I mentioned one of my major goals for 2013 was for my family to be involved in a 31 days of nothing project (though personally, I think it isn’t right to call it “nothing” because if you have food you have a lot more than nothing, so I’m re-defining it as a month of nothing except necessities). Basically, the premise is:
- For the month of January we will stick to a strict budget, only allowing for necessities
- There will be no extras like coffee/meals out, books, clothes etc purchased
- We will spend the month spending time discussing poverty, excess, contentment and the difference between needs and wants
- We will give most of the money we saved to an important project and the rest will be put towards our saving goal.
Why are we doing this? Well, I guess that is a complicated question. I’ve always wanted my children to be aware of the social injustices that occur in the world and to feel that they can choose to make a difference in big ways and small. I guess on some level too, while they don’t receive excess in our home, I think the ”world” out there is filled with excess. From children their age who have their own laptops, ipads and iphones, to what we are told is “normal”. And I want them to be able to look at that in the eye and remember none of those things buy happiness and that the real world is not filled with people with money to spend on the latest gadgets, big purchases or “thing that will make you happy”. In addition, both of my children struggle with abstract thinking (part of their learning disabilities and cognitive/developmental delays) and I think this will make it more real; they have NO concept of money, or saving or working for pay etc. And this, I hope, should help. In addition, I think, despite their backgrounds, they come from previous adoptive (& foster) families where they were given stuff to compensate for no love (they both came with box after box of cheap toys, my daughter had her own tv/dvd in her room by age 7, yet no one did their homework with them, or read to them, or in my daughter’s case, included her in their family vacations), while my daughter seems to have mostly left this behind, my son still struggles with being content with what he has. He can often be heard saying “I wish I had…” and while he is much improved, it creeps in when I least expect it. (FYI I’ve just re-read this post and you know, I think they are both doing well - this year my children received: a handmade outfit in a pattern with their favourite hobby on it, a game/activity, and a book from me (my daughter purchased my son a book from a used book shop for $1 and my son purchased his sister a travel bamboo tic-tac-toe game for $3) and they were over the moon, absolutely DELIGHTED! There aren’t too many children their age who would respond like that!). Finally, things are tight here. It can sometimes feel hard to give and while I’m committed to having less so that we can support people in need, being able to commit to something like this is going to help us give more.
On average I would say that we normally spend $280 a month on food/toiletries etc. and $180 a month on travel. In addition, we normally spend about $50 a month on extras. For the month of January we will be committing to $200 a month for food and $150 a month for petrol/travel and no extras. We will be walking more and really thinking about whether a journey is needed and if there is another way to get there. This means in the month of January, we should have $160 to give and save (we will give $100 and save $60).
I’m not sure how much of this journey people are interested in. I think it will affect everything we do – what we eat, what we make/give (aka we will make things we have on hand) and how we spend out time. I will say that for two days in January we have part of a Christmas gift experience (swimming and the art gallery) which we will keep in as it won’t cost us anything and was already booked by friends. I’m not certain how much people want to read about: what we eat, how we spend out time etc., but I’ll post a bit about it (thoughts, changes occurring, discussions we’ve had around the dinner table) and go from there.
I’m really looking forward to it. I don’t think it will be easy, but I know I will benefit tremendously, because while it is easy to think about how the children need this lesson, I think, truth be told, I need it more.
If anyone out there fancies joining in this project, you’d be most welcome!
i love this idea!
Thanks for letting me know, ksbeth!
Hi Ft – i really like this idea , especially since i have started volunteering at our local foodbank. It has really brought home to me ( and my kids) how lucky we are. I am going to join you on the project. I did have to buy myself a new pair of everyday shoes yesterday as the others had holes in( and wet feet in the UK is not nice !! ) but january for me is a non spend month this year. Food here will be about £400 ( 2 adults , 2 teenagers , 1 child plus one WonderBoy who has to eat special stuff) , i am going to bike as much as i can. I have already planned next weeks food out and looking at the list think i might squeeze 2 weeks out of it if i am careful ! Not spending totally focuses the mind on what is relevant and necessary and what is hype. Hope you all feel better – i was a bit worried when you hadn’t blogged for a while – hope the croup has gone x
Hi Kellie
Oh that is spectacular! Thanks for joining in! Yes, set whatever budget works for your family – a cut from norm but it has to be what you can manage depending on your family needs, location etc.
