Category: Just me being me

It’s been quite a while since I did a ‘no buy’ or ‘low buy’ month with purpose. The last time I wrote about it on the blog was 2018, where I also popped off a bit about the idea that my husband is the boss of me and our money (I actually still very much enjoy this blog post, so here it is: How Much My Husband Allows Me To Spend on Clothing & No Buy July).

Anywho. This time we are doing a “Low Buy July” as a family for a few reasons. First of all, my husband’s job has been impacted by the Port of Baltimore tragedy, so there have been weeks with very low work as the supply chain is switching back from the Norfolk port to the Baltimore port. Since we are a two-income household, this means that we need to tighten up our spending. The second big impact is that our son broke his arm a couple weeks ago and the emergency room/emergency surgery bills are around the bend.

Not that you need a stampede of bills coming in order to decide to cut back a bit. And I do realize how extremely fortunate we are when many (if not all) families are struggling with the rising cost of everything right now.

If you also want to participate in a Low Buy July, please feel free to join in with me.

I was going to write out my list of rules here, but honestly everyone’s rules will be different. While we are not going on a full spending freeze, we are taking a closer look at wants and needs throughout the month.

Also, we each have our own trigger stores that we are planning to avoid. For me, it’s TJ Maxx/Marshalls/Homegoods. For my husband it’s Walmart and Home Depot. And for Jack, it’s Target. These stores just suck the money right out of our wallets, so we figure it’s just easier to avoid them all together as much as possible. Thrifting is still allowed for my mental sanity. Because I’m not really spending a bunch of money there anyways.

We are all also going to try to just use what we have before getting any new stuff. This includes beauty products/toiletries/etc when they run out, food in the fridge/freezer/pantry, and of course restyling clothing we already own (okay, this one’s just for me) rather than hitting up the Anthropologie ‘sale on sale’ they have each summer. Any ‘wants’ will be added into my Notes app to look at in August and we will see then if we still want each item, or if the desire has passed. I also already went ahead and paused a couple of our non-essential subscriptions.

So yeah, we aren’t going into full money lockdown mode, but more of a bit of a palate cleanser for the month. And hopefully, as those hospital bills trickle in we can get them paid off ASAP… and look forward to our next vacation!

Last week is a blur.

I had been looking forward to the week where our kiddo attends overnight school for pretty much a year. It’s something required for all 6^th graders in our school system – a week of camp/overnight school that centers on environmental science and team building. I was excited for Jack to participate AND excited to have a week where Travis and I could spend time together and go on a couple date nights.

As it turns out, I dropped Jack at school on Monday morning… and came down with the worst flu of my life a few hours later.

I told my boss I was going to lie down at lunchtime, because I wasn’t feeling so well… and when my alarm rang, I couldn’t get back out of bed.

Fever, chills, body aches and fatigue hit me like a truck.

I basically spent the next 20 hours sleeping on and off. I only left bed to use the bathroom and let the dog outside, so he could also use the bathroom.

Oh, and my husband was stuck a few states away when a train broke down for 5 hours, blocking the way he needed to go for a delivery.

Where I typically feel better within a day or two, this version of the flu was extra hellish with the fever and chills revisiting again and again. I was sick all week long, to the point where I was taking a nap every single day as soon as I’d shut down my work computer.

It’s been a week, and I still have a gross cough, no appetite, body aches and allover weakness.

This flu is no joke. And apparently, from what I hear, it’s going around. So, here are a couple things that helped me in case you or someone you love also gets it:

• Prescription Cough Medicine. I finally broke down and let Travis take me to the Patient First on Thursday. They weren’t able to do much for me, but they did give me a prescription cough medicine that actually works.
• Ibuprofen, not Acetaminophen. If I need to take something, I’ll typically grab Tylenol. The doctor on call said that ibuprofen is better for this kind of flu, due to how it treats inflammation.
• Vitamin Water. I had absolutely no appetite for the first 5 days and only now am able to eat small portions. Basically, the only thing I was putting in my body was Vitamin Water and it tasted like the best thing in the world. Whether it be regular water, vitamin water, electrolytes, Gatorade or whatever, just have something on hand that you enjoy drinking since food is no longer your friend.
• A Heating Pad. The chills were intense and lasted for days. In order to relax, I cuddled up with a heating pad to keep myself from shaking. Please note: it is dangerous to sleep with a heating pad because you can burn yourself. A better option is a hot water bottle or a warm snuggly dog (thanks Ollie for your service).
• Wash Your Hands and Stay Home. I washed my hands a billion times and thankfully I was able to telework all week and didn’t leave the house. If you can, please, please, please stay home. You don’t want to run yourself down and get sicker and you don’t want to spread this mutant flu to anyone else. According to the doctor I saw, you should remain home for at least 24-48 hours after your fever breaks and while you have active symptoms.

Jack’s back home now (and survived overnight school), and I’m finally starting to see signs of improvement. I’m really bummed to have missed out on our ‘date week’, but honestly having just myself to take care of was a gift.

I don’t know if it’s due to the holiday season or some recent online gift purchases… but I feel like I am buried in sales emails lately. I’ve found myself hitting delete, delete, delete multiple times a day. So, I set aside 5-10 minutes and had myself an Unsubscribe session.

It’s easy. Just go through the ‘trash’ in your various email boxes and pull up any emails that you really never want to get again. Scroll down to the bottom to find the unsubscribe button they’ve hidden in the small print… and hit unsubscribe. That’s it. BOOM. Check something off your list because you accomplished your goal.

When I did this a couple years ago, my daily influx of junky emails dropped significantly. So, I’m excited to go into the new year with less distracting crap to deal with!