Buying Hiatus 3 Month Update

December...

January....

February....

And now we are into March. We have successfully gone 3 full months without buying anything....

Except. 

I feel like there is always an except. 

Ours comes in the form of new food storage. I had really been wanting more glassware lately to swap out my plastic ware, but I am on this thing called a buying hiatus. So of course I can't buy anything.

Except....

I made up these rules that say I can switch things out that break.

And I feel as though switching out plastic (which really isn't amazing for you when it gets microwaved every day with lunches in it) for glass is a smart healthy move. And we didn't buy more then we already had.

Our very well used plastic ware. Clearly orange from spaghetti.

My new glass ware!!!

I bought a set of snap top glassware from Costco a few years ago and loved it. And then over the years I have bought a few lunch sized pieces of the non snap tops and realized that not only do they break, but they also are a lot harder to get off of frozen food.

So many different sizes!!!!

The Costco by my house has not carried these for quite some time now. So 2 weeks ago while Thomas and I were killing time before his flight to Vegas, we went to the Costco by the airport and low and behold... we found these. We also found that Ikea has individual ones perfect for lunches! I love this big pack because I needed larger sizes for general food storage, but yay! All different sizes!

So that is my rationalization. Yes I switched out 1 for 1. Yes it is for our health. And now that I have shared it with you, I don't feel guilty. :)

I still haven't bought anything else though! 

I am interested in what I am going to where to 2 weddings in the next few months. I might just have to borrow dresses from friends!

And finally, a friend of mine sent me a great article. This women decided to not buy her children anything new for a year. And in the middle of that year she became pregnant and give birth.

And she still managed to not buy anything. Well almost.

Check out her story here.

Inspiring.

More Ways to Simplify Life

We are still simplifying...

And as a result, we had a HUGE 4 family garage sale not one, but two weekends in a row. And then all the items we didn't sell, were then given to yet another friend who was and still is trying to earn money for their adoption. 

So as a result we have continued on with a few things we started. I was originally inspired by an article I read in a magazine last year. A few months later I was reading a different magazine and low and behold there was an article about the same lady! So I finally looked her up and I love what she is trying to do. Zero Waste Home. She is fascinating.

We have most of our stuff in jars now which means to cut down on waste, we buy a lot from the bulk food bins at our local Winco.

I know I mentioned my reusable baggies before when I talked about organizing and simplifying our lives. Thomas and I have also been using the reusable baggies that I sell for over a year. I love how much waste we save just by simply being intentional with this.

Large Baggies $6

Small Baggies $4

The next thing we switched was the use of paper towels. I know people have different thoughts about what they use paper towels for, but I found that I didn't use them as much because I did not want to spend as much money on them. Once we switched to paperLESS towels as my friend called them, I used them tons more!

Finally we switched to paperLESS napkins as well. The best part about both the paperLESS towels and napkins, is that all of the cloth was given to me by my grandma! So it is a wee bit sentimental when we use it as well.

The final thing I need to make for our switch to reusable is tissues. I have not yet figured out what fabric to make reusable tissues out of. Anyone have any suggestions? With all of these paper products switching to reusable products, we will not be getting ride of toilet paper. Not going to happen.

Finally we have been successful in getting rid of our kitchen trash! There are about 2 things a week we have to walk outside to the trash, but everything else we have been able to compost, recycle, or wash! Although I am not sure how this is helping us, considering we still have to pay for our trashcan. At least it makes us feel better?

Here is an adorable matching taggie and carseat canopy I made for a friend. Love that little giraffe!

Friend's Giveaway!!!

A friend of mine just reached 500 followers and she is doing a give away!

And she asked if I would include something from Calia's Cottage, so I have contributed some reusable baggies! So go on over to her blog to enter and win lots of fun stuff!

Storybook Reality is my friend Laura's blog.

Enter to win some of these!