So, here we are, at the end of our zen-like, enlightening journey to a state of no purchasing. Now, I that I have no need of money, I can devote myself to other things like world peace, etc.

Yeah, right.

This one is going in the failure bucket. I know, you want me to be like every other self help book out there that tells the story of some rich ass dot com person who gave it all up and moved to a farm to grow their own food. Well, good for them. For the rest of us, it isn’t really possible. My first problem was the wasps, and once I spent some money, it went downhill quickly.

The one great thing I learned is waiting a while after wanting to purchase something will get rid of about 75% of the stuff. I realized after a few days that I just didn’t need said item like I thought I did. Or, I fixed something that broke. Crazy, I know. But that is what this blog is all about. Booyah.

Damn bugs.

I had to go out and buy something. Wasp spray! I have a giant mess of them swarming all around building nests on the house and fence. So, I had to go get some spray. There goes my first buckaroos, 7 to be exact.

But other than that, I haven’t purchased anything but gasoline and food! No one is more amazed than I am. Someone did ask me to donate some money to a disease related charity, but I had to say no. Maybe next month.

Scoble had to go and mention that Asus 1000, damn him. Well, whatever, I can resist that. Now come May 1st, all bets are off.

So the first thing I realized is I buy coffee way more often than I thought. I thought maybe a few times a week, but it turns out to be more like a few times a day! You don’t realize how much your co-workers and friends are always going out for coffee. So, I had to make my own or go without. Maybe I should have done 30 days with no coffee this month as well.

Then I had my hedge trimmer break in the middle of spring cleanup around the country estate. What to do? Fix it? Not likely. Buy another one, you know the answer to that. So, I asked the neighbor to borrow one. Imagine that! Not only did I get to chit chat with the neighbor, but I didn’t have to spend any money. I also borrowed a power cord, since I ran over mine with the mower. You think it was just one of those days, but I think those days happen more often than you think and you only think about it when you can’t buy anything to help.

So far, so good, I think the weekends are my big spending days, so we shall see.

Total spent on stuff that isn’t food or gas: $0. Booyah.

What do a USB humping dog, a gorilla suit, and a new iPhone, updated every time another comes out have in common? They are all good examples of stuff I probably don’t need right now. But, yet, I own them all. Embarassing? Hell yes! Sometimes I wonder what the person in some other country is thinking while assembling the dog. I assume they know what country will import it and sell a bunch. So I decided to step back a bit. Most people in the world live on the change I use for coffee everyday so maybe I can lessen my spending. At least for 30 days.

Now, this is not going to go over well with the people who want the economy to get going again, when people save their money, it doesn’t help things. But maybe the economy should be based on stuff we actually need, that seems like it would be more stable. But, I’m not an expert and we all know how right experts usually are regarding the economy.

So for the next 30 days, the month of April, I will severely curtail my spending. But first, let’s get some ground rules down.

The first is to make a list of the things I have to use, no matter what. Now some of you may argue, but that’s too bad, this is for me and my situation.
The second is you don’t talk about… oh wait. that is something else, guess there is only one rule.

So here is my list of purchases that I will have to make:

• Food, this can only be the raw ingredients, no $6 coffee, common sense applies.
• Gas. Yes, I know you live somewhere that has great public transportation, I don’t. But I do get around 35mpg, so that isn’t too bad.

Hmmm.. Can that really be it? I’m sure I’ll remember what else I use everyday, but that is the point of all this. To get to know myself and my spending ways.