Every single thing I've managed not to buy so far this year
Plus, a laying bare of what I have purchased, by Emer
I am a capitalist’s dream and a mortgage provider’s nightmare. I live to spend frivolously. I make impulse purchases. I am comically easily influenced. The deranged things I bought during the pandemic haunt me from presses and drawers around my flat, from the Shakti mat to the drying bonnet.
I love buying things. Slipping an eye serum into my online cart with a little thrill. Sailing around the Lazy River of Shite in Søstrene Grene, firing inexplicable craft paraphernalia and tiny bowls and other miscellaneous Bits into my basket-with-wheels. What is life for if not being followed around by my own basket of miscellaneous Bits?
However with 2024 feeling especially financially lean and with no mortgage yet at my big age, plus a lot of guilt around my consumption habits, something had to change. It wasn’t just the Bits and the things I was throwing money at, I was a divil for fast fashion like ASOS and Cider despite having avalanches of clothes while wearing the same five things on rotation. So I’ve taken a leaf out of the good sis Sarah Breen’s book and launched myself into a no buy/low buy year.
My rules
No fast fashion and no new clothes (except for underwear, where necessary. But NO NEW SOCKS. I am a hound for a nice sock)
No impulse purchases. Instead, I add the thing I want to a Things I Want But Didn’t Buy list in my Notes** app
Keep a list of everything non-essential I do buy
Just a month in, my Things I Want But Didn’t Buy list is already a humbling mishmash of items. Past Emer would have already pulled the trigger on at least five of them. Here is each and every averted impulse purchase.
Boot harnesses
Starting off strong with an item I didn’t even know existed before I felt compelled to purchase. Yes, the first thing on my list is “cowboy boot harnesses from Intentionally Blank”. Word salad, essentially. I saw them on some random Instagram reel and my brain went: Your €40 plastic cowboy boots from ASOS have been crying out for harnesses!
Onto the list they went.
Money saved: Probably €100 between postage and whatnot