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If you've had to clean out a house after someone died, that'll do it. That did it for me. So much useless stuff lying around.
Anyway, I have everything I need. Sure, I could be tempted into a newer and better smart phone but at the prices they want? Nope. I'll "suffer" along with the one I have.
I used to get excited back when there were beautiful department stores but an ugly big box store doesn't attract me. Made in China poor quality junk doesn't tempt me either. These days I shop in the thrift store and today I found a nice Coach bag. It was only $20 but I don't need it. I looked at it but I didn't buy it.
I do buy some nice things in the thrift stores but only if it's something I need. High end brand linen blouse, cashmere sweater like new. Maybe a nice little desk lamp for a few bucks.
Amen! I swear there is a hoarding gene in my family!
The 00's were a decade of death for me. I lost my H, and both my parents. 3 people who never threw anything away! And unfortunately every last piece of junk they owned ended up at my house. It took me 5 YEARS to get rid of most of it to be able to park a car in my garage and be free of boxes in the house. It was a nightmare that seemed to go on forever.
Lesson learned! It turned me into a minimalist! I want my stuff to serve me, not the other way around!
I lost everything a few years ago & when I finally had decent money I went a bit overboard trying to replace things.
When I moved into a small one bedroom apartment I realized I had too much 'stuff'. Now my spending spree is done & I no longer have the urge to buy more things. Instead I am getting rid of the excess & buying only what I need.
I've never been a material person. I literally have no bought myself anything of note from ages 18-26. Most expensive purchases have been a TV ($600) or iPhone ($600). I go shopping for clothes about twice a year. I'm not into new or flashy cars. I enjoy traveling, gambling, and investing.
After going through the recession and having no money for just luxuries, I find myself unable to go back and enjoy buying things. I love going places and looking at stuff. Mostly anything I buy is absolutely needed and a good bargain. Otherwise I end up putting the stuff back because I can't bring myself to spend the money. I know one day I'll be downsizing and getting rid of stuff more than I already have so what's the point of bringing more stuff in?
I do have a family member who never gets rid of anything. They will be moving soon and downsizing and I have no idea how they will do it. I will not have that problem when the time comes. I don't know why just looking at stuff is fun for me. I'm happy to walk away, and happy I got to see all the new stuff. Then I'm happy to come back to what I already have.
My husband and I both think we have reached the end of the accumulation stage. Both of us have a hard time thinking of things that we *need* to buy vs purchases that are vague wants and can be put off for months or years.
Instead, we save or invest a good amount of our household income. Another nice thing to come out of not buying a lot of junk is that we now are able to put a line item in the budget for charitable giving. Every pay period now, we give money to different charities and non-profits.
Not ALL the time mind you but most of the time. But I really am having a harder and harder time spending money on things I don't NEED.
Maybe those of you who never were into shopping can't relate -- but anyone else just almost completely stopped added to their "possessions."
I have sooooo many things already. The thrill of buying something new is almost ruined now.
I never was a shopaholic, but if I saw something I wanted I'd get it.
Now, everything I buy, or look at when window shopping, I filter through thoughts and questions such as: "Do I really NEED this?"….OR…."How much to you REALLY like it?"…..OR "Sure you like it, but do you NEED t?"….OR…."You weren't' thinking about this item, but now because you see it, just happened to come in this store, and it's a good price, you want to buy it, for what?…to add to the collection of things you already have.
A couple of deaths in the family and cleaning out people things, and the "CD frugal board" have just ruined me for buying more things. Plus, I don't have room for all the things I have now. Part of it also is just being middle aged and already having everything I really need.
For example, nice soaps and lotions are just one of my "things that I love to buy and have. Recently I saw soaps while traveling, and they were nice, and tempting….At one store there was a small tube of hand lotion I loved the smell of. It was only 6 bucks. But I already HAVE soaps, lotions and scrubs to last me YEARS. So the joy of buying the soaps was ruined because I already have so many. I didn't get them.
I really just seem to be re-evaluating WHY I'm buying -- an spending money on -- the things I do. Plus I'm not really using or wearing everything I have already. So... more and more I equate buying to accumulating -- when technically they're not really the same thing
Friends tell me I "over think" things….another example, I travel a fair amount and buy T-shirts for the places I visit. Well I must have literally close to 100 T shirts so clearly I don't' NEED T shirts But a t-shirt is the memento that I like from my travels. On one hand it's my special personal souvenir -- on the other hand I don't ned it to wear, but …..it's my memento. So now even when I travel…I'm torn about buying a damned T-shirt…..
I suppose I'm making progress though, because there was a time ….I'd buy the soaps, lotion AND the t-shirt!!
Anyway thank for reading…hope some else can relate….
Yeah, I pretty much buy only what I need/use for the most part (that became quite apparent to me, though surely I've known it for years, when I was walking around Wal-mart last month with a few extra dollars left over on my budget trying to figure out if there was anything else I needed at the house; I came away with a folding table for the printer, some hangers since I was running low and a pack of spare light bulbs--it's always a pain when you run out of those and don't have any extra on hand!). The only thing I accumulate is books, I love buying them. My library is still growing, much more slowly now since there's so many books I've yet to read on my shelf (at least I've read about half though!).
The next few months are going to be pretty brutal for a minimal spender like me since I've got to buy some furniture and stuff to replace what I had to leave at my old house when I moved out of state; that was hard to do last time I moved out of state two years ago. So, it'll be back to spending quite a bit more than I'm used to.
