I’m a little late with the March update because I just got back from spring vacation. It was a great time and we spent plenty of money, but none of it was on ‘stuff’. All of the money we spent was on transportation, food and experiences. Knowing I would not be buying anything this trip, I didn’t feel the need to spend much time in stores. I lost the urge to buy trinkets and souvenirs long ago, as they just end up as pointless clutter in my house.
We spent time in various places in southern California exploring, hiking, and climbing giant rocks in Joshua Tree National Park hiking, riding jeeps through the desert, walking on the beach, swimming in beautiful swimming pools, and relaxing in near perfect weather many days.
It was a light buying month for me, but there were a few items I purchased which I think fall into my acceptable categories:
Happy Philosopher:
- Windshield washer fluid ($2.50) – Necessary maintenance.
- Shoelaces ($1.70) – It looked like eminent failure on one of my older pair of dress shoes which was causing me a great deal of distress every time I tied them.
- Lime ($10) – Not the kind you make margaritas with, the kind you sprinkle on the lawn. I think it has something to do with pH balance. Mrs. Happy Philosopher insists on not having the crappiest looking lawn in the neighborhood for some reason. I think lawns are a massive waste of water, fertilizer, fuel and time and I think we should all just let them go back to nature. At least I refuse to use weed killer. The lime is a compromise.
- Fuel stabilizer ($??) – I put this in the lawn mower gas. Apparently this stuff has an expiration date and the bottle I had was very old. I consider this maintenance. I lost the receipt and am too lazy to look at the credit card statement, but it was a few dollars.
- Running shoes ($112) – I know. Shoes are clothes, but I did specifically exempt running shoes. My back has been feeling better and I’ve started running more. My feet were starting to hurt and my legs feeling tired on my longer runs which is how I know to buy new shoes. What was not smart was breaking them in on multiple very steep trails in Joshua Tree. Amazingly I didn’t get blisters. I’m not sure I like these shoes. They felt great in the store, but have not felt great on the few runs I have done. Time will tell.
Mrs. Happy Philosopher and family:
- Girl clothes ($148) – Although Mrs. Happy Philosopher and I could go a long time without buying clothes, my kids seem to outgrow them before we get out of the store. My daughter literally had nothing to wear for warm weather so before going on vacation we got her 1 swimsuit, 1 skirt, 1 dress, 5 shirts, 1 pair of shoes and 3 undergarments.
- Mrs. Happy philosopher clothes ($39) – 2 shirts and a pair of pajamas (Mrs. Happy Philosopher has a weakness for pj’s).
- Gifts ($165) – Mrs. Happy philosopher loves giving gifts and this month she shopped for several birthdays.
- Pizza peel ($15) – Apparently this makes making pizzas easier and since I do almost none of the food preparation I don’t judge.
- CD ($12) – Yes, you heard that right. This stands for Compact Disc (for you millennials). That’s how we roll here in THP household…old-school. Stop making fun of us. Actually there is a logical reason for this. Our van is of an age that the audio system does not have blue tooth. Now if you will excuse me I need to go send a fax and then mail in a check to the telephone company for our land-line.
- Running shoes ($102) – Mrs. Happy Philosopher spends 90% of her shoe dollars on running shoes due to the marathons and ultra-marathons she is perpetually training for. Decent running shoes are freaking expensive, but it is what it is. Cheaper than horses or a divorce.
- Easter basket grass ($???) – It pains me to even type this one. I’m going to go show Mrs. Happy Philosopher videos of dolphins choking on plastic garbage floating in the ocean to hopefully shame her into never purchasing anything like this again.*
- Digital books ($7) – I don’t know how she pulled this one off but she found two books for our trip to put on the kindle super discounted.
Overall a good month. I’m still on track and honestly I don’t really miss not buying things, although I am becoming more aware of the condition my stuff is in. As time goes on I am starting to notice things that are wearing out and may be problematic by the end of the year. I will have to figure out how to get by.
Follw-up
On another note, I got a comment on an old article I wrote on the benefits on honesty. It is one of my favorite posts. Here is the comment:
I love honesty. I also like the fact that you’re going for 100% honesty; I’ve tried to do the same. However, without trying to use this as an excuse, I don’t think 100% perfection can be reached – not even in trying to be honest.
Still, it’s a worthy goal to aim at.
Anyway, you wrote this at the end of 2015. I can’t find any follow up post about how it went.
I do have a tenancy to leave loose ends and not follow-up with my experiments so I’m glad this reader prompted me. There are so many things I intend to do with the blog and ideas I want to write about, but somehow things just don’t quite get done.
Well I can say that honesty is something I don’t really think about anymore because it is my default state. It is part of my operating system, and deliberately being less than honest requires a lot of energy. I try and be the person that I would want to hang out with, so I make my words adhere to the following heuristic.
- Is it true
- Is it kind
- Is it necessary
I’m better at 1 than 2, and better at 2 than 3. Few things in life are 100%, but if I have lied recently then I have also deceived myself, because everything I’ve said has felt honest to me (although who could possibly remember everything they have said…besides all the apps on my phone spying on me…And Alexa). The experiment was a success and I still practice it today. Another experiment I’m considering is absolutely no complaining for 30 days. This is an exercise in gratitude (another favorite topic of mine) and can have profound effects. Until next month…
*I’m told by my editor that the Easter basket grass was shredded paper, which makes me happy. I guess I looked at it a bit too quickly. Long live the dolphins. Namaste.
