Buy Nothing Update: Come What May

Buy nothing

For new readers to the blog, I accepted the challenge to buy nothing for a year back in January.  Other bloggers are doing this too, including Happy Philosopher who started (and popularized) it. The best part? My wife is totally on board.

There were a few exemptions that we allowed ourselves to buy. This includes:

• A Tesla Model 3. While expensive, I don’t regret this purchase one bit.
• A naturepedic bed with organic bedding, which we bought in January. This was also an expensive big ticket it, but it is worth it to us. We place a high value on buying certain things (such as a bed) organic and non-toxic since we think it is better for our health and the environment.

The other major exemption that I listed was baby stuff. And starting from when our baby was born, most of our purchases have been from this category. Past purchases include newborn photography, swaddles, and remedies to relieve newborn gas and stomach problems. Most baby stuff we already received as gifts (clothes, cloth diapers) or were donated to us second hand (swings, toys, clothes).

 

Things we continue to NOT buy

Gas ($0) – We drove our old cars on two short trips the entire month. Definitely not enough to visit the gas station to refuel.

Not having to pay for fuel is beautiful. By driving an electric vehicle, we are saving at least $200 dollar month by not having to buy gasoline. And this is a very conservative estimate. Also, I have found several public charging stations where I can charge my car for free while I’m at work. Score!

Clothes ($0) – Yup. I still wear the same raggedy clothes every day. There’s no point in wearing expensive threads to work because I change into scrubs once I get into the hospital anyway. My wardrobe consists mainly of plain T-shirts, jeans, and the occasional hoodie. It’s similar to Mark Zuckerberg’s wardrobe. Simple and minimalist. When I wake up every morning I never have analysis paralysis or decision fatigue in figuring what I am going to wear for the day.

My wife hasn’t bought any new clothes either.

Flights ($0) – I’m flying the whole family to Orlando for free using the Southwest Companion pass (with the fees reimbursed).

Overall, my wife and I just don’t buy anything “material” for ourselves anymore.

 

Is it even a challenge?

I’m not sure if I should be proud of this, but “buying nothing” hasn’t really been that challenging for us. It totally helps that both of us are doing it. I can imagine it being very challenging if my wife was not on board and she had a habit of spending money left and right.

Instead of being a spendthrift, my wife is just as frugal (or maybe more) as me. We are judicious spenders and consummate savers who don’t like seeing money go to waste.

We are also semi-minimalists. If something doesn’t spark joy or add value to our lives, we don’t buy it.

Why pay for something when the best things in life are free? Like taking a walk in the park to see the beautiful flowers bloom in May.

When we do consider buying something, we try to follow our guidelines of conscious consumerism. Every purchase is deliberate and never the result of materialistic, mindless consumerism!

 

Stuff we actually bought

Not surprisingly, we didn’t spend a lot of money on “stuff”. And the funny thing is, we avoided using cash or credit cards to pay for most of it. Instead, we have been using Visa gift cards.

Over the course of several months, I have bought around $2,000 worth of Visa gift cards from Staples with my Chase Ink Business Plus card. Using this card, I earn 5 cents (or 5 Ultimate Rewards points) per dollar spent at office supply stores. I only do this during gift card promotions (for instance when there is an instant $20 rebate on purchased gift cards).

As a result, I am earning at least 5% back on what I actually spend on. If you are curious about the details, I wrote about it here.

Passive income via cash back or travel rewards is a beautiful thing.

Baby stuff ($75)

• 2 onesies for 3 month old babies ($16) – Our baby is growing fast!
• Natural powder HE laundry detergent by Rockin’ Green ($18) – Perfect for cloth diapers
• The Vaccine Friendly Plan book ($9) – My wife wanted to read about spacing out her vaccines and which ones are actually necessary
• Comotomo natural feel baby bottle ($12) – While baby is exclusively breast feeding, we are trying to get her drink from a bottle more regularly
• Mommy’s Bliss baby probiotic drops ($20) – We were still trying everything we can to remedy her gas problems

Food ($450)

As usual, we didn’t spend a whole lot on food this month. My wife’s mom continues to help out by bringing delicious homemade meals.

