Lenten sacrifices = saving money
PF Advice had a blog post in January about saving $1000 by drinking water.
Every year for Lent I give up soda. I’m not much of an observant Catholic, nor much of a Catholic at all, but I did latch onto the idea of giving up soda while in college. I really like soda. I don’t know that I could give it up for the rest of my life. I like Coke, 7-Up, orange/grape/black cherry soda, ginger ale, root beer, sasparilla, etc. Frank’s Black Cherry Wishniak is my all time favorite. Boylan’s Black Cherry is the best substitute so far. Levi’s Champ Cherry is a sentimental favorite and I’ll have Jones Diet Black Cherry because it’s tolerable for diet drinks, but I digress.
Now that you’ve seen how much I love a good cherry soda, you can see that this sacrifice is a big deal for me. I would rather drink a warm Coca-Cola at the office in the morning instead of the office kitchenette coffee. It tastes so much better. But it costs me $1 per 20oz bottle in the vending machine at work.
If I save up all those dollars, I’d have some serious money. But to get myself on track, I have to hit the proverbial reset button every year when Lent begins.
I’ve done this on and off since about 1994 or 1995. I think for 2006, I should save a dollar a day in a piggy bank or a few dollars a day. In fact, I should go buy one soon or ask a potter friend to make one up for me. I am bad at saving money. I need the one-way directional flow of a clay bank to make me save. Because of this, I have decided to add a saving money component to my Lenten sacrifice this year. I was deciding on this or halving my credit card debt. Either one would be quite nice.
So off I go to make myself a shoebox with a slit in the top. I will decorate it with pictures of the things I covet. I can only hope to be blessed with some money at the end of Lent which will go into the bank. I’ll be reposting here during Holy Week, i.e. that span between Palm Sunday and Easter with the total amount saved and then add it to my Save-O-Meter.
Jose Anes wrote:
Good idea! I am on some kind of money diet to raise up money to pay up the taxes in April
I guess Capital Gains are not Uncle Sams friends.
Money And Investing
Posted on 25-Feb-06 at 4:25 pm | Permalink
Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge / Lenten Sacrifice 2007 wrote:
[…] Last year I wrote about what a lousy Catholic I am, but I do keep Lent. I’ve been really busy this year due to Daylight Savings Time changes this year. I’ve had a lot of upgrades scheduled midweek at odd hours, etc. It’s why I never posted yesterday. (BTW, you guys in the PF Blog world do know about this right? Your computers are all fixed?) […]
Posted on 21-Feb-07 at 2:33 am | Permalink