Sorry for two posts at once but I’m new to this blogging thing and could NOT figure another way to do it.
I am super excited about this post!
The story goes that I was watching Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday last weekend where she was interviewing Anne Lamott, author of Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. It’s my next book for sure, however, I’m going to get the audio version, so I can listen when I’m traveling. Anyway, Oprah was talking with Anne about living in India and how different it is. They were talking about families of 5 or 7 living in one room, ONE ROOM. I look at my 4 bedroom 4 bath place and think, this is ridiculous, who needs all this space? It makes me want to downsize…..
I picked the girls up at school the following day and they wanted to know what I was making for dinner. I said, we could have Tacos, one said, “No! I don’t want tacos.” Okay, we could have a big salad with hard boiled eggs and loads of veggies. “I’m too hungry for that” was the next comment. My oldest then says ” I know Mommy, let’s go to Publix and get some fish and you can make that lemon fish that I love. ” THEN IT HIT ME….THEY NEVER THINK ABOUT USING WHAT WE HAVE, THEY ONLY THINK ABOUT WHAT THEY WANT RIGHT NOW.
I said to my spoiled, instant gratification loving, American children , “Girls, we have an entire pantry, a huge pull out drawer, a freezer and a refrigerator absolutely FILLED with quinoa, pasta, cereal nuts, nut butters, oils rice, vegetables, fruits, canned goods and spices. We could probably live off of what we have for months, literally months, without starving to death. Now , realistically, we couldn’t go months but I know for a fact that we could do one week. If we don’t do it, I can promise you that something we spent money on, will expire and end up in the trash.
So, that’s my challenge, ONE WEEK LIVING OFF WHAT YOU HAVE RIGHT NOW. Now, this means you can’t go to the store and stock up before you start the week, duh, I’m saying wait until grocery day and then spend 7 days using up what you have. My only concern is milk and bread because I’m low on it and not sure we can get through without milk! Okay, we CAN, we can get through without milk, without juice! What a great lesson for my kids and for me, on just how much we really have.
Here’s a picture of my pantry ….It’s a crazy mess and I am really putting myself out there showing you this!
My promise to you is that next week Wednesday, I will take another photo and show you what it looks like after one week of not buying anything. If it’s not too, too empty, I might do another week! I might also save $200 at the store, right? I’m thinking that I might even come up with some really fun, new recipe that I would’ve never thought of.
If this works, I might make it a once a month challenge.
Okay, here’s my fridge, again, I can’t believe I’m showing you my MESS!!
s
That’s it, that’s the challenge, I hope you will take it at some point soon either to save money, clean out your junk OR teach your kids a great lesson…I am taking this challenge and I will update you in one week on my children and their reaction to it, as well as updated photos to show you what we’ve accomplished.
Here’s the official challenge! Click on this for the link!
Wish me luck!