Day 15- Halfway there!

My halfway mark  was spent at the doctor and lying on my couch in pain. The upside- I didn't spend any money on a birthday dinner (for which I was willing to cheat) but I spent $14.51 on medication fixing myself. Give and take.

Is this wide of a selection of detergents really necessary??

It's only been 15 days (which sometimes feels like an eternity and sometimes I wonder why I haven't done this all along), but I already notice changes in myself:

• Reduce
• I don't buy packaged products and make noticeably less trash
• Reuse
• I've saved jars to reuse and have worn clothes that I have but don't wear often
• Recycle
• Well, I already recycled stuff but saying it felt so right
• Other positives
• I don't feel like my money is slipping through my fingers like sand
• I feel more in control, less stressed
• I notice the ridiculousness of consumerism even more than before
• Example below: Kleenex disposable paper towels for home bathrooms

"Your hands are only as clean as the towel used to dry them."

Really, Kleenex?

Total spent so far: $265.67

Day 14- The Story of Stuff

I made a list of things I want to buy and tried to figure out why I want them:

• Toms shoes ($44-69)
• They look cool and are really comfortable (and the "cool" shoes I have now actually are falling apart)
• New iPod ($179)
• I have been too lazy to program iTunes to only put certain songs on my iPod, therefore I have run out of memory
• Wallet ($15-25)
• I tell myself that if I have a wallet that I can easily store cash in I will spend less money
• Add in Birkenstock sandals ($80), running shorts ($20-30), running backpack ($72-90), bicycle basket ($30-40)...........

That's $440-513. Plus tax & shipping. And the list could easily go on (I didn't even touch on wanting a Macbook or rock climbing equipment).

It would take me 52-60 hours to make enough money to afford all this. That's one-and-a-half to almost two weeks of work, between 7 and 9 days of working, gone to support my consumerism.

My reasons given for why I want these things are not meant to justify my desire- it's just me being honest, trying to figure out what drives this insanity.

Which leads me to a video that everyone should watch: The Story of Stuff

"We're in this ridiculous situation where we go to work, maybe two jobs even and we come home and we're exhausted so we plop down on our couch and watch TV and the commercials that tell us "You suck!" so we go to the mall, buy something to feel better and then you've got to go to work more to pay for the stuff you just bought so you come home and you're more tired so you sit down and watch more TV that tells you to go to the mall again and we're on this crazy work-watch-spend treadmill and we could just STOP."

Total spent so far: $251.16

(Spent $18.68 on lunch that I owed a friend- I bought food for myself too because it felt too weird to buy him food but not eat and another $10.08 on groceries. My friend Anna covered my birthday dinner! Thanks Anna!)

Day Ten- Life is getting cheaper

For the first time, I can say I spent no money the last two days. Yay for me!

Great free concert by Egyptian band, Massar Egbari, at the Kennedy Center 

I had to fight off the urge to take a $10 cab ride home at 1:00 am, but I rode my bike instead. I also had to fight the urge to buy some delicious-looking desserts at a restaurant I went to (but didn't eat at). I held strong.

I'm getting better at not feeling so out of place when I don't join the communal act of eating. Plus, it helps that people are so supportive! I've gotten an amazing response from people who don't think this idea is weird at all- my friends seem to think it's great and want me to succeed so that really helps. Thanks guys!

Total spent so far: still $222.40

Day Eight- Dumpster Dive

I've been meaning to try out dumpster diving for a while. Some friends were going (they quite often) so I joined them. 

Some things I learned:

1. It's not that gross (although it can be smelly and is not the cleanest of activities)
2. Grocery stores are the best bet
3. It's not illegal in a lot of places (but stores can incite trespassing laws)
4. The best time is at night, after closing
5. You usually don't have to get inside the dumpster

We met at 12:20 am outside of the District because dumpsters tend to be locked up in DC. Armed with hand sanitizer, rubber gloves and flashlights, we took two cars to three grocery stores. The first dumpster was somewhat of a let-down, only a few produce items and some sketchy-looking cheesy pasta that we threw back (Seeing as it's July, we were careful about what we took). There was a perfectly pretty orchid with a broken pot sitting next to the dumpster that we salvaged though.

We found bread!

The excitement started at the second grocery store- we found an entire plastic-bag-lined trash can filled with same-day bread. Grocery stores tend to bake all new bread every night, so they get rid of the old stuff. Some places, Panera Bread for example, donate this bread. Others apparently don't. There was so much that we filled 5 shopping bags and still had to leave some behind. Bagels, loaves, rolls- you name it- my share of which is now happily sitting in my freezer.

We found a few bag of lettuce (that I still haven't decided if I'm going to eat yet), a box of rice and a bag of pasta in the third dumpster. I hear that it depends on the day and sometimes there will be nothing, but the friends I went with said they had found crates upon crates of bananas a few weeks before that.

My findings

Apparently dumpster diving is a popular thing! This article in the Washington Post talks about divers in DC. There's also an organization called Food Not Bombs that serves free meals of food found from dumpsters every Sunday in Dupont Circle. There are also MeetUp Groups that goes diving together for people just starting out.

It is crazy to think that all of this would have gone in a landfill had we not gone out looking for it. And this happens every night. At every grocery store in the country. That adds up. (According to a study by Timothy Jones, it adds up to tens of billions of dollars of retail food waste each year).

Sign this petition to stop Trader Joe's from wasting food. It's online and easy, shmeasy.

Also check out Dive! The Film. Very cool.

My personal grocery bill also seems to add up. Too bad I didn't find any tahini in those dumpsters, I had to spend another $11.05 on it (expensive!) and a few small ingredients needed to finish off some recipes. For the love of god, I hope I don't need any more groceries for a long time.

Total spent so far: $222.40

Day Six

I put $100 on my metro card. That should last me a while, but it is surprising how fast it dwindles away.

