I think I bought five or ten non-food things over the past year or two
While writing up a longer piece on my experiment going off the grid, I looked up when I bought the solar panels and battery. Going through my old records, I think I only bought five or ten things besides food in about a year or so, all from Craigslist or thrift stores, used. I don’t keep meticulous records, so I may have missed some things.
Going backward, a couple weeks ago my computer battery broke and I bought a new one to replace it.
On February 18 I bought the solar panels.
On September 18, 2021, I bought a set of sheets for my bed (the old ones ripped, the new ones were unused and nice linen).
On September 7, 2021, I bought a 70-pound kettlebell. I walked it something like half a mile from the guy’s place where I bought it to the subway station, down a few flights, around in the station, around another station to transfer, up a few flights at my home station, a quarter-mile to my home, then up four flights here.
On May 29, 2021, I bought a camera since my cell phone was six or seven years old and I think had water in the camera because its pictures were barely visible.
On May 20, 2021, I bought the battery I eventually connected the solar panels to nine months later. They call them power stations.
Around New Years I bought a covid test kit and Amtrak ticket for a New Years event, but it got canceled and I returned both, so I don’t count them. I’ve payed for services and nonmaterial things like rent, health insurance, and subway rides. I bought a sweater and pair of shoes from a thrift store, but they have been over two years ago.
Oh yeah, I bought a tent to go bike camping.
Things like toiletries I find free when charities give them out at Washington Square Park to needy people who accept them and then leave them littering all over the place. A sealed container is a sealed container. I don’t think the donators have considered how, yes, they’re helping a few people in the moment, but for five years the garbage will endure.
Otherwise, looking around my apartment, I see a few things I found or got from neighbors getting rid of things, but mostly things I’ve owned for at least five years. My reading glasses I bought new, possibly in the past couple years. My meditation cushion I bought used from Craigslist, maybe in the past couple years.
Oh yeah, I bought bike shoes, tire irons, and a few pieces of equipment for the bike when I got a tune up, at least a year ago, maybe two.
If everyone shopped like me, Amazon would go out of business. Amazon won’t let me write book reviews because they require you spent at least fifty dollars there in the past year and I haven’t bought anything from them.
I used to buy more things. I still have a lot of old stuff. I still find things from a decade or my back that I get rid of.
July 28, 2022: This week I bought a pair of shoes (used from Goodwill) and as an experiment a miswak stick. I finally found one I could buy without packaging.
July 30-31, 2022: I bought a patch kit to repair my bike’s flat tire. It turns out the leak was at the valve, so I bought a new inner tube the next morning. Then I rode around Governor’s Island.
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