![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
One of the things I'm beginning to work on, with plans to ramp up into full production come 2020, is getting back to buying or finding second hand as much of what we own as possible. It's good for the budget, and the environment. Plus it makes me feel satisfied and, dare I say, a bit smug, when I can tell people the thing they just complimented came off the street as a curbscore, or was a lucky find at a thrift store, or that I got a good price secondhand from a stranger on the internet.
I've moved far away from that and let's face it, it's *really easy* to find anything you want at a moment's notice now. Viva le internet. That's both good for those of us with mobility issues, and terrible for those of us with impulse control issues.
My budget was strained and stretched and shot in the head over and over this year and by now I"m scrambling to pay bills, and I shouldn't be.
So it's time to move back to hunting for things we need, instead of just popping credit card numbers into a screen or pulling up to a big box store full of distracting temptations.
Obviously some things can't be purchased used. Food comes to mind, and toiletries. BUT I have quite a bit of many things that we can work our way through before buying new. I'm not going to make my kids suffer for this project, so while things we can use up from here are great, if my daughter runs out of the facewash that works for her teenage acne, I'm not going to make her use other things that may not work as well. There are plenty of things where brand doesn't matter though and that I have stashes of. Using those instead of buying "our favorite brand" will be good practice in the art of saying "No, I already have some, ignore that sale/coupon"; since we already have a thing it isn't going without, and doesn't involve delaying access to the thing.
Mostly that's toiletries, but also some cleaning supplies, and definitely plenty of pantry and freezer food. Partly that stems from using food pantries to supplement our food budget, but part of it is just choosing to walk the easy road of getting the couple dozen things we like best to eat and not getting creative with the food we are given that we wouldn't have purchased on our own.
Unfortunately my "buy it now" habits are kicking in and I'm having to fight the urge to buy things to help us cook better food as quickly as the convenience food we use; sandwich presses, and bacon stands, and pasta cookers, and egg makers for the microwave. Cuz...ya know...microwave. I'm resisting, but I"m probably going to put some of them on my wish list.
I've moved far away from that and let's face it, it's *really easy* to find anything you want at a moment's notice now. Viva le internet. That's both good for those of us with mobility issues, and terrible for those of us with impulse control issues.
My budget was strained and stretched and shot in the head over and over this year and by now I"m scrambling to pay bills, and I shouldn't be.
So it's time to move back to hunting for things we need, instead of just popping credit card numbers into a screen or pulling up to a big box store full of distracting temptations.
Obviously some things can't be purchased used. Food comes to mind, and toiletries. BUT I have quite a bit of many things that we can work our way through before buying new. I'm not going to make my kids suffer for this project, so while things we can use up from here are great, if my daughter runs out of the facewash that works for her teenage acne, I'm not going to make her use other things that may not work as well. There are plenty of things where brand doesn't matter though and that I have stashes of. Using those instead of buying "our favorite brand" will be good practice in the art of saying "No, I already have some, ignore that sale/coupon"; since we already have a thing it isn't going without, and doesn't involve delaying access to the thing.
Mostly that's toiletries, but also some cleaning supplies, and definitely plenty of pantry and freezer food. Partly that stems from using food pantries to supplement our food budget, but part of it is just choosing to walk the easy road of getting the couple dozen things we like best to eat and not getting creative with the food we are given that we wouldn't have purchased on our own.
Unfortunately my "buy it now" habits are kicking in and I'm having to fight the urge to buy things to help us cook better food as quickly as the convenience food we use; sandwich presses, and bacon stands, and pasta cookers, and egg makers for the microwave. Cuz...ya know...microwave. I'm resisting, but I"m probably going to put some of them on my wish list.