Restaurants ($250)

We went out to eat five times this month.

• Two times at our favorite local vegan restaurant ($30 each visit) – It’s nice (especially for my wife) to get out of the house once in awhile to avoid the isolation of being homebound
• Once at a local Thai restaurant ($40) – We treated one of our friends to lunch
• We ordered two large party trays from the same local Thai restaurant ($110) – We were hosting our cousins and their kids for the day.
• Once at Cheesecake Factory ($40) – We went to celebrate our Godson’s second birthday who came to visit from Texas. It was nice to see my best friend from residency (father of our Godson), his wife, and the entire family. The Cheesecake Factory is notorious for having food that is not healthy. I tried to pick what looked like the healthiest option. So I got the wellness salad. It consisted of kale, spinach, arugula, broccoli, sunflower seeds, pear slices, avocado, and blueberries dressed with a lemon vinaigrette.

Groceries ($200)

In the second week of May, my wife wanted to try an elimination diet to help with our baby’s gas problems.

Certain foods that a mother eats could transfer to baby via breast milk and cause gas problems and stomach discomfort. These foods include cruciferous vegetables, leafy greens, dairy (which we already don’t consume), soy, certain grains, and legumes.

After doing some research, my wife wanted to try a one week elimination diet consisting of only organic brown rice, organic oatmeal, organic squash, and potatoes (both sweet and regular).

As usual, we always try to buy locally, in bulk, mostly organic, and without plastic packaging to lessen our impact on the environment. We bought a ginormous 35 pound bag of oatmeal for only $40. It should last us a few weeks. Eating well doesn’t have to be expensive!

I attempted to do the elimination diet with her to provide moral support. But I ended up eating a lot of the food her mom brought us because I didn’t want it to go to waste. Oh well.

Potatoes sometimes get a bad rap. Sure, if you deep fry them in oil and sprinkle a ton of salt and chemicals on them, they are not healthy. And mashing them without the skin and adding loads of butter is certainly not healthy either.

The healthiest way to eat them is to simply bake them. You can cut them up into “fries” (keeping the skin on since it is so nutritious with vitamins and fiber) and bake them in a convection oven. Then eat them with avocado and lime for a simple healthy guacamole. That’s what we often do.

 

No longer a gas passer

No. I’m not talking about me. Unfortunately I am not yet FIRE’d and still working as a fully time anesthesiologist.

I’m referring to our baby and her gas problem.

Last month in April, we bought several remedies to help soothe her and relieve her gas and stomach pains. It breaks our heart to think that something could be causing her pain.

Fortunately, some time in the middle of May, her issues eventually resolved. I’m not sure if it was from the natural remedies that we tried, my wife’s elimination diet, or her digestive system finally matured and she “grew out of it”. Whatever it was, we are relieved that she is relieved.

As you can see, most of the things we bought was for our baby. We love her so much and we are trying our best to provide the best life for her.

 

Our baby, the greatest love of all

One of the primary motivating factors in doing this “buy nothing challenge” is to spend more time with our baby.

Having a formal challenge makes us more accountable for our actions. It compels us to live even more frugally and minimally than we normally would. As a result, it allows us to save more money.

My wife is taking a 14 month maternity leave. And I arranged my schedule so that I can have three days off every week. By saving so much money, it gives us the opportunity to work less and frees up more time for us to spend it with our baby.

Coming home from work to see her is the highlight of every day. At about 11 weeks old, she is now smiling, cooing, babbling, and playfully interacting with us. She’s finally at an age in which taking care of a baby is actually kind of fun!

Every little thing that she does is magical. She has the most adorable expressions. And it’s amazing how much she looks just like her daddy!

My wife tells me she couldn’t imagine loving anybody more than me; that is, until our baby was born. Of course I take no offense to this because I feel the same way.

Without me, my wife would be just fine. But without either one of us, our baby would not be alive.

She is made from love and will forever be a part of us. It’s a part of our parental instincts to love, protect, and do everything we can for our baby. We will love her no matter what.

Come what may, we will love her until our dying day…  <3