Our little one turned two this weekend. TWO. I was an emotional mess, a cross between very happy that I had a sweet, healthy, happy two year old and very sad that my baby is no longer a baby. I kept envisioning him heading off to university which would results in pools of tears welling up in my eyes. Drama queen? Just a tad.
I don’t even remember how long ago it was when I set up my first bank account. It was years ago and I did so with the help of my dad at one of the big 5 Canadian banks. I still have that account today and have relied on it ever since. But why should I?
A couple weeks ago, we tallied up our expenses for the beginning of April to track our progress in our No-Spend challenge. We had an average spend rate of $18/day and 4 no-spend days. Not bad. We patted ourselves on the back. The last two weeks saw a shift in our spending habits and we found ourselves taking out our wallets more often. We spent an additional $925, bringing the monthly total spend on un-necessities and variable expenses (i.e. ones which we have control over on a monthly basis) to $1199 for the month with 13 no-spend days over a span of 30 days.
I signed up for a 5K run earlier this year. I’m not quite sure what possessed me to do so, but I thought it’d be fun; I even convinced friends and family to join me. Some family, namely my sister, laughed at me, repeatedly reminding me that I haven’t run since…well, playing tag in grade school? She is right; I don’t even own a pair of running shoes. In my defence, it was January at the time and I was certain that I would be in shape by the time May rolled around- five months later. Suffice it to say, I clearly haven’t started training for the 5K. Chalk it up to the delusional thinking of a grade A procrastinator.
Our trip to Brazil is fast approaching; we had the friends we’re going with over yesterday to go over our plans. We got around to talking about what to pack, more specifically, what backpacks to bring. Daniel and I want to avoid checking in any luggage. We intend on carrying two weeks of clothes in a pair of backpacks that are small enough to meet standard airline carry-on dimensions. Problem is that neither of us have such packs. We would need to buy them.
On the topic of things to buy for the trip, we got to thinking: don’t we need to replace our DSLR camera strap? A second headlamp? More stuff sacks? Don’t I need a new bathing suit? Beach cover-up? Flip flops? All of a sudden we’ve come up with a whole bunch of items we “need” to buy for our trip. This is, alas, the Diderot Effect.
Truth be told, there are some things that we really do need- for example, after having just recently thrown out half a dozen pairs of holey and/or uncomfortable walking shoes, my remaining collection of leather boots and high heels won’t be conducive to hiking. There are, of course, also many things I don’t need- like a third swimsuit. I’d like to say we’ll only stick to the needs and forego the wants, but for us, that’s easier said than done.