Don't buy shit you don't need...
Stay with me on this one. I know you hear it all the time, but seriously, stop buying shit. If you are at home right now as you read this, look up from you computer and look at all the shit in your house that you already have...do you really need more shit?
Look at your book shelf (if you are like me) you have 100 books on that shelf that you haven't read...and yet you want to buy a new book?
Go to netflix...there are literally thousands of movies on there that you haven't seen...and yet you want to buy a new movie?
Go to your closet... there are outfits in there that you haven't wore in so long that if someone saw you wearing it they would think you just bought it...yet you want to buy more clothes?
Stop buying shit.
I know there are some who are reading this who are going to want to comment "I don't buy shit, you shut up and don't tell me what to do..." and if that is you, then I am so happy that you don't buy shit....this post isn't meant for you. This post is meant for those guys who are new to this journey...those guys who love finding little gems on pinterest like "How to reuse plastic bottle to make (insert literally everything in the world here)." It doesn't matter if you save $100 a year by making your own laundry detergent, if you keep buying shit you don't need.
Look I love being frugal, and every time I sit down and eat a bowl of beans and rice a tear still comes to my eye. However, if there was one thing I could go back and do...it would be tell myself years ago to stop buying shit.
So here is my challenge to you. Go to your special place that you keep cash and get a $10 bill to keep in your wallet. Love and cherish that $10 bill. Draw a little mustache on Mr Hamilton if you want (I know it's illegal, but you are a fucking rebel.). Put that $10 in your wallet and name it. Take it out on a picnic or to the park or something and get to know it better. Meet it's parents, and go to the courthouse and have a little wedding for it. BUT DO NOT SPEND IT. Go to the store and stand in front of the thing you want a whole bunch, and pull out your new found love...and ask yourself, is this worth getting rid of Mr Hamilton? Hold on to and cherish Mr Hamilton as long as you possibly can, but next time you spend money, it has to be Mr Hamilton.
I've been holding on to a Mr. Jackson for a couple of weeks now. Every time I go into Gamestop, or I'm feeling a hankering for a late-night milkshake....I look at Mr Jackson, and I think of all the good times we have had together. Then I don't buy shit I don't need.
This rant is brought to you buy: In Cheap We Trust by Lauren Weber, which brought me to the reality that few Frugal people practice what they preach.
