A List of the Stuff I'm Not Buying

**sunflowers*8890** · 01-03-2012, 06:37 AM

I lost my job this past year, and we are knee-deep in debt. So I'm on a self-imposed spending holiday for 2012, which means NEEDS only. If we can live without it, we aren't buying it!

Being a red-blooded American, of course I am already seeing things and thinking I'd like to have them... they would improve my life, my health, my organization, home, efficiency... etc.

So I've decided to add a page to my notebook. I'm going to list all the things I want, or consider buying. I'll add the date, and the cost if I know it. Then of course I won't buy it! Then I can look back over the list as the year goes on. My guess is that, when I look back, many of the items will seem frivolous and unnecessary, and my life will have marched along just fine without them. I'll have saved money and have less clutter, just my list

Entry #1 will be the automatic air freshener I saw the ad for last night. You walk past and it spritzes out some freshener. We had them at work (yes, the job that I lost) and they were great; how wonderful my home would be if smelled nice all the time! hahaha. (Then I remembered... "oh yeah, I'm not buying stuff".)

**hnybny91** · 01-03-2012, 07:35 AM

This is a great idea. My DH and I both lost our jobs last year. DH has found another one but I have not. Luckily, I did not inherit yjr "buy everything you see an infomercial for" gene from my mom. but I still need to control grocery spending and no more eating out atm all.

**OOwl** · 01-03-2012, 08:27 AM

I actually did that last year. I wrote down a page of wants and a page of needs in the back of my date book (those NOTES pages at the back). As the year went on, I would look over the list, add to it, take it off (say if I got it as a gift for a birthday or used/free). Some things I found I just lost the desire to even have before they were acquired. Once acquired, I'd mark a line through it with the date it was received/purchased. It was also a quick reference for if someone asked me what I wanted for a birthday, house-warming, or Christmas gift. There were big items and small items on it. That is something that worked REALLY well for me, and I've already earmarked new pages in my date book for the same "game." Obviously there were quite a few items I never received or bought, so they are just now listed in the new year's date book. I hope your list goes well and you get lots and lots of your needs (and wants) met in the coming year.

**Cricketlegs** · 01-03-2012, 08:32 AM

The deal with me is I do have a $250 a month allowance which allows me to buy all the crud I want until I run out of funds. I eat out, buy clothes(almost always name label used from Hopes Closet)purses are my downfall so I have a $40 limit. If it's over $40 I can NOT have it. Where would I put all of them if I didn't reel myself in?????

I also buy my craft stuff. I quilt, sew, knit and crochet,scrapbook and also make jewelry and sometimes paint(not for a while) so they are all expensive hobbies that take up massive amounts of space.

I lost my room when dd moved back in where I kept all my hobbies and the 1 year stockpile so it all had to be corraled. Now I use WHAT I HAVE and avoid buying any new hobby supplies. Where would I put it all? I always shop the sales and stock even with hobbies so that had to come to an end.

The stockpile had to be eaten. Now I am amassing a 4 month of food and a 1 year HBA and household and finding creative storage solutions lol! I may have to stop before my goals depending on space but we'll see.

My wardrobe really is complete, hobbies I have out the wazoo, stocking is in the budget.

I have nothing to buy lol!

I do want an ASUS tablet with separate keyboard so that'll run me about $500 so I could just sit and wait and save for it.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 01-03-2012, 09:03 AM

We're definitely curbing as much extraneous spending as possible this year. With being in debt and a savings plan in effect, it's hard to justify much of anything.

Yesterday, I bought an ironing board and it is something I have been needing the last ten years.

I don't need any clothes or anything else. The boys are all set with what they have. DH is set with what he has. There really isn't anything that we would want to have around the house. (Heck, I even got an oscillating heater this year for Christmas so that helps.)

The boys know that bills and such always come first and if they really want something, that's what birthdays are for.

**imagine** · 01-03-2012, 10:52 AM

I figure if I can't keep a want in my head then it really wasn't a want. I just let it slip away unnoticed. Then it feels like I get everything I want as all the other passing ones are forgotten.

I could see writing it down if you wanted to see how much you were saving how much will power you were having at passing up your wants.

