$1.00 Every Time I Say F*ck. Or $hit.

wendy's swear rings
Yup, it’s LENT season again friends!!! Time to give something up like a good little Catholic ;)  Although disregard the fact I’m already 2 weeks late INTO Lent! (D’oh)  And because I’ve been turning into such a sailor lately, I’ve decided to ding myself $1.00 every time I spout out some of that colorful language I can’t seem to shake.  Which, according to my wife, will mean I’ll go through $100 a day when I talk to Nate St. Pierre (for some reason he brings it outta me?).  And we’ll use FCC rules too: so no F-bombs, poop words, a-holes, or that nasty C one.  I’ll even try and disregard the bitchs & damns too – go right for the gold, eh?! (that didn’t count, btw)

Then, at the end of the 40 days – on Easter – I will offer up this pot of cash to our church, and hopefully get back to the proper boy my Mom once knew.  It’s gonna be a challenge, I won’t lie, but it won’t be the first time I overcame such adversity ;)  Here’s a look back at the previous 4 years of Lent sacrificing:

2007:  Gave up sodas. Sodas!!!  Which I drank every single day! Now I only allow myself to drink ’em over the weekends or holidays – just don’t crave them as much as I used to.  Which obviously is a good thing!

2008: Gave up shopping! By far the BEST thing I’ve ever given up before.  Not only because it saved me money during those 40 or so days, but because it ingrained a new pattern in my head!  Not buying any “wants” literally changed the course of my shopping behavior for the rest of my life (well, 3 years and counting so far).  I went from going into stores like Best Buy, Target, and the mall 3 times a week to now maybe once a month – sometimes every two months.  Crazy, huh?  The last time I estimated the monthly savings, it came out to about $320 :)  That’s almost $4,000 a year! Not to mention the amount of free time it opened up…

2009: Gave up complaining :) I had to put $1.00 in a jar every time I caught myself bitchin’ and moaning about something (Crap.  Did I just say the B-word?  !!!!  $1.00!!) I got dinged quite a bit in the first week or two — you don’t realize how much you complain until you start paying attention! — by the 3rd week we were doing alright though.  I think I had around $20 total in that jar by the end of it, and I donated it all to our church the next time we were there.

2010:  Huh… I can’t remember what I gave up last year. Candy?  Chocolate?  Why the heck didn’t I blog about it! haha…  I do recall doing a $200 Prosper giveaway last year which tied into the Lent season, but dang – guess I just glazed over it or somethin’.  FAIL.

So we’ll see what happens, friends!  It’ll be good for the church, for me, and for the good man upstairs :)  And hopefully it’ll stick so I can tighten up my reputation!  Shiioooooooooooot.  Any of y’allz giving something up? Anyone try this before?

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Dang it!!!! Just read out the title of this post to the Mrs. and forgot to bleep it!! $2.00 already! Sigh…

(Rings by Wendy Brandes Jewelry – How awesome?)

UPDATE: It’s now 2019 and I rarely curse anymore!! One of the best habits that ended up sticking…

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34 Comments

  1. Ginger March 22, 2011 at 6:34 AM

    Can I give up snow?
    Otherwise, excuses will do.

    Reply
  2. Kim @ Say What?! March 22, 2011 at 6:40 AM

    It appears Lent has done you some good! I have never given anything up for lent, being protestant, but the practice intrigues me. I couldn’t do the swearing like you are. I’d be bankrupt. My coworkers who have seen me outside the office think it’s hilarious that I swear like a longshoreman in my spare time, because if you met Office-Kim you’d just never imagine I would. Good luck! And remember, if you swear and have to pay, it’s for the good of the Church!

    Reply
  3. Karen March 22, 2011 at 7:51 AM

    Per George Carlin: “You’re not foolinm me, man. ‘Shoot’ is ‘shit’ with two ‘O’s’.”
    LOL, but I admire you. I, too, am Protestant, so it’s never been a regular practice. However, the ‘no complaining’ is a good one. But I have kids. That one just might be impossible.

    Reply
  4. Sense March 22, 2011 at 8:30 AM

    good one! my officemate dropped the F bomb today at work…and it was the very worst day to do it because the mayor (!) came to visit my company–we were asking for millions of dollars for a project–and he was just outside our (open) office door!!! (It was kind of hilarious when she realized what she had said, actually.) I don’t think he heard it, but it is just a good skill to be able to censor yourself sometimes… I still do it around my mom out of respect. :) good luck!

