Nothing New/Mindful Spending Week 11

[Ginevra]

The "rules" of this challenge are self-defined. Anyone can join in at any time. The aim of the challenge (for me) is to combat consumerism, wastefulness, mindless buying, and overspending. It is meant to nurture creative problem solving, ecology, frugality, intentionalism, and resourcefulness. To support these goals, I seek to buy nothing new/unnecessary. I aim to use existing resources, borrow, hand-craft, and buy existing second-hand materials to the greatest extent possible. However, I recognize that life is unpredictable, and family life increases this factor exponentially, so I will buy new in the following cases, when a non-buying option does not present:

 

Food, health, and necessary household goods excluded.

Requirements for school, work, or health and well-being which cannot be obtained used.

Gifts, when a creative non-commercial option will not suffice.

Anything animal or gardening related that cannot be obtained used.

Fuel/energy sources.

 

Posts will appear each Saturday, referring to the week that is ending. Post your successes, creative solutions, relapses and weak moments. It doesn't matter if you have a weak moment! Just keep swimming!

Lets see...I bought a couple of not crucial things. I bought a new pair of shoes and some super short socks to wear with them. I bought some little guys that stick on your glass at a party to keep track of your glass. I got these to take to our beach cottage for a Bunco girls weekend next week. I bought six terra cot pots to replant some succulents that I rooted. (The bad thing about this is I have NO idea what to do with the nice new plants I made. I just have five small Jade plants that I do not need!)

 

I bought another book on Amazon. True story. But it is about paper bead making, which (at least theoretically) can be made into jewelry to put in my Etsy shop. So, it's an investment, you see. :)

[BarbecueMom]

I've been absent from the thread/challenge for a couple weeks, because life is punching me in the face, but we haven't bought anything except food and a birthday gift. We have ants in the kitchen, so I'll do some digging around the house tomorrow for some spray or those little plastic poison things, instead of buying a new container of something.

 

Honestly, I am so freaking exhausted that the thought of shopping is completely unappealing. Even on Amazon.

[PentecostalMom]

Where is this original thread?

[Guest]

Where is this original thread?

I originally started it in January 2015. The substance is in the quote, which I use at the beginning of each Saturday's thread. You are welcome to join in if you like. Define your parameters in whatever way works for your family and your values. :)

[Baseball mom]

This has been more of a spend week for me :thumbdown:

 

Bought stuff for Easter baskets - not that much stuff but it was high priced stuff (fishing license X 3, batteries for drills and a little bit of candy). 

 

Some groceries and toiletries -- that added up quick

 

Baseball time = new cleats, pants and batting gloves (thank goodness his bat, bag and helmet are still ok)

 

Back to tightening belts next week. 

I have made a list of some hs curriculum I want to sale.  I need to get the list out to some of the ones in my hs group and hopefully someone will buy stuff.

[JustEm]

This was a spendy week for me but I also sold a bunch of books too so I come out even. Time to get to the spending... I bought a set of book off eBay for school to the tune of $60. $20 on clothing for the kids and myself at Goodwill. It was their half off day so that $20 was a pair of shorts for me, a dress for me that I LOVE, and 16 articles of summer clothing for the 4 kids. The best is I also found a pair of pants that I'll be able to sell for $20 so it will pay for the rest of the clothes!

 

The biggest spending was Easter. I had a stomach bug earlier this week so we decided that there will be no candy in the baskets since I don't want them throwing up candy if they get sick. We are also missing out on 3 family events this weekend which everyone is bummed about. So we went a little crazy to make up for the lost family time. We spend a little over $100 on a communal basket filled with 2 new wiiU games(this will distract them well tomorrow,) gardening tools, a watering can, play doh, shopkins toy, huge thing of bubbles, some notebooks, and sticker for our egg hunt at home.

 

Added to say... I feel obligated to say I haven't been sick for a week so that why I went out. We're being super careful with the kids being contagious because we have a niece who is only a day old. No way are we getting anywhere near her.

Edited March 27, 2016 by hjffkj

[SKL]

I went a little nuts on Amazon.  Bought some more educational books / workbooks for my kids.  I bought ahead through much of the next school year.  Which would be fine, except that you know I'm not going to stay away from Amazon books for a whole year.  :P  In my defense, I did go back and delete about half of the stuff I had put in my cart.

