Tip: Don't Buy Stuff You Can't Afford

Good money advice from Saturday Night Live.

Reusing this week: plastic containers with lids

My husband and I were discussing buying new plastic storage containers from Target (on sale this week for $5) to store things in. These containers should help us keep the kids stuff neater. I would prefer to not spend-it, as you know, so I was thinking about solutions....

We recycle almost all plastic and paper that comes through our front door. I was washing an empty cherry tomato container when I realized that these containers didn't have to go straight to the recycling bin. We could reuse them first! They are the perfect size for little boy toys. 

 

I've been saving them, and the larger ones that spinach and mixed greens come in, and we'll re-purpose them for storage. 

My sister-in-law is a philosopher (really, she has a PhD and teaches it!) and she said one of her students did a paper on the 3Rs, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  The conclusion of the paper was that while recycling is good, it should not be the primary mode of "Greenness" (my quotes, not hers). First we should try to REDUCE our consumption of things, and if we HAVE to purchase or consume something, then we should try to REUSE it, and when we have used it all the way up, we should then RECYCLE it. 

It is the perfect story for this blog. 2012 is my year of REDUCE, and when I do consume, I will try as much as I can to REUSE things before RECYCLING them.  See? By reusing, I may just be saving $5 or more that I could have spent at Target. 

Enjoying some last minute spending

I've been enjoying some last minute spending before 2012 begins and my wallet is closed.  I went to Target and got whatever I thought we "needed" before the year begun. I've also had a few excessive drinks at Starbucks.

You may think, "well, that kind of not spending isn't going to save us money," but it might.
Today for example, I went down to the National Mall with my kids. I stopped at Starbucks and spent $7. Later on, I brought the kids over to the carousel, which I thought they would enjoy looking at.  No, my son just wanted to play in the dirt. He glanced over at it a few times, but wasn't that intrigued. 

 I thought about my children then, and how wonderful and easy they were to entertain. Also, how cheap they were. I was gloating over my cheapness as a mother.  I was thinking how great it was that I hadn't bought them any presents for Christmas - and the beautiful thing was, they didn't even know they were supposed to get presents!  I am, and always have been a supreme cheap-o.

Well, 30 minutes into the dirt playing, little boy looks up and asks to go on the Carousel.  I could have told him, "no, sorry, we can't go on it." or "oh, that carousel is just for looking" and that would have been the end of it.  But in a moment of spending frivolity, I looked at the ticket booth which both took Credit, and allowed children under 1 in for free, I forked over my plastic and spent another $7 for the day.

So we had our delightful 3 minute carousel ride. 

And 20 minutes later they were both playing in the dirt again.

Most young children are really easy to entertain and don't need fancy toys, snacks, or entertainment devices.  I was reading the newspaper this morning and Suri Holmes asked for $130,000 worth of presents, including a pony, diamond earrings and a fairy princess dress, all of which her parents were going to buy for her.   Does a 5 year old really need that stuff, probably not. No, definitely not.

What else could $130,000 buy? In Waslala, Nicaragua, a college student project has turned into a Social Justice project that is transforming lives. Water for Waslala  is seeking to provide clean drinking water to the entire state of Waslala.  So far, they have provided water to 3000 people in 12 rural villages.  It takes $100 to provide one man, woman, or child clean drinking water for life. Suri's Christmas list could supply clean water to 1,300 people for the rest of their lives.

So what about my $14 adventure today? Does that really make a difference in spending? Well, yeah. Since I go out almost every day with my kids, it does.  I try to limit my spending to once a week. $14 once a week is $728.  That's 7 Waslalans with access to clean drinking water, that's almost 4 months of student loan payments, that's enough for....

A cow - $500

A flock of chicks - $20
 

A pig - $120

A flock of geese - $20

 

 

 

 

 

 ...from Heifer International with $8 left over for a modest Starbucks trip for you and a friend - or two rides on the Carousel, plus $1 for a homeless dude.  That $728 is money that can transform lives and make the world a better place.  To me, that's what this year is about.  I want to spend less frivolously so that others may have more. Even when it means paying extra on student loans or building up savings, it means that we pay less interest in the long run - and are able to have more money later to give away, or if we have savings - we build a safety net which we can rely on instead of needing to go into debt.  

A trio of rabbits - $60

I'm pretty happy with what I have.

I saw this comic in the newspaper this weekend. It is definitely the world I see all around me, and the world I unfortunately have tried to keep up with more and more as the years go by.  At the end of 2012, I want to gratefully proclaim, "I'm pretty happy with what I have." 

Baldo by Hector D. Cantu and Carlos Castellanos