one day at a time! hopefully it’ll feel easier tomorrow.
my no-buy january went well! i spent 7% less than i had budgeted, and that was even with spending nearly $300 on a weight bench and a dumbbell set after i went to the weight room at the gym where i go swimming, and totally hated it.
so i’m hoping february can be even more frugal!
i will say that i did spend amazon points on the cucumber face mask that folks are using to recreate the iconic porcelain doll makeup that pat mcgrath did at a fashion show a few weeks ago. i spent $0 on that so i feel ok about it.
my wishlist is interesting — i often end up removing items after the initial desire fades. i’m enjoying not having a job SO MUCH. it is def worth it to shop 99% less.
I have quite a number of old clothes/kid clothes that are worn through/fabric scraps that I hate to just throw out, and I love weird little baskets for things, so maybe it’ll be great.
Are rag rugs hard to make?
ETA - please let me know if this is a plan sure to fail, I’ve never made rag rugs before and I have no idea if the same technique will produce a basket that’s sturdy enough to hold anything
My goal is as to spend lightly and stick to the thrift store, and I’ve done okay with this. January always seems low spend because we’ve all got stuff from Christmas and also the weather is awful. I have $1000 to put into savings, anyway.
I believe the simplest way is to just braid the cloth and then sew the braids in a coil. I’ve never done it but it seems simple enough (I haven’t ever really had enough scrap cloth until recently). I’d think that baskets would just be sewed not-flat at the point where you want them to bend up.
I found this interesting substack about trying to moderate fashion consumption and they came across the “rule of 5” … 5 clothing purchases per year (excludes necessities like underwear and some other things… for some reason it also excludes dressmaking? So you can sew your own garments… ? Tbd but this would save me hah!)
Most of my no-buy motivation for clothes is to be more environmentally conscious so I’m enjoying reading some of these articles and their framework.
Shopping behaviors allowed today (weekends only) so I sort of binged. But I didn’t buy anything! Quince had fewer things that would be appropriate for my trip than I expected but I do need a shawl and they had nice ones…so maybe
Replaced some brushes that had fully died. Also got a gift of an embroidery hoop in a much larger size than anything else I have (useful for larger pieces) and a compass (woo!). Compass and brushes have already been pressed into service.
Wizard bought mint tea for himself which is very in-line with the “my using up a jillion old gift teas should not prevent Wizard from buying the tea that helps his throat when he’s sick” clause.
i bought seeds from the floret originals sale today. they were like $20 a pack!!! so i only got the top 2 i really wanted. other than that, still haven’t bought shit.
i have been trying a bunch of the sparkly eyeshadows i bought late last year and the one i have on today is so ridiculously holographic and shifty and sparkly i’m really happy that i got the palette that i got! it’s going to keep me entertained for a long time.
I have posted in TC and my journal, but my no-buy victory is that we opted to have our refrigerator fixed (again, for at least the 3rd time, not counting the times we have troubleshooted it ourselves) after the icemaker, ice dispenser, and water dispenser stopped working. I am glad that one more thing has avoided the landfill for now, even though I want to punch it. It seems to be working ok now and the guy fixed it “under warranty” even though it is 8 years old and clearly Samsung just knows they have a problem.
i’m really happy that i got the palette that i got! it’s going to keep me entertained for a long time.
in person it has green, pink, and teal shifts.
