. that monthly sum just gets plowed elsewhere, so it's not like i went shoe-shopping to celebrate, lol.

after i wrote about bnd, i paid close attention to how many days i went without opening my wallet. except to tap my charlie card, it was 6 days. i brought my lunch to work and i never visit starbucks -- both out of huffy principle and having tea bags stashed at my workspace. i'm not a coffee drinker, and their tea just sucks. their small (or mini-grande or whatever, i have no idea what faux-label they use) is like 16 oz and it's absurdly hot. so hot as to scald their tea. and it's like $4. my nights at work were suffiicently late and bookended by an early rise, so i never went out for drinks.

first time i spent money was for groceries, and i was on a specific mission to haymarket so my weekly needs would be less than $20. $14 got me fruit and lots of greens. a fraction of what i would have spent at my ghetto shaws.

some of my co-workers make several trips a day to starbucks, dunkins, au bon pain, and the various shops around our building. part of it is likely just to get the hell out of the office, get some fresh air or have a smoke, but those nips must easily amount to $15 a day. not my place to judge, but i'm just too aware now to piddle away my paychecks like that.

i'm not pretending that the constant vigilance isn't sometimes annoying. but it was that laissez-faire attitude (plus employers who preferrred parsimony and outright cheating over a fair wage) that got me here.

but paying down that one makes me know it's not impossible.

last time the owner took me to the movies, we were behind a dad who was taking his daughter and some of her friends to a matinee. just the tickets for them, before soda, gummy bears and popcorn, added up to $54. that's a movie, drinks and dinner out afterwards for me! perspective really helps me too, lol.

so i'm treating myself on this frigid day to a movie and a drink. my conscientiousness extends to giving my money to people i know and respect, so i'll visit a place recently opened by exceedingly talented and genuinely nice people.

light at the end of the tunnel and an appreciation for what's possible.

there may be a christmas tree in my evening as well.

life is good. :)