Trying to be frugal is sometimes so hard

I really want to be frugal and simple and move to the country and have a wood stove and a garden and a stream and build our own house and sit around and knit and tell stories and go on walks and chop wood and . . .

And then I remember - you know what, I don't even know how to knit (it's on my list, but I haven't gotten to it yet.)

I love the idea of self-sufficiency and simple living. I do. And the fact that we are far from rich makes the need to be frugal even greater.

But some days, I just want to buy something new just because it is pretty. Or most often, I want to buy some learning materials or something to help with our self-sufficiency (like a wheat grinder. Or that house in the country.) but we don't have the money to do it.

And I get frustrated. And annoyed. Especially when it doesn't seem fair (of course, like I tell the rest of the crew, life isn't fair very often).

But then I look around me and realize that my house is full of things. Some that I love and am glad that we used our hard earned money for, but many that I do not. Many of the things in our house I bought because I just thought I needed it, or worse, because I was bored and felt like I "deserved" to get something. I would usually try and justify my spending by saying "Well, it isn't like I was buying it for myself. It is for the kids/house/learning room, etc. And it was only X dollars." But if you took all of those X dollars over the years, I would have a lot more money now - money that could have been saved, and money that could have been used much more wisely.

Thoreau had a bed, a desk and a chair in his cabin. Now, I am sure that my family would revolt if I got THAT simple on them, but we could do so much better in terms of simplifying.

My goal for the month of September is to try and record all of our purchases. I'm hopeful that writing it down will help me be more intentional about my spending.

And I'm going to try and learn to knit this month too.