OUR BUY NOTHING CHALLENGE: 2015 

We continue the challenge
to remove ourselves from the American consumer cycle that wastes the Earth's resources.
We're learning to want less and to know when we already have enough.
And in the process, we're saving money and becoming more self-sufficient.

See the main page of Our Buy Nothing Challenge (BNC), 
for a explanation of how our challenge began if you aren't already familiar with it.

CONTENTS:
1. Rules for 2015

1. Rules for 2015

From Theresa:

We feel like we can be less stringent with ourselves this year, since our 2014 Buy Nothing Challenge was really helpful.  It made us even more aware of where our money was going and helped us get rid of unnecessary purchases. We are better off financially. Our mortgage is our only remaining debt and we are starting to build a modest savings. This is what we decided to do for the 2015 BNC:

• Our main goal:  By the end of the year, have 3 months of our combined take home salaries in savings (that would be $9000 for us) and then start paying extra on our mortgage next year, so we can pay it off sooner (we have 20 years left, which would make us almost 70 years old when it gets paid off).
• Our second goal:  If we can reach the first goal, then any savings after that can be put toward the trip we'd like to take to Scotland for our 50th birthdays. (Bear says:  It's kind of scary how close that is.) We went to Scotland twice about 15 years ago, and would like to go one more time before I'm not physically up to walking around with a huge backpack anymore. An international trip might not seem very frugal to many of you, but that is the topic of another discussion.
• Our Yearly Allowance: We each have $500 (up from $300 last year) to spend with no questions asked over the year. 
• Other Purchases: Any large purchases not from the $500 need to be agreed upon by both of us (such as the cost of Bear's cooking classes).
• Theresa's Gardening Allowance: Last year Bear gave me $130, which seemed pretty low when I'm trying to turn our lawn to edible garden (which saves money), but I stuck with it and it resulted in my learning how to grow plants from seeds. This will definitely save money in the future and expand the type of plants I can grow. This year I have countered this allowance, though. If Bear helps me decide what to plant, then he gets a say in whether or not it is worth spending the necessary money. I could really use this help, since I'm trying to grow little known perennial vegetables and it takes a lot of work to learn about each one and decide whether or not we can grow it in our yard, then figure out how to harvest and cook it, all without knowing whether or not we'll like to eat it in the end.
• Eating Out:  Not being able to eat out at all last year was probably the hardest thing for both of us to stick to. I heard about a study recently on NPR that said that in the early 2000s, people spend 13% of their budget on eating out. Now we spend 43%!  Wow.  That's unhealthy. However, I also heard that sales at McDonald's are down significantly because people want healthier food, so that's good news! This year we decided that we can eat out once a month, if we're doing it to expand our culinary horizons and/or to be social, rather than doing it because we're too tired to cook.  From Bear... If we are too tired to cook and decide to eat take home food, whoever suggests it will be the one paying for it (out of his or her $500). I have GOT to get sneaky about this...oops... hoping Theresa doesn't read this last part  :)
• Major exceptions that we expect to need to spend money on this year might include:  
  - We plan to attend the Mother Earth News Fair that is being held in our state for the first time. I'm hoping this will be a great opportunity to learn more hands-on homesteading skills. I'm skipping this year's Garden Expo, which I've gone to for probably 15 years in a row now, to save money for the fair.
  - We've been without a second car for over a year now, and are getting used to it. It's nice not to have the extra expense and upkeep.  But we might come to the point where I need a separate car to get to work (I vanpool currently), or we might decide to buy a used truck so we can cut and haul our own firewood.
  - We didn't get to our catio expansion (a patio for our cats) project last Summer, but still plan to do it this year.
  - Classes for both of us (cooking, etc.)
  - Renovating the attic.  I think this was on last year's exceptions, but we still haven't got to it.  It's the last room!
  - Building a Free Little Library. This has also been on the to do list for a couple years. I'm hoping it would help us meet more of our neighbors.
  - Clothes and shoes. Neither of us like buying clothes and we only have a few pairs of shoes each, many of which have holes, so we don't really have to worry about going overboard here on our spending. But we are at the point where we need to buy something more presentable for our work clothes. I can sew some, but have never found it to be cheaper than buying clothes because of the cost of the fabric.
• Temporary Challenge Suspensions: In some cultures they have festivals during which social norms are reversed for a short time, such as the servants might be in charge for one night. These are believed to be a kind of pressure relief valve that helps people let off steam and work off any built up resentments without fear of reprisal, making it easier for everyone to return to their normal stations the next day. We saw ourselves doing this last year during our birthday weeks (we celebrate for the whole week), and during our vacations from work, when we ended up spending whatever we wanted, such as going out to dinner several times. It did seem to help, and it wasn't hard to return to the usual challenge rules when these events were over. So this year we'll standardize these times and realize they are part of the process.
• The Usual Exceptions:  Remember that we aren't completely self-sufficient, so we'll still be spending money on the necessary things we listed in our 2014 rules:  food, cat needs, gas, medical care, the usual monthly utility bills, etc. 

We may not need as many shopping bags...

Rue says:  Nothing in this one either. 
Could make a nice cat box... What do you think?

We're hoping that we continue to pay attention to where our money is going 
and figure out more and more ways to spend less!

We're not self-sufficient, so still buy a lot of our food, mostly from farmer's markets.  
This is a small part of the Dane County market on Madison's Capitol Square.  It's much more fun than shopping at the grocery store.

Continue to the 2018 Buy Nothing Challenge.