**krbshappy71** · 01-03-2012, 10:58 AM

This looks like a job for Pinterest!! Create a board "things I will buy when I'm out of debt" and start pinning things you are craving.

I used to write things down but it wasn't very satisfying to me. Pinterest has become my "I want it but I wont get it" fix. Not recommended if you have difficulty resisting buying stuff online. For some reason I just don't tend to shop online to buy, its more to peruse instead of leaving the house.

Hugs to you, sometimes it feels like using a baby spoon to dig a trench but in the end it will be worth it.

**mauimagic** · 01-03-2012, 11:31 AM

great idea and what a terrific way to have a written history of supporting yourself!! Good luck - shall be checking back - for support (both ways) and interest of course!!

**Cricketlegs** · 01-03-2012, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by MomToTwoBoys

We're definitely curbing as much extraneous spending as possible this year. With being in debt and a savings plan in effect, it's hard to justify much of anything.

Yesterday, I bought an ironing board and it is something I have been needing the last ten years.

I don't need any clothes or anything else. The boys are all set with what they have. DH is set with what he has. There really isn't anything that we would want to have around the house. (Heck, I even got an oscillating heater this year for Christmas so that helps.)

The boys know that bills and such always come first and if they really want something, that's what birthdays are for.

I hear that. For me it was a broom and pot holders.

My broom was 11 years old and awful and I just could not bring myself to spend the money on a new one. Finally I found a really nice one at Fred's that was a great price and bit the bullet and just did it.

The pot holders. What can I say. Stained, gunky that no washing would cure and ones that I had no idea where they came from. One was a cat with a hanging down TAIL.....

I found some at Thanksgiving on sale. Got 4, wow out of control lol!
I also got 8 new kitchen towels to boot.

**McD** · 01-03-2012, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by krbshappy71

This looks like a job for Pinterest!! Create a board "things I will buy when I'm out of debt" and start pinning things you are craving.

I used to write things down but it wasn't very satisfying to me. Pinterest has become my "I want it but I wont get it" fix. Not recommended if you have difficulty resisting buying stuff online. For some reason I just don't tend to shop online to buy, its more to peruse instead of leaving the house.

Hugs to you, sometimes it feels like using a baby spoon to dig a trench but in the end it will be worth it.

Great idea regarding Pinterest. I actually have been doing this and received a Christmas gift as a result of it!

I also gave a Christmas gift that was on someone's pinterest.

**Spirit Deer** · 01-03-2012, 01:36 PM

Keeping a list like that would just depress me. I don't feel deprived, but if I had it somewhere in black and white, I'm pretty sure I would.

**wjcalderon** · 01-05-2012, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by Cricketlegs

I hear that. For me it was a broom and pot holders.

The pot holders. What can I say. Stained, gunky that no washing would cure and ones that I had no idea where they came from. One was a cat with a hanging down TAIL.....

I found some at Thanksgiving on sale. Got 4, wow out of control lol!
I also got 8 new kitchen towels to boot.

You said in your earlier post that you sew.
Why don't you just make some potholders?
That's what I plan to do - mine are like yours - pretty gross!
I'm going to use pieces of old towels for the padding.

**Cricketlegs** · 01-05-2012, 09:25 AM

Originally Posted by wjcalderon

You said in your earlier post that you sew.
Why don't you just make some potholders?
That's what I plan to do - mine are like yours - pretty gross!
I'm going to use pieces of old towels for the padding.

I am just too scared of being burned and the cost of the insulated padding is as such that it was cheaper to get mine on sale at clearance for $1 and .75 cents I got 2 of each.

**Missourimom** · 01-05-2012, 09:46 AM

Yep.....sounds like a Pinterest job to me too!

**madhen** · 01-05-2012, 10:02 AM

This is a great idea! I just added a "Things that I will buy when I am rich" board to my Pinterest.

My problem is that the things I really WANT are all big-ticket. I couldn't care less for purses and knick-knacks. I want a new deck, a propane-powered refrigerator, to replace all the carpets with hardwood....

Sometimes, when I price those things out, I think I'll never get them, because I have a really hard time coughing up thousands of dollars for stuff that is really a want, not a need. Even the new roof, which was absolutely a need, and which cost about $3,000, was not easy for me. I was depressed for about a week afterward, thinking of all the FUN stuff I could have done with that money!