8 Things I Don’t Buy (a new meme maybe?)

Posted on | April 24, 2008 |

I spend a lot of time on this blog enumerating the things I spend money on.  In fact, that’s its main intent and purpose of this blog — a daily accounting of my expenditures.

I think you can learn a lot about a person and a family simply by looking at how they spend their money.

In the same vein, I also think a lot can be learned about a person and a family by looking at what they don’t spend money on.  Of course, there’s no way to list everything we don’t buy but I thought it would be fun to list some of the normal, everyday things that the average family buys that our family doesn’t — or at least not very often.

1. Alcohol — This is an item you will not find among my purchases.  I don’t drink.  At all.  I think that makes me a teetotaler.  Whatever.  It’s simply a matter of choice and I don’t sit in judgement of those who do drink (socially).  The husband does drink, every once in a long while.  Every 3 or 4 years, I’ll buy him a bottle of his favorite “hooch”, Wild Turkey, as a birthday gift or for Valentine’s Day, etc.  And once or twice a year The Husband will pick up a 6-pack of designer beer (Sam Adams is a favorite) to serve to his adult kids during a family gathering — a birthday or Father’s Day, etc.  Other than those few exceptions, we’re a non-alcoholic family.
2. Tobacco — Like alcohol, tobacco is a habit I never picked up.  The Husband, on the other hand, was a heavy smoker for years and years.  In fact, The Husband used one form of tobacco or another for 50 years — when working as a wildcatter in the Texas oil fields as youth, he chewed tobacco because he couldn’t smoke.  Not only was he a long time smoker, he was a heavy smoker.  Two to three packs a day.  In the early days of our marriage when The Daughter was a baby and we were really struggling to make ends meet, I really resented how expensive his habit was.  Not the habit itself, because I understand the nature of addiction, but the expense.  Then he quit.  Cold turkey.  He had his last cigarette 12 years ago this March on the morning he went into surgery to remove his cancerous prostate gland.  He’s not had a single cigarette since then — though he does love standing in other people’s clouds of cigarette smoke 
3. Coffee — Just as with alcohol, I don’t drink coffee.  In fact, I’ve never, in my entire life, had a cup of coffee.  I hate the smell.  When I was pregnant, the smell of coffee would literally make me sick.  In my 20’s I drank black tea or Coke for caffeine.  Now, however, I’m allergic to caffeine.  It gives me migraine headaches.  The Husband does drink coffee but, pedestrian that he is, he prefers instant coffee.  You’ll never find my man in a Starbucks, that’s for sure!  :-)  If the “Latte Effect” numbers are to be believed, I believe this particular non-habit saves me at least $1,200/yr and probably $800/yr for The Husband.
4. Fabric Softener — I gave up fabric softener years ago when I realized how bad it was for the environment and how unnecessary it is.  I started by phasing it out — using softener every second or third load.  From there I quickly gave it up altogether.  No one in the family noticed a difference in their clothing so I never looked back.  Part of the key might be that I buy high-quality cotton garments which are naturally soft and pleasing to the touch.
5. Make-Up — Every single female member of my family has to “put on their face” before they can leave the house.  I have never understood this.  I believe that beauty products are a fallacy, a sham, and a stupid tax imposed by a society with perverted ideas of beauty, age, and sex (a word, by the way, that despite everyone’s wishes to the contrary, is not interchangable with gender).  I categorically reject the concept that I have to wear makeup to be considered feminine or attractive.  Besides, I despise the feeling of creams, lotions, powders, etc on my face — they make me feel like a circus clown.
6. Jewelry — Diamonds are not this girls’ best friend.  I have no need to be “adorned” by The Husband or showered with jewels.  Diamonds might be for forever but they can’t compete with the “forever” gift The Husband gave me — the gift of motherhood.  I do have several pieces of jewelry that hold special sentimental value for me.  I wear a $25 gold wedding band — no protruding rocks to get in the way or worry about — but it reminds me of the loving bond between myself and The Husband.  I have a beautiful strand of Mikimoto pearls handed down from my mother who received them as a gift from her father when she was a teenager.  I have a few pair of nice earrings but I haven’t worn earrings in a coon’s age.  And I have a beautiful gold ring my mother gave me when I was a teenager.  The wedding band I wear every day and never take off.  The pearls I wear several times a month — usually to church or to concerts, plays, etc.
7. Soda Pop, Junk Food, and Sweets — Due to my food allergies and sensitivities, I don’t imbibe in these foods myself.  But I don’t technically not buy them.  I do buy them, occassionally, for my family.  I’ve done my best to raise my children to treat their bodies with respect but I decided long ago that I didn’t want to make junk food and sweets a forbidden fruit.  In my younger years I liked sweets as much as the next person (though salty foods are the foods I did, and still do, crave).  I have nothing against sweets but I strongly prefer our sweets to have real sugar and other ingredients rather than artificial sweeteners and loads of unpronouncable chemicals.  The Daughter, for example, is 16 and has never eaten a Twinkie.  If you look over my grocery expenditures, I think you’ll agree that these products are purchased in extreme moderation.
8. Electronic Games — We do not own a game console.  We’ve never owned a game console.  I cannot imagine that we will ever own a game console.  No Wii, no GameBoy, no X-Box.  We also have never purchased a computer game.  The Son has found on-line games he enjoys.  I go through phases of playing Spider Solitare a little too much.  The Husband enjoys trouncing on-line chess opponents and playing against the computer but that’s the limit of our electronic game usage.

~ o o o O o o o ~

Since starting this blog I’ve seen any number of “meme’s” floating around the blogosphere but I don’t know how they get started or who starts them.  Not being an experienced blogger and not having a very large readership, I don’t imagine I have the power to start a new meme.  But I’d love to read the things other people, bloggers and non-bloggers alike, don’t buy.

So, if you’re a blogger, consider yourself tagged.  Be sure to link back to this post or leave a comment so I’ll know you participated.  If you’re a reader without your own blog, please don’t leave without sharing the 8 (or so) things you don’t buy.  I look forward to hearing from you.

The rules are simple: 

• List the 8 (or so) things you don’t buy
• Feel free to explain why you choose not to spend money on those items or just provide a list

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