(this post is part of an aborted 1 year experiment in material abstinence I called The Necessary Year)
Here are some interesting questions from one “Ms Sunshine”:
Since you took it a step further and seriously rationed your coffee and food, have you also curtailed your driving (i.e., only going to grocery store on way home from work, no joyrides, etc.)?
Yes. I’ve a couple of long trips of questionable necessity coming up and have been doing some thinking about how to minimize the driving and other expenses that are typically entailed. I think I have the Seattle trip fairly well whittled down but, due to scheduling constraints, the one to Aberdeen is proving stubborn.
What about B-day and X-Mas gifts? Do you have agreed-upon plan with your nearest and dearest to fuggedabout the presents for a year?
You know, I’ve thought quite a bit about this. For the moment I am giving away things of my own but I also intend to make cards and gifts with supplies that I have accumulated over the years. “Crafty,” eh?
Are you also cutting back on utilities (timed showers, uncomfortable temp set for furnace/ac)?
This is a little trickier as I don’t live alone and my house-mates tend to be the opposite of economically conscious. I expect to be living alone soon, however, and at that point, yes, I will be employing various methods of economy, which I will detail at that time.
I have been a shower conservative for years, however. I don’t time myself but I do follow a pretty strict routine of wetting myself down, shutting off the shower to soap and shampers up, a quick rinse, and out I go – I would guess that the whole process takes about 7 minutes. Only occasionally will I luxuriate under a stream of steaming water – if I am feeling ill, for example.
What about yearly dental checkups and bendoverandcough? Assuming you have health insurance, do you plan on blowing these off and saving the co-pays?
I have not afforded myself the benefit of a physician or dentist for some time, fool that I am. I realize that I need to do so but had yet to think about this sort of thing in the context of The Necessary Year. Given what we are talking about, I don’t know that economizing would necessarily play into my best interests. On the other hand, I will tell you that, despite numerous good reasons to do so, I have absolutely no plans to engage in elective surgery. Promise.
If you won the effin lottery tomorrow (although I assume this plan excludes buying lotto tickets), would you still carry this out?
We can rule out lottery as it is one of those things that I wouldn’t do in any case but, for the sake of argument: Absolutely. With greater vigor, in fact. It would be a thrill to be able to attempt The Necessary Year under those conditions.
To look at it in a more realistic light: as with most folks, I always keep my fingers crossed that I will stumble into the opportunity to afford myself a pay raise of some sort – should I succeed tomorrow it would in no way impinge upon The Necessary Year.
Alas, I am a realist and thus fear that my challenge to hew to the boundaries of The Necessary Year will be much easier – and thus quite a bit more mundane – than I might like.
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The End of the Tea
I finally ran out of my evening tea last night.
The plus is that the last of the things I’d ordered before starting The Necessary Year came in this week as well.
The upshot being that I enjoyed my last cup of tea while watching my last new dvd of the year: Frank Zappa’s “The Torture Never Stops”.
Apropos?