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We are going strong too. I was thinking about not being negative for a month…a little different than not complaining, but similar. I have not taken the dive yet…but am thinking about it.
I also am thinking about changing my writing schedule to be more similar to yours. As things come up and as I desire. Since the fire, my motivation to write is lower. It is the way it goes I suppose. I enjoy the act, but not the timeline.
So to the future!
I pretty sure I do almost everything wrong with blogging. I’m crappy at promotion, I don’t write enough, I constantly change topics, etc. It is easy to get sucked into the “rat race of blogging” and feel bad because everyone else is doing it better. My philosophy is to just write when I feel motivated and about what I want to. If I were to monetize and be reliant on the income I would have to change my strategy 😉 You up for a 30 day no complaining/no negativity challenge? I’m in if you are.
This is my first introduction to your writing. I like what you said about honesty, and it being your default status- but yet you still have a grid by which you judge things :is it true, kind and necessary? I concur I fail in number 3 also- knowing when to speak requires wisdom- something I am immature at. Wisdom , while related to honesty, is different as well. An inspiring read though a little difficult.(I have a visual impairment) Is it possible you could use as default a slightly bigger font? I have only one working eye- and your font swims from time to time.
Thanks for the comment. I will look into increasing the font size. If you hit ctrl +/- this will change the font size in your browser (at least in chrome and firefox) which is a workaround until I figure out how to do it on the blog. I have tried to use more white space in my recent posts for east of reading. Many of my old posts are not all that reader friendly.
Regarding the three step process: Honestly is automatic for me, but just because something is true doesn’t mean it needs to be or even should be said. Honesty doesn’t imply we simply take off the filter and say everything that is true that pops into our heads. I run it through 2 and 3 to determine if it should stay in my head or be released into the world 😉
Great update, too bad about the Lime. I would feel weird spending money on that as well. My yard is full of weeds and very natural, and I like it that way. And I never pay more than $60 or $70 for running shoes. I buy Asics and you can get them online at those prices easily. The good thing about Asics in my experience is that they size their shoes very consistently, so I can buy a size 12 Asics online and be confident they will fit.
Sometimes we can find last years shoe at discounts like these online, but depending on the cycle, many times they are sold out or not heavily discounted. I’ve also found that the shoes that are intentionally priced at the $60-70 retail simply do not last as long with heavy miles. Also when a new model comes out the fit can be very different that the previous year. I hate that shoe companies do this, but I’ve had it happen with several companies (including Asics which I used to exclusively run on…they were consistent for so many years though). The good thing is I will be able to track our shoe spending through this experiment and see what obscene percentage of my annual spend they account for!
Hmm I’ll have to be on the watch now for my next pair of Asics. You’re right, they’ve been consistent for a long time, hope they don’t change. Regarding lasting, I recycle every 350 – 400 miles. My experience is even the more expensive ones lose too much cushion after that, and it’s a stark contrast when you get into a new pair – you don’t realize how much the old ones have been slowly degrading! I use the old ones to cut the grass in 🙂
CD and audio books?! You need to get to the library. 😂
These were not audio books, just text to put on the kindle. The CD was new music – unlikely to be at the library and something my wife will listen to for more than the checkout period even of it was. We actually cut our book spending by about 95% by switching to the library years ago. We are extremely heavy users of our library and consume more value in books and media than we pay in taxes. I should actually write a post on how awesome libraries are.
Glad you’re running again. I go through 4-5 pairs a year. CDs are great, something about having a hard copy makes me excited.
I look forward to your gratitude posts. I’ve posted a few times on the topic also and would consider a hobby, or maybe more of a lifestyle.
I have found your “is it necessary” portion of honesty to have come more into my consideration since I started mindfulness program. Seems like so much of what I was saying was related to past of future and wasn’t present focused.
Ironically my best post about gratitude is not actually on my blog 🙂
https://www.1500days.com/guest-post-happiest-person-room/
Right on brother, preach it! Great guest post… I like how you consider different members of the audience perception of your content. From the low hanging fruit of those who “get you” to those whom you might offend. Challenging for sure, but a thought experiment on empathy each penned post.
Here is a bit (among others) from me on gratitude: https://agoodlifemd.com/getting-hit-truck-gratitude-face-adversity/
So smart to spend money on new sneakers. We tried running on old sneakers years ago, only to end up with back pain, knee pain – you name it. And it goes right away with new sneakers. Well worth it! Glad you had a great trip. That area is in our plans in the next couple of years.
It is a beautiful area. Joshua tree was amazing, and I wish we had more time to spend there. Such a unique landscape.
Sounds like you are hitting your groove with this no spending experience and had a pretty good month. I definitely agree that new running shoes is a must. I realized before our Portland race that the soles of mine are starting to detach. Think it is time for a new pair for me as well.
Cheaper than horses? That made me giggle. I grew up riding horses and showing competitively so I have a pretty good idea of how much those magnificent beasts cost.
Haha, yeah I know a few horse people and they would rather be living in poverty than give up the horse.