    Reply
  5. jolie March 22, 2011 at 9:09 AM

    wow good for you!! Let’s hope you don’t ‘earn’ enough to reshingle the church roof :P

    My son tried to give up ‘yellow’ for Lent last year. yellow!! I mean what’s that about. lol We gently rerouted his choice to something more sacrificial.

    Reply
  6. Lulu March 22, 2011 at 9:18 AM

    This year I am giving up sweets. I failed yesterday as I had a slice of cheesecake!!!!!

    I gave up red meat one year and gave up juice one year….hmmmm I seem to always give up food!

    Good luck with the money…I don’t curse so that sacrifice would not work for me. I read somewhere that someone was giving up being lazy.

    Reply
  7. Brandi March 22, 2011 at 9:25 AM

    I didn’t give anything up this year. Instead I am picking one or two people a week to do something special for. Cooking a meal, leaving them a surprise card, free babysitting etc etc :)

    Reply
  8. Laura March 22, 2011 at 9:57 AM

    I’m doing the “no shopping” for Lent this year. I’ve done it before and it is hard. It’s amazing in the first couple weeks how many things cross your mind that you would normally want. I think its great for saving money and also focusing on what you have and being thankfully for it which was the main reason I decided to give that up this year. Saving some money is the bonus :)

    Reply
  9. Melanie Spring March 22, 2011 at 10:35 AM

    Teresa & I gave up swearing. She gave up hot drinks & I gave up drinking to cope… It’s amazing how much we catch ourselves with the swearing though!

    Reply
  10. Amy March 22, 2011 at 10:51 AM

    Last year I gave up candy and chocolate – failed miserably!
    Two years ago I gave up soda which was a huuuge success. Didn’t touch my beloved Diet Coke for almost a year even after Lent was over!

    This year I’ve given up my two biggest vices: alcohol and caffeine. So far I’m feeling way healthier and it’s not actually that hard :)

    Reply
  11. Jon the Saver March 22, 2011 at 11:21 AM

    Haha, this is awesome, we have a jar in our trailers out at the construction site and it’s already full. Kicking the swearing habit is a good goal. I kicked facebook, so we’ll see how long that lasts. My gf challenged me. I think it’s going to boost productivity for the blog.

    Reply
  12. J. Money March 22, 2011 at 11:45 AM

    *Jar now has $3.00 in it.*

    @Ginger – Haha… I dare you to do excuses, that’s a hard one. (twss)
    @Kim @ Say What?! – That’s funny :) I tend to curse more when I’m super excited, or super pissed. I refrain when I’m somewhere in the middle.
    @Karen – hahahaha… you should try it for 1 day and see what happens ;)
    @Sense – Hah!! I know that feeling though. I once walked into a house yelling “F*ers, F*ers, F*ers!” like Stifler in American Pie and all my friends’ parents were in the room just staring at me eyes wide open! I thought it was a house party, but apparantly it hadn’t started yet ;)
    @jolie – Yellow??? Hhahhahaa…. now THAT is awesome. Oh man, Im so tweeting that right now…
    @lulu – Ooooh if you could pull of lazy, you’d be a rock star. How the heck can you do that though? haha…
    @Brandi – Awwwww now THAT is awesome Brandi, good for you :) In that case you’re giving up time, and instead sending it to someone you care about!
    @Laura – I like it! (obviously)
    @Melanie Spring – So none of you are drinking tonight at happy hour??? Hah! :)
    @Amy – Did you take on crack instead??? no alochol OR coffee? wowwwwwww… I hear ya on Diet Coke too – I was addicted like crazy to that thing. Kinda miss it, but kinda glad I’m over it too :)
    @Jon the Saver – hahahha…. i like that one. i don’t get on facebook all that much myself, but if I had to give up Twitter I’d lose my junk! (was about to say the “S” word there, but i caught myself!!!)