I'm realizing that while eating only foods that I've made myself will save money in the end, it's freaking expensive to start. I didn't have ground cumin or a pound of raw almonds or even corn starch. I spent $45.85 on groceries today but it doesn't feel like I got a lot. While at the grocery store, I also had an intense desire to chow down on a bag of chips and then again on a candy bar and then drink a Diet Coke, but I didn't. I resisted.

Like I said before, I'm reading this book "Not Buying It" and I've come across some good insight:

"Research shows that just about everyone thinks she needs the things she buys and considers almost everything she wants a necessity. Half of Americans- not just poor ones- say they can't afford their 'needs'. We're not greedy, we say. It's everyone else who is acquiring useless stuff. In one study conducted by Juliet Schor, the economic sociologist, 78 percent of respondents stated that most Americans are 'very materialistic'. Only 8 percent considered themselves very materialistic."

Total spent so far: $211.35

Day Four

I spent the $10 to go to the Bike House Party. And it was fun. So sue me.

I did, however, bring my own lunch and for dinner went to Whole Foods and bought an avocado, tomato and lettuce and made my own wraps with tortillas I brought. A guy walked by and shook his head, laughing at me cutting up a messy avocado and drippy tomato with a plastic knife next to my whole head of lettuce. But at least I didn't buy food out! (and come on, it's Whole Foods- the people who shop there dream of eating like that)

Whole Foods total bill: $15.58 (including a jar of honey and some raw almonds)

I also met a friend from out of town for lunch and ate the lunch I brought with me. He knew ahead of time about my 30-day-money-hiatus so that helped, but otherwise it could have been awkward. If I hadn't brought anything to eat, do I just sit there and stare, making him feel uncomfortable for eating in front of me? I could keep refilling my free glass of water and act like it is really satisfying. The last thing I want is to seem like I'm setting myself apart or judging or asking for a hand-out.

But in our society it is awkward to shy away from the norm, and the norm is to be okay with spending money. Maybe this challenge is teaching me to be more okay with that myself.

Total spent so far: $65.50


Wow, this adds up even when you're "not spending money".

Day Two

Yesterday, Day Two of my challenge, went well. I put $20 on my metro card but have plans to bike to work tomorrow (like I said, transportation costs are unavoidable). I also spent $19.92 on groceries and tried to buy no pre-packaged foods but I'm finding this more difficult than I expected. I purchased bananas, oranges, some veggies, dried black beans and mixed nuts but I also bought yogurt, milk and tortillas.

This is the issue with winging this challenge without planning: I get to the grocery store and, being from (North) America, I assume that certain foods can't be made at home. While dairy milk is impossible to produce at home without access to a large mammal, upon searching I found a recipe for homemade yogurt, almond milk, and tortillas. If I can find all the supplies for these, I will attempt to make these soon (emphasis on the word attempt).

And I have to be honest- when I started this challenge I had planned to cheat once. There is a party at a Bike Co-op tonight that is a fundraiser. The cost is $10, and even though saying I've been planning to go for a while doesn't make it fit with the terms of this challenge, I'm giving myself a break only because it goes to a good cause (and maybe because it will be fun). Points for honesty?

I did make my own lavender shortbread cookies from scratch yesterday though. They are tasty, it wasn't difficult even with my lack of baking experience, and now I have tons of cookies to give away to anyone who wants them.

I also went to a free outdoor movie in the evening and fought off the desire to buy packaged snacks and brought nuts, oranges and water instead. Go me.

Total spent so far: $39.92

"Try something new for 30 Days"

After watching the video titled "Try something new for 30 Days" on Ted Talks, I was inspired. Matt Cutts claims that anyone can do anything for 30 days (writing a novel, for example). Cutts persuades the viewer to think of something they've always wanted to do but haven't gotten around to and do that every day for one month.

Like the video mentions, I could try to sketch once a day, practice another language once a day or take a photograph every day. Simple things. But when I made my list of things I've always wanted to try, the one that jumped out at me most was this: To spend no money at all, except on what is absolutely necessary to live.

No money on entertainment (this city is full of free entertainment), clothing (luckily I'm fully stocked on underwear), restaurants or eating out (luckily I work in a coffeeshop so I get free coffee), Netflix (sad!)... You get the gist.

Necessity is a broad concept, I realize, so I've formed my own personal definition:

• Food: I need to eat
• No eating out.
• Groceries are okay but only food that is not pre-made/instant/canned/anything of the sort. Will need to look up recipes as I don't know how to cook well.
• Transportation: I need to get to work (and play)
• Metro fees are unavoidable because I live in Maryland, however I will not use the bus.
• If I weren't so afraid of DC drivers I would bike to work. I will still make it a goal to bike to work once a week this month.
• Bills: I have debts and monthly expenses
• I have to pay my student loans and health insurance, but I'm not going to use my credit card this month so that's one less bill.
• No rent! I'm not paying rent right now since I live with family, so that helps.

Is this all even possible? I don't know. I'm using the book "Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping" as inspiration (I didn't buy it- I got it from the library, I swear!). But since I started yesterday and didn't purchase anything, I'm feeling more anxious than I expected. I feel limited, even though I'm not a big spender to start with.

What if I see a pair of running shorts on sale, soon to be snatched up, that would be perfect? What if the new, final Harry Potter movie comes out? (Oh wait, it did.) What if I'm really freaking hungry one day after work and forget to bring my lunch? What if... what if... what if??

It wouldn't be a 30-Day Challenge if it was easy, I suppose. So, here goes: from July 14th to August 12, 2011, exactly 30 days, I will spend no money except on what I absolutely need. I want to encourage as many people as possible to join me- what will your challenge be?

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me?... And if not now, when?" - Hillel the Elder