Yesterday I decluttered my home. I also did my seemingly annual bookshelf reorganization (yes my books multiply semi-frequently, yes I did also weed my collection). This meant that 5 bags of stuff left my home for the free market event today, and that two more will leave my home tomorrow. And while decluttering COULD mean more space for new items to replace these now departed ones, I'm happy to say that I have been continuing my trend of definitely coming home from the free market with far less than what I brought there (I picked up 5 items: mostly stationery items and one book that I've been meaning to read these last few years [and an item that I'll likely use for part of a regift exchange]).
And I haven't actually spent any money. Sure some of the Black Friday sales tantalized me somewhat, but none really did what they needed to do to get me to actually spend my money. Either the sales weren't good enough, or the items weren't things I actually needed or needed to gift to anyone. It is crazy just how many retailers have been sending the message to BUY, BUY, BUY this time of year, when really I usually find far better sales in January, when most folks are busily paying off credit card bills from the holidays (yes I do also have bills to pay, but if I shop in January it's often cheaper, and less crowded in the actual stores). And Black Friday is more of a USA thing and the whole online shopping thing is more of a Cyber Monday trick generally, so it is not something I generally partake in too much as it is.
Tomorrow is day two of a very snowy Buy Nothing Day Free Market event (our 7th annual) and I look forward to dropping off the remaining items I would like to rid myself of, to hopefully see some familiar faces and maybe check out some of the Whyte avenue events happening tomorrow (okay I'm sad that the weather has made them cancel the sleigh rides because I was really looking forward to those). I would be surprised if I spent much money tomorrow either. But we shall see. Regardless, I'm hoping that the Free Market is busier… the snow having kept many away.