Beg Barter Borrow: The last day

I can't believe that the last day of 2010 is here! Happy New Year's Eve to everyone! This of course means that my year long experiment is coming to its formal close. Do I anticipate going on a shopping spree tomorrow, or Sunday when stores are actually open? No. I actually don't anticipate much changing from the shopping patterns I've developed over the past year. I've developed a strong second hand habit. It's still more fun to go pick through second hand stores looking for treasures than it is to pop into Fred Meyer or any big box store. I am going to allow myself the option to go into any store I want on my quest to find pants that fit, though.Of all the things that I wasn't allowed to buy new this year, pants were the most frustrating item! I bet I could have finally found some that fit if I had taken a full day and tried on every pair of pants at all the second hand shops in town. Of course that was never going to happen - there are too many chores and other activities to squeeze into my weekends!

This was one of the two big lessons I got out of the year - second hand shopping is easy if you don't have a strict time line. Nothing was more frustrating than seeing something I really needed (dustpan) at every shop (and even some gas stations) but not being able to buy it until I finally spotted one at Goodwill! My other big lesson, which played very much off of the first, was that the things I thought I really needed often weren't as necessary as I believed! The act of waiting to buy certain items gave me more clarity regarding if I did actually need them.Often I was able to make substitutions with items that were already floating around my house. Or I'd stumble upon a free item somewhere and it would lend itself to use in place of something on my list. My example is when I found a spoon rest shaped like a fish in someones free pile. I decided it would work as a soap dish and despite the fact that it strongly resembles the Jesus fish people plaster on the back of their cars, it's doing a fine job of holding soap.

Some friends asked me the best thing about this project. I'd have to say it's all the neat forwards and articles that people have sent me! I love reading about the creativity people use to avoid buying new, or even just to make gifts that come from the heart as opposed to the store. As I close and get ready to head up to Portland to see some of my BFFs from the Linfield days, here are the latest links I received.

Links from my colleague Mary Martin: