Taking on The Financial Fast

I got an e-mail this morning from my mother (who I tend to get all my amazing ideas from.) The e-mail was titled " "Financial Fast" and inside all it contained was "do you think you can do it? ;-) ". Hm, is this a challenge? If so, I take it!

Classic me, jumping into something two feet first before I even start to research it. Well, upon clicking on the link that was also included in the e-mail I read what the financial fast is. I'll do a quick summary of it, and I'll include the link here so you can read up on it yourself if you'd like.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123103495.html

The Financial Fast Summary

1. It last 21 days

2. During this fast, you will not shop or use your credit cards.
*By not shopping they mean you must refrain from buying anything that is not a necessity.
*And by necessity, I mean the bare essentials, such as food and medicine.

3. You will refrain from going to the mall or retail stores. Even window shopping is off-limits.
No restaurant meals -- fast food or otherwise. This includes buying breakfast or lunch at work. You can't stop for coffee. Make it at home instead!

4. If any parties are planned within these 3 weeks you are not allowed to buy gifts. You are allowed to make home made gifts if you already own the products needed to make the gift, but no buying for presents! You may not tell the person who the gift is for that you will give them a gift later either.

This is only the first part...

5. The second part of this is stopping your use of plastic. That means no credit or debit card use. They say in the article that people tend to think they are spending less money when they use plastic.

So... This is my challenge. I'm going to keep a blog of this because as this fast alone will probably be much more challenging that it seems I am also going to be completely "de-cluttering" my life starting with my house! I'm going to be selling or giving away all of my things that are unneeded and I'm going to be saving and putting back all that I earn from this. I was to see how much junk I really carry around with me physically, mentally, and emotionally and this is just the beginning of my journey.

Well, that's enough for tonight. Tomorrow should be an interesting day and hopefully a great start to the next chapter of my life! Goodnight to all!