blue artichoke

The Not Buying It project didn't get much attention because of the screwy Internet, but here's the wrap-up:

April
2 plastic under-the-bed rolling storage bins
1 pair of white sandals
1 oven mitt
1 plastic 2-cup liquid measuring cup
1 pair of black sandals

May
1 router
1 foam paint brush
1 sports bra

June
1 cardio heart monitor
1 pedometer

All the things I bought in April and May were replacing similar items that were broken or worn out. The June purchases were new items, so technically illegal purchases during Not Buying It. I justified the purchases because they were for my health. Shoot, I couldn't waste another month on aerobics videos that don't get my heart rate high enough. And all those extra steps I've taken because of the pedometer clipped to my waistband will surely add minutes to my life. All in all, I'm rather impressed with myself, though as it turns out, I didn't actually need the white sandals (haven't worn them all summer. I might try to return them.) or the oven mitt (the old, scorched one still had some life in it).

Since the conclusion of the project, though, I've been in a shopping twilight zone. I went straight out to Big Lots (one of my favorite bargain stores) ready to throw down some money. Though there were several things I could have bought, I talked myself out of everything but a $1 set of 4 small pool balls, to take with us to Cancun next year. The best luck I had was in Indianapolis, where I ducked into a TJ Maxx to cool off during my 9-mile hike around the city. (I knew it was 9 miles because of my fancy new pedometer). There was a sale and I walked away wearing a new pair of shorts and a belt, and carrying a new bathing suit and wrist weights. I've tried to take advantage of the sales on summer clothes, but I've talked myself out of every purchase. I even bought two new pairs of brown sandals and returned them both because they weren't all-purpose enough. I've never been a good shopper, but after the Not Buying It project, I'm much worse. I try to shop. I want to buy something. I find nice things. I talk myself out of most potential purchases.

Getting to Know All About You: Are you a browser or a stick-to-the-list shopper (grocery, clothes or other)?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 05:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

All my routines are falling apart!
We didn't have our Wandering Gullet meal last night because I underestimated how long it would take the frozen chicken to thaw and, thus, was unable to marinate it as instructed. We might have it tonight, but more likely tomorrow night when GC doesn't have extracurricular activities that postpone dinner.

Also, I went waaay ($20) over budget this week at the grocery store. Living on $50/week is really difficult. The first two weeks weren't bad, because GC missed dinner 2-3 nights/week because of after-work activities. It also helped that I had a freezer full of leftovers and frozen chicken parts. Shopping has been much less enjoyable because there's just no room for spontaneity. Artichokes look really good? Too bad, they aren't on the list. Blueberries are in season! No room in the budget. Sale on brats? No grilling out this week because I can't add to the meal plan. In addition, I've missed out on some social get-togethers that involve meeting up with friends for lunch or dinner. This sucks.

What sent me over the limit this week, though, was GC's move to summer hours at work. He'll need to take lunch to work and keep snacks there, so I needed to stock up on pretzels, nuts, Lean Pockets and sandwich fixin's in addition to my regular weekly food items. These are necessary items and I cut back on non-necessity fresh produce to compensate, but it just wasn't enough to stay on budget.

It seems that I'm not the only one inspired by the Oregon governor's food stamp budget; Rebecca is trying to eat organic on a food stamp budget. She's not attempting the strict $21/week budget that the governor tried (for one week), rather she's using the USDA's Thrifty Food Plan budget of $74/week. She's having an easier time than we are; an extra $14/week would go pretty far, considering GC and I don't eat only organic foods and aren't opposed to generic or store brands. I'll have to really tighten the purse strings for the next two weeks, to compensate for this week's extravagances.

I'll be glad when this is over.

Getting to Know All about You: What was your last impulse buy?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 02:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My first month of Not Buying It has come to an end, and I must say that it was rather enlightening. It had a rocky start as I worked out the kinks in the plan, but was really very easy. What I bought:

2 plastic under-the-bed rolling storage bins to replace the ripped and crittered cloth storage bags = $32.35
1 pair of white sandals to replace uncomfortable rarely worn old sandals = $33.47
1 oven mitt to replace stained and burned cloth oven mitt = $5.25
1 plastic 2-cup liquid measuring cup to replace one that cracked in the microwave = $1.96
1 pair of black sandals to replace 1 pair of broken flip-flops, 1 pair of worn-out clunky sandals and 1 pair of black slides that I never wear = Free (I used a gift certificate)

That actually seems like a lot to me when I write it in a list, but when I think about the cat toys, summer clothes, slip n' slides, serving dishes, cooling racks, potted plants, Trapper Keepers, shoe racks, etc. that tempted me this month, it's not much at all. I might add that I did not buy a new hairbrush to replace the one I left in Mexico in March. What girl has two thumbs and can live without a hairbrush for a month? This one. I had the perfect hairbrush and it broke. I got another one that betrayed me, so I abandoned it in Mexico, and haven't found a suitable replacement. Instead of buying and hating multiple brushes, I've been using a comb. Maybe I'll never use a brush again!

