The Barter Project

Purging: Purging.

After completing my Survivor weeks, I decided I needed a break- a vacation from the project. I needed to stop cleaning, stop worrying about budgets and expenses and income, and relax. I’ve been going at this for a few months now, and I felt it important to take some time to let everything sink in. After all, I don’t want my life to be centered around not owning things and purposely living without (which I think is an easy thing to focus on when initially making life simple). 

The first thing I did, or was pushed to do, was take a vacation. My room mate called me from work last Friday and said “Hey, we’re going camping tomorrow on the Cape (Cape Cod).” I initially said yes, thinking she would never get a camping spot for the next day- especially the weekend before the 4th of July. Turns out she was able to, and with some kicking and fussing and her threatening to go with or without me, I went. She also made me promise to “Quit this living-like-a-monk-bullshit, and go out to some good restaurants with me. I want seafood damnit!” 

I went from spending money once a week for almost a month to traveling on a debit card. All we had was a $20 camp site, our bikes, and my rough knowledge of the area- we had no plans, no set destinations, hell, we didn’t even bring snacks or flashlights. I honestly resolved to leave the project behind for a weekend and let myself dip into my newfound savings for anything I needed. I was purging purging. 

I didn’t think about anything but the moment for the whole weekend. When I got back home, I emptied my pockets and took out my wallet before I showered off the 48-hours-of-beach feeling. I had taken $120 in cash, in an attempt to not use my debit card for the first day, and to my surprise I had $26 upon my return. I had spent an entire weekend on the Cape- including gas, food, and lodging- for under $100. 

In retrospect, it all makes perfect sense. The small changes I’ve consciously made have found their way into every nook and cranny of my life. It’s not that I don’t want to do things that cost money- I spent the majority of mine on two amazing dinners that weekend- I just don’t really find the time fillers enticing, and time fillers are the things that cost the most money. Instead of shopping, we went for hour long walks on the beach and played soccer in the sand until our toes hurt. We bought a loaf of bread and some peanut butter and made ourselves lunch both days because we were too busy to stop anywhere for food. We rode our bikes around Race Point instead of paying the $15 parking fee, and we built our tent and stayed up talking instead of sitting in front of a tv at a motel. Granted, we complained for an hour about the heat and wanting a/c, but we got over it and slept wonderfully. 

This week, I decided to put my simplification project on hold and realized that it was no longer a project, but the way I now live. In making a conscious effort to step away from it, I learned more than I had in previous weeks of diligent simplicity and purging. If you’re ever feeling stuck, or like you’ve hit a plateau with any sort of initiative you’ve set out on- take a step back. Switch things up, forget it for a while, and hit refresh. The world won’t stop spinning, and you’ll probably realize you’re a lot better off than you thought you were.