Wednesday, January 20, 2016

January Spending Freeze, Day 17: Rainbow sprinkles


On Sunday the 17th, day 17 of our official spending freeze, I was ordained and installed as an elder at our church.  I'm very excited about serving on session!  After church we had a potluck luncheon, so I made gluten-free cupcakes.  I actually made these the day before, along with some brownies.  We packed them up and carried them out to our van that evening so we wouldn't be scrambling on Sunday morning.  We arrived to church on time and much more relaxed than usual.

In this process I realized two things.  First, we have so much more time than we realize.  Most of our Saturdays are spent shopping for one thing or another.  We go to yard sales, or thrift shops, or maybe decide to run to Lowe's and pick up a few things for a home improvement project.  Without any of that, we had plenty of time to be lazy for a while and get some things done on our Saturday.

Also, I noticed once again--and I hope the kids will, too--that a spending freeze doesn't have to be completely austere.  We have so many wonderful things we can already enjoy.  Board games we haven't gotten around to playing, favorite movies we haven't watched in forever, cake mix we were saving for just such an occasion, and of course, sprinkles.  

A spending freeze is a great way to simplify, relax, and rediscover the little joys you might have forgotten in your life.

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