Inspiration for my financial diet from Seth Godin.

As each day of my spending freeze passes, it's getting easier to walk by stores promising delightful new Spring looks and to delete the emails from Nordstrom touting flats for under $50. When you simply don't allow yourself something--when the option is removed completely from the table--the temptation seems to wane. It's living life in moderation that gets tricky--the constant question of how much is too much and what's really moderate after all. The lines blur, boundaries get stretched, and next thing you know you've ordered a Dior purse online because it was, after all 27% off original retail value.

Though life as an acetic is going fairly well, it's always nice to receive affirmation of your intentions. So it was great to get Seth Godin's daily email today that spoke to our society's wastefulness and misguided focus on material goods. It spoke directly to my plight and has inspired me for the next round of my spending free journey...

The reason you have a front lawn? It's a tradition. Lawns were invented as a way for the landed gentry to demonstrate that they could afford to waste land. By taking the land away from the grazing sheep, they were sending a message to their neighbors. We're rich, we can happily waste the opportunity to make a few bucks from our front lawn....

Rich people will always indulge the desire to stand out, but I wonder if there's a new version:

Spending on and investing in time, not stuff.