Stuck in a 'nothing to spend on rut'

Trying to think of something edible to buy

Last night, I tried really hard to find something to think of what I craved to eat and what I could buy for myself. My mind was blank. I didn't crave anything.

It wasn't because I wasn't hungry. Just that I've eaten out so much over these last few years that I'd just about annihilated the list of food that I loved to eat and snack on. Recently, I find that eating my own cooking is more enjoyable than dining out at most places. I barely crave lollies or chocolate or anything else these days. I was uninspired. It was a shocking realisation.

There's a lot that I should buy

There's a list of things that I should be buying(new waterproof ski pants for our forthcoming snow trip, camera lens and tripod, camera flash, books to read, pots for gardening etc) but I'm not really fond of shopping at all. It's enjoyable when it's spontaneous but if I have to plan and research what to buy then it's not exciting. Most of my recent excitement arises from the possible imminent purchase into another investment asset that may happen this year or next year :) 

Goodbye materialism

Not that I was ever materialistic in the first place...

There have been plenty of friends who upgraded their lifestyle to include luxury brand names ever since they've been earning a salary post Uni(Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, D&G, Chanel, Miu Miu etc) but I live my life relatively without luxury clothing brands with the exception of what I received as gifts from my parents. Although Burberry has just opened up a store at the new Westfields shopping centre in the city and their coats are tempting...

Did the past influence the present?

My parents' house almost burnt down in a bush fire several years ago and we had contended with the idea of losing everything we owned. I saw all the 'stuff' in my room that was close to going up in flames and realised that everything was replaceable and only photos and my hard disk drive were the only thing that I couldn't bear to lose. Fortunately, brave local fire fighters saved our area and doused the bush fires and we lost nothing.

From that moment on, I realised the futility of owning 'stuff' and have not accumulated more 'stuff' ever since. I look at trinkets and think, 'would I be rushing to save these items if I had to evacuate quickly due to fire or flood?' and if the answer is 'no' then I don't buy it.

There's nothing to buy on Ebay

I thought I should set up my Ebay account so that I could build my 'reputation' but after a few months of trying to find something that I wanted to buy on Ebay that I couldn't just buy at our local stores, I've given up. I couldn't find anything I could bother to try bidding for.

Saving 65% of my April income

Despite this post sounding despondent about being stuck in a shopping rut, there is a silver lining... the average Aussie is currently saving 7-10% of their income, but yours truly saved 65% last month.

April is my lowest spending month for a long time since I surprisingly didn't have any major bills to pay. Although June always makes up for it with swags of bills that are due in June. And I'm planning on making a lump sum extra repayment on my HECS/HELP student loan near the end of this month.

Discretionary expenditure for April 

* A beautiful handmade, decorative necklace that I bought from an art store in Kangaroo Valley for $80. I always try to support small towns because life can be tough in small towns.

 * At Berry, another small town we passed through, I bought scone cutters from the homeware store so that I could bake high rise scones and the store owner looked desperate for a sale to justify why he spent Easter holidays opening up the store. I also bought a crank and turn music box which plays 'Santa Claus is coming to town' because it reminded me of fun Christmas holidays and the owner looked just as desperate for a sale.

* Red Cross Charity Store; The volunteers working in my local Red Cross store are 80 year old, fragile looking ladies. It always looks so vacant and sorry looking so I bought a few books and an antique Bone China bowl for $22 and also gave them a $50 donation. I acquired three Patricia Cornwell books for $6 which was cheap reading materials for my train trips to work.

Further reading:

1. Crazy binge shopping