\u00a0 I read about a woman who decided that for one year she would not buy anything she didn’t need.\u00a0 No new clothes, no new shoes, no new makeup, no books, no magazines, no gum at the checkout, no Starbucks coffee, nothing.\u00a0 Just the essentials.\u00a0 Food from the grocery, no restaurants allowed. \u00a0 Utility bills.\u00a0Insurance. \u00a0Rent and that was about it.\u00a0 I wondered how in the world she did it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 You would have to just stay out of stores except to get groceries or medicine.\u00a0 I don’t know if I could do it.\u00a0 Just this week I bought several things I did not need.\u00a0\u00a0 I bought more fabric, some good smelling soap at a store in Nashville, some paperback books and a Christmas present(yes, I shop early.) I almost bought some paint I didn’t need today just because I liked the color.\u00a0 David and I looked at lights we want to buy for the new porch we plan to build.\u00a0 We looked at a new vanity and sink for one of our bathrooms.\u00a0 We consume all the time.\u00a0 Some things are needed, but did I really need that extra fabric when I have bolts and boxes of fabric in my shop?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 I have been looking at things differently lately. When I was younger it was all about getting things.\u00a0 Now it is all about taking care of those things, cleaning those things, insuring those things and moving around those things.\u00a0 The important things in life aren’t things, I read somewhere and it is true.\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, some of my things are getting in my way.\u00a0 That’s why every so often I have a garage sale to sell some things to make money to buy more things.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 Still, when I see a cute blouse or an interesting book or some new line of fabric I want to buy, buy, buy.\u00a0\u00a0 And it is worse when David and I are together.\u00a0 He is my enabler.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 I think how if you just did without one Starbucks coffee each week for a year,\u00a0you would save enough for a night on the town and a hotel room.\u00a0 If you drink Starbucks every day, you could save enough for a week’s vacation in a year\u00a0if you stopped drinking it.\u00a0 I’m not picking on Starbucks. It’s just one thing many people believe they cannot live without.\u00a0 If you smoke, think of\u00a0all the money you would save if you banked all that money you are burning up?\u00a0\u00a0 If you eat out two or three times a week, think of the money you would save by eating at home?\u00a0\u00a0Now life without eating out occasionally or drinking a Starbucks, if that’s what you like, would be downright boring, but just think of all the money we American spend needlessly.\u00a0 Does your dog need that new toy?\u00a0\u00a0 I find myself looking at dog toys all the time.\u00a0 My dogs have a wagon full\u00a0of dog toys.\u00a0 They are well played with, but did\u00a0I need to buy so many?\u00a0 Did my chickens really need a rooster picture in their coop?\u00a0 \u00a0 Those cute cowgirl socks I bought when we were out west.\u00a0 I’ve worn them once and felt like a dork.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I try to keep\u00a0only things I really love around me, but do I really need three magazine subscriptions when I barely have time to read one?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 I know I will keep consuming.\u00a0 That is what we Americans seem to do.\u00a0 Have you ever passed a store at any time of the day\u00a0 that didn’t have cars parked in front with people consuming inside?\u00a0\u00a0 I have decided, though, to think long and hard before I buy something from now on.\u00a0 I want to go a whole month without buying an article of clothing.\u00a0 I love clothes, but my closet is packed.\u00a0 I can’t wear all the clothes I have.\u00a0 I get so many catalogs because I love to order on the internet.\u00a0 In fact, most of my clothes I have ordered online.\u00a0 I have to make myself not look at the clothing sites.\u00a0\u00a0 Some people in the world are fortunate if they have new clothes at all.\u00a0I know I am blessed to have so much and I really don’t need it all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 I don’t know where this blog is going.\u00a0 I told David I would like to try not to buy anything unnecessary for a whole year and blog about it, but then I chickened out because I don’t think I could do it especially since we are doing some remodeling next year.\u00a0\u00a0Maybe I will just be more careful how quickly I decide to buy\u00a0something in the future.\u00a0 David doesn’t spend dollar bills.\u00a0 Whenever he gets change, he puts the dollars aside.\u00a0 You would be surprised how much he saved one time doing this.\u00a0 There are all kinds of ways to save money even if you like to buy stuff.\u00a0\u00a0 For now, I am going one month at a time to see how little I can spend and still have fun.\u00a0 It should be interesting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think I will find I can do without so much more than I thought I could.\u00a0 It will be a challenge.\u00a0\u00a0 But don’t be surprised if you see me consuming in a store one day.\u00a0Bye.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0 I read about a woman who decided that for one year she would not buy anything she didn’t need.\u00a0 No new clothes, no new shoes, no new makeup, no books, no magazines, no gum at the checkout, no Starbucks coffee, nothing.\u00a0 Just the essentials.\u00a0 Food from the grocery, no restaurants allowed. \u00a0 Utility bills.\u00a0Insurance. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-things-on-my-mind"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1357"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1359,"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357\/revisions\/1359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}