October 28, 2016

7 things i’ll miss in november

Since I’ve decided to commit to doing a #buynothingnovember (read more about that here), I decided it would be wholly appropriate for me to sit here and whine about the stuff I’ll miss. Just kidding. Kind of. But I did sit and think about the stuff I’ll have to say no to, so I can be prepared. Here it is:

Target. Just Target in general. I know I can’t go there, even for food. Because seriously, have you ever gone to Target just for food and actually walked out with just food? No. So it’s probably best we just part ways for a while.
Amazon. Kind of for the same reason as Target- it’s just way too easy to buy stuff. There are things that I would consider needs that I purchase through Amazon, but if I’m being honest, there are a lot of purchases that I justify as needs that might not actually be needs. That “Add to Cart” button is just too tempting. I’ll be hitting Amazon pretty hard in December for Christmas presents, so I feel ok taking a little break for the month of November. I’ll just use that prime subscription for endless episodes of Daniel Tiger and Man in the High Castle, thank you very much.{library books will be my friend.}
Fancy beverages. This is one of those things that I say I don’t really care about but somehow I keep buying them. So it should be easy to pass on these next month. Not stopping at the coffee shop will probably be pretty easy, because I don’t do it too often. But not scooping up some delicious artisan soda or kombucha at the grocery store might prove to be harder. We’ll see.{goodbye, fancy soda.}
Clicking through to shops on Instagram. I am SO bad about this. I scroll through my friend’s instagram photos and the cute sweater they’re wearing catches my eye. Or the blanket on their couch. Lucky for me, they tagged it! Woo hoo! I tap through, and before I know it, I’m the proud new owner of a fair-trade, organic alpaca blanket that costs as much as a years’ worth of Starbucks. Ok, not really, but close to that. I’m not giving up Instagram, but I’m going to work on reminding myself NOT to click through to shops, even if they’re incredibly tempting. Self-control, guys. Not my strong suit, but I’m gonna give it a go.
Buying kids’ clothes. My kids don’t need any more clothes. Period. They don’t have huge wardrobes, but they don’t need huge wardrobes. And they don’t care, at all. So at this point, if I buy something for them to wear, it’s more for me than for them, even though I sometimes tell myself otherwise. If we’re really in need of something, I’ll bust out the sewing machine and attempt to make it with what I have on hand.{hope you like this sweater, joe.}
MLM Parties. Online or otherwise. Because here is how it goes: I get invited to one of these parties and I say, “I’ll just do it to support my friend, but I’m not buying anything because I don’t need anything.” And then… the rest is history. I adore my friends who are entrepreneurs and truly do like to support them in any way I can. But I’ll have to find other ways to support their endeavors in November, because leggings, no matter how soft and comfy they are, are a want and not a need for me at the moment. But I’ll miss the snacks and wine.
And here’s one thing I won’t miss: targeted ads. I’m going to clear all the cookies and caches and whatnot on my computer so that I won’t get so many of those targeted ads that always seem to know exactly what I want. I can’t even tell you how many times I shopped for something online, decided that I didn’t need it, then one of those Facebook ads popped up and I then decided that I did want it. This is exactly the point of these kinds of ads, I get it, but I don’t need anything convincing me that I need anything during the month of November, so I’m going to do my best to steer clear.