Nothing New/Mindful Spending Week 32

[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!

So, as you may have seen, I did buy the Instant Pot last week and have begun trying it out this week. One success and one not-entirely successful pulled pork. I'm going to plan to make three more things in it next week.

 

I spent $50 on a doctor visit for DD who has food poisoning. She is better, but wow. Food-borne illness not something I want to repeat. We went to the fair last Sunday. DS won a blue for his photography of Oranges. I won a couple of other ribbons for my photography, too. I didn't eat much myself; i had some onion rings.DH and the boys had a fair special platter, though.

 

Spent some money getting the car DD will take to college oil changed and new wiper blades. We'll be getting some school supplies this week; it is sales tax holiday. Got the boys' hair cut.

 

Other spending was normal grocery and household goods. I painted my nails again last night, saving the cost of a manicure (which is not to say I get many manicures). Tomorrow will be a 90th birthday party for MIL. My SIL is hosting it. She and BIL ordered catering, which I don't really agree with, but I just sigh and go along with it. If it had mattered to me, I guess I could have planned it myself. But I'm annoyed that we will end up paying for catering when I would have happily brought a pasta salad and some hot dog rolls or whatever. But this is the p!ssy SIL, so I go along to get along-ish.

[SKL]

This past week I was buried in a work project, so we really didn't do anything other than eat. 

 

The kids had a couple of part-day academic-oriented camps.  The morning one was fairly spendy (paid for months ago), but the afternoon one was free through the library system.  Both were a drive away (but close to each other), so I had a part-time hourly worker from our office drive them from Camp A to Camp B.  Technically you could call this a "fringe benefit" since it is not directly out of pocket for me.  While I could have sat and worked at the camp locations, I would have had to buy coffee and lunch and would have had more distractions than at home.  Plus there is an assumption that if you are somewhere for your kids, you aren't working, even if you are.  BTDT - it wasn't worth the aggravation.

 

This coming week the kids have another paid morning camp (arts center) and a free afternoon camp (robotics at another library).  Again I have the work lady driving them between the camps.

 

Tomorrow I'm taking the kids to a celebration at the nearby national park.  Part of it is a "kids' fun run" which my kids want to do.  There are other activities as well.  I'm pretty sure it's all free.  After that, if we get time, there is a free activity at the art museum which includes art/cultural activities and a dance performance.

 

During the week I plan to inventory and organize the kids' rooms (seems like I've said that before).  This will hopefully prevent me from buying stuff they already have, while passing the outgrown stuff along to save my sister money.

 

My kids have a sleepover Friday night.  (Another reason to clean!)  I am setting up a horse riding lesson for the 3 girls, and plan to take them out for dinner at an ethnic restaurant.  I don't know why, but I don't like the idea of just hanging at home.  They can putz at home Saturday morning.

 

Oh - the size 7 running shoes I bought my kid last week - turns out they were size 7 in kids, which are gunboats!  I am going to send them back, because I don't know if even my Jr. Bigfoot will ever have feet that big.  :P

[SKL]

Oh, and I really need to schedule a chiropractor visit for all of us, and a dental appointment for myself.  Also kid haircuts for school.

[SKL]

Just got an SOS for a very distressed family being helped by an organization I support.  I sent a donation and have asked to sponsor another student.  It's small potatoes when you function in US dollars, but can make quite a difference on the other side, especially when well-targeted.

[JustEm]

On Tuesday I spent $7 at Goodwill getting fall and winter pieces for the kids. 7 good pieces, mainly for my youngest, all for $1. I've got a few more Tuesdays in August to take advantage of the $1 kids clothes deal so I hoping to round out the cold weather outfits by the end of Aug.

 

Spent the normal amount on groceries and gas. the only other purchase was one meal out because we got home super late from the children's museum and I was too exhausted to cook.

[JustEm]

Oh and I avoided the temptation to buy the instant pot when it was an Amazon deal this week! I almost talked myself into it but I want the yogurt feature because it is one feature I know will get a lot of use.

[Jane in NC]

Hello everyone.

 

We all have our reasons for being on this thread.  Mine are more ecological than financial but I enjoy reading everyone's posts and the amazing creativity (and fearlessness!) that some of you demonstrate.

 

I have been in and out this summer.  Our normal patterns just haven't happened.  My husband has had six weeks of work related travel since the end of May which means six weeks of his dining have been on the company credit card.  I traveled with him twice which meant that I could take advantage of the hotel.  In some cases, my meals were provided but I was eating out in restaurants more than usual.  The good news is that I did not gain any weight!

 

When home, I have been buying loads of produce at nearby farms.  We are grilling and freezing extra peppers, shredding and freezing extra zucchini.

