Progress (if one can call it that) Report

Remember that self-imposed "no shopping" challenge I started a while back? I do. And I think I mostly succeeded. I went an entire two months without buying anything extraneous for myself. No clothes, accessories, trinkets, decorations, shoes, anything. I did buy Easter candy (I said that was my exception) and sugar crystals (sprinkles) because I was running out of them and was making cookies... but I didn't buy any Easter decorations. I didn't really even look at any. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to keep my mitts off needless stuff.
I know I said I wouldn't get any clothes for the kids, and I truthfully only got shirts to go under the girls' Easter dresses (that I'd previously purchased), plus I got a shirt at Target for Jane (under $4) that says Candy Girl. And a cute orange shirt that says Awesome! for Cora on the outlet mall excursion (also $4). And Oliver a 6-dollar one. It's a blue and white checkered dress shirt. He'd outgrown all but one of his church shirts. Then the girls needed new sandals because they'd worn out or grown out of last year's. I love hearing myself attempt to justify my every move and every purchase. I didn't get any new stuff for me! Isn't that a pretty astonishing accomplishment?
I was surprised that the less I shopped, the less desire I had for it. I had to make myself stay out of Target on a few occasions. Near the beginning of my hiatus I would go in there to get some random household need, like TP, and wander around to make sure there was nothing I wanted. I was trying to test my willpower. But as time has gone on I thought that was too torturous a thing to do to myself. So I haven't been in there since a few days before Easter. I think that may be a personal record for me! I LOVE TARGET! It's odd what a completely different experience it is to walk into Target rather than Shopko, Kmart or Walmart. Not that I go to those stores very often. It's for a reason. They are so lifeless and drab and . . . unlike Target! I really had no intention of going off on a Target tangent. Who am I kidding? I am almost always on a tangent and I can often be overheard talking about Target (likely to myself).

A week before I could legally ease out of my spending freeze I was faced with a HUGE decision. My sisters got this crazy idea to go to GLEE LIVE! in Phoenix. The show is in 3 weeks! I love Glee. The characters . . . the singing . . . Sue Sylvester. . .
My older sister (Erin) is obsessed with the show. She knows all the behind the scenes stuff and seems to know where each of the cast members are and what they are doing at any given moment. ;) She and my little sister (Megan) were discussing the topic of getting tickets to the show. A few hours later the deal was as good as sealed. Megan called me to see if I wanted to come along. I was pretty sure it wasn't going to pan out for me. Just for kicks, I asked Ryan (in apologetic sentence fragments) what he thought about me going. He didn't think it was a realistic request. It was so out of the blue. I didn't even know there was such thing as a Glee Live Tour until that day. My 93-year-old Grandpa lives minutes away from Phoenix. It might be the last time in this lifetime we get to see him. Ryan and I debated (okay, argued) for a few minutes while Megan waited for me to call back. I had to make the decision right then or they'd get tickets without me. So finally Ryan told me if I could look at our bank accounts and consider all our expenses over the next month and we could afford it, then I could go. I did -- and we could! I called Meg back and she said they waited and figured I wasn't going to go so they bought the tickets 4 minutes earlier. Luckily she was joking me.
Want to hear all my reasoning behind deciding to go? I didn't want to miss out!
Ryan mentioned the next day that had I not restricted my spending for the last two months then I might have blown my chance to go! That makes it all worth it. =)
My next dilemma... now that I've spent at least several months worth of my discretionary money on a trip, I probably can't justify buying a new outfit to wear to the show! OR CAN I?