New Year, new challenge

I have kind of fallen off the yoga bandwagon in the past month - not entirely, but I'm certainly not as dedicated as I was when I was doing the challenge. I blame December, with all its crazy busy-ness and lack of routine. But I have kept up with my spinning, and I did a 60-minute Spynga class on Dec 31st, and a 90-minute class on Jan 1st, and I got up early yesterday to do a home session, so I'm not off the mat entirely. I'll get it back.

And I have also decided on a new 30-day challenge: no unnecessary spending. I tend to go through money like water, especially at this time of year with so much Christmas spending going on. (One present for DD, one for me. One present for DS, one for me. And so on.) My debt load is pretty manageable, so I'm not too worried about that, but I really think I could do better when it comes to buying things. So, here we go: 30 days of no unnecessary spending, starting tomorrow. (I would start today, but I just bought myself a book I've been wanting, as a way of tiding myself over!)

Of course, this all depends on my definition of "necessary," and history has shown that I can be pretty liberal with that one when it suits me. :) So I'm going to lay out the rules beforehand.

First, the easy ones:

100% Necessary (buy as needed):
~Food from the grocery store
~Diapers, wipes, formula for the baby
~Yoga/Spinning classes (necessary for my mental and physical health. I just purchased a 10-class pack, so I should be okay for the duration of the challenge.)
~Medications for anyone in the family

0% Necessary (and therefore not allowed):
~Clothes, shoes, scarves, jewellery for myself
~Books or magazines for anyone in the family (including e-books)
~Toys for the children
~Yoga accessories (I have an unhealthy obsession with yoga mats, even though I don't actually want a new one. This will stop me from looking at them, and will free up some valuable brain space!)

And I have a third category for Planned Treats. These are things that are not strictly necessary, but which I buy a lot - and this is where the challenge really comes in. I don't think I will be able to eliminate these things entirely, but I should be able to cut down quite a lot.

~Starbucks. I love Starbucks. And I'm also lazy, so I am perfectly happy to buy a new coffee every day, rather than making it myself. So for this challenge, I will limit my coffee-and-cookie purchases to no more than twice a week. The rest of the time, I will make coffee at work or at home, and buy cookies from the grocery store.

~Lunch from the cafeteria, Tim Hortons, etc. I would love to be able to eliminate this entirely, but I don't think that's realistic. I'm working against a habit of almost a decade, of buying my lunch nearly every day. Honestly, I would say I bring my lunch from home no more than a couple of times a month. It's unhealthy and it's expensive, but like I said. I'm lazy. So I don't think I can quit cold turkey - that's more of a challenge than I'm up for right now.

So I will limit my lunch purchases to three times a week, and bring lunch from home at least twice a week. This may not sound like a lot, but it is a big improvement from what I've been doing. Once the thirty days is up, I will re-evaluate and try to bump it up even more.

And like before, I will blog about it at least once a week. Mostly to keep myself honest, but also as a way of thinking about and working through any issues or hurdles that come up.