    Reply
  13. LB March 22, 2011 at 12:15 PM

    wow, I think this past week I would have enough money for a vacation if I had a swear jar! Between my Doctor giving me the wrong asthma medication, my husband getting a 7 point ticket and court date for slamming on the brakes while turning left (no accident or anything), and I still can’t find more than a part-time job, I almost feel entitled to cussing like a sailor.

    Reply
  14. LB March 22, 2011 at 12:17 PM

    oh yeah and my HOA is taking out phone and internet services and combining them and not allowing us to have anything separate, wtf! Internet is for my husband’s work so we will be fighting and if we must, moving. Oh well Canada is looking a lot better every day

    Reply
  15. Investing Newbie March 22, 2011 at 12:38 PM

    This year, I gave up chocolate. It’s my third time trying. The previous two were failures. I have chocolate nearly everyday and I’m dying here in my 2nd week. But I think I’ll be able to make it through. I don’t know if I’ll ever stop loving chocolate. It’s too good!

    Reply
  16. DoNotWait March 22, 2011 at 12:55 PM

    I definitely should give up the complaining thing… But I never have spare money on me. I should find another way to do it or else the jar will be empty!

    Reply
  17. gina March 22, 2011 at 12:58 PM

    LB, no one NO ONE gets internet and phone services from their Home owners association, water grass mowing insurance yeah…. but not phone and internet!! What kind of freaking
    planet do you live on? SEriously…

    Reply
  18. LB March 22, 2011 at 1:16 PM

    gina,

    lol I feel like I live on a different planet every day. My HOA is very controlling and because I live in a predominantly Spanish speaking area, I feel like the residents are always taken advantage of. The company that works with my HOA is lying and saying the other options are no longer available and the HOA is trying to raise everyone’s rent because of the additional features. So far I still have my internet and phone, but still waiting to see the next dumb move that will happen.

    P.S. not looking to move to Canada because of this, it’s an option I have been offered and it might work out better. My rant didn’t really differentiate that.

    Reply
  19. Jamie J March 22, 2011 at 1:31 PM

    I actually “gave up” swearing, too! And by “gave up” I mean I hope to have it out of my system completely by Easter. I also gave up candy to make up for my slipup swears.

    Reply
  20. Jenna March 22, 2011 at 2:11 PM

    I debated this for awhile because I knew I was going to SXSW and thus be swearing, drinking and other craziness. My best friend challenged me to do something awesome every day and really appreciate other people, which is definitely something I could do while at SXSW. Previous years I’ve given up swearing, sweets, TV (my favorite one so far), etc. Good luck on not swear for another month-ish.

    Reply
  21. SophieW March 22, 2011 at 3:02 PM

    Hmmm, swearing like a sailor, I resemble that remark! ;)

    Actually, I really am in the navy and today I was swearing up a storm! Last month while I was at sea one of my water pipes burst and I came home to several inches of water in my basement. I had no idea how long the water had been pouring into my basement, several days at least! Luckily my basement is unfinished, so the dehumidifier dried out the concrete and a plumber to replace the broken pipe and all was good for a small sum.

    But… today I received my water bill and boy were the F-bombs flying! $238.79!!! That’s almost an entier year’s cost for water. Ouch!

    Care to share any of that swear jar money with me? ;)

    Reply
  22. Danielle March 22, 2011 at 3:59 PM

    If I had to pay for every curse, I’d need to take out loans. I’m. From. Jersey.

    I live in Las Vegas, which has a lot of nice LDS folks. They taught me the word bullshrimp through another blog that I visit. You should probably try that one out. It rolls trippingly off the tongue. Actually, if you talk to a friendly Mormon, they can give you a replacement curse for everything. It was very enlightening. (Useful for when I’m around my Mom. Because there is no way I’m giving up the word asshat. And I will sing the real words over the radio edit of Cee-lo Green because I won’t be censored.)

    Reply
  23. Paula @ AffordAnything.org March 22, 2011 at 5:57 PM

    Did you see Stephen Colbert’s announcement? He says he’s giving up Catholicism for Lent.