 

I am so thankful that we have funds for emergencies.  We have had several issues with our older and formerly reliable air conditioning system.  My husband cracked a five year old crown on Friday.  The dentist saw him immediately and they were unsure how they are going to bill this one.  They admitted that the crown should last longer than five years.  HSAs are wonderful things.

 

We went to a free concert in a local park on Friday, bringing a picnic dinner with us.  The heat was horrific though (theme of the summer) so we left after the first set.  I really feel for parents of young children who have to cope with this heat! 

 

Despite the heat, I went for a morning walk with my husband this morning.  We both look forward to an afternoon swim. 

[Desert Strawberry]

We are not having a good week. Already.

D exchanged the tires and only got a pittance for them. I am so disappointed. 

He looked at cars. The cheapest drivable car was $1000 outside our meager budget. He wants to take out a small loan until our first inheritance check comes in. I don't want to do that, but it may not be avoidable. 

He is going to do some online shopping and make some calls to avoid driving all over the city. 

Which means I'm out of a vehicle for another week. I am strongly considering buying some bikes and a trailer as an alternate vehicle. We are so darn far from everything, and I don't even have a decent stroller. 

Meanwhile, I will have to reschedule my dental appointment again. I don't mind, really, but I really need to get it done.

Derek looked into peak hours and found out we are doing it exactly backwards. I have been turning the AC off during the day and switching it back on just before D gets home. Peak hours start at exactly that time. We're paying something like 25times as much to run it in the evening. We will change that and see how it goes. 

Luna's glasses came in that was $300 the day before we left for vacation. They are...ok. They fit her really big. I don't love the color. They look goofy. But she likes them. She can see better. I bedazzled them. They are ok. She will grow into them eventually. 

I damaged the SIM card in my phone. I need to contact Virgin Mobile to see if they can send a new one. The website says they start at $5. If that doesn't work out, D has offered to buy me a new phone next week. 

I went midweek food shopping, spent too much on not enough. D has picked up fast food twice this weekend because I can't manage to put a decent meal together. I want to say I saved this week by not going anywhere, but not really, because D is having to fill up the van every other day.

All around, things are not awesome.

 

[SKL]

My kids returned this morning from their overnight with their aunt ... she had taken them to the county fair.  I sent them in normal summer clothes and shoes.  (Note that Miss Bigfoot only has one pair of shoes that fit her - they are almost brand new New Balance runners.)  They came home with their shoes covered in mud.  Apparently they decided to run a "stick horse race" in sloshy mud.  Then it didn't occur to anyone that cleaning the shoes last night would be a good idea.  Well, they are going to clean them today, and then I will run them through the washer and dryer.  I'm sure they can still be worn.  But seriously?

 

So I have issued a proclamation.  From now on my kids only get new shoes from WalMart or similar.  I might make an exception for Christmas or birthdays, but the days of Mom generally buying "nice shoes" for kids are over.  :P

 

 

[knoxinsox]

I ran out to return library books and get a couple items at the grocery store before they went off sale. Forgot to stop by the library. Fail!!  So I had to go back the following day. 

We went with the neighbors down to the Russell-Stover factory store to raid the back room, because obvs!! We need all the chocolate.  The neighbors treated us to Mexican for lunch.

We took the kids out to eat twice this week!!  Last night on the Aldi run, we stopped for pizza, and today on our run to South Dallas, we stopped at In and Out for lunch.  This is the difference when daddy goes along.  LOL  He also went to Hastings since they are going out of business and bought himself some books. 

So 3 times eating out, plus frozen pizza plus all that chocolate.  Feels wasteful to me.  Lots of extra trash and extra spending.

 

We were running out of food--I did manage to made the last shop last for longer than usual, so Aldi last night for basics $120, today to the salvage grocery store $100, and Winco for bulk stuff--$120, and Walmart for misc. personal items and batteries, etc $80. I just need to pick up hamburger at HEB, and pay our water bill, make bread and make a menu plan up for the rest of the month.   No excuses because we have everything we need to bake and cook, plus some.  Two carloads of food. 

Otherwise, we will just keep on not shopping for fun, hanging out our clothes to dry, using reusables instead of disposables. Nothing new--its just become a way of life. Its been almost a year since we made changes towards zero waste and minimalism--some for financial reasons, but also to be better stewards and become aware of how consumerism affects us. 

[Baseball mom]

Just regular bills and groceries.  Bought a few "extras" we don't normally buy.  Our 1st hs event of the year was this past week and it was a bring your lunch thing.  Bought some special lunch stuff.  The rest of the year we will go back to our normal lunches.