2018 was a galvanizing year in that I really began to explore the concepts of “less is more” within my life. I’m not what would be considered a true minimalist, but I’ve learned that I love clutter-free space. I need places in my house that are chaos-free. And I like having less. Less everything- less stuff, less “have tos”, and (again) less stuff.
I’ve done a lot of reading on minimalism, living clutter-free, and whatever other phrases are used to describe the concept of “I have less shit than I had before and I like it.” There are so many people out there that have gotten themselves into a life full of stuff, but feel like they’re still missing something.
As I started reading more blogs, more magazines, and more books on the subject of less, I started to change the way we lived. It was easy to start with things like kitchen gadgets- if we don’t use them or we have multiples, they went in a box. Clothes I hate, crap that has been stored in closets but never used, and junk toys all found their way out of the house. The more I got rid of, the more joy I felt with my new found space. More rewarding was the more we got rid of, the less we brought in. Joy of joys!
With the new year, a few of number of the minimalist groups were discussing the idea of “buy nothing” challenges. Some folks have gotten themselves to successfully do a 365 Buy Nothing Challenge. I’m impressed by this lifestyle and may eventually drag my family into something like that. Since The Hubs and I have started sifting through our stuff, we have noticed how much less we bring in to the house. We are nowhere near where I would like to be, but it’s a start.
In any case, the idea of a Buy Nothing Challenge has stayed with me. I’m going to drag The Hubs through a January of less. We have family in town, so eating out and such may be a case where I’ll have to go with the crowd/ be a good host. We also promised Chaos that we would get him a shark tooth necklace from Sea World for his birthday. But otherwise, I think we can do it.
Here’s what I’m outlining for our exciting foray into Buy Nothings. As this is our first challenge and The Hubs may be a reluctant participant (:read: dragged along through the month. Sorry not sorry?) this is what I’m thinking:
- Dining out 1x a week only. We don’t eat out very often, but we can work to cut it out. I would like to see if we could cut it down even more.
- We’ll buy necessities, but nothing extra. We’ll work our way through the pantry and deep freezer for the majority of our meals, but supplement our fresh foods from the grocery store.
- Chaos and Mayhem are included in this challenge, which means that we won’t buy anything for them this month. They can buy using their allowance however.
- A shark tooth necklace has been promised long before this came about.
- All bets are off if the roof caves in or something equally bizarre happens in our lives.
*This isn’t the same as Buy Nothing community- those are absolutely fascinating and essentially folks work together to give to each other and live in financial conservatism. I’m doubly impressed by people who can find a network of frugal folks to be part of their lives.
