Say what? My kid is nine? How am I old enough for that?

So, my biggest little turned nine a week ago today, but that’s not the point of this post.

Celebrating a birthday is really fun and I love giving gifts, but it’s really hard to give gifts when I’m not spending money. I had already purchased a few gifts before September started and had planned to buy specific gifts just before Miss B’s birthday, so that she wouldn’t find them ahead of time. So, while I was grocery shopping at Walmart a couple weeks ago, I slipped into the toy aisle and picked up the Tangled themed Lego set that my girlie was hoping for. As I picked it up, it felt wrong. I felt like I was cheating. This was a $50 Lego set that I was choosing to buy right at the beginning of my year-long challenge. What was I thinking?

My boy-child (aka G-Man) turned 6 in August and received lots of wonderful presents from us and I couldn’t bring myself to tell Miss B that she wouldn’t be similarly showered with gifts, just because I chose to stop spending money. So, at the beginning of the month, we explained our lack of income to the kids and warned them of our budget cuts and some of the changes we would be making, but I also assured my sweet almost 9-year-old that she would have a regular birthday this year. Little do they know that at their next birthdays they’re getting nothing. We’ll have to ease them into that idea.

So, on top of the Lego, we gave B the new Cinderella movie (a semi-impulse buy at Costco, which I justified because it was for my girl’s birthday), an appliquéd shirt (a family tradition, also, the shirt was second-hand), 2 shirts from a second hand store (See!?! I’m learning!) and a set of markers for school (but I made them a gift because they aren’t really a necessity).

Did I buy too much? I’m not a good judge of my own spending. That’s why I’ve cut myself off from regular spending.

So, last Monday was just another little (justified?) blip on the spending radar. I won’t let it happen again.