I know this is the second post of the day. I have had a lot on my mind that I thought I would share.

I had a conversation with Will about the reasons why we decided to do this challenge. The original blog that I read did the challenge because they wanted to live 30 days without consumerism. They were haunted by the way some people lived. Here is a quote from their blog...Today, across the world, 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day; 3 billion live on under two dollars a day; 1.3 billion have no access to clean water; 3 billion have no access to sanitation; 2 billion have no access to electricity.1

This was the first blog that inspired me to do this experiment. I wanted to do this challenge for a few reasons.

1. I want to show our kids and ourselves how good we have it. We have no idea what it would be like to not have water, electricity, or food to eat. Not that this challenge is going to give us any idea but it will teach us to be a little more grateful. We aren't really living the life of these poor people but it does show us how much we spend on nonessential things.
2. I like the idea of being a little more "green". Using less water, recycling, reducing our energy cost. Hopefully what we learn and do now become habits that we continue to do.
3. Obviously money has a factor in this challenge as well. We are definitely going to be saving some money. Do we have big plans for what to do with the money we save? No, not really.
4. I am hoping this challenge gives us something new to talk about as a family both now and later. I am hoping it is something we will remember later on and share with other people.

Anyway, just thought I would clarify with everyone why we decided to do this. If not for you then at least for ourselves.