 

I was coming off of an illness, feeling a rush of mental energy but no physical energy.  Nothing to do but sit on the computer.  Not good.  :P

 

I was modest with Easter stuff.  I bought a few things for my niece's 5th birthday.  I also got each of my kids a new pajama, since we were out shopping for girl stuff.  I almost never go shopping in an actual store, so there is no danger of this becoming a habit.

 

This coming week I will probably pay the tuition for at least one summer camp that finally opened up registration.  For this camp, I always pay double to fund a scholarship for needy families.

 

The kids have spring break this week, but we don't have any fancy plans.  They are registered for a theater [day] camp all week, and I have work.  We may make a trip to the museums on Wednesday night, which is free for us.

[Jane in NC]

I ordered a new couch this week.  If y'all saw the condition of the one that it is replacing, you would say "About time, Jane!"

 

Over a month ago, I started sewing a blouse, but the project was put away when the painter was making his way through the house.  I pulled it out last week and learned a new skill while working on it:  sleeve plackets.  I have made shirts with cuffs but had never attempted plackets with pointy tabs (think menswear shirt finish).  Not perfect but pretty darn good for my first attempt. Instead of buying new buttons, I searched through my amazing vintage button collection that my husband has acquired for me at yardsales.

 

I have two knitting projects going too, the ever present sock (I always keep a pair on needles) and a cotton baby hat.  I will probably finish the hat today, again using the nifty pompom maker that I bought before Christmas for embellishing another hat I had knitted.

 

The bags of produce that I froze last summer and fall seem to be reproducing.  This problem puts me in the land of the fortunate, I know.  I need to take an inventory of canned goods, some jam and applesauce, before strawberries appear and I put up even more jam.

[Jane in NC]

Fiddling with those plackets while sewing yesterday, the anti-thesis of "fast fashion", brought to mind an article that I read recently on the ethical problems of cheap clothing.  This thread seems like a good place to post the link.

 

I am not suggesting that everyone should sew their own garments or only buy "ethically" made garments at top dollar. But I believe that thinking about why some things are so cheap is important. How can a store sell a tank top for $5?  There is a documentary on this subject that I have not seen, The True Cost.  Is anyone familiar with it?

[Annie G]

Back from a ten day trip to help my inlaws.  FIL has severe hearing loss and MIL has dementia.  They are packrats and there were tons of things that needed to be done. They also are very resistant to change...so we didn't get as much done as we wanted.  But on the plus side, we did give them a very pleasant week of cooking, cleaning, and socializing with them. They were so very happy to have us there. 

 

Spending there wasn't bad. But while we were gone the microwave died and the kids had that repaired. It was a pricey built in one so the repair, while expensive, was far less than what it would cost to replace it.  

 

Spending that much time in a way too cluttered house is going to reboot my desire to be more minimalist, which also means I'll have a renewed enthusiasm for scrutinizing any unnecessary spending.  (But first I have to order a book on Amazon that I dangled as my reward if I got through the entire trip without telling off my sister in law. I came close many times but I held my tongue, and I truly earned this prize. )

[knoxinsox]

We seemed to spend this past week... 

Used a $10 off $40 coupon at Aldi....used it to stock up on basics to the tune of around $50.  Then went to the health food store for a few things, $42.  Took my daughter thru the drive through at Chickfila just because we felt like it.  

 

Ordered a small electric broom thing for my hardwood floors from Amazon...threw in a book that was mentioned on another thread--Teaching from Rest.  Social media and living a low-consumerism lifestyle don't seem to go together well.  

 

Frugalities....

Getting ready to can 6 pineapples into tidbits this evening.  Super easy!!

Cut my husband's hair instead of going to the barber.

Loving my line dried clothes---seems like they dry faster than the dryer this time of the year.

The kids washed the cars.  My son mowed the grass.  All things that would be easier to hire out.

Repainted a small dresser for the corner of my kitchen---salvaged the last of a quart of paint.  Found some knobs in the paint bin to use instead of the ugly ones that were on the dresser.  

I splurged on a spiral cut ham for Easter...at $1.49 lb it is still cheaper than lunchmeat, so lunches will be nice this week.  I put several containers into the freezer for later.  Half the Easter cake went into the freezer for later as well.  

 

Working on trying to find a part time job--who hires for 4-6 hours in the afternoon?  My kids do not want to go to public school so that nixes FT. and my husband is at home, although he will be sleeping since he works nights. Oldest will be 11 and he's very responsible, usually.   If I went back to work full-time, I could double our income and knock out the student loans.  I doubt I could make more than $10 per hour doing anything that would hire for part-time though. I have customer service and back office experience and a bad back. :-(