Andrew Brown

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Observation Post. I just finished Week 1 of a 30 day no spend challenge. It's flexible to fit your lifestyle/needs, so in my case: ✅ food/eating out ok (but "shop the fridge" first) ✅essentials (diapers, wipes, supplements, sun screen, etc) ok (but try not to stockpile - my guilty pleasure 😅) ✅no new toys or books ✅ if I feel like I want to buy something, write it down with the price ✅ buying experiences ok One thing I'm really noticing is that we're privileged enough to be in a place where most reasonable things are within my financial powers to obtain. And my needs 🆚 wants meter is kind of off-kilter, because I'm so used to thinking I "need" something and then immediately searching for it, then buying it. And I'm very good at justifying the "need" in context of our health/nutrition (ESPECIALLY my kids' health). For example, I bought a $53 iron fish to put into water/soups to boil to up our iron consumption. But no one in this family is anemic (my 2 year old literally just got his toe pricked and got confirmation)! We get enough iron from food! 😂 I returned it, but it took my personal trainer looking at me with a raised eyebrow, and saying "I don't know, girl. That doesn't sound like a 'need'..." Until she pushed back, I was 150% sure that was a NECESSITY for my family's health. Writing whatever I feel very strongly that I want/"need" and looking back at it few days later makes me realize a lot of things I felt like I JUST MUST HAVE really isn't a must have, and there is probably an alternative sleeping in my house somewhere. One thing that really stood out to me while reading #NoNewThings was the idea that decluttering and being more mindful about what we buy makes you really appreciate that you are blessed with practically everything you need day to day. After a week, I do generally think that sans something we use daily breaking, I really do have almost everything I could want to live our lives effectively already. I never really thought about the things I have that way before. I've been decluttering and putting things up on the local buy nothing group, and when I stop to think "oh but my kids MIGHT play with this again," I remind myself that they also have 5 million OTHER TOYS that they aren't playing with. Little knick knacks that they don't even register are going to other little kids who will get joy out of them, and housewares and clothes that are perfectly wearable but no longer working for me in this current phase of life are getting a second home. Cleaning and organizing are actually more fun now that I developed a system and decluttered a lot of our living room chaos, and it's so nice to be able to use my couch and read without feeling overwhelmed by the clutter of toys and stuff strewn everywhere. I developed a morning "reset" routine that takes my heavily used 1st floor to a tidy, vacuumed, and mopped oasis, which is HUGE for my mental health. Anyways, I don't know if anyone is reading, but I hope to make an update every week to see what changes I see in my life from just taking an extra moment to wonder if clicking on the "buy" button is REALLY necessary.

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