Spending Money

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One of the things I hate most about myself is that I am always finding myself wanting things I know we can’t afford. Not just a “oh that would be nice” but a “OMG I Want it now!” kind of way. Sure I might not be dreaming of a Hummer and $700 shoes, but I’m still wrapped up in the must-buy-it culture.

Trying not to jump straight to buy-it mode when I find something cool is one of my biggest obstacles. I could spend hours at Etsy drooling over all the things I want. If I let myself I’d spend millions buying all the books I want to read. And darn it I just want a juicer, ice cream maker, bread machine, coffee maker, every other gadget I see. And don’t even get me started on the traveling I want to do.

It’s not just me that I worry about, it’s the boys. I can definitely see how I rub off on them in this way. They’ve got my “Oh wow let’s buy it!” instead of their father’s “Eh, whatever” attitude. Combined Dearest would almost need to own a small business franchise to afford us. Despite being pretty frugal and hating to spend money or buy anything new, I still want so many things.

Last night Dearest and I hit the local Hastings before going grocery shopping. As I was digging through the clearance books I came across a used copy of Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine. And though it seems counterproductive, I bought it. I’ve added it to my reading list in hopes that I might get inspired to not want to buy so much stuff all the time. Who knows, maybe I’ll get a wild idea to try what Levine did. Weirder things have happened.

Image source: Lotus Head, Amazon.com