There has been a trip to goodwill, boxes of treasures given to friends and family, and many things listed on craigslist. Though things are getting better, we have found that we not only need to rid ourselves of stuff, but shopping bags full of new goodies need to stop.
We have found some success with buying less. Yet there is always a sale here, or clearance there. We might need that someday, how can we pass up something that is only a couple dollars.
While blog surfing a couple days ago, I found an interesting blog entry about a recent Oprah show. Jessica over at Serenity wrote about the show on Freeganism. I also found Amy at Crunchy Domestic Goddess wrote a great post exploring Freeganism.Jessica made some points that really hit home for me including:
- "Do I really need more scrapbook supplies and craft stuff?"
- " Most likely my life will go on just the same if I don’t get an item I am wanting"
- “...might come in handy”, does not mean that I need to buy it"
Interesting. I think I will join in this challenge, with my own twists.
For the month of March,
- I will not purchase any new craft supplies
- I will not purchase any new pens, pencils, notebooks or other school supplies
- I will not purchase any groceries
that are not on sale, or have a coupon for -other than milk and bread (we tend to buy food, even when we have plenty. Our stock pile is getting a little to big).
Well I suppose, to put it simply, I will not be buying anything, other than milk/bread, and gas for our car.
And now, I pass the challenge to you. What can you do in the month of March to improve the world you live in?
thanks for sending me your post. what a great idea! we, too, have a lot of food in our pantry, basement, etc. and i'm sure i could get by without buying very much during the month. just need to get creative and come up w/ some recipes for the foods i do have. it would certainly be nice on our budget to have a month w/o big grocery expenses, though i would probably still buy fresh fruit.
ReplyDeleteanyway, good for you!
I have planned out our menu for the entire month of March and am going shopping tomorrow. Then, I will only return to the grocery store for things like bread/milk. Hopefully, this will cut down on our eating out and on our impulse buys at the store. We'll see how it works.
ReplyDeleteWow! The entire meal plan for a month! That is amazing! Let us know how it goes!
ReplyDeleteWow that's pretty impressive. I'm going to my parents house... and they always like to buy me stuff so I probably won't be able to jump in on this challenge. But I do need more stuff so maybe that won't count.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to get things off to Goodwill here lately - we don't need so much crap, seriously!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great challenge. We have been spending out of control the last few months preparing for a new baby and my mother coming to stay for awhile. I think I'll definitely be up for this challenge in April - can't wait to here how it's going for you.
ReplyDeleteHave you made it through your first week? :)
ReplyDeleteI'll try to post an update this week!
ReplyDelete