Weekend recap and a Challenge

Wow. What a wonderful weekend. Our party was a success and it was a lot of fun.. It was so nice to see so many people and everyone seemed to have a really great time. I'm not going to talk about it a whole lot more right now because I want to save my reflections for a "Just Write" post tomorrow - I have the ideas floating in my head which makes me happy since I didn't have a post for it last week!

The rest of the weekend was pretty good. Nate and I slept in on Sunday, although it didn't turn out to be too terribly late of an evening on Saturday, it still felt good to sleep in. We had brunch at Brasa and once again, it was fantastic. Then we braved the madness of the apple orchard - I swear I haven't seen it that busy in a very long time. Got a few items there and hope to make a pie this week, haven't had any apple pie yet this year!

Came home and pretty much vegged, finishing out our day with pizza and the first disc of season three of Mad Men.

We had a conversation though yesterday that all couples have to have here and there and dread talking about and that was a "money" talk. And through the course of our conversation, I decided to issue myself a challenge. I would like to first of all put a disclaimer here that we are not in the poor house or something, but we both agreed that we need to be a little more fiscally responsible and kind of start acting like the almost 30 year old adults that we are. So, enter my challenge.

Starting today, October 17th until one month from today, November 17th, I will not buy anything for myself that is not considered a "necessity." No more clothes shopping, no purses, no frivolous things for one month. Baby steps, but it seems do-able. Here is a list of what I do consider a "necessity":
1. Food (duh - gotta eat. This is for groceries and our "one night out a week at a restaurant").
2. Gas for my car
3. Replacements for anything pertinent to daily life - toiletries (soap, toothpaste), etc.
4. Cat items (food, litter)
5. Medicine we happen to run out of (it's allergy season)
6. Paying bills

And here are the definite no-no's:
1. Clothes
2. Purses
3. Magazines
4. Books
5. Music (MP3 downloads or CDs)
6. In home parties (jewelry, Tastefully Simple, Partylite, etc.)
7. Bath and body items (Bath and Bodyworks, LUSH)

Again, it's not that we are broke, but I have a bad shopping habit and I think a one month challenge is a good way to try and curb it a bit. The other exceptions I didn't mention is that I am going to allow myself to buy a birthday gift for Nate and if I find early Christmas gifts for people that is allowed too.

The reason I targeted one month from today as the end of the challenge is that is the day the Cities 97 City Sampler comes out and I would like to buy my annual copy of that. After that day though, we'll see, it'll be getting close to the holidays and my birthday and while I will be shopping for others, I will probably keep the "no shopping for myself thing" going. Seems like a good time of year to try this anyway.

So, here goes nothing!