Day 23: Shameless Plug

http://theclothdiaperwhisperer.blogspot.com/

Well, you would plug something too if you could get 12 brand new AWESOME diapers!!

Day 22: Tour your Town

In my neverending quest to find cheap/free entertainment that are mommy/baby friendly, I accidentally stumbled upon a gem. While visiting with a new friend this morning, she mentioned she was taking her baby on a tour of the State Capital. After the (free!) lunch she kindly shared with baby and me, she asked us to accompany them. Having less than nothing to do today, we agreed! YAY an adventure!!

While the tour needed a bit of work - it was only the second time anyone had given it - it was a fun and (free!) way of spending the day. Even the (free!) parking was awesome, I made the cut-off by one minute...probably less. The tour was a new Halloween version of the normal one, all about the deaths that had occured at the Capital building. They could have made it a bit more interesting, except according to the tour guide they weren't allowed to talk about:

a. Any suicides
b. Exaggerate in any way
c. Any ghost stories that are "unresolved"

Leave it to the government to be concerned about unresolved ghost stories...

Day 21: Chinese Food

After three weeks of no outside food, (seriously, I should have one of those signs you see at movie theaters hanging on my front door) my mom and aunty came over yesterday with the best gift a girl could ask for...Chinese Food.

We feasted! And let me tell you, food tastes so good when you haven't partook of it for a while! I feel that your first meal back has to be well chosen. You don't want to pick something like Italian, pasta is easily and cheaply done at home! Hamburgers, while better when fast, isn't special enough for me. Pizza seems the obvious choice, but I have actually come to like frozen pizzas BETTER than delivery. So Chinese food it was!

Only one thing in life is better than a MSG smorgasbord! That one thing? The same smorgasbord with two bottles of wine.

Day 20: Baby Saves Mom from Spending

I came this close to spending $1.65 on a cup of coffee today. Thankfully, I was heroically stopped by my son. He was not screaming bloody murder in the middle of a busy coffee shop just to be difficult! Nor was he doing so because he was extremely exhausted! He was doing so to stop me from doing something I would later regret. It was because he loves me and cares about the family finances. Wow, what a lucky mom I am...albeit a now deaf and embarrassed one...

Day 19: Teamwork

When you are poor, or just trying to live that way, nothing helps more than having a partner by your side encouraging you all the way and keeping you on track. Why do you think so many homeless people have dogs?! So, having CT as my partner in this experience is invaluable. If not for him helping me stay the course, I would have quit this silly experiment long ago.

Surprisingly, he is not as supportive as I thought he would be. This sort of thing is right up his alley, as he has always been somewhat of a cheapskate. Besides, he gets "good" food twice a week from work, while I am eating sandwiches and the like 7 days a week. Instead though, it is I who am constantly reminding him of why we are doing this and why we can't have even the smallest meal from Whataburger on a Sunday afternoon. I feel that even a small slip will toss us head over heels from the wagon.

We are entering the zone of discomfort. The last two weeks of the first month are the hardest we have had. Even with the freeze on our account, we continue to see the balance dip below comfort level (house payment) and we are both getting antsy to buy something. Anything! Every day I come up with new needs. It is difficult to figure out which is an actual need and which is simply a desire to accumulate.

Something tells me buying the baby winter clothes is a necessity though. I will however be going to the Salvation Army to purchase them.

Day 18: Giving back

One really easy way to keep from feeling sorry for yourself while not being able to spend money, is to go into the community and give back. The benefits are multiple. You feel good because you are helping someone else who needs it, completely unselfishly. You spend a morning doing something removed from the purchase culture that you are trying to escape and learn what really is of value. And finally, you are so exhausted by the end of the day, the last thing on your mind is shopping.

So my tip for the day: find a charity, community project or non-profit in your area that would benefit from your unique experiences and talents. The help you will provide will be the best gift money can't buy!

Day 17: Food Glorious Food!!

I love my mommy!! She took me out for the first meal in a restaurant I have had in nearly three weeks. It was awesome. The best part was that I wasn't too tired from cooking to eat. It was so nice to languish away eating a meal prepared by someone else, waited on by a waitress who would rather be doing something else.

It was even better because I didn't pay.