day 16, post 2

oh yay!

day 16

a DVR.



Cable is one of those things I have a hard time paying for based on principle, not affordability. We have limited HD service and there are lots of channels and the picture is pretty and I've come to terms with what it costs. But I still think it's a lot of money for television. (Although I do really like television.)

But we were all set to take our current cable box back this morning and trade it in for a shiny new cable box/DVR. All my friends said that we would love it. It would change the way we watch tv. I would never again miss an episode of ___. I could set it to find "Jacques Pepin" and the DVR is smart! it will find every instance of Jacques Pepin and record it for me.

That sounds nice.

Then, as I was paying bills yesterday I noticed that our friendly (ahem) cable company had included a 2010 pricing guide in our January bill. And DVR service is $16 a month. And I balked. Not because I can't scratch together $16 a month, but because I don't want to. I can find Jacques Pepin all by myself.

day fourteen

I don't know what to say about Haiti, a place to which I was blessed to travel on a youth mission trip in 1984. Thankfully, President Clinton does.

So does the editor of The Root.

I also don't know what to do. In the meantime...

Indie Fixx Haiti Relief Fund Silent Auction
Yele Haiti

day eleven, post 2

The first fruits of my hiatus have paid off! I received my credit card bill from my very favorite store (I put all of my purchases from this store and its sister companies on this credit card solely for the rewards) and it has a zero balance! Yay!

day eleven

Email advertisements confuse me. Each day I receive a number of emails attempting to lure me to the company's website where I will be able to take advantage of an advertised deal. I sort of understand the emails that I receive from companies with whom I am a frequent shopper, but the one that confuses me is from a food company I think I've bought from once. Each day - I started keeping track just before Christmas - the subject line advertises increasingly tempting deals and they tend to be paired with a time limit "50% off sitewide - for 48 hours only!"

What algorithm is this company using to determine that I'm a likely return customer? I should show up as extremely unactive in their database. Is that it email blasts are so cheap it doesn't matter if I never buy from them?

day seven

Today I learned from my friend C that there is a 21-day shopping hiatus that's being advocated as a good way to start the year. It sounds great. It's more extreme than mine (no eating in the office cafeteria, for instance), but not spending at all would greatly increase the focus I would put on every single purchase. It's worth considering. Still, though, I think that 21 days isn't enough time to actually change behavior and become more discriminating with every purchase.

And in spite of spending $4 on a turkey burger today I haven't replaced my desire for clothes, shoes and bags with any other thing. So I should have more money this month than last month. Of course, the boy did sign up for drivers ed.

btw, I googled "21 day shopping cleanse" and found results that were very, very far from what I intended. Just so you know.

day five

Every store I've ever bought something from has sent me an email with some amazing offer in the last 12 hours. These emails tend to arrive overnight, so in the morning I find myself clicking and deleting multiple emails at once. In the past (like, more than 5 days ago) I was very tempted by some of these - one compelling subject line this morning was "60% off clearance items." Yay, a sale! I deleted it. But I'd hesitated.

Then, I found today's email from my very favorite store. Offering my very favorite thing - gift free with purchase. But it's this:



A nylon tote. For what I can only imagine are groceries. Certainly they don't expect their shoppers to bring this tote to the store and fill it up with new suits. I thought it was a strange choice.

Anyway, I deleted the email.

day three

...on which i make a purchase for myself: a new 10 class pass to the yoga studio. Class this morning was packed - I was there with 43 other yogis (how many of them also new year resolutioners?). After a good and regular yoga practice in the middle of 2009 I abandoned it in last Fall. And my favorite day to do yoga is Sunday - which competes with Ravens games. But today the game starts later and allowed me the time to renew a commitment to yoga. And the football season will soon be over.

We spent yesterday cleaning out closets. A perfect act to begin a new year. While cleaning closets doesn't really seem to have a large visible impact, we still managed to drag four boxes to the Book Thing and five bags to Goodwill, and score the first donation receipt of 2010. The boy was ruthless - getting rid of old toy planes and books and drawings that I ended up keeping and reboxing.

Oh, and I bought one other thing:




Groceries! Yay for dynamo juice, yogurt, honey, waffles and a fresh chicken. Love Trader Joe's.

day two

The roots of my hiatus from shopping comes from two places. One is my latest author crush, Jonah Lehrer, who writes at The Frontal Cortex. Go check him out if you haven't already and buy his two books (ironic, no?). The other I'll write about another day.

I recently saw Jonah speak at the Walters Art Museum (Go there too. It's free!) and he talked about what happens in your brain when you shop. The release of dopamine that makes your brain all happy. How that dopamine is minimized if you pay cash - essentially, paying cash takes all the 'high' out of shopping. But paying with a credit card, even the one linked to a checking account, separates the act of buying - a dopamine rush - with the act of paying - the dopamine killer. The brain can't connect the action of buying something new with the charge that shows up on your statement, so you get all of the dopamine reward with none of the cost. Your friends at Visa and the kind vendors at the mall know this stuff.

In his erudite blog, he writes about how that rush is short lived, fueling a return to the mall for more new stuff and more dopamine rush. This idea that "Once we purchase something, we automatically start taking it for granted, and to begin yearning for something new." He says it better and more fully in this Christmas-time post from 2006.

day one

For the next 90 days I have pledged (to myself) not to buy any article of clothing, shoes, or bags. Cold turkey.

NB: My husband and the boy are excluded from this exercise.

Why? I overindulged throughout most of 2009 - but especially in holiday shopping. I stuck to our budget for everyone else, but I brought something home for me from each shopping trip. At the mall? Stop by Banana Republic. At the craft show? I love that necklace. Online? Lots of fun stuff there too. I'm the easiest person I know to shop for. I love everything.

So I'm going to try it.

Complying on day one is easiest. My resolution is new! Still though, temptation is everywhere. I passed the Starbucks on the way to pick up the boy this morning, and resisted. Lattes are not specifically mentioned in the clothing, bags and shoes rule, but still. It's the first day.

Then scrolling through my google reader I find this lovely thing:



















www.jcrew.com
FENTON-FALLON for J.Crew Carrington crystal bow necklace
$295


Which is stunning, but for which I have no need. And so here we go...