No-Spending October

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In January I was horrified at the state of my apartment. There was too much stuff. I made a conscious decision to buy nothing that wasn't immediately useful and to clear out all the things that had accumulated over the holiday season. I loved my no-spending January, and followed it with low-spending February.  I did well until my health issues began in April and both no-spending and decluttering went on the back burner to focus on surgery and recovery.

I am still in a recovery mode -- I will be seeing a rehabilitation physician in two weeks -- but I am back to working full-time and being much less conscious of how I spend money. Though my thoughts in the summer were very much turned to retiring from my job, in the last few weeks I've put those thoughts aside for the next few months and plan to work indefinitely. As I get back to a much more routine life I've also thought of another no-spending month, especially to get my apartment neater and more organized before Thanksgiving, Chanukah and Christmas.

My only planned purchase for this month is a new printer cartridge. I do want to have one of my winter jackets spruced up -- it's missing a snap and needs cleaning -- but that saves the price of a new jacket. My boots are good from two years ago and I bought new shoes in the summer. I have shampoo, toothpaste and dish soap and if I run out of conditioner, it's time to use the samples I've accumulated.

My goals -- I'm going to prune a dozen books from my library, donate two bags of clothes and shred two bags of paper. I also want to once again go through drawers and closet and find what's no longer wearable. There's nothing like public accountability and I will report back here on my efforts on November 1.

I'm taking the motto at the top of this post as my motto for the month and focus in many ways on what's important. Hugs and good wishes, dear friends, for October!