It’s Official!

So, I’m making it official: let the compacting begin!

It’s interesting, I wonder how much compacting will really change the way we do things. We’re not big shoppers; afterall, our community sits nearly 300 miles from the nearest mall and 35 miles from the nearest chain fast food joint. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Here’s My Compact:

• No buying new items excluding health, safety, consumables and “second hand new” items.
• Only buy what’s necessary.
• Borrow or barter before buying used, if possible.
• Raw materials such as vegetable butters, essential oils, salts and the like are exempt when used for making personal care and cleaning products.
• Craft items are exempt if I cannot find the item used such as needles, embroidery wool, quilt batting, or spools of thread but I must go through borrow, barter, used and “second hand new” channels before purchasing new.
• No hoarding allowed.

As for food, dining out and the like, since I’ve already set goals for myself on my food blog (that I rarely keep up, but vow to keep up more steadily), I’ll just rest well with those. A recap of those goals include: maintaining the USDA’s “thrifty” budget for my family of two grown-ups and a wee boy, eating out no more than once a month and buying local, organic goods when available.

October 11th, 2006