Over 50 Things we stopped buying and never missed. Oh the beautiful savings!

I keep hearing that becoming a Minimalist is only for rich people and it is expensive to become a Minimalist!


Honestly, I have never heard a good or solid argument for this comment. But here is an example of how Minimalism can save you money.


Lots of money actually!



Bellow,is a list of things we had stopped buying years ago and never missed them.

1. Television cable. ------------> Netflix and Amazon prime
2. Gas for my car. ---------------> Plug-in Electric
3. Oil change for my car.---------------------> Plug-in Electric car
4. Paper towels.-------------> Stack of 20 kitchen washable towels for drying hands and dishes
5. Disposable wipes--------> Micro fibers.
6. Garbage bags--------------> Barely create garbage. Directly in to recycle bin, compost bin and garbage bin. I have three small buckets, one for each in my kitchen and once they are full, I dump everything in the big garbage bins. (But have some bio bags in hand just in case.)
7. Any kind of ziplock bags.-----------> Reusable fabric pencil bags with zipper. Also Pyrex dishes.
8. Aluminum foils -----------> Not needed. Either use Pyrex dishes or cover plates with clean napkins. 
9. Tupperware. -------------------> see this post
10. Plastic wraps.------------------> Not needed Pyrex dishes. Flour cloth. Napkins
11. Sponges ------------------------> hand made crochet from recycled yarn. lasts many years and I just wash them with our laundry.
12. Dish washing liquid-----------> Eco Friendly Multi purpose cleaner
13. Surface cleaner-----------------> Diluted multi purpose cleaner or vinegar. ( Used for bathtub, kitchen.......)
14. Coffee filter -------------------> French press
15. Bottled water ------------------> Tap water in reusable containers. 
16. Hand lotion in kitchen--------> Gentle dish detergent. Olive oil if needed 
17. Jet dry dish washer rinse-----> White Vinegar.
18. Disposable plates, cups, utensils ...------> Small jars for party drinks. Plates and utenciles reusable.
19. Disposable napkins------------> Fabric home made napkins. Only have one pack handy for picky guests. 
20. Disposable aluminum containers------> Big Pyrex dishes
21. Salad dressings.----------------> Olive oil and rice vinegar purchased from bulk store in my own jars.
22. Yoghurt. ------------------------> Home made
23. Tissues --------------------------> Only have a home made handkerchief made out of old Tshirts for my kid with allergies. Rest of us don't need it. Don't even remember what would we be using it for! 
24. Books -----------------> Library and on line blogs. 
25. CD, DVD -------------> Pandora and Netflix.
26. Toys -------------------> Once a year for Christmas. One Big toy only. The Birthday party is our gift by itself.
27. Clothes ---------------> once a year or so. Only if we truly need something. (Consumerism and buying cheap clothing and fast fashion is horrible for the environment.)
28. Fabric softener-------> Not needed. Haven't used for many years and no one noticed. 
29. Drier sheets-----------> Not needed
30. Face wipes, make up removers, eye make up removers wipe..... ------ > wash with soap and wash cloth. Olive oil. Or coconut oil to remove make up. Don't wear too much make up any ways. 
31. Cotton rounds--------> Home made and reusable. 
32. Shower gel------------> Soap
33. Exfoliator and scrubs for body.-----------------> Natural Loofah or a wash cloth
34. Hair masks and treatments-----------------------> Olive oil and conditioner
35. Face scrubs ----------------------------------------> Baking Soda
36. Tooth Paste-----------------------------------------> Home made
37. Mouth wash.---------------------------------------->  No need
38. Different lotions for different parts of body. Foot lotion, hand lotion, cellulitis, dark spots, skin brighter.ETC, ETC....!!! --------> Home made lotion. Coconut butter+Shea butter+ bees wax+ water+ jojoba oil. Or just put some oil on right after shower and you are done. 
39. Different make ups --------------->  See this post
40. Colognes and perfumes ---------->  Only have one perfume and only use it on special occasions. Lasts two years. It is in my Christmas list every other year. 
41. Face mask, cleanser, toner, tanner, black head remover. Etc......... ----------> Soap. Lemon juice. coconut and olive oil. Peroxide for acne. Baking soda.
42. Hand sanitizers --------------------> Not needed.
43. Candles. Still have from old days. ------> But not really needed. Used once awhile. 
44. Bath foams, salts, fizzer........ -------------> Not needed. Preferring quick showers due to Drought. 
45. Seosonal decorations ----------------> see this post.
46. Air freshener -------------------------->  natural or not needed. 
47. Office supplies.------------------------> We are paperless.
48. Printer ink -----------------------------> refill.
49. Extra Shoes ---------------------------> maybe once per year for each family member only as needed. (Fast fashion is damaging to environment)
50. Latest gadgets and electronics.--------------> still working on my husband on that. But he is doing much better :) 

I am sure there is more. But honestly, many more items I see in other people's houses that I don't buy, need nor have.

