In today's episode, I share intentional shopping tips, ways to introduce shopping intentionally to your children, and more.
Learning to shop intentionally is one of the best ways to maintain a clutter free home.
I love sales and a great clearance rack find! It’s like a game for me almost to see what I can find and how much of a deal I can get. Who wants to pay full price for something? Not anyone really.
My husband also loves to find deals and sales! He will come home with four things of ketchup because it was buy one for $4 get one free. Even though just last week the same but one get one ketchup was 2 for $4. And the week before that marked down to only $2!!
Do you see what I saying here? Other than I like to tease my husband?
It is really easy to get tricked into thinking you are getting something on sale. But really, it's getting tricked into buying more than you really need or use. It’s really easy to fall into this trap and in the consumerist society we live in, it’s no surprise that we are led to buying more and more. Ultimately we are just buying and then wasting it. Or buying it and letting it clutter up our homes and lives.
We just need to be smart about what we buy. By smart I mean intentional. If you’re reading this you are likely a mom who has wandered the aisles of target not needing anything but walking out of there with a cart worth $58 and not quite sure what you got or what you are going to do with it.
Not only is this not the best practice for keeping an uncluttered and simple home, but it’s also not best practice for our wallets.
So what do we do to stay free from the “it’s on sale trap”? Do we stop trying to find deals altogether? Only pay full price for things?
No.
I want to share with you what I learned about shopping, and how to do it intentionally.
Once I was free from all of our “stuff” it really kinda changed my mindset for me. After seeing how easily my kids played at home with their one suitcase full of toys, I didn’t feel the need to go mindlessly buy them more toys and things to play with. I would actually think to myself “If I get this they are likely going to play with it for a day or so, then lose complete interest.” And I wouldn’t want to buy it.
I would look at the cute clothes on clearance and think to myself… I really don’t want to have to do more laundry.
Or see cute home décor and not realize it was the consumerism talking.
I just saw first hand how simple it was to live in a home full of only the things we used and loved and I just didn’t feel the need to buy things because it was a bargain find. Or I would find things I thought might be useful in the future like bins, or shelves, or tools, or hair products, or cleaning products or whatever else I could find in the target dollar bin section.
I would stock up on all kinds of things I never used, or to be honest thought I would ever use. But when you see a gold pineapple on clearance for $3.87 you buy it! Because it’s cute and shiny and will probably look cute somewhere in your house, right? When sippy cups are buy one, get one free you get 12 because DEALS! #AmIRight
Jokes aside mama, you buy so much stuff you need “just in case” or because it looks like a good deal, or you just can’t pass up a limited time only sale.. and then you end up with a house full of clutter and so many things you don’t even know what to do with them!
You find things in closets and cupboards you wanted to use for an art project you never got around to and now your kids are too old to enjoy it.
Or you bought some holiday coloring books and crafts at the holiday sale for next year and totally forgot about them and now they are smashed and ruined and unusable. So you saved some money for something fun, but never used it so… did you really get a good deal? Or those clothes you bought a season in advance for your kids that you forgot about until they have outgrown them? Not a great deal.
So does that mean that I don’t like finding a great deal?? Or that I only pay full price for things? Absolutely not!
I love finding a great deal. But I won’t get something just because it is on sale. Or because it used to be a $15 shirt and now its $3.
When I go shopping now, its with a purpose. Its because we need the next size up in clothes. Or we broke some dishes a
Main Topics Covered in this Episode:
- How to use self-talk to shop practically
- Practical tips for shopping intentionally
- Ideas for how to include and teach your children about shopping intentionally