Buy Nothing Challenge November Update: Oops! We Spent A lot…

Buy Nothing Challenge

Okay, I have to admit. Our November spending makes me look like a big hypocrite. Based on the title alone, you could already figure out that our buy nothing challenge for the month of November was an epic fail. Oh well.

It’s funny. In my last post, I mentioned that we wouldn’t take advantage of any Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals. But it turns out that we did.

We spent more than a thousand dollars on material things in November.

How on earth did this happen?

It started off in an innocuous way when my wife and I started browsing for deals on stuff that we need to buy for our baby.

Recall from the first buy nothing challenge post that “buying baby stuff” was one of our exemptions from the challenge. The reason is obvious. While my wife and I can get by with not buying material goods (such as clothes), our baby is going to eventually need new things over time.

She’s 8 months old now and outgrowing some of her clothes. Additionally, it’s getting a little bit chilly here in Southern California (temperatures are starting to drop as low as the 50’s!). Definitely sweater weather out here.

We didn’t receive any cold weather clothes from her baby shower. So we decided to check out the Black Friday deals and shop for some new clothes and a jacket for her.

 

Baby stuff we bought ~ $644.50

We bought a variety of baby stuff.

Baby clothes – $110

Below is a snapshot of some of the the items we bought including new onesies, pants, and long sleeve bodysuits.

As you can see, we prioritize buying clothing made from organic cotton. Not only is it better for the environment compared to pesticide-laden cotton, it is potentially better for baby’s health since it reduces the pesticide and toxic chemical load that baby is exposed to.

We are also trying to avoid polyesters since they are made from plastics and petroleum products which could potentially act as hormone and endocrine disruptors.

From the perspective of cost, it’s certainly not the most frugal way to go. But we think that the benefit of having safer, less toxic products outweigh the high price tag.

We also bought a jacket that looked similar to this one below.

Cute jacket, right?

The problem with “shopping” is that sometimes you start browsing things other than the items you intended to buy. One thing leads to another and then you start getting ideas like this…

Then before you know it, you’ve paid $200 dollars so that the entire family has matching outfits for professional holiday photos that costs $150.

Just so you know, we didn’t fall into that trap. But we could have. When you buy adorable clothes for a cute baby, it’s really tempting!

 

High chair – $350

Now that our baby is eating solid foods on a consistent basis, it was finally time to buy a high chair.

We spent a good amount of time researching a decent quality high chair would last for a while. So we decided to buy the Stoke Tripp Trapp high chair for $350.

It’s a lot of money, but it was highly rated, made of beechwood (and not plastic), and adjustable for all ages. Even adults can use it. In case you were wondering that answer is no I have not tried sitting on it yet.

 

Bib – $20

Feeding babies solid foods can be quite the adventure. A really messy adventure!

To deal with the mess, we bought a bib to prevent her clothes from getting dirty. Our baby’s favorite foods are berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries), coconut yogurt, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, and broccoli. Yes, she is a plant-based baby. What do you expect?

You should see her face all dirtied up when she drinks a mixed berry smoothie. So freakin’ adorable!

Toy – $14.50

We also bought another toy for her called “Scrappy Dog”.

Essentially, its a stuffed animal toy made of 100% Egyptian organic cotton from scrap fabric.

Not only is Scrappy Dog sustainable and organic, he’s non-toxic too. Absolutely no chemical colorants, BPA, flame retardants, formaldehyde, fragrance, PVC, or lead were used to make him.

More cloth diapers – $150

Now that our baby is starting to eat solid foods on a consistent basis, her poop has become more substantial.  To accommodate this, we bought a few more cloth diapers.

I’ve talked about cloth diapering and how it should save us money in a previous post.

Most of the diapers that we had were made of polyester. My wife wanted to make sure that the inner lining of her new diapers were organic cotton. With this in mind, we bought six Smart Bottom diapers.

Here’s a picture of one of the diapers we had bought.

By the way, we’re not necessarily trying to influence our daughter to go into medicine. If she eventually wants to follow in her dad’s foot steps, then that’s fine and we would give her all the support she needs. But I’m definitely not going to actively push in either way.

My wife just bought this doctor style diaper simply because she thought it was cute. She tried looking for some lawyer-related diapers, but they didn’t have any. I guess lawyer stuff isn’t as cute. *Shrug*

 

Other Stuff

Microphone with stand and pop filter – $75

I bought a Audio-Technica ATR2100 because I’m going to be a guest speaker/panelist on Doc G and Paul Thompson’s new podcast What’s Up Next?

I’m really excited about it!

After recording the podcast, I plan on gifting the microphone to my sister who plans to use it for one of her side hustles.

The Vegan 8 Cook Book – $17

I’ve been a fan of Brandi Doming, the creator The Vegan 8 blog, ever since my wife and I transitioned to a plant-based vegan diet more than 2 years ago.

Just as advertised, her recipes are simple, delicious and made with 8 ingredients or less. Because of their refreshingly short ingredient lists, her recipes are so easy to follow and are ideal for anyone new to plant-based cooking or seeking simplified, wholesome, family-friendly options for weeknight dinners. All of the recipes are dairy-free and most are oil-free, gluten-free, and nut-free.

If you’re interested in cooking more plant-based foods and need recipes, check out her site. A lot of the dishes that my wife and I make at home are inspired by recipes from her site. And now that we have her book (not an affiliate link), we’re excited to do some more cooking at home!

*I have no financial relationship with Brandi Doming or anybody affiliated with The Vegan 8. I just love her recipes :).

 

What a great segue into my last expense… FOOD

 

Food

Our food expenses for November was a little bit higher than usual.

Groceries – $285

We mostly keep our meals at home simple and easy. When you have a baby crawling all over the place, you simply cannot take your eyes off baby to spend an hour making a gourmet, fine-dining caliber meal. Not gonna happen.

That said, below are some of the highlights that we (mostly my wife) were able to cook up.

Oatmeal never gets old. Especially when you can change it up and add different toppings. In the picture below, I added mixture of a variety berries including blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries. Additionally, I added moringa powder (the green stuff), cinnamon, cloves, maca root powder, alma powder, flax seeds, and chia seeds. Yeah, this oatmeal is loaded with antioxidants and super foods. As you can see, I’m trying to eat a healthy diet and live to be 100 or older…

Oatmeal with berriesNot every dish we make is going to be Instagram worthy. But here is one that made the cut.

Linguine with mushroom sauce and spinach.

 

Restaurants – $388

We went out a total of 12 times in November, which is more than usual.

Eating out at restaurants is not going to help me live to be 100 years old. But it’s certainly a special treat to have someone cook, clean, and serve you at a somewhat fancy place. Sometimes you just gotta treat yo’ self.

It seems like every month I feature a picture of ramen. One of the reasons is because ramen is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Another reason is because there are so many restaurants in town that offer vegan ramen. It’s so tempting to try them all!

The noodles also came with a side of sesame tofu on rice.

That’s all I have for now.

How was your November? Take advantage of any sales?