It is kind of hard to know what you don't buy if you never bought them. For example different laundry detergents for dark and light and white and wool .........

Laundry perfumes!!!!!  ....... I never even knew they do exist!!!  (What a waste of money!) 

Did, NOT buying these items changed our quality of life? You bet it did! 

-A LOT Less clutter (Visually, Mentally and Emotionally).
-Less wasting time window shopping and browzing.
-Less stress due to things finishing and being low on something. (" I need to run! We need fabric softness and I can't do laundry!" A friend once said ).
-Less spending.
-Less time at stores ( We are usually In and Out).
-Less junk to organize and deal with.


 Yes. All these Less'es deeply changed the quality of our lives.

Think about it. 

What are YOU not buying and not missing?
Paris.


Addendum:


I noticed that my computer hadn't saved my proof reading and this post was packed with mistakes. Please accept my apology.


While I am correcting the problem, I may as well add few more items.


Hee hee hee.


Here there are.

51.  Vacuum cleaner bags ------------------------>Roomba and a hand held vacuum. Just emptying the canister directly in the garbage bin does it.
51.  Any specialty tools, like various peeler, Apple cutter, Garlic crusher, Olive oil mister...........
52.  Most school supplies. Pens and other items-------------------------------> We have enough from old days to last us years to come. (Don't even know where all these pencils and pens are coming from)
53.  Extra clothing -----------------------------> We buy about once a year or so and only what we need.
54.  Microwave. Haven't had one for years.
55.  Individually packaged snacks.
56.  House decorations.----------> We have only two paintings which we have had for over 15 years.
57.  Unwanted gifts for friends -------------------> Beer, Wine, Food, eatables, Flowers, Gift card (Everybody has more than enough stuff in their houses. More incoming items for them are not the best gifts)
58.  Jewelry (Custom or real)---------------------> I have had few favorites that I love for years. Nothing new coming in
59. Nail polish ------------------> Have had a couple for years now.
60. Last but not least!!!!! Anything other than strict necessary. Includes Extra Glasses, Extra Sun Glasses, Multiple different drinking and coffee cups and glasses, Serving dishes, Fancy looking anything, Duplicate of anything and anything that needs to be advertised to be sold.


Can't even imagine how hectic my life would have been if I had been buying those stuff.


Thank you everybody for reading. Please think about your own shopping habits.
Paris

The most important financial life lesson to my Children.

Many years ago, when I arrived at United States as an immigrant, one of the first things I needed to learn, even before the language, was the importance of having a Credit.

I was told many times that "A bad credit is better than no credit".

But, what was a credit? Two continents and two languages behind me, I knew how to do a Root Canal Therapy or how to Extract a tooth or how to negotiate with my landlord in Romanian. But I had no clue what a "Credit "was. What an "Interest "was and not to mention an "Investment".

Completely clueless.

Back then, when and where I grew up, Credit Cards were not in style. ( Yeah. I am THAT old). Nobody knew about them and loans were not as normal. People saved to buy a car or a house. The population was a lot smaller and everything looked and felt and WAS a lot simpler.

Now fast forward many years and I can't stop thinking about how little I knew about what proved to be one of the most important aspect of living a life here in US. Financials. Back, at my childhood days, financials were Taboo to talk about.

Now when I see how many days and hours my 12 years old daughter is wasting to learn the old Greek gods and goddess's names, not knowing anything about the real life, it breaks my heart and it infuriates me. I feel frustrated too see that when our children go to college, Credit Card Companies have tables and booths set up waiting for them at the door. To me, those booths look like traps and they should be illegal. It is sad to see that it's crucial for our children to have good grades at tons of useless and outdated materials. But nobody has took the time to teach them anything about their financial decisions and it's effect on their future.

