Complaining?

So, how are you guys doing with the no-complaining challenge? So far on my best day I made it to 3:00pm without complaining... Hmmmm..... It's a work in progress, haha!

Kitchen Remodel Progress

Before


Now

Sorry, the lighting is a bit dark on the "Now" pix. Basically, at this point we have all the lower cabinets up, all the electrical and plumbing set up, and the counters should be arrive next Monday or so. Tomorrow we're working on the radiant heating and the tile flooring. We're also nearly finished on the wall restructuring and painting. This whole wall angle, pony wall, and and alcove is new (it used to be one long solid wall with two doors that separated the kitchen and family room from the rest of the house):

We just have the hardwood flooring installation, tile flooring, backsplash, upper cabinets, trimwork, touch up painting, a few light fixtures to install, painting in the sitting room, and this and that left to do, then it will be DONE! I'll load more pix when things look a little more finished (unfinished work is just not that pretty, y'know?). :-)

These people are inspiring!

This challenge is not for me right now, considering we'll be moving into our first home this summer and all that, but amazingly inspirational! This group has committed to buy nothing new for the entire year. They have a yahoo group to keep accountable. It really is true that the consumerist culture we live in is terribly detrimental to the environment and damaging to our finances. They allow themselves to buy used, but nothing new (other than personal necessities). Wow!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/13/BAGH3H7DH71.DTL


This got me thinking about more easily attainable simplifying, so here are some links I found on the subject:


http://www.december.com/simple/live/index.html

http://www.embraceliving.org/simply.htm

http://www.insouciant.com/sl/

http://www.simpleliving.org/

http://walkslowlylivewildly.blogspot.com/

http://www.koransky.com/Other/SimplifyAndHaveMoreFun.html

http://www.simpleliving.net/main/

Complaint Free World update

Today was my first attempt at going complaint-free. I had to switch it once (sarcasm, oops) but I think I should've switched it a couple more times... Haha, tomorrow I'll be better.

The website where you order the acomplaintfreeworld.org bracelets said it'd take 2-5 weeks to get my bracelets, and after considering it further I decided I'd rather have something more subtle than a purple rubber band. So, I made my own. I used clear beads on clear elastic so it would be sorta "invisible' and wouldn't clash or draw attention to itself but still be easy to switch wrists when I complain. This is what it looks like:


I'd be glad to make more (tons of leftover beads!) for anyone challenging themselves to be complaint free!

Weekly spending:

Monday: $0
Tuesday: Michael's (supplies for b-day gifts for Sarah, Lindsey, and Sherry; Easter gift for Abigail; little thing for Dani's shower) - $8.21 after returning stuff from last week
Wednesday: $0
Thursday: Matt's cigarettes -$5.00
Friday: Sears.com - (shipping and tax on Catch Phrase game) $8.08 after gift card, Tip at Olive Garden - $3 after gift card
Saturday: Michael's (supplies for Stacy's b-day present and "no complaining" bracelet for myself) - $11.33
Sunday: 6 greeting cards from outlet store - $1.28! Nice!

Total = $36.90 ($213.10 left for the month's challenge)

A decent start! Mostly gifts, and we had a lot of fun this week without spending much (partly due to gift cards, but we went to a lot of parks and whatnot). I think the library was a big part in fighting the spending urge this week because it feels a little like shopping - you go, look around, pick stuff out, bring it to the clerk, and you have something new (even if just for a couple weeks).

I'm actually really proud of myself this week because I had the shopping bug BAD. Seriously bad. In my old habits I could've gone a little nutsy but I fought it and kept my credit card holstered, despite being in three - yes three - malls this week, going to many many stores with my MIL, and being in close proximity to my favorite yarn store and clothing store twice. Woo! Go me! :-)

300

Matt and I saw 300 today -very visually impressive movie. Not much of a plot but it was very exciting. And kinda hunktastic. ;-) Seriously violent BUT there were a lot of half-naked Spartans, which is a nice change from the usual barrage of female skin (there were of course some breasts but much more pecs, woo-hoo!). Something for everyone; blood for the boys, six packs for the girls. I tried to post some pix here but it doesn't seem to be working so check out this link:

http://imdb.com/gallery/ss/0416449/FCJG3000051.jpg.html

Oh my!

Haha, I'm going to be in so much trouble when Matt reads this post...

Check this out!

Dani emailed me this link and it's such a fun website! You type in a band, genre, or song that you like and they make a personalized radio station for you. Great way to hear about new bands!

http://www.pandora.com/

A Complaint Free World

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't Complain." -Maya Angelou

I ran across this in a magazine and it sounds like a fascinating challenge! Go complaint-free for 21 days in a row. If you slip and complain, criticize, gossip or use sarcasm, you start the count over. The church that came up with this idea has little purple bracelets that you switch to your other wrist when you catch yourself complaining and start the count over. I ordered bracelets for Matt and I and it should be interesting to see how it affects our habits. This fits well with my New Year's resolution to think and speak positively, so I'm going to wear the dorky bracelet and do my best! Will anyone else try it with me? :-)


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17362505/

Click here for free bracelet order form

Complaint Free Blog

Weekly spending:

Dani isn't competing this month because she just moved to her first house (Woo-Hoo! Go Dani!) and there are LOTS of expensive things she has to buy, so it isn't a fair competition this month. However, I want to keep logging my spending so I don't get off track (and hopefully she will attempt to out-frugal me again next month - right Dani?) so I'm going to challenge myself (and Matt) to spend less than $250 for the entire month of March. Our weekly average throughout this entire challenge so far has been $115.05, so we'll have to cut our spending in half to meet the goal. It will be tough but we can do it! So, starting this next week I will be ultrafrugal and log how much we've used of the $250 each week.


Monday: $0

Tuesday: Superhero postage stamps - $7.80, Target (2 shampoos, 2 cereals, gum for Matt, nail polish, and lingerie laundry bag) - $11.33 (Not bad considering I used to spend $12 on just shampoo!) I really wanted nail polish too. I only packed a sexy, brooding, and mysterious burgundy, which is great for winter, but now that it's spring I don't want my toes to be brooding and mysterious anymore. ;-)

Wednesday: Chocolate milk - $1.00, Michael's (supplies for Lindsey's b-day gift, Dani's prize for last month, Evey's Easter gift, and Dani's bridal shower) - $14.52

Thursday: Matt's cigarettes ~ $5.00, Goodwill (work tee for Matt) - $1.99

Friday: $0

Saturday: Scharffen Berger chocolate - $10.24 - oops! REALLY good though!

Sunday: $0

Total = $51.88