Buy Nothing check-in number 2, or what should I be doing in today's economic climate?

Oh February, you wet and weary month (Thank you, Oscars.  Thank you birthday).  It's a hard month in which not to spend money.  I mean, it's not as if you can spend all that free time picnicking and riding ponies.  No, you are pretty much trapped indoors while the rain tap, tap, taps on your window.  And sometimes indoors means, for example, a mall. Or perhaps a boutique.  Sometimes it means Target.

Yes, this is all just preamble to my admission that I was less than perfect during BUY NOTHING: MONTH 2. It wasn't that bad, but there were a couple of incidents of shopping-as-entertainment.

I'm not going to bore you with another purchase-by-purchase list, but I will say that I did score a couple incredible consignment beauties (not new, and thus totally acceptable under the terms of agreement) like this purse in gray from Rachel Nasvik for $26 (please note that it retails for $595). 

 

All-in-all I spent:

$19 on a vinyl "M" for above Maggie's bed.

$43 on above mentioned purse plus a pair of pants

$60 on a pair of jeans marked down from $200, so, you know, not so bad.  Unfortunately, they are a size too big.

$8 on more lip gloss.  This time on the actual color worn by Drew Barrymore.

$45 on various baby gifts for all of our reproducing friends.

$15 on an amazingly beautiful Calvin Klein dress found on the clearance rack at Marshalls (I know, I shouldn't have been there. But aren't you glad I was?)

$16 white t-shirt with becoming gathers

$24 on 20 pairs of socks for the kids (because it was getting ridiculous). 

$25 on more plastic bins from Target

Total: $255.  

Yikes (but still less than the retail price of the new purse).

Up next: Restaurant-free March.  That's right, we are eating every meal in this month.  Starting on the 2nd because we forgot it was the first and we ordered in sushi.  But now we're serious. Stay tuned to see how we do it. 

And please, comment and let me know if you are cutting back this recession season.  Sometimes I think I am only helping to make the economic downturn worse.  But I can't help it.  I'm nervous.

A thing I like

Grammar Girl.  What exactly is a comma splice and why is it bad?  She knows.  Who or whom?  She also knows that.  She even knows the answer to the whole diphthong debate.  I could spend hours.  Really.