Nov 01
The purpose of doing an experiment is to learn something about yourself, and to see if there is an opportunity for growth or positive change. I started the Buy Nothing 2018 experiment with this in mind. It started with a no clothes challenge, but since I had plenty of clothes I didn’t think this would …
Jun 03
I am 5/12th of the way through my buy nothing experiment I started at the beginning of the year. In short, I have decided to be more deliberate about my consumption and buy things only when they meet certain criteria as I described in this blog post. As I progress I am starting to …
May 03
Failure The problem with a buy nothing experiment where only one member of the family is participating (me) is that many of the purchasing decisions are really made by the family (and by family I mean Mrs. Happy Philosopher). Sometimes it is hard to assign a purchase to one person or the other. I could …
Apr 05
I’m a little late with the March update because I just got back from spring vacation. It was a great time and we spent plenty of money, but none of it was on ‘stuff’. All of the money we spent was on transportation, food and experiences. Knowing I would not be buying anything this trip, …
Mar 04
I was a bit groggy and tired from a long day of work the day before, and I had not yet had my coffee when Mrs. Happy Philosopher greeted me with a colorful bag with decorative paper sticking out of the top. Mrs. HP: “I got you a birthday present.” HP: “But it’s not …
Feb 01
Buy Nothing January Update Well January is over, and my buy nothing experiment is approximately 1 month old. You may remember this started as a buy no clothes for 2018 experiment, but after reflecting upon it I thought it was just too easy. After taking inventory I realized I had enough clothes to last …
Jan 09
New Experiment I recently decided not to buy clothes for one year. You should probably read that post first to get some context for this one. I was quite proud of myself. No clothes for a whole year. Wow, I’m such a noble and self-sacrificing person. How minimalist is that? I took an inventory …
Jan 06
New Experiment I’m not buying any clothes this year. It’s been a while since I’ve done a ‘real’ experiment in my life and I feel like the time is right to start again. I’ve done a few little tweaks here and there, but for the most part I have just slightly altered comfortable patterns that …
Nov 14
Incremental change is a powerful force in the universe, but we tend to underestimate it because it is difficult to see. Tiny changes occur and we immediately start adjusting to them, as if the world always existed in that state. We tend to crave stability, but change is inevitable. It defines life. We constantly use …
Apr 29
It was New Year’s Day a little over three years ago. I rolled out of bed a little groggy from the celebration the night before – not skull crushing hangover, but enough malaise to realize I was not at 100% of my potential. I felt a little better after a glass of water and …
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