One Week of No Wallet–Spring Break Week of 2023

In addition to last week, the spring break week,  it has been four weeks that I did not do grocery shopping, and I still have plenty of food in my kitchen. Wow, the longest record that I hold off grocery shopping!  And these past three-four weeks are the most productive time!  I worked, walked, jogged, and blogged, not once driving out for shopping or other non-work related trips.  I can call this period a cave-hermit period, like a mystic who seeks truth by sitting in a cave for an extended period of time.   

As a single-person household, I shop once a month a Costco. As a result, my freezer is full of frozen vegetable mix, frozen meat, and fish; and there are canned tuna,  jars of artichoke,  a whole bag of raisins, a 3-pound bag of almonds, a 3-pound of walnut, many bags of legumes. In short, I have enough stock to last me perhaps at least two months without having to do grocery shopping. As such, I did not go grocery shopping for two weekends on end before Spring Break.

Last week was spring break. I  was off teaching. I am ready to break off this no-shopping no socialization ban.   I felt like driving north to shop at a Trader Joe’s for some sweet potatoes and browsing their house plant collections; however, I couldn’t find my wallet that keeps all more credit cards. Aha, I left it in one of the drawers of my work desk in the office. 

” I gotta drive to school in the middle of the week, perhaps Wednesday”, I thought to myself.

Then, Wednesday came; it was cold and windy. Checking the fridge, I still have two full bags of mixed vegetables from Costco; perhaps I do not need to shop at all. Let me try and see whether I could keep holding off shopping till I somewhat deplete my fridge and pantry.  This idea of experimenting and testing how long I myself can hold off shopping settled me into a week of productive routine.

For the whole week, I prepared the courses I am teaching this semester and will be teaching in the fall, revising papers of my own and with two other co-authors. When I got bored, I went to the small gym in my neighborhood for one-hour jogging.  Sometimes, the whole gym was mine; and a few times, I had one or two companions.    

I wrote two blogs when I felt like I needed to write something during the Spring break week:

Although that sense of inferiority has been long gone, writing about my parents’ way of making a living helps put things in perspective: I am a college professor in an adoptive country that speaks a drastically different language from my native one, while my parents had only a few years of education.  Despite the difference, both my parents (more my father) and I had to somewhat struggle to improve our skills and capabilities.  And, my parents raised three kids who all got advanced degrees! There is nothing to be ashamed of or feel inferior to.  Our profession does not define us.  

• Another blog is about the benefits of my four-month jogging: besides dropping five pounds (I am not obese in any way before regular jogging), my metabolism seems improving. As a result, I no longer feel cold in the cold Colorado winter. My resting heart rate goes down to 52, and I no longer need seven or eight-hour sleep.  Despite that quite often I slept only about five and a half hours, and the next morning/day, I don’t feel tired at all.

OK, letting my wallet at the office for a whole week has been great; I saved money, reduced food waste, and got my things done!  Perhaps, you can occasionally leave your wallet at the office (presume it is secured) too so you may avoid unnecessary shopping.