The Experiment Begins

Well, it is January 5th,2009 and I am in my fifth day of my experiment on only buying necessities, not luxuries this year. I read the book Not Buying It by Judith Levine last year and was inspired to try the same idea this year. I will try and go an entire year without buying any luxuries.
I must say it has already helped me appreciate the things I do have. Becuase I now must plan in advance (something I hate doing) I get things done more effieciently. For example, I already have my sister-in-laws birthday gift done and her card sent out. She is going to have a fit because I am ALWAYS late with gifts and cards. She even called me today to tell me how excited she is.

As far as the luxuries that I have gotten for free this year.

1. a free blog site ;-)
2. watching Horton Hear a Who on the big screen at our local Hands-0n Museum. I hadn't seen it yet and was earlier debating as to whether or not to purchase
3. Found a free site www.sparkpeople.com for information on exercise and weight loss
4. Since I'm cooking now, I offer extra that I made to friends who were please with the offer. Unfortunately because it was so unexpected, there were no takers :-(

Drawbacks:

1. Friends have asked me to have lunch with them today and I had to say no because I brought my lunch.
2. Feeling a little ungrounded right now