No-Buy November and Potatoes

I signed up for a November challenge on my YNAB forum where I vowed not to purchase anything non-essential in November. This is timely for me and I think that food will probably be the biggest problem, especially snacks and convenience food. This all ties into potatoes, but we'll take about those a little later.

I plan to give it a real go though and test the limits of my own self-control. The reason why I am embarking on this journey is to do my best to continue to exercise my budgeting muscles and also to tie in well with a project I am carrying out.

I recently picked up the book SoulSpace again and I am going through the Assess phase where I write down every object I own and what feelings it gives me, or does not give me as the case maybe.

The goal is to de-clutter until your space is only filled with things that you love, things that inspire or things that are useful and you have neutral feelings for. I made this poster to keep me focused through-out the process.

I love Sharpies.

This process will definitely be made easier by not buying anything else (making a list of everything I own is already daunting). It also is a lot easier than it would have been before I de-cluttered hundreds of items earlier in the year, so I am thankful for that.

I aim to be finished with the Assess stage by the end of November and then move on to the Cleanse stage in December. During the Cleanse stage I will use my notes as a guide to say good bye to the things I need to part with in order to create space for the things that I really want to have around me. Wish me luck.

Now back to those potatoes. I had a craving for fries but since I knew my No-Buy November was right around the corner, I resisted the urge to just buy some ready-made.

Instead I bought some potatoes, diced them and boiled them just enough so they were cooked. I then pan-fried them until they were golden-brown after which I tossed them with some pink sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and dried cilantro.

I put the last of the pico de gallo next to it as well as a piece of smoked herring that I pan-fried as well. It was delicious and satisfied my craving a lot better than stopping at a fast food restaurant. Win! And it was a lot cheaper as well. Double Win!

Yum Yum Yum!