When my 12 years old daughter was complaining about me asking her to save %50 of her money, Inspired by This post by Jim Collins (One of my all times favorite bloggers and a nice guy), I started to explain to her about the fundamentals of financial success as much as and as simple as I could. How much she got out of it? Not sure. But When she chose to be Sara in the example I gave her, I was happy and proud of her.

Here it goes:

I know that this is an extreme example. But I hoped it would shake my daughter up and will help her understand some basics about her decisions and their long term effects on her future.

This is what I explained to her:

So, Tom is a spender. He never thinks about saving. He feels like he is entitled to receiving what ever he wants. He likes to wear a certain brand of clothing and own a certain brand of electronics. He likes to be popular at school. He grows up getting a good job and makes decent money. He thinks that he is always going to earn money and live a spender's life. He borrows lots of money believing that "Of course I can pay them off. I am the big shot that has always spent good and lived an expensive life" One day, when his job is unstable, he wakes up deeply in debt. His stress level is high and he borrows more "Expensive" ( Interest) money to be able to keep buying all the things he likes to buy. Because he does not want to change his artificially high standard of living.

Now Sara, makes the exact same amount of money as Tom. But she does not need all the expensive stuff to feel good. She knows who she is and does not need to look like she is rich. All her life, she saves half of her money and once she reaches $3000 when still very young, she starts to invest it in an investment fund. By the time she is 30, she has more than $1,000,000 in investments. ( I didn't even talk about compounding and it's magical power. Trying to keep it as simple as possible).

Now, this numbers are just "Guesstimated" and have no solid calculations involved. They all might be wrong :) But the concept is what matters.

Then I went ahead and explained what borrowing money and interests are. I call them "Borrowing expensive money". Then in my paper, I showed her where Tom borrows his money from and how Sara can be the one that is providing that money and receives her monthly interest checks which she earned not working and only with investing.

And finally, I explained to my daughter that Sara can stop working any time she chooses to if she keeps her expenses the same or lower than her monthly income check she is receiving from her investments. But if she chooses to work which is a good idea, she can invest even more money or spend or donate it as her little heart desires.
She is financially independent AKA Financially Free.

If I had the power, I would make this simple page mandatory in middle schools.

How about you? Are you Sara or Tom? Which one do you WANT to be? Think about it!

Feel free to copy and paste this page and show it to your children if you like.
Paris

See my new page "Related Movies"

I love to watch documentaries. They are so many wonderful and eye opening documentaries out there and most of them are free. On my new page, i created a list of many movies and documentaries for you that have been life changing for me and my family.

So Please look on the right side of my blog for the newly added page called " Related movies".

I will constantly update it and add more links and names. I will deeply appreciate it if you wonderful readers add to my list by making a comment to this post.

Here is a link to my new page.

Thank you and enjoy.
Paris

12 tips on raising natural Children

Loving outdoors

Natural children,

When it comes to our children, it seams that there is an ongoing battle between us the parents and the technology. Our kids are becoming attracted and addicted to over stimulation and the result is, are kids to become board very easily.


Another down side is also the addiction to instant gratification and lack of patience and persistence. The loud noise, the ever changing images, the strong scent of their belongings and lack of physical activities are becoming very tough competitions for the nature of human being.

By the term natural i mean less affected by technology and media. Once out kids are too exposed to the media, their minds are on hyper drive and they get disconnected to nature.



Here are 12 tips on raising natural children.

1. No TV or any kinds of screen during the week.
2. Set limit on TV or other screen times during the weekend.
3. Spend minimum of one hour per day out doors.
4. Set Sundays as family day and choose an out door family activity.
5. Plant a vegetable garden with your kids.
6. Remove as much plastic as you can from their toys and surrounding.
7. Remove markers from your home and ask them to use Pencils.
8. Sign your kids up in physical activity classes if possible.
9. Own a pet if possible.
10. Choose a natural environment over a pre-designed play area.
11. Have them help you with cooking from scratch.
12. Take them to farmers market and farms.

How natural is your kid?

Paris

Kid's Green Birth day party

Green Birth day party. ideas for kids.

When my son turned 4, I decided to have a green B-day party for him. It was very successful.

I believe ,that my kids don't need tons and tons of extravagant toys to be happy. We had that, and did that mistake. It made our kids overwhelmed and unsatisfied with every thing. Caused our kids to not value the things they had and the gifts they got.

