Thank you so much, diapasoun, well-respected man, inkedup, Happier, and rosy! Your words of wisdom and encouragement mean so much to me! And for everyone who is staying strong - your strength inspires me!
The good, bad, and ugly:
DH offered me jewellery ($). I said no thanks.
He offered again, ($$$$), I said nope - jewellery challenge.
He offered again, for Mother's Day, ($$$$x4) and I said no thanks! Go me!
And then a week later, I said, ok YES. Because I am human and jewellery is my weakness and DH very seldom (if ever) wants to devote our shared monies to jewellery and I wanted to seize the opportunity while it was still there! And then DH said, oh - uhh, well that's a lot of money! Maybe we could just get something $$$$?
And so then I was upset, and we had discussions. Because I then felt like it was a disingenuous offer etc etc and who was he to tempt me anyways? Blah blah blah we eventually compromised with $$$$x2. So I chose something beautiful. I haven't received it yet, and I COULD return it, but I would lose probably around $300-500 due to shipping and duties fees. Probably not worth it. And FWIW the expenditure was a very small percentage of our income, we have savings, and it is for my first Mother's Day.
Other jewellery: my friend found that tiffany's bracelet for my bride friend - $125, pre-owned, worn only once, she was selling it because it was from her ex. The box and bag and bracelet were pristine! my friend even got it re-wrapped for me at Tiffany's! Why they were willing to do that, I'll never know. Anyways I'm pleased as punch to be giving my friend this bracelet (regular like $350+ tax) for an on-budget price (that's how much I wanted to spend on her shower gift) and given that my bride friend threw my bridal shower (Tiffany themed!) it's just the perfect gift. Yay!
Found a 10k gold ring for a different friend for $30 total (score!) for her 30th bday in the fall. We have a $30 budget set for each other for this bday, so that makes me happy.
Bought a ring I didn't have to (not great...) I think I will give it to a different bride friend for her shower - it is gold with aquamarine's so it could be her "something blue" and it was $20 so that's something I can live with. Giving it away will help me because part of this challenge for me is to stop accumulating!!!
I put a ring on layaway for myself. It was $300 and I *Love* it. It was a major break of my challenge and in part a result of the floodgates opening for a minute. It made me feel ok about SHOPPING and looking at places I normally don't.
How I'm going to plug the leak:
-focus on painting my nails instead of adorning them with rings! (Thanks Iowajes, I'm having trouble successfully responding our your PMs, I keep getting error message, but thank you so much for the nail polish shade ideas! I love them! And I'm really into the royals so Essie's ballet slipper pink interests me greatly).
-Strongly consider returning any rings I don't LOVE
-Focus on making it the rest of the year
-Celebrate the fact that I haven't bought any clothing this year. I have bought sunglasses, walking shoes, and a bridesmaid dress and bridesmaid shoes. All completely necessary purchases, as far as I'm concerned! And with the exception of the bridesmaid dress, none of them "clothing".
-I am also going to UNFOLLOW any jewellery accounts on my facebook and instagram (*cries*!). This is a big deal for me. Gah. Should be helpful though. And I will focus on unsubscribing from anything jewellery-related on all social media.
-Not read books about jewellery. The book "Brilliance and Fire" was AWESOME but way too "triggering".
Ok. Time to dole out stars. No star for me for May, but as for the rest of the year: bring it on!