Shelly Randall

Motivated by Jeff Yeager (author of The Ultimate Cheapskate), I am planning a "spending fast" -- holding tight to my cash for a full week. No spending, nada. And paying close attention to my feelings about spending (or not spending) money.

I'm guessing that subtracting money from my life will increase my reliance on others--hopefully in a good way!

For the second week of the EcoChallenge, I plan to meticulously record all monetary transactions in a little notebook, and review for trends and areas of potential savings. Frugality = Sustainability!

I may change my funding goal as I go along, because I plan to donate the money I WOULD HAVE spent in the first week. Of course, outside contributions in support of my goal will sweeten the pot.

NWEI's EcoChallenge is the kick-off to a year-long experiment of my own to strengthen my community connections by and for living more sustainably. Follow me at www.SustainableTogether.com.

My EcoChallenge Blog

October 20th, 2011

It took me a few days to process the lessons of my "money fast" -- prime among them, schedule it during a calendar window that does not involve a visit from your in-laws! I share my most telling spending anecdotes in this blog post: http://sustainabletogether.com/2011/10/20/forgetting-the-pie-we-paid-for/ Topics include Food, Entertainment, Generosity, Philanthropy, and what I call The Big Decisions: Housing, Insurance, Childcare. I'll sign off with a link to Sustainable Together's new Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/sustainabletogether) and the encouragement to schedule your own money fast. It's well worth doing--for ourselves and for the planet.

October 11th, 2011

The spending fast is over; now I'm on to the spending analysis, making note of every dollar that leaves my clutches. The best story of the week was stopping at a rural roadside bake-stand near Port Angeles, carefully selecting bread, pie and cookies, chatting up the shopkeeper and dutifully paying him $11, then driving off without our goodies! Although I pulled out my notebook to record the monetary transaction right away, my husband and I didn't realize the other hadn't grabbed the goods until we were miles away. Thankfully, the baker was there two days later on our return trip, very glad to see us again and to make amends. And the pie was delicious. A happy ending!

October 4th, 2011

This is harder than I thought. As a mom and wife, it's not just me I'm depriving of money's usefulness, it's my whole family, and I didn't do the best job getting them on board first. I have to confess I bought diapers for my son yesterday. We finally made time over the weekend to disassemble his crib and swap it with his "big boy bed," and then he wanted to be able to use his potty in the middle of the night. Well, Night 1 resulted in a wet bed and middle-of-the-night change. We decided that sleep for the rest of this week trumped the money fast, so...generic-brand pull-ups it was! I won't call this a failure, however, as my EcoChallenge has really focused my thinking about spending -- in a new and good way.

October 1st, 2011

I've accepted the EcoChallenge and am blogging about it at SustainableTogether.com. Here's an excerpt: Little did I know my pragmatism was about to be severely tested on Day 1 of my money fast. Would I stand at the doors to the emergency room and refuse to open my wallet? Read on to find out. http://sustainabletogether.com/2011/10/01/near-emergency-on-day-1/

Comments

From: Mike Mercer

Hi Shelly - just make sure to have fun with your challenge. The alternatives could be a real kick. Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

From: Kerry Lyles

Hi Shelly, It's all about being conscious of our choices, right? I wouldn't consider it an EcoChallenge fail, so much as an "aha moment" of sorts.

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My EcoChallenge(s)

Spending Fast

My Fundraising Goal

$250

My Pledge Tally

$0