Hey little k - I don't think medical care would be off the list for you or your pet. My dog has Addison's disease and I would never not buy her treatment and medicine.
I think my number 5 might be fabric. I'm no seamstress mind you but I have a weird thing about textiles. I love to visit expensive fabric stores and buy just enough to keep me content.
Boomer, yeah, as I read up I realized that syringes would be ok to buy. I am ridiculous with textiles too. I have a plastic bag under my bed with textiles I've hauled through 3 moves. I search out fabrics online just to look at them And that's not the same at all as touching them, but it's safer.
I imagine we are not alone in our textile passion, little k. If someone would come up with some kind of necktie thingy for women they could probably make a fortune - small, beautiful items made from delicious textiles. I guess throw pillows are the closest they've come and I cannot stand those things!
Scarves! That's even better than neckties.
I only wore 'em with full confidence in England, though. But I have a ton. (Collect vintage silk scarves, handed 'em over to sozlet when she was tiny, they're a bit worse for wear but she appreciates them.)
Funny reading this because we went to Joann fabrics today. Heh. I went there to price foam for a windowseat cushion, but they had this gauzy shimmery fabric on sale for $2.50 a yard and I thought it would make a great princess costume.. so... <sheepish>
(Sozlet is right now decorating the bat mask she got there with feathers... we had the feathers already...)
I dunno if I could do it. Gifts would be the big big thing for me. I like making things and always try, but it takes so much time, and there are so many people, and I can't stand to be cheap -- either something homemade that didn't take much effort and looks it, or money-wise. (If I find something perfect and great quality way on sale, that's fine, so it's not purely the dollar amount, but it has to be perfect and great quality.)
I haven't read the article yet (I will), are gifts allowed?
It seems like kid's clothes would be consumables in some sense, I mean in a year they'd grow out of 'em, and then what? shoes, too.
I've definitely noticed that I've cut WAAAAAAAY back on my own clothes shopping since sozlet -- a lot of that is circumstances (not in an office environment, not much $$) but it's also that I get to do the fun part of clothes shopping either way. What is the fun part, you ask? Finding great deals; finding interesting outfits (not so much coordinating in the sense of pink with pink, but styles, etc.); enjoying the sensory input (colors, textures, etc.) If I have some of that, whether it's my own clothes or sozlet's, I'm happy.
So if it was nothing for a year, *except kid's clothes and only as necessary*, I could probably deal.
Maybe that's what YOU can do with your textiles! YOU could make a fortune! Not just anysomebody.
There's a museum down the street that has textiles. I've lived here for 5 years and haven't yet been inside (for more than 2 minutes).
Scarves, yep, I collected them (not anything major) and never wore any. Although, I'm thinking I need a good selection of biggish silk scarves for winter.
I'm trying to figure out what's ok to buy and what's not. I spend a lot of money on my pets' medical needs, I spend a good chunk on food and health insurance. Beyond that is car maintenance, gas and insurance. I don't actually spend much on myself. I am not a gadget person. I do buy clothes periodicaly, but don't NEED to. I do often make stuff for presents, but I still need to buy the basic 'ingredients'. I can not imagine not buying things with kids in the house.
I don't know about scarves - I've never worn them. Mufflers - yes, but scarves, no. Here it really never gets cold enough for a muffler even.
As to kids clothes - I could probably get by without ever having to buy another thing for Mo. My neighbor has a 4.5 year old son, his things go to Mo, then back to her for her 2.5 year old. It doesn't seem that they can fit into them long enough to wear them out.
Still, I've found that I can barter photos for just about anything so maybe some of this wouldn't seem so hard just because of that. I send photos for gifts too and everyone seems to like them more than any store bought gift I could find.
I noticed today at the grocery that I considered each purchase a bit more carefully. Maybe just thinking harder about buying is enough to make one quit buying so much.