Last thing I plan to spend a little bit more on than normal is a few things to hang on the walls here. My home in Nevada was all set up with that, but since I've moved out east I haven't hung nary a thing on my walls (in any of the houses I've rented there, which were three). I'm told that's a sign that the place you're living in is a home to you (though there's doubtless exceptions to that). The plan is for this place to be my home for a while so we'll see if things will get hung up on the walls this time...
To answer the question though (I realized after reading some of the answers, that I never really got to what was asked in my own post) I actually really do like buying things, I just can't stand letting go of the money. I think it's because when I determine if I'm going to buy something, my practical nature kicks in and says something like, do you really need this because that's going to be XX amount less you'll have to spend for the month. It just seems to be a matter of self-discipline. I love the thrill of buying, but it's just that I don't have a limitless amount of money. Another thing which factors in I'm sure is that I hate having stuff around I don't use. I get tired of seeing it and want to get rid of it. So for those two reasons, I think that's why I for the most part buy only what I need (outside of the books of course).
Just goes to show we're all have our own contradictory issues and traits….
As OP I started the thread because I'd gone on a trip, and was surprised nothing "caught my eye," there was nothing I saw that I liked enough to pay for. So I wondered, how do I feel about impulse shopping? I should have known I just have to be in the mood to spend. I also wondered WHY fewer and fewer things seem to catch my eye enough to get me to make that impulse buy -- and why my price point on impulse shopping seems to have gone sooo low. (or lower than it was)
Last week, I was in a couple of boutiques and saw a line of hard case manicure kits with a cute vintage-style photos and phrases -- and loved them instantly. I didn't buy one -- at 18.00. But the next day I still thought about it -- I liked it THAT much. So I went online found the design company that created them, and bought NOT ONLY the darn manicure kit -- but a purse-sized folding mirror as well. Both for a total purchase of about 34.00
So in this case, when you think about it….I'd have spent LESS money if I'd bought just the nail kit I saw in the store for 18 bucks.
(Because I might not have ever gone to the Website and seen the rest of their items.)
But I'm letting that go. Because I'm so excited to have my new nail kit and mirror. I KNOW I shouldn't get caught up in liking pretty or cute "things." But in the big scheme of things I think we all have our moments when we see something we like -- and we like it ENOUGH to buy it, even if we don't need it.
So I guess the thrill of shopping ISN'T gone for me. I just have to be tempted by just. the. right. thing. I DO think, though, that I'm tempted like that less and less. And that's a good thing….Heck, I'm trying to save for retirement.
I DO like my nice organizational items so I did go to the Dollar Tree and buy a few cosmetic bags to put my new items in. More money I didn't need to spend..but at least I TRY to keep my spending down…..
Sometimes I see people who seem to try to out-frugal each other. I'm anticipating the day when I meet or someone posts that in their ENTIRE LIFE, they've never spent a dime on something they didn't NEED. That seems a little 'high-horse' and extreme to me. But if that's true, as long as they don't try to flaunt that in someone's face -- good for them. They're likely retire before I will
If you've had to clean out a house after someone died, that'll do it. That did it for me. So much useless stuff lying around.
Anyway, I have everything I need. Sure, I could be tempted into a newer and better smart phone but at the prices they want? Nope. I'll "suffer" along with the one I have.
I used to get excited back when there were beautiful department stores but an ugly big box store doesn't attract me. Made in China poor quality junk doesn't tempt me either. These days I shop in the thrift store and today I found a nice Coach bag. It was only $20 but I don't need it. I looked at it but I didn't buy it.
I do buy some nice things in the thrift stores but only if it's something I need. High end brand linen blouse, cashmere sweater like new. Maybe a nice little desk lamp for a few bucks.
Yep, that's what did it for me. My parents had a 5 bedroom house, with 50 years of treasures, and well, STUFF! Then, I got married, both of us in our 50's, more stuff! All in a 1100 square foot house. At one point we had 4 dining room sets! It is overwhelming, the years of clutter. How many bedspreads and blankets does one need anyway? I have purged and given so much stuff away. If I even look at something now, all I have to do is remind myself that we are working with limited space. Cluttered house, cluttered mind... my new mantra!
The joy of new stuff has long passed for me. I get an uneasy feeling when I see people get so excited about buying the newest gizmo. For example, I went to Best Buy yesterday and grown adults were almost jumping for joy to pay $850 for the new Samsung Note 7 smart phone (iphones get the same reaction). Is a new phone really going to change one's life? Did the old smart phone really suck that bad? Cars, clothing, shoes and other crap work people into the same frenzy. Consumerism is just sorta dirty to me...like a drug addiction. I have some friends that live pay check to pay check yet have a long list of "needs" - it makes me want to shake them until they wake up out of the fog...they don't NEED the $250 cable bill, $250 cell phone bill, season tickets for football, gym membership, $450 car payment on a gas hog, latest cell phone/tablet/laptop/smart watch/headphones, $200/month on movie theatres, name brand everything, etc. It's hard to say anything though because "stuff" makes them so giddy.
As I've gotten older, my quest to acquire stuff is behind me. I own two houses and both are fully furnished and decorated. I've never been terribly interested in tech toys but what we've acquired has been mostly along the lines of quality furnishings (used), art, books, firearms, antiques, etc. These are things that have long shelf lives. I hope my kids will take some of these things for their own homes as they establish them. Having quality things to pass on to the next generation is good. Having junk your kids will donate to a thrift store, not so much. Most people only acquire junk (not to say we don't have our share of it too).
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But I really am having a harder and harder time spending money on things I don't NEED.