It actually made them more unhappy. Because they didn't feel happy for the things they received, but they got unhappy for the things they did NOT receive.

Now think about it. If you get something good that you really want, once a while, will you enjoy it more or if you get everything you want," and don't want" all the time?



Bamboo forks actually work.. brown bag( goody bag)

So Back to our green B-day Party. Here are some tips.

• Party outdoors. In a park or zoo. I live in California, so this is a higher possibility, but if you have an unfavourable weather, you can have it in your home.

• Hand made cards from old used Envelopes. Children love to help.

• Idea Card. Attach "green gift ideas" to the card. I made a hole with a puncher and tied the two parts together with a Hemp robe.

• Reusable. You can use, reusable plastic plates and cups( Don't like the fact that they are plastic, but you don't want to have broken glass in hand either).

• Bamboo . Bamboo forks, spoons, knives and plates are good options. You can find them in party stores. 

• Natural drinks. You can make, homemade natural lemonade from fresh lemons , or make cranberry tea and add some sugar, Instead of serving the usual chemical fruit punch ( my kids love this)

• Natural snack. Almonds , Oranges and Watermelon ...

• Avoid. Balloons and plastic table cloth are very bad for the environment. Use cloth table cloth. Buy one refillable balloon that you can use year after year ( if you really have to have a balloon) .

• Home made. You can have your kids help to make a healthy cake ( Carrot cake) or cupcakes . Try to make it organic if possible . Also if at home, you can have kids make their own pizza, they love to make it as an activity. Otherwise you can make a very big sandwich at home and cut it in slices for the guests.

• Goody bags. For green goody bag items, the following can be used. T-shirts. Wooden toys, home made play dough in a small jar, organic home made cookies, little flower pots and seeds. Small mini plants for kids to take home. Small reusable shopping bag, lunch bags, reusable water bottle, reusable monogram napkins.Gift certificates for Ice cream. Small seedling trees from nursery . Avoid all those cheap plastic toys that will clutter your home, end up in garbage and eventually in landfills and oceans. For the actual bags, you can use reusable shopping bags or small brown bags or bags made from old newspapers colored and made by kids for goody bag, filled with the above.

When we had the party, the only garbage we created was:

Recyclable ( Didn't have time to cook them)
- Pizza box
- Cake box

Biodegradable:
- Orange and Watermelon peels.
- Cake leftover
 

Have you thought about having a natural Eco friendly party?

Paris

Effect of the media on our happiness (1)

Media's direction.


The turn the media is taking is really disturbing me. The advertising and commercials, the violence, the bad behavior. I don't even know where to start.

For start, we all spend too much time with the media.TV, Internet, Radio...
 
We have a TV ( No cable) and we are not planing to get rid of it. But i truly believe we need to limit the use and the time we spend on it.

There are many good movies and programs that are really good to watch and be informed, but we have to be very selective to be able to locate those programs.

The problems I see with our TV time is:

Violence
The amount of violence showed on the media is just incredible. The violence has become so normal to our kids and even to us that we don't even know how much of it is OK and what is not OK. Unfortunately, many people learn the bad acts and wrong ways from TV.  Kids think it is cool to fight. It is normal to act aggressive towards each other. Heroes are always fighters, not lovers. being smart and loving is called Nerd or Naive.

Bad Manners
Another problem I see with the media is that people are just disrespectful, rude and negative,specially kids and teenagers and this is becoming the norm. I clearly see the change in behavior in my own kids when they watch too much TV. The problem with these movies is that the character lies , is rude, mean and hateful the whole movie, then at the end, they apologize and everything is good. Happy ending. But in reality, it does not work like that. It is not OK to act like that, it is not OK to lie, to hurt some one's feelings. It is not OK to be so negative and rude. Imagine, if you watch two hours of the bad parts and only 5 minutes of the loving sweet part, how will your brain be wired?

Over Stimulation
We are simply over stimulated. Our brains are overwhelmed by all the noises, all the colors, all the quick change of the scenes, all the decisions. It is just too much for a human brain. It is just not natural. The studied actually showed that on little kids, the TV could cause permanent damage on the brain and kids that watch too much TV, have a lot higher chance of Attention deficit disorder. The speed that the scenes change is putting too much pressure on brain to catch up. Not to mention the noise. The media is causing us to become addicted to noise and quick changing scenes. We are so used to it that normal natural life without it, is becoming too boring. Specially to kids, every thing else is boring but media.

