BellaOnline Forums Money Frugal Living Buying Poverty

Hi everyone,
I just posted a new frugal philosophy (grin) article on how we over-buy junk thus perpetuating poverty. What are your thoughts on it? How do you avoid doing this?

Stop Shopping Badly

i am with you on this - for example, I get totally sucked in by Dollar Stores. I adore them. But sometimes you really end up with $20 worth of junk.

My grandfather only allowed Christmas ornaments/Figurines around the house- everything else, you made yourself or went without.

Your gramps sounded like a smart fella.

Walmart sucks me in. There's also a grocery store in Canada called the Superstore. It has clothing, homeware, and a bunch of other things. They are very well designed but made cheap. I used to buy all kinds of stuff there and add it to my grocery bill. Now I don't go into that section! Oh yeah, and Ikea. Ikea is a tough one too!

You can make this simple wall hanging for just pennies: Take a paper plate ( a small one is fine if space is limited), wrap the face part with any festive tinfoil wrap or paper, even a sheet of wallpaper, tape the back neatly, cut a slot through paper and plate carefully , insert a ribbon or strip of cloth through, tie ends. If you wish, you can even connect another plate underneath the first by same method,but cutting slot near base of plate.
There you go. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines day, ect- just use different wrapping accordingly.

Oh, Ikea is like a day at Disneyland! You get sucked in and just wander around... fun!

Ikea is awesome until you buy anything with drawers on it. Then, approximately 6 months later you have a big fire in your backyard and go buy some solid antique furniture for 35$ at a garage sale that has drawers that still open and close after 95 years....
oh was I ranting?
I have bought stuff from there but never will buy anything with drawers ever again!

LOL, Jane, you made me giggle.

I prefer antiques i almost all cases. You are buying something solid, made to last, and much more interesting than mass produced goods. It's also fun to hunt for the right thing in thrift shops and antique places.