Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Sustainable September 2018 Day 11


This month is going by fast. I just started my second week at work as an archaeologist and I have been coming home exhausted, showering, cooking food (for dinner and left overs for lunch the next day plus preparing breakfast to eat as I walk out the door early morning). I do manage to get some writing done for the blog before I write my blessings and go to sleep. 

I wanted to keep this particular Sustainable September idea short. So please forgive me for not including a bunch more information. I will do my best to recomment a few places to get more information, so hopefully that covers the huge holes in todays idea...

Day 11. Buy Less Stuff

Or simply put... stop buying into Consumerism.

We all need to eat, cloth ourselves, and be social, however what You don’t need is the newest ‘it’ thing. Sure it might be nice, but the more research done shows that the joy from purchasing the “newest” or “best” thing, is short lived and often leaves people in debt, unhappier and less satisfied.

I am not saying don’t buy anything! What I am saying is... be more discerning about what you choose to purchase. Not only will this help you save money, it will stop you buying things you don’t need, that will eventually end up in landfill.

I, personally, have a list in my journal that I use. I write down what I want to buy and the date I write down that I want to buy it. I then leave it for 30 days, particularly if it’s over about $50AUD or £25. 

This does give me some leeway if I need something in a hurry (under £25/$50). But I have found that I put all my wants on the list, no matter how small so that I assess if I do really need it. more often than not I dont really need something.

After 30 days I can choose to purchase whatever it was, but if I still don’t NEED that item, I don’t buy it. I have even scratched a few things off my list, because I've decided that I haven’t needed them. Or I leave them on the list for when I decide the time is right.

This often means not going to shops unless I have a list. This saves me a fortune because you aren’t just buying things because they are nice or cheap.

I have developed this spending strategy over the last few years as I was inspired by the work of The Minimalists. If you have time check out the Netflix Documentary "Minimalism: Live a meaningful life" as it can give people a how-to-guide to reassesing life. This often means simplifying life and only keeping those things that are the most important to you. When you figure out the why to, you can the use Maria Kondo's "Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" (like I did) for the how to.

If buying less excites you then check out "Buy Nothing New Month" in October. Check out the "no spend challenge" or read Cait Flanders Book: "The Year Of Less". It’s on my list of books to read however I have read some of her blog posts and heard her talk about her year of less.  

I wanted to keep this post short but im sure I could talk about it for ages! Feel free to message me for more tips and tricks to help you stop buying as much stuff. 

Much love,
Daena

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