    Reply
  24. J. Money March 22, 2011 at 7:47 PM

    @LB – Woah! Maybe I should give YOU my swear jar when it’s all over – you need a little lovin! :) (Also, lots of PF bloggers live in Canada and enjoy it! You should check out Victoria, BC. My new fave place.)
    @Investing Newbie – haha… that’s why it’s called sacrificing – it’s hard!
    @DoNotWait – Yeah that does become a problem actually – when you run out of cash like that. you’d have to make some check marks or something and then force yourself to drop in the big boys later – $10s or $20s depending on your suck’age ;)
    @gina – That is pretty crazy, right? Never heard of that before.
    @Jamie J – Haha… that’ll do it.
    @Jenna – You? Drink and party and curse? I didn’t see any of that at SXSW ;) Do dig the appreciating someone every day though – that’s hot
    @SophieW – Woahhhhh that is like my nightmare! And reason #308 I hate owning. Crazy crap happens all the time totally out of your control – gives me the heebie jeebies, haha… glad it’s wasn’t as bad as it could have been for ya though :) You can most def. share my swear jar w/ church and now LB above there.
    @Danielle – Bullshrimp!! hahahhahha… i like that. I’m gonna say it tonight and see what my wife says ;) I’ll just throw it in there all mad-like too, haha…. good one. 2 of my old best friends were Mormon – always kept me in line. Once college hit, though, it was all down hill ;)
    @Paula @ AffordAnything.org – Hahhaaha… ziiiiiing!

    Reply
  25. Ruby March 22, 2011 at 9:11 PM

    I’m doing a 30-Day-No-shopping challenge, and as you found- it just totally changes things. It has totally shifted my thinking. I’m actually really looking forward to the select few items I’ve been wanting for the past 22 days- I’m only getting a few things (weeded out a TON of impulse buys) and the cravings to shop have really calmed down.

    I’m not sure how I feel about it though- I’m kind of worried I’m obsessing over what I can’t have, but on the other hand- the anticipation and delayed gratification will make me appreciate my money spent and the adorable shoes THAT much more. :)

    Reply
  26. Lauryn March 23, 2011 at 6:13 AM

    It would be nice to kill shopping for “things I don’t need” …. and excuses, like Ginger said, but cursing is also pretty nice.

    Reply
  27. CouponPrincess March 23, 2011 at 10:39 AM

    I’m doing the same thing, I’m giving up swearing and cookies for Lent. So far I have been a fail with the cookies and better the swearing..well except for last night and this morning. Atlanta’s rush hour traffic can really make you use some colorful words..OY! LOL

    Reply
  28. J. Money March 23, 2011 at 1:18 PM

    *UPDATE: Swear Jar now has $5.00 in it — but I’m starting to catch myself!*

    @Ruby — Haha, yeah. You go in all kinds of phases doing a no-spend challenge :) I wrote about it once years ago, if you’re interested here’s the link: The 4 Stages you’ll encounter during a “No Spend” challenge.
    @Lauryn — Small steps :) Usually once you try it once, you can get back into the habit easier the second or third time. Or if you’re REALLY good, nix it altogether. The adventure’s kinda fun though.
    @CouponPrincess – Hahahaha…. i hear that!

    Reply
  29. Sandy @ yesiamcheap March 23, 2011 at 4:05 PM

    I gave up adding more to the credit cards and I ADDED paying down the debt faster. It’s a two pronged approached. I have to make a concerted effort to end up in a much better place than I began about 13 days ago.

    Reply
  30. Carmie of the Single Nester March 23, 2011 at 5:00 PM

    I tried to give up cursing last year. No luck.

    Reply
  31. J. Money March 23, 2011 at 10:26 PM

    @Sandy @ yesiamcheap – Gotta love that!
    @Carmie of the Single Nester – It takes a lot of effort. I just lost another $2 in the past hour :(

    Reply
  32. Eva March 24, 2011 at 1:28 PM

    hmm that’s a tough one! Kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you slip up what is your automatic response to slipping up? Insert swear word here.

    Reply
  33. Donna Freedman March 29, 2011 at 1:21 AM

    I have given up winning the lottery. But only until Lent is over.

    Reply
  34. J. Money March 29, 2011 at 3:01 PM

    UPDATE: JAR NOW HAS $15.00 in it ;)
    I swear I’m getting better though! (no pun intended)

    @Eva – Haha, you’re totally correct there. I’ve done this twice already and had to double my payments ;)
    @Donna Freedman – Hah! But you know that IS a good idea for next year — stop buying lottery tickets. Would be super hard for me ;)

    Reply

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