I found this clever shopping deterrent strategy when reading my comments yesterday and I thought I would share it with you. Here is what Jacquie, who was inspired by Gogol's buy it back approach, had to say... Along the same lines as Gogol, if I am thinking of buying something new, I use an ‘earning money’ analogy. I use a basic hourly rate and say to myself “If I had to work for (how ever many hours to earn the cost of the item) and at the end all I was given was this item – do I like it enough or want it badly enough to do that? Often the answer is no. I can now use the … [Read more...]
Day 199 Alternatives to clutter gifts
Below I have listed some alternatives to clutter gifts. By clutter gifts I mean anything that is not consumable or an act of service that will remain in your home after it is has been used. Edible Treats Chocolate/Candy Cake (provide a cake for someones happy occasion) Fruit basket (what could be more colorful or healthy than that) Bottle of wine / 6 pack of Boutique Beer... A home cooked meal is always a treat for a special occasion A cookie basket Take them out to dinner/lunch/ breakfast etc Gift Certificate Dining Out Hardware Groceries Spa … [Read more...]
Day 184 Budget program
For a long time now my husband and I have kept track of our savings and spending using budgeting programs on our computer. We record pretty much every cent we spend so we know where the money is going. Recently we bought a new Apple Mac Mini so our old software is no longer compatible. We downloaded and tried out a couple of free software programs but have not been to happy with the performance of these. I have been persevering with one anyway just so we can keep track of things as usual but after today we have decided that we really don't need to do this any more. There are two reasons for … [Read more...]
Day 178 Considerate
Today's word is... C O N S I D E R A T E Show respect for yourself, your fellow human beings and the environment... Be CONSIDERATE when shopping Constantly buying items you do not need puts a strain on the world's resources. Be CONSIDERATE to the environment To process resources to produce the items we buy puts a strain on the environment. Also the more we own the more space we need to store these items the bigger the footprint we leave on this planet. Be CONSIDERATE to family In order to purchase un-necessary items requires money that has to be earned. The more you … [Read more...]
Day 176 Borrow
There are so many things that we keep on standby just in case we might need them. Things that take up an incredible amount of precious space in our homes. I have been giving this problem a bit of thought lately and have come up with a solution which is the word for today... B O R R O W Lets say your sister is coming to visit and she has three kids but you only have one spare queen bed. The Sister and one child can sleep in that bed but where are the other two to sleep. Rather than have spare bedding crammed into cupboards and basements you could borrow a mattress and blankets from a friend … [Read more...]
Day 148 I really am cured of shopping
My husband had a short business trip this week and I decided to go with him. We spent half a day travelling, enjoyed a leisurely lunch then spent the remainder of the day admiring the art at the National Galleries. It is nice to just wind down and enjoy each others company with no commitments or need for hurrying. On the second day while he was attending his business conference I spent the day in the town centre of Canberra. I met my sister-in-law for lunch which was lovely but the rest of the time I spent just brousing around the shops. I very soon discovered that I have very little or … [Read more...]
Day 144 Learn to sew
From when I was quite a young child I was responsible for minor repairs to my own clothing even my school uniforms. This included mending tasks such as sewing on buttons and stitching up dropped hems. My mother was a private dress maker who worked from home and I will always be grateful that she taught me to sew. I don't use that skill to make clothes for myself or my family anymore but it is a skill that comes in very handy when an item of clothing needs repair. I read an article this week from a woman who works in a thrift store who was astounded by the amount of clothing that … [Read more...]
Day 135 Resistance is NOT futile against retail assault
One of the most important lessons I have learned since taking on this challenge of 365 less things is that resisting the temptation from retail assault is not a futile exercise, it can be done. As I have mentioned before I hardly ever go shopping anymore except to buy my groceries and I am fine with that in fact I feel that I have the upper hand in some kind of battle of wills. I did have a little head start or incentive if you like before I made the conscious decision stop spending on things that might ultimately become clutter. After living in the United States for seven years, I just … [Read more...]
Day 118 Luggage clutter
Just thought I would share a little story about some cheap luggage we once owned and how we off-loaded it. My mum bought us a set of luggage and the first time it did the cycle through the airport wheels fell off and things broke. We only used them one more time and that was as excess baggage when we moved to America. They then got stuck in a cupboard until the first unsuspecting visitors came over to stay with us. Since America is a great place to shop the visitors had a lot more stuff to take home than their suitcases could carry so we gave them one of our dodgy ones to take their … [Read more...]
Day 112 Outside the box
Following on from yesterday's post there are always those gadgets in our homes that were made for one use but when you explore the possibilities there are so many other fuctions they can perform. For Example, we own a coffee grinder, nothing unusual about that except that when I bought this item I sellected one that had a detatchable grinding bowl. The idea behind this function is to make it easy to clean but the reason I wanted this feature was so I could purchase a spare grinding bowl that I could use it to grind spices to make my own spice blends for cooking curries etc. I thought it was … [Read more...]