I wait 30 days before making any purchase. I talk about this pretty often on my Instagram feed because I think it’s really important.
I love supporting sustainable businesses, but I also love not buying things because not buying something is one of the most sustainable choices you can make.
I for one am super susceptible to marketing, and I think a lot of us can be. Pretty much every time I find a new TV show, I’m trying to buy their entire wardrobe. Have you seen Timeless because I want all of Lucy’s sweaters. What about Jane the Virgin because I want to live in Petra’s closet.
Marketers have done a great job making us believe we need a new product for every problem or want that we have. Like I don’t need baby blue hot pants - but I WANT SOME.
When I put some separation between me and my want often even a few days, the want dies down and I can make a more rational decision.
When we impulse buy, we tend to forget that we have simple solutions are all around us - it just takes a bit of creative thinking or looking through your drawer to realize you already had a navy blue sweater.
You can read more about this under the header Know Thy Wardrobe in the post 6 Tips for Secondhand Shopping.
Recently, I wanted an electric kettle for my office.
See, I like tea. A lot. And, I was working at the kitchen table instead of my office because I was close to the stove/kettle/tea.
When I’m in my new office space, if I were to go downstairs and make myself a cup of tea everytime I wanted tea, I’d spend all of my time downstairs instead of working.
An electric kettle would have solved this problem, but before I bought one, I decided to wait 30 days to see if I could come up with a better solution - AND I DID!
I had a double insulated wine bottle I have never used before and it's PERFECT.
It holds an entire french press worth of tea and holds heat better than any other bottle I have (I think because of how skinny it's neck is)
It takes me around two hours to drink this whole thing, and at that point, I feel like it makes sense to go downstairs grab a snack or stretch and make put the kettle on to make a new batch.
I would highly encourage anyone to adopt the practice of waiting before buying!
The next time you want something, just tell yourself to wait until next month. Don’t write it down cause if you forget, then clearly you didn’t need it in the first place.
For more tips, watch the video below.
