No-buy November

So we (husband, self) have decided to join others out on the interwebs in a challenge to not buy anything for the month of November. Obviously groceries will get bought, and some other consumable items (I’m not forgoing washing our clothes if I run out of laundry detergent mid-month, for example), but we are making a concerted effort to not buy any material items this month. And it’s a month that includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday and is a general lead-up to the Christmas shopping extravaganza that is the month of December. It’s only November 7th, and there are already a few items I would have purchased if not for the no-buy mandate. It’s so much easier to buy new than it is to find and/or repurpose what you already own. Just 10 minutes and a few clicks on Amazon and something is delivered to your door two days later. For example, I want a gym bag (as it’s getting colder my workouts are going indoors), but now I can’t buy one. But I have an old one (15+ years old) sitting in the basement holding old Tae Kwon Do uniforms and equipment that I’m probably never going to use again. So I donated the equipment to a local school, and now I have a gym bag! It’s not fancy, but all the zippers work and it does the job. Also I’d probably be online shopping for cold-weather running gear right now, rather than scouring the back of my closet and basement for things I can layer. (Never mind that it’s not even that cold out yet, I just want to be prepared!) We are going to make a list of things we want to buy, then next month look at the list to see if there’s anything on it we still want. While I don’t think we’re big shoppers (neither of us enjoy shopping or do it for enjoyment or because we’re bored), we are definitely guilty of buying new out of sheer ease and convenience. The other added bonus of knowing we’re not going to be buying anything this month is that I can blow past online ads without bothering to look at them, because whatever amazing 80% off sale going on is irrelevant to me at the moment. I also hid the buy/sell/swap Facebook groups from my news feed because they don’t matter! Though I don’t think I really spend time online shopping, every time I pause and look at an ad, or a picture of a used baby item for sale in the neighborhood, that’s time out of my day that could be better spent doing a million other things (or just sitting and doing nothing). Ironically, the prize for completing the no-buy month is three books, though potentially those can be claimed in e-book format. 🙂