Comments on: idle time = money spent

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 03:08:00 +0000

Currently? Way too much screen time. Working on it though. Spent a significant amount of time cleaning the apartment, doing laundry, and minimalising my bedroom.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:03:23 +0000

i second the library idea. my husband buys hella books, he needs to be able to mark in them since he is a graduate student in the humanities, and that is what he does, so serious books have to be bought. but that has put him in the habit, and he is always buying throwaway paperback fiction, too. I found out that i can order books from the library online, and when they are available they will bring them to the library down the street from anywhere in the city’s library system, and email me that the book is there. When I go to pick it up, it is wrapped in a piece of paper with my name on it. I read Getting Things Done this way, though it took a while for my turn to come up – that is a very popular book. but with fiction it might take a week at the most, and you can have lots of books in your queue.

By: Dasha

Dasha — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:57:37 +0000

I like to get out of the house on the weekend and when I don’t have any other plans, I tend to just go wander around the city which actually always turns into shopping. I have way too many clothes. Hm, I wonder ;)

I’ve been trying to make more of an effort to make plans with myself of stuff to do if I just feel like going somewhere for its own sake. Also, I’ve been going to the library a lot. It’s like free shopping! The library is also a great test of your minimalism – how much will you take when it’s all free? I struggle with this sometimes, esp. when going to the central library, which is 45 min away but has soooo many more great books than my local library!

By: caron

caron — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:56:39 +0000

I like to write a blog if I have some free time…but that is probably an obvious answer.

By: bullethead

bullethead — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:36:15 +0000

Super blog…My wife and I enjoy reading your musings, as we downsize our material life.

Thanks!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:09:29 +0000

I know exactly what you mean… lately I have been going online to read blogs and watch free videos instead of buying magazines to read and renting or going to the movies. I also noticed that it is important to know why you are spending the money where you spend it and make better choices. For example, when I was in college everyone would meet up at the Starbucks in Barnes & Noble bookstore. So we would all spend $5 on a drink, and another $5 if we were hungry and it was a social thing. Post-college I found that I still enjoyed going to the bookstore, but now I order a hot tea, or a simple cup of coffee and grab a few magazines or a book to read for an hour or so. The establishment still gets a little bit of my money, and I get some free reading time in without feeling like I have wasted $10 on an overpriced dessert drink.
Same with going to the theatres. If it is a movie I really want to see then I will pay for the ticket, otherwise I will try and watch it for free online. Sometimes I have been able to watch the film online before it even hits the theatres, so that is always fun!