Day 5: Buy Nothing Challenge

I survived the weekend still buying nothing!

I’ve been making a list of purchases that have really, really tempted me. Like, I was justifying in my head why I “need” to purchase said thing.

When I looked at the list, I realized there are two purchase categories that tempt me really greatly.

Purchase Temptation by Category 1: The Deal

Literally as I am writing this, I received a text offer from Rowhouse Santa Monica for a monthly membership special. I just had to talk myself out of it– I mean, I’ve been running and doing HIIT/ yoga/ barre using the Aaptiv app for 3 months now and it’s been working out great. But it’s a deal…

The deals from NextDoor also didn’t pan out before April, but they had been in the works so I wanted to convince myself they were grandfathered in. Let’s be honest, though: I don’t need an under-desk treadmill. I really want one, but I just started using my standing desk about a month ago and am getting used to that. So it’s premature at best. And I don’t need a PlayStation, I just haven’t played since I lived in Portland and genuinely miss video games.

A big source of temptation is the Sale. Before when I talked about sport shopping online and window shopping, a lot of that is waiting for a sale or deal on something I like. Often a price reduction, even 10-15%, is enough for me to buy when I don’t need to. Yes, I’ve progressed beyond scammy, ultra cheap stuff, but I still can’t resist a deal. Especially for a socially conscious product.

The key to remember now and every day is that buying nothing is better than buying something socially conscious that you don’t need.

Purchase Temptation Category 2: The Experience

Going to get coffee and see a movie fall into this category. Technically Rowhouse and Macrame fall into this one too. Macrame because it’s actually a locally-taught class at a shop we love and at the end I’d end up with a nicer office/ room divider than the current tapestry I’m using.

Typically I am not in any way conscientious about activities I spend money for, since it’s been over a year since I was able to do most things, including movies and classes.

The point with these is both mindful spending and not getting COVID. As of yet, I’m not vaccinated, and I’ve made it this far without getting it. Plus since things are opening again the instance of COVID infections is on the rise again, too.

But either way, it’s getting difficult to talk myself out of the FOMO. Especially when the only people I’ve been able to hang out with locally are my housemates and almost all other socializing is via Zoom. Every few weeks I start feeling despair about taking my dog on the same walks day in and day out. I need groups and activities, aaaaagh!

And what makes it worse? The fact that I used the, “I can make it to the next one,” a couple of times in winter 2020, and then there was no “next one” for over a year. Really adds to the urgency.

BUT… I’ve made it so far…