Recently, I read "A Year Without Made In China - One Family's Story," which chronicled how a family went a year without purchasing anything that was "Made in China." Gifts and hand-me-downs were exempt, but everything else was fair game. At the end, they realized they were more careful with their expenditures and decided in the future to review all options when purchasing items.
It started me thinking on how do I spend my money. Am I careful or do I just spend glibly worrying more about price than whether I really need another pair of shoes? In addition, I am trying to watch my budget more carefully as I seek to pay off debt and get my house in order.
As a result, I'm considering trying a one month shopping fast where I will make a conscious decision to not buy anything I don't need. Basically, groceries are okay. A new purse is not. Gift cards are okay. Coffee at Starbucks or Hammer is not. I'm still sorting through the ground rules, so a few adjustments made be made.
Have any of my readers attempted or completed a shopping fast? Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm planing to do this for the month of May.
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2 comments:
I think I wrote about this when I read it last winter. I think the idea of mindful shopping is great--it's, in weird way, one of the things I really miss about grad school. I have huge issues with the way the family in the book handles it, though...they never homemake gifts, they don't think about their gifting habits, and they don't buy used. Frankly, except for pantry-principle shopping, those are the biggest savers in my budget.
you're right! I didn't think of it from that perspective. Perhaps the items to "homemake" gifts were MIC... Buying used can be good & quite useful.
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