Day 3: -11 is cold

I went outside for about 10 seconds just to see exactly how cold negative temps feel. It didn't feel too bad since the wind wasn't blowing where I was, but the sky was shimmering (sort of like a heat wave in reverse??) When I came inside, my legs were cold for five minutes, so apparently it was colder than it felt.

The weather has been a good teammate in my mindful spending challenge; however, it is making me a little stir crazy. Confession: despite my frugality, I get bored at home, and since there's only so many times one can go to the library in a week, I frequently engage in cheap retail therapy. I go to Goodwill like some people go to the mall. While sometimes I emerge empty handed, most times I find something that I didn't know I needed that I end up buying. Sometimes I choose well (the half dozen new drinking glasses I purchased for a quarter each right before breaking four of my existing ones in a row comes to mind) but other times I just buy cheap clutter that ended up being re-donated before long.

My mom has a multi-step process that she uses to determine whether or not to buy something, even at a thrift store. When she told me about it, I wondered "what's the big deal? Why not just spend the $2 and take the risk."

I see her wisdom now. It's not just the $2, it's the time and mental energy involved in purchasing, bringing it home, cleaning it up, finding a home for it, and (sometimes) dealing with the guilt of getting rid of it soon afterward.

One of my good purchases which has gotten a lot of play lately

Today I've been thinking about perspective. I remember when I worked for a catalog company (back in the day when people placed orders over the telephone from paper catalogs) many people called post 9/11 and ordered their items sent next day. When I told them I was unable to ship airmail a lot of people were frustrated, until I reminded them that all planes were grounded. It's so easy to get caught up in my own world that I don't look at the bigger picture. No matter how stir crazy I get, I'm trying to stay mindful of those who have to be out today: emergency personnel, highway workers, and mail carriers (despite the motto, surely there is an exception today??)