Final tally: I spent almost $200 less last month than I did in April 2006, $150 less than I did in April 2005 (when I lived alone and spent 10 days in Poland and Germany) and $80 less than I did in April 2004 (when I lived alone). Pretty good start!

I want to kick things up a bit for May. April was actually really easy once I had the guidelines set, so I want to add a challenge for this month: $50/week for groceries. It isn't quite as extreme as living on food stamps, but it is less than the national average food budget of $82/week. When I created my budget last year, I allocated $100/week for food. I had no idea what my grocery expenditures were, so picked that number as a starting point. The first month was difficult, but after that I routinely came in under budget at between $70-$80/week. That still seems rather high to me - we're just two people and we don't eat extravagantly. I think we can cut it down more, so starting yesterday, which wasn't officially May, but was my grocery shopping day of the week, I set out with a list and $50 in my pocket. I still have $7 left.

Getting to Know All About You: Do you have a food budget? What is it?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We have had fantastic weather recently, the kind of weather that makes me want to throw off winter's lethargy and spruce things up a bit. Normally in the early days of spring, I like to shop for bright spring clothes, buy new plants for my front-porch container garden, highlight my hair and window-shop downtown. See a pattern here? I spend money in spring. Because that's not an option this spring, instead of highlights, I cut my hair. Instead of buying bright spring clothes, I'm appreciating all my old favorites and looking to my collection of earrings and necklaces to spruce up my wardrobe. There will be no new container garden on the front porch this year, so I'm redecorating with things I already have.

I woke up cranky and grumpy yesterday, so I forced myself outside to work in the sunshine. I started by washing off some filthy plastic lawn chairs and side table that live unused in the back yard. Once they were gleaming, I wanted to put them on the front porch. As often happens, the newly cleaned makes the old look dingy, so I took everything off the porch and swept and mopped the white concrete floor. It's a dirty job, but hard labor that produces immediate results is a mood-lifter. My neighbors stopped by to see what I was doing, and stayed to chat a bit. The porch dried quickly in the sunshine, so I created a nice little sitting area for future neighborhood gossip sessions. Last fall, I pulled up the daffodil bulbs from the patch of dirt in front of the house. Many were already sprouting, so I planted the bulbs in my empty flower pots and arranged them along the porch walls. There was so much junk stashed away on the porch; I brought in what was still useful and threw everything else away. Now, instead of heading out to shop, I can head out to the porch and enjoy the beautiful weather while heckling the barefoot hippies that walk by.

Yesterday's experience made me realize that I don't need to go shopping to spruce thing up. I can be even more creative by repurposing the tired, old boring things I already have. This Not Buying It project may become a permanent fixture!

Getting to Know All About You: What do you do to get rid of the grumps?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 05:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Blue Grilled Cheese posed a thinker in the comments section. How do gifts fit into to the Not Buying It project? If I moan and lament my self-imposed inability to purchase something, such as hair dye, to such a degree that someone is moved to buy it for me, is that acceptable under the rules? Technically, I’m not buying anything, and it would give me opportunity to work on my persuasive skills, but it still feels like cheating. I'd feel like every time I mentioned something I wanted to buy, but didn't, I'd be posting a wish list. My over-active conscience and whatever is leftover from my Randian days won't allow it. The point isn’t to save money, but to reduce my shopping acquisitions to necessities. Hair dye isn’t a necessity. Besides, I’m embracing the grey.

This also makes me reconsider what is a necessity. Brie isn’t a necessity, yet I bought some last week (have you had a baguette with butter and Brie and slices of mango? Ohmygosh, it’s my second-favorite sandwich, after a BLT). If I were to go down this route fully, we’d eat only rice, beans, meat, fruit and vegetables (and some would argue that meat isn’t necessary. I disagree). No diet soft drinks, and no pie. I’m not ready to become a true ascetic, but perhaps I need to be more discerning even within the “allowed” categories.

Something else I did not buy: a paper cutter.

Getting to Know All About You: What's your favorite sandwich?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

My Not Buying It project is off to a pretty good start, but it's obvious that I need to make some clear guidelines. I said I could buy things to replace similar items that were worn, torn, stained, broken or otherwise unusable. Within that restriction, I bought two new under-the-bed rolling plastic clothes storage bins. I had cloth ones, but for the last two years, they have not only stored out-of-season clothes, but also incubated spider eggs (there were rips in the cloth from where the bags got caught on the bed framework). For each season change, I have to wash all the clothes that have been stored in the cloth storage bags, or else get tiny spider bites all over. I'm hoping the plastic ones will have a tighter seal and keep out crawlies. I've also bought two pairs of shoes: black sandals to replace three pairs of shoes (my soon-to-break black flip-flops, a slightly too-small pair of dressy black sandals, a pair of black flat sandals and maybe my favorite chunky black sandals that make me fall and twist my ankle at least once a summer), and white sandals to replace a pair of uncomfortable white sandals that make me hobble after an hour of wear. I've been happy with those purchases. Today, though, I bought a new oven mitt. It will replace one that is stained and has been set ablaze several times. This purchase, however, wasn't premeditated. I hadn't first identified a need to replace my oven mitt; it was an impulse buy. I saw it, liked it, walked away, thought about it some more, decided I could stand to replace my old burned one, and bought it. It wasn't expensive, but I feel a bit guilty. The old oven mitt was still usable; it just isn't so pretty. But people never buy oven mitts to be displayed. I shouldn't have purchased the oven mitt, but it fell into a grey area that has now been defined. New rule: any purchase of a replacement item needs to be premeditated, and a definite need must first be established.

