Challenge Update

(Emily's Voice)

I realized today that we haven't written about how our challenge is going and whether or not we have been sticking to the rules. So, let me update you a little bit.

Most of the rules were put in place to allow us to have some freedom as we go about our daily lives and so it hasn't really been that hard to follow them! We have both cheated - Matt with buying a book about basketball and me buying a pair of running tights in anticipation of the upcoming running season! But, Matt wanted to add a rule about spending money on sports and sport-related things (see post about dodgeball purchase) and so we have tried to justify these purchases.

About that: before Matt and I even started to think about this challenge, I would always get him to ask me to justify my purchases. I told him that I was only allowed to buy something if I could give him 3 reasons why I needed it - and they had to be 3 good reasons, not just "it's cute, I look great in it, and it's only $20." These are not good reasons. I found this to be an extremely effective tool to curb my shopping for unnecessary items (but it only really worked if Matt was with me during the purchasing)! I often could only come up with 1 good reason to buy something, and a lot of the time I couldn't come up with any reasons. Geez, I'm starting to make myself sound like I have a problem (shop-a-holic, much?).

On the bright side, we watched a show called "Hoarders" last night and it made me feel really good about how much I buy (which is not much) and what I am willing to part with. If you feel like grossing yourself out just look for it on youtube.

Part of our challenge has also been to raise awareness to our friends and family about global poverty and what we can all do to help (hence this blog). I think in this we have been very successful. This past Christmas we asked our family to take the money they would have spent on gifts and give it to the WFP. In my family there is a lot of resistance to this idea, just because gift-giving has always been such a huge part of our tradition. But, this year, they fulfilled our request and gave their money away (thanks again everyone)! This also opened up many opportunities for discussion, as well as the receipt of an interesting little book called "Scroogenomics," which touches on why we should not give gifts at Christmas.

Part of our success has also been in the completion of our "fistula fund." A few days ago I received the certificate pictured above in the mail. It now lives on our fridge and is a daily reminder of how a little money put in the right places can do a lot of good.

So, in short, the challenge has been going very well and we are having little successes every day. We don't feel like we are lacking ANYTHING, and we are going to be able to give the WFP a significant amount by the end of this year. Now, how am I going to justify buying the rats each a torture ball to roll around in?