Over the last five months, I have not written too much about the details of daily life and the 100 Thing Challenge. Gotta have something for the book!
It's more than that, though. I have tried to be honest over this whole experience. One feeling I have expressed before and will admit again: I have never been sure that the 100 Thing Challenge will "work." In fact, the success of the 100 Thing Challenge has morphed over the months since it has become popular. Maybe it's best to say, what constitutes success for the 100 Thing Challenge continues to morph. Many people are bringing many different ideas and goals to the project, too many for me to keep up with, though I am really excited to try! I love how many people are adding thoughtful experiences and reflections to the 100 Thing Challenge.
But what has the 100 Thing Challenge done for me? I can say that it has changed some behavior. Mine and my family's. And no, it is not only because of the recession. The truth is that we are financially better off than we've been in about five years. Not rich. But no longer in debt the way we have been in the past. And even when we carried debt, we spent like good American consumers anyway. Even during our own personal recession and financial hard times in the past, we still spent.
No, the recession isn't doing it. I think the 100 Thing Challenge has actually kicked in a little bit. Just the other week we had the opportunity to have a kid-free night on account of a sleepover at grandma's, and instead of Leanne and I charging a hotel room and swanky dinner, like we've done in the past, we ate a nice but-not-too-expensive dinner and slept at home. We've agreed not to overspend on vacations this summer, if we take one at all. Aside from some new clothes for the kids and a thing or two for me and my wife, we've not really bought anything this year.
There's more to see in terms of what happens as a result of the 100 Thing Challenge. Right now, though, I would say that the results are showing that our consuming behavior is changing. We are not biding our time till the economy picks up. We are starting to not participate in the over-consumptive economy at all.
Dave, Congrats. I'm glad to hear that things are going well. Is your plan to continue this for life or for a period of time?
Teresa
Posted by: Sailing Simplicity | April 23, 2009 at 05:19 PM
Hey Teresa. Noticed you started blogging again... and cooking, right?
The "official" 100TC time frame is till this November. But I'm never going back to a live of over-consumption. More on that over time.
Posted by: Dave Bruno | April 23, 2009 at 06:24 PM
It looks like you've figured out the meaning of "enough". Nice job.
Posted by: Corporate Barbarian | April 24, 2009 at 09:39 AM
As a last for today, this post made me think.
I've been a believer in the 100TC "working" (or "working out") from the beginning, and yes, I do think "not participating in the culture of over-consumption" is certainly a good thing. However, what I'm left wondering about is - how do you now find yourself thinking about the question "what type of consumption is the good kind"?
In other words - eating at a restaurant hardly "consumes" much more than eating at home, and sleeping over at a hotel might not be too bad either. Both are services that employ real people, giving them jobs, and sharing the economic (and, I'd be willing to contend, real) well-being.
So, in sum, it would be nice to read some of your current thoughts on "how to consume (use money) good", or "what kind of consumption (use of money) can be beneficial, i.e. 'producing' shared well-being instead of 'consuming' (in the literal sense)".
(I do realise this is probably also something for your book, but never-the-less, I'm interested in these themes. :-)
Posted by: Somebody | May 07, 2009 at 09:20 AM
Good nudge. I'll work on some of this for the blog, even as I wrestle ideas into the book.
Posted by: Dave Bruno | May 07, 2009 at 09:48 AM