The croup has not yet left our home. It is awful (it has turned me into a big baby!!). Thanks for your concern!
Post about it! I would love it.
I thought you would : )
I would love to read everything you share about it. I think it will encourage others who are making similar goals; sometimes that road of less feels oh-so-lonely! Best wishes for a successful month of no spending! x
Thanks for letting me know you’d enjoy it Shani, and for the best wishes.
I too decided to take on the challenge of the January money diet. When doing this I had only myself to think about not a family, your goal to include your children into the challenge is such a wonderful idea. I can’t wait to hear about your journey. You do amaze me! Your heart shows through over and over in your posts, but when coming towards the end of this one where you share the breakdown of what you will be doing with your saved money, and the vast majority will be donated, shows again where your heart lies! Good luck with the challenge.
OOoh excellent livingsimplyfree!
Thanks for the kind words. I wanted to be able to donate it all, and maybe if God throws something in my lap I will be able too. In the end I knew I needed to begin saving something for summer camp, so agreed with reluctance to the 100/60 breakdown.
Good luck saving for summer camps. I did they day camps with my boys when they were growing up. It can really break the budget for some of them.
I really wish I didn’t have to send them, but I have no choice. I have found the perfect (small, art based) camp for my daughter but it is so expensive and will include driving 30 minutes out of our way each day. So both would need to go to the same one. I think it is $350 per week per child so, well I have no clue how I’ll manage it!
I had no idea it had gone that high, the most I had to pay was $180 per child for one week of day camp. Good luck, I wish there was some way I could help.
I would love to read about it! Please include what you can about how the kids respond – as a mom myself, super curious to know.
Thanks for the encouragement Heidi, and for letting me know you’d enjoy it! I’m also curious to hear how my children do with the challenge.
Sounds like a great idea. We live in a very affluent area of the country and I don’t believe my kids know what it is really like to not have even the necessities. January is a great month to stop all the excess, especially coming from December’s spend fest.
Feel free to join us, Sharon.
i would love to read about it.
Thanks for letting me know Jennifer!
I do a challenge like this at least once a year, usually twice. January will be one of those months again for us as I am very tired of consuming so much and so frequently. I plan on writing about it on my blog. I haven’t decided what to do with the extra money yet. need to see what the expenses we have coming up are. I can’t wait to do it again though. Good luck with your challenge!
Wow, that’s great 4buffaloes! I may join you on the twice a year thing. We’ll see!
I’d love to read your journey too… Goodluck, FT!
Thanks, Kay! Did you get my email in November (ish?)
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Totally doing this with you. Thanks for the kick in the pants to do it. I’ll be blogging about it too.
Excellent!!! Glad you are in too!
Hello FT, this is a great idea and I’m up for the challenge! I agree it won’t be easy but I feel driven when I think of all the December excess. Would love to join in!!!
Wonderful Frugal Learning Curve!
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I think this is a great family project! I would love to hear how it goes. You are so right that children need to have the needs of others made real to them in some way. We always felt it was important for our DD to know that “to whom much is given, of her is much required”, and to help her develop habits of empathy and generosity early in life. All small children “struggle with abstract thinking”, as the neurological system needs to mature more to enable abstraction. There is a big leap during the preteen years and constant progress during the teen years if all goes well (no head injuries or drugs, etc.). You would be hard-pressed to find age-mates of your children who understand money beyond knowing that they can exchange pieces of it for goodies at the store. When my DD was small, she asked to buy a snack after school, and when I told her that I had no money after the grocery shop, she said, “Can’t you use that plastic card you have?” !!! Of course I tried to explain that I would need money to back the debit card and realized quickly that this was all sailing over her head–she just wanted a snack at the store instead of at home and had no concept of money or credit at all. (I’m not trying to down-play your children’s developmental challenges–so awkward to have to say everything in print–just reinforcing that you are so right to find ways to make helping concrete for little concrete thinkers.)
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What a brilliant idea! I may have caught up with this too late to join in for January but Lent starts soon and it would be an ideal challenge for me for then.
Ooh, Liz. Maybe we’ll do something similar for Lent. Great idea!
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