The Dismal Failure of Month 6

Friends... I've been very, very naughty with this month's challenge.

It wraps up today for me, as I was two weeks behind the Council due to some travels. So while they've been done with it, I've been plugging along, keeping track of my failures. Not even kidding, that's how this challenge has gone and I wasn't even expecting it to be that bad!

The goal was to cut my spending down to only 7 places for 4 weeks. For me those places were Sprouts, Aldi's, Atwoods, Bill Pay, Medical, the Sinclair on Highway 9, and my milk & egg lady. Everything I 'needed' would be in those 7 places, right?

Wrong.

I'm sitting tight at more than double that. And some of them have been repeat offenses. I'm horrible!

I will say that being on some type of restriction has actually stopped me from a couple of purchases. I had no idea how hard this one was going to be, honestly. I can put off any purchases for 4 weeks, surely. But really now... sales only last for  few days! And end-of-season sales only last as long as the stock does. So those cute swimsuits that were 80% off? Yeah... they're long gone. *sigh*

This month has done a lot to open my eyes to how much '7' has not changed me. Part of it is seasonal and or situational... as summer wraps up and fall comes into sight I get an itch to update my wardrobe. Hello, Jessica? Do we need to revisit the 'Clothes Challenge'? Several of the occasions of spending in undesignated locations can be blamed on the little guy growing inside right now. I just couldn't make it home without a snack! Seriously... I've been contemplating revisiting the food month as soon as this crazy hectic fair season wraps up.

But at the center of those instances I noticed the greed within my own heart. I'm still accustomed to having what I want and sometimes calling those things needs. I'm still influenced by the advertisement campaigns that work so hard to tell me what my life is supposed to look like, what I am supposed to look like, and what sounds good to eat. I'm still struggling against this innate nature of consuming and collecting called materialism.

As I wrap up this month and move into the final challenge I'm going to have to carefully consider how to make this an ongoing thing. One month of one year of my life isn't going to cut it, and I need to not give up this fight thinking it will.