No time
In a world that nobody has time for anything, unfortunately every body makes time for media and TV. When i look at data, i see that an average American spends hours and hours on TV, it makes me think. I think about all of us trying so hard to live longer, to do things faster and faster to have more time. But then we spend our valuable precious time watching some family fighting on TV. The families spend less time together as a family and more time on TV. The parents don't have time to notice if their kids are suffering, if their teenager are in trouble, but always make time for their favorite TV show. I remember, as a kid, i used to think a lot and wonder a lot about many things in life. I notice now that when i watch TV, i don't have time to think!!!

The greener grass syndrome
Specially for our kids, every thing is so much more colorful on TV. Every body looks like having the time of their lives. What we see on TV, is perfect bodies, beautiful faces, supper powers, big spenders, none stop having fun and sophisticated lives. Looks like every body else lives a perfect life, but us. Once, when one of my kids told me that how come they all have fun in TV,  i told her that their secret is, that "They never watch TV in TV". I was just joking, but later on i thought about how true that statement could be.

Image of men
I specially don't like the image of men in the media. On TV programs, men are shown mostly as losers that are not too smart, are usually out of shape and all they care about is beer and football and BBQ in their man cave and they are the main trouble makers.what happened to the manly men who protected their families, were strong, respectful, gentlemen, smart, charismatic and brave? There are still everywhere, but not in regular TV. I believe this is a very bad message for our kids (and their dads)

Racism
Racism is seen every where in the US' media. It always made me think, why they do not show inter racial attractions? Even though in real life there are so many interracial happy marriages, in TV you almost always see people get attracted and marry within their own race, only. I have been paying special attention to this matter and see it way too often. On Disney channel,this is also noticeable. You barely see a black person falling for a none black person. Only very very rarely you see any kind of inter racial relationships. I see a lot more of that on the UK media. I like my kids to be color blind when it comes to people, but unfortunately the US  media goes against this believe.


Brain washing
The commercials are attacking us from every direction and sneaking their way in to our subconscious minds. Then we feel that if we have that face lotion, we will look like that model and if we have that certain cereal, we will be as happy as the fake family on TV. Then we start not being happy with our own life, our own face, our own car, our own body, even our own family.Then we buy more to get happier. Then we become more unhappy due to debt. Then we have to work harder to pay for the debt. Then we become too tired from working hard. Then we watch TV to rest and forget about our problems. Then we get more brainwashed and unhappy. Then we buy more to get happier. The circle continues and the companies get richer and richer.We become poorer and poorer. The advertising companies win. The Media can also manipulate how we think. We have the tendency to believe every thing we see on TV without any questions and research.


Expense
Last but not least is the expense. The money we spend on Cable, latest TV and media set, DVD and Blue rays, CD's and CD players, I Pods, Stereo system, ... can add up to become huge. It is interesting that we are reluctant to buy Organic food or at least Organic Milk that is significantly healthier, due to expense, but have no problem spending hundred and even thousands of dollars on our Entertainment center, Cable , Cartoons for our kids, .... The TV is becoming more important to us Americans than our health.


How much TV are you NOT watching?

The good old simple life

Happy Orange

I am comparing my life with the life i used to live as a kid, years ago, back in Iran.

Our life was simpler. Not just because i was a kid and my own life was simpler and uncomplicated, no. Because the life was simpler. Less convenient! , but in a way simpler.

• We never used disposable.
• The milk was in glass bottles that we brought back to stores to be reused.
• We squeezed oranges to make orange juice.
• We took fruit to school for snack.
• We used tab water.
• Our paper work was not even comparable.
• Our school system was simpler.
• We played outside.
• There were no Fast foods.
• No obesity.
• Diabetes was a rare disease that only Grandparents had.
• Neighbors were not scared of neighbors.
• We never heard someone saying "I don't have time"
• I never knew what ADHD or Autism were.
• Kids program was only one hour per day at 5 PM. I never forget the excitement we had for that sweet time. 5 PM meant Cookies and milk along with Cartoon for one hour. We had to finish all our homework first.
• We didn't have tons of games and DVD players in the car and still get bored like our kids do now.
• We did not have such a thing as "Organic food". Every thing was the way it suppose to be. Natural and organic.

Do you remember the good old days?