Buh-bye, No-Buy

And, just like that, No-Buy July ended.

I don't even have a decent excuse. I didn't even try particularly valiantly to resist the lure of consumerism. Very, very poor of me. I have the sneaking feeling that I am one of those personality types...you know, the one who is drawn to doing something only when they are not actually supposed to be doing it. In which case, a Go-on-a-mad-buying-spree July would have been more apt.

Anyway, Pat and I went shopping today, ostensibly for new work shirts for him (he wasn't bound by No-Buy July's rules), and ended up buying three big bags of tea from T2 and two pairs of shoes and a pair of thongs (in winter. I know) for me. I reasoned that the tea was consumable and thus within the No-Buy July guidelines, but the footwear was new. And amazingly cheap - $34 for two pairs of slip-on boating-type shoes and a pair of Champagne-coloured Havaianas.

Okay, that's my confession. It's pretty sad that I found it so hard! Here are the things I'll take from this little episode:

* keeping one day a week a Buy-Nothing day - not even food. This means I'll have to be organised and make sure we have the things we need in advance, or go without;

* not buying takeaway hot beverages;

* not buying bottled beverages;

* I'm going to attempt to keep a one-thing-in, one-thing-out rule. If I bring something new into the house (food and basic toiletries being the exception), I need to take something out - old clothes to the op-shop, other useful items to charity, etc.

These, I think I can manage...