February as No-Buy Month...

[fajrdrako]

I got e-mail from a close friend asking if I wanted to join her in the No-Buy Month challenge. Well, goodness knows, I have no money - this is designed for people with an income to get out of debt, or save a little, but right now my income is so minimal it's pathetic.

Yeah, a good month for not buying stuff.

I was challenged by another friend in another direction: that for everything I buy, I get rid of something else. It's a way to keep the apartment uncluttered, and, despite declaring my decluttering done a while ago, I find I want to do more. Needless to say, the friend who challenged me has a beautiful, minimalist, tidy house. I envy her.

But I went to IKEA on Sunday, and showed remarkably little self-control. When I went to IKEA a while ago with fairestcat, commodorified and raynedaze, I saw this stuffed dog, and, despite not really being a person who gets stuffed animals, I liked this one enough to buy it this week.



His name is Benedictus.

I bought a cooking pot, too, to replace one I'd discarded. And at Chapter's they had three gorgeous teapots at 20% off, to replace one that got broken last week. I couldn't decide which one to get so I got them all. This is where the trouble starts.

So this morning I was determining what to discard to balance the dog, and I thought of the extra teapots... And I decided to discard ten things. So I did.

Let's see how well I can continue.

• No-Buy Month Rules, from the website:
  
  
  Yay! No-Buy Month starts on Wed. You know I can’t wait. I hope you all will join me and get ready to save big in February! I normally save just under $400 for the month! Some rules of engagement:
  
  1) You pay all of your bills and handle your business. During one No-Buy Month, my car needed new tires. I got them because it’s important to be safe.
  
  2) No buying food at restaurants or getting snacks from vending machines. Food bought at grocery stores is fair game. Yes, wine bought at the grocery store is approved. No getting your car washed professionally. Wash it yourself. No professional mani-pedis. No buying new clothes. Shop in your closet!
  
  3) If you have any gift cards that you haven’t used yet, No-Buy Month is the perfect time to use them. Now, don’t buy gift cards for yourself today so that you can use them in February. Use gift cards that you already own and haven’t gotten around to using. So often, we forget to use our gift cards and end up losing them or letting them expire. No bueno. I hate waste.
  
  4) You can go to a free happy hour, but you must tip the server. I hate cheap.
  
  5) Have fun! I want to be sure you find at least one free and fabulous activity to do
  
  
  
• Frugalista on facebook
  
  
• Frugalista: the frugal side of fabulous
  
  
• the book at amazon ca. Sadly, the library doesn't have the book, which I'd like to read. But buying it righ now looks like cheating. I will make do with the website, and improvise.
  

Problems I can foresee:

1. The month starts on Wednesday. Wednesday is comic book day. I can say I'll just stick to the comics on my subscription and no more, but I deliberately left my subscription loose for the occasional addition, like Winter Soldier #1 coming out really soon. Moreover, I like having a cup of coffee or a bowl of soup with fairestcat on comic book day. How to handle this? Hmm. I do have money on my Bridgehead card. Or I could, say, allow myself only the simplest cup of tea and plan for that: a cup of tea on Wednesdays is okay.
   
   
2. Two pre-planned events: a trip to the National Gallery on Friday, and a club meeting (at a pub) that night. I believe art galleries should be free - and the National Gallery used to be - but sadly, they now cost a lot. ($20 looks like a lot to me.)
   

Potential solution:

1. Cancel. But I don't want to.
   
   
2. Go, but be frugal: spend minimally.
   
   
3. Allow these pre-arranged events but nothing more.
   

Comments

[cleverthylacine]

hahahah yeah there is no way I would ever do this.

for one thing I am constitutionally incapable of doing my own nails. the hard gel manicure is all that stands between me and splitting and PAIN and to do it myself I'd need 5 more points of dexterity and a $200 UV nail dryer (which, if I had the dexterity, would pay for itself in a couple of months but I so do not)

[fajrdrako]

Nails. That's a sore point. I have the worst fingernails ever. When young, I used to bite them. Now they break and chip and I never know what to do with them. And I mostly can't afford to get manicures, so when I do get a manicure it's desperately needed and a big deal. Very exciting.

There's a list of things I can't get till I have an income again, and manicures is on the list. Along with massages. In any case... I couldn't afford these things in February anyway, but this way I can pretend it's all voluntary. Sort of.

[cleverthylacine]

I finally realised that bleeding fingers cost me spoons, so I put that ahead of other things I might otherwise get when I'm broke. But I know what you mean.

I remember what massages were like...

[fajrdrako]

Yup, bleeding fingers and bleeding hands are a real problem, and I've been struggling with it a lot lately - a combination or reactions to dry winter weather, paper cuts, and nail troubles. Ugh!

I remember what massages were like too. I remember the sense of heavenly bliss. Aaaah, maybe again sometime in the distant, barely imaginable future...

[ceruleancat]

Massaging your hands with olive oil might help. If you have aromatic lavender or something to add to it, could help too. Not limited to the hands.

[ceruleancat]

This sounds like our daily life most of the time.
Of course the one time one buys more is during the January sales, which this year span mid Jan to mid Feb.

Is the point of the exercise to save or to get people to think about their spending or see they can alter habits?

[fajrdrako]

Both, I think. And it's not meant for (a) people who can't afford to spend or (b) people with enough money to take luxuries for granted, it's for people who need to remind themselves to be careful and abstemious.

I used to be in a middle ground, but until I get a job, I'm in category one. And this looks like an intelligent, maybe even self-empowering, way to handle it.

[ceruleancat]

I quite agree. It's a good thing, to remind oneself, to rethink habits and behaviour. I just found the timing interesting, given the extra expenses planned exactly for the beginning of Feb, because of the sales.

[fajrdrako]

February sales? I'm not sure we have these. We have a lot of sales in January. Mind you, I don't shop enough to know.

[ceruleancat]

The period of the so-called January sales in Paris centrally determined by some official administration or another, and actually spans into Feb. This year, it's 14 Jan to 11 Feb, so more mid month to mid month. Since you can find 70% discounts and even more, that's the time to get stuff.

[fajrdrako]

What a great system! They talked about it a little in my French class in December. Our sales are somewhat more freeform... and not usually as good, though it varies.