My boyfriend and I had discussed going to the end of January sales, it was brought up because he was looking at new work shoes (to cut a long story short we checked online and they didn’t have his size). But we then thought that maybe we should go anyway just for a casual browse as we had no other plans this particular weekend. Not that we needed anything… in fact I couldn’t think of anything I needed or even wanted to buy for that matter. Having a browse online didn’t even really entice me. I honestly just had no desire to buy anything. Have I changed?
This was a Saturday where for the first time in what seemed like months we didn’t have any plans. It’s funny how when you don’t have plans, heading to the shops becomes the first port of call. Now what were we going to do if we weren’t going to spend money on stuff we didn’t need? Where else could we go?
Well, for about six months we’d been discussing making home made ravioli. We had received some gourmet pasta sauce as a gift and decided it was far to good to use with packet pasta but making home made pasta (and in particular gluten free home made pasta) is a time consuming exercise and requires a solid free afternoon/evening.
The whole experience was so much more than just a meal, it was an activity we could enjoy together. One of the best things about it was that it also didn’t cost very much. We had to eat anyway but this was also an experience that provided hours of entertainment at a low cost.
So, an afternoon of buying useless stuff turned into an afternoon of saving money and cooking together. It’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement and glamour of the shopping centre but it’s important to think about other alternatives that don’t cost much or any money and don’t fill up our homes with unnecessary consumer goods.
On the whole, the experience was great fun and it only cost us the price of a normal dinner. Sometimes the urge to shop is strong, but I find it important to be conscious of this urge in order to be able to think about other alternatives to filling time that don’t cost hundreds of dollars from my pay cheque.
What are some of your favourite minimalist/frugal activities?
This is Minimalism 