You may have picked up a recurring theme here at Almost Posh; I don't mind engaging in a bit of shopping activity from time to time.

As recently pointed out in 6 Ways To Being Better With Your Bucks, this is not a habit that aligns itself well to my part-time budget and current status in life as a mortgage-paying parent who springs for daycare twice a week and has such mundane expenses as eating, council rates and nappies.

Mica from Away From The Blue mentioned she was thinking of giving the No-Buy July challenge a go, which made me wonder if I could commit myself to it*. 

Could I??

But I like things and stuff!! What to do??

Trading

"Are you a size 7.5? OMG ME TOO!!"

Enter the sustainable and ethically responsible world of trading.

My friend Stacie recently added me to the TRADE*LAIDE group on Facebook where people are busily trading all manner of items they don't want or need for things that they do.

I listed my old Kindle DX and got loads of offers. I ended up with clothes, accessories and even a spinning toy top for Miss L.

For a bottle of wine, I am pending receipt of some snazzy leopard-print Top Shop sneakers.

Since no money is changing hands, it's not buying at all. IT'S TRADING. You should see if there's an FB group in your area. People seem to like fruit and veg (organic), baked goods and other food (vegan) as well as art, musical intruments, services like sewing and are willing to trade fun stuff for them.

You may have to pick through multiple posts of people whose expectations of value don't align with yours and there may be trade requests for organically-grown items of questionable legality but if you can look past that, you might get yourself some decent deals. 

Cleaning Out

"After" shot of my wardrobe. Lolz. [image credit]

Instead of adding to the stash, I plan to do some massive wardrobe editing; including shoes, accessories and jewellery to allow better visibility and identify potential gaps to fill when August arrives. Do I need a large and varied selection of "slop around the house" clothes? No, I do not. Can I maybe list some of the better stuff on eBay to bank in PayPal for August? Yes, I could. 

Cashing In

Illustrative purposes . . . we have a trailer and wheelie bins [image credit]

I am lucky enough to live in South Australia, where we have had a very sensible Container Deposit Scheme for the last 30 years, whereupon we get a 10 cent refund on cans and bottles. Our collection is at the point where it's bankable, which will net a healthy cash return . . . that in turn will probably be spent on things that come in bottles. It's also all environmentally responsible too. Up to 85% of cans and bottles in South Australia are recycled. We don't have plastic bags at the supermarkets either. Go SA!

Gift Cards, Store Credits and Vouchers

In case of emergency, I have a few things of this nature chilling that I can pull out if I really need a retail buzz, including Savers vouchers, store credit at SWOP, a quarterly Priceline voucher and even a Harvey Norman gift card. Okay, technically, it's still BUYING but it's not strictly speaking SPENDING. And only in an emergency. It's like shopping methadone. #selfenabler

Will you be giving #NoBuyJuly15 a go? What would you find hardest to stop buying? 

* obvs does not apply to groceries, petrol and basic living needs like lunch