this summer we ate all our meals at camp, and since we only had one day off a week, we often ordered in. it had been a loooong time since we were in the regular habit of cooking for ourselves, so the 30 days of nothing was a big adjustment!
it was great to return to cooking, which we both love to do. we experimented with lots of new recipes, shopped the farmer's market, and ate out of our freezer and pantry. it was a very healthy month, in addition to being a frugal one.
i'm not typically a big shopper, so the thing i missed most was stopping for a quick bite while i was away from home; there were lots of long, hungry car rides that i wished i'd planned ahead better!
we officially took a "break" while we were on vacation, but even there the disciplines carried over. we brought snacks so as not to buy much on the road, cooked meals, and window shopped. of course we spent money and enjoyed some meals in restaurants, but we were decidedly conservative on the whole.
it was good to grow in the discipline of carefully considering every purchase and differentiating between needs and wants. it was also really powerful to be reminded that our money isn't really "ours" after all and to learn to be satisfied with what God has blessed us with.
to read more from other challenge participants, see owlhaven.
