There are three ‘R’ in Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Today we will talk about reduce or items you do not need to buy yet you still do. In the age consumerism, it is easy to see why we fall prey and spend money on things we do not usually need. It might be better to know some things that you do not need but you buy. Maybe then we will stop buying them?
Before we begin, it is best to remember following things:
- What is important?
- Does it make you happy?
- Does it limit you in some way? As in does it requires you to adjust to it rather than the stuff adjusting to your need?
- Cash it!
- Who cares what others think
- Minimalism is the prettiest thing in the world.
- Take time to think!
- Is it according to your budget?
- Priorities
- Appreciate what you already have
Here is a list of top ten things you do not need!
1. Diary or Journal or Notebooks or Planner
It is an age of digitization where you do not really need to hold a pen and put it to paper. You might love the smell of paper, handwriting, using pens and the smell of paper. Here is the thing though, your selfishness are costing your pocket as well as nature. Do you realize how many trees are cut to make a sheet of paper? Whatever though. The decreasing wellbeing of the environment is the least of your concerns. But what about the decreasing well being of your pockets? When you could easily replace diary, journal, planner and notebooks with your mobile, why bother spending rupees on the diary? You can also carry your mobile anywhere you go unlike with the above four. They take most of the space inside the bag which is fortunately not the case with your mobile. You can also record voice recording if you find typing too much of a work. Sure, they do not come with a cute cover, but they do come with cute apps. All of which come with modifications.
Invest in Evernote, Microsoft Onenote, Simple Note and Google Keep for notetaking.
For journaling consider: Day One, Diarium, Glimpses, Journey, Penzu, Dabble.me, Momento and Grid Diary.
Recommended apps for planner are Monday.com, todolist, omnifocus, freeagent, lastpass, dropbox, xpenditure and quick books.
2. Gym Equipment
Are you sure you would continue to use them even after a month or two? Are you really, really, really sure that you will not think it tiring and hence, stop later? Whatever is your answer to the above two questions, it’s better to give it time. Do some exercise without the expensive and heavy equipment. Some options include aerobic exercises, cardio, yoga and Zumba. If you continue despite the avalanche of struggle, you may buy one gym equipment. Once you have aced it, you can continue investing further. Make sure you ace on before you move on to another. You might buy another without acing the first one and totally forget about the other. If that did not spell out wastage of money, what else would? Often you might even quit because you are not getting satisfactory results.
3. Toys
Here is a pretty simple fact: kids will play with toys for a few books and then get bored of it or break it. Rather than buying toys continuously consider renting them or doing some productive activity with the kids. There are plenty of alternatives to cheer up or entertain your kids.
- Sock puppets
- Jewelry making
- Doodle art
- Magazines
Most articles a magazine come up with are ripped from the internet. So investing in a magazine is not really a wise option with the same details written online for free. Most magazines are also online. You can read them there for free as well. You might consider unsubscribing to your magazine or magazines and selling all of those you already have. Any clippings you like, you can scan and store in digital format.
5. Bottled Water
You will not need expensive bottled water if you carry a bottle filled with water from home. Sure, it takes some space, but with water bottles being so expensive just because it is branded…! You can spend the same amount of money on something else or donate it to the needy. You especially do not spend it on diet water. There is nothing like diet water. There might be mineral water and water filled with metals, but no diet water. Be smart while shopping not dumb.
6. USB flash drives
Take advantage of Google Drive, Dropbox and other storage websites and emails, network computing and other cloud storage techniques. Investing in USB flash drives is dumb with all of these practical options are present.
7. Fabric Softener and Washing Powder
You can create your own washing powder and fabric softener. There is a whole bunch of recipes online is detailing how to make your cheap but amazingly perfect washing powder and fabric softener. Baking is powder or salt is a good alternative as well. Use items which you already own.
8. Showpieces
Until and unless they serve some purpose other than looking cute and pretty, stop buying them. They are unnecessary clutter. You can use the space taken by the said clutter for something important. This also promotes minimalisms. If you do want some show pieces buy something which looks pleasant yet also solves the ones of your problem.
9. Recipe Books
It does not matter if you can cook or want to cook. Recipe books are useless junks when the similar recipes are available free of cost on the internet. Some suggested sites include Tarla Dalal, Rajshree Food, Nisha Madhulika and Sanjeev Kapoor’s website. Even channels like Food that come with websites for you to check out.
10. Plastic Containers
They are harmful to your health so there is an even bigger reason why you should stay away from plastic containers. They are also made to be used and thrown. Consider buying containers which come with food condiments, but are not made of plastic or buy containers made of other metals.