My other area of uncertainty is with consumable items that aren't necessary. Here, I'm thinking of hair dye. Ever since a bus ride in Mexico, when my cousin leaned forward and asked if I planned to dye my hair because I have a lot a grey and "grey really ages you," I've been thinking about coloring my hair. I'm reticent because the last time I tried to color my hair, I turned it green, then brassy gold, then back to brown with red and gold highlights with underlying green in the right light. I've finally grown out all of the green; I will never use henna again, but the red highlights looked really nice... Hair dye isn't something that you keep around until it turns to clutter, but it isn't at all necessary. I wasn't sure if it fit into my Not Buying It project, so I didn't buy any. But I'm still thinking about it. Truth be told, though, I don't mind the grey in my hair, but it is spring and I cut my hair and I can't update my wardrobe, so hair highlights is about all the sprucing up I can do. See how I talk myself out of it ("it really isn't necessary...") and then back into it ("but it's all I've got")? So, I need to decide. Um, OK, only necessities. This project isn't going to be worth much if I can find a loophole to justify buying whatever I please. Hair dye isn't a necessity, so I'll be drab-old-grey-haired Blue Artichoke this spring.

I'm keeping a list of all the things I've wanted to buy, but haven't. So far: new fitted sheet to match our spring/summer duvet cover; pumice stone; brown sandals; bright-colored spring clothes to liven up my closet full of neutral-colored spring clothes; hair dye; tote bag; wire cooling rack. All that, in just 10 days! This project is already proving that I do buy many more things than I think I do, but an experience at the shoe store today showed me how far removed I am already from traditional consumer culture. The store had a BOGO sale (buy one, get one 1/2 off). Most of the other shoppers had at least two shoe boxes under their arms as they wandered the aisles. Of course, they could have been just carrying around shoes that they're deciding between while they look for something better, but I suspect most were falling into the trap of buying an extra pair of shoes they don't really need just because of the half-off sale. When I got to the register with my lone box of shoes, the cashier said she could hold on to my shoes while I found another pair for the sale. I declined and she asked, incredulously, "You couldn't find any other shoes you like?" Instead of explaining the project to her, I just said I liked a lot of the shoes, but I only needed this pair of white sandals. I've fallen for this sale ploy before, and might have again if not for the project. But I'm pretty good at talking myself out of buying things.

Getting to Know All About You: What was your last impulse buy? Are you happy you made it?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 03:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Before I left for Cancun, I read a particularly disappointing book, Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping, by Judith Levine. I had high hopes for the book, thinking it would be about the struggles of making do with what you have and learning to not want what you don’t need. And I was really curious about how she’d get by without buying things like toilet paper, tampons, toothpaste, soap, etc. Well, to save you from a disappointing read, she bought all those things, plus a lot of other things she considered “necessities.” That wasn’t the disappointing part, though. This book was less about her experience of dropping out of consumer culture as it was a political rant against the Bush administration’s efforts to encourage economic health following 9-11 and the chronicling of her small town’s debate of whether to install a garish 200-ft cell phone tower (a compromise was reached, allowing a 100-ft cell phone tower, which pleased no one).

The book, however, got me thinking about my shopping habits. GC and I are both fairly frugal. We don’t collect anything, and except for the new tv that we got for each other for Christmas last year, we don’t splurge on big ticket toys. We don’t have chotchkes; neither of us are clothes hounds and our music and DVD collection is reasonable. Even so, I think I have too much stuff. I can’t fit everything I own into my car, unless I start driving a moving van. So, my next project is to stop buying things. Thirty days seems too easy, so for the next 3 months (starting yesterday, April 1), I can buy only disposable and consumable items. That means no clothes, jewelry, trinkets, candlesticks, shoes, books, CDs, decorations, kitchen accessories or chotchkes. Nothing frivolous, just things designed to be consumed or used up and thrown away (deoderant, BenGay patches, toothpaste, etc.). I thought about this project in Cancun, as I noticed that my favorite black flip flops were about to break, and decided to extend the shopping restriction to include replacing things I already have and use frequently, like a new pair of black flip flops when these finally break. I don’t think this will be very difficult for me, but time will tell.

Getting to Know All About You: What one item could you not live without?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)