"Shopping" Differently

This mind set change is definetly altering how I "shop".  I think we as a family have become a bit lazy in our problem solving lately.  "We want something" has automatically become  a direct route through"We buy something" to end up at " We have something".  Not being able to spend money has made me look for new ways to cut out " We buy something".

Recently, our youngest daughter poured water into the charger base of our portable phone, frying the whole unit beyond repair.  True to our new guiding principle, knowing I couldn't eat a phone meant I couldn't spend money on one.  We lived for a couple months with only the kitchen phone, which has a two foot cord.  I have to stand at my kitchen desk to use this phone.  It definetly cut down on the long chat session type calls!  But during this time, I was helping to recruit volunteers for our church's children's ministry programs.  I had to phone dozens of people, and try to get my kids to not need my attention during the calls, since I was chained to the wall.  I grew very tired of this pretty quickly!  But still I was determined to persevere! 

During a chat with a girlfriend one day, she reminded me of Air Miles.  Our family collects Air Miles, and in the past, we did manage to use them to take several trips.  But now that we are a family of five, and trips use alot more miles, this family isn't going anywhere anytime soon!  I checked into the many things you can "buy" with Air Miles.....tons!! ( You should check it out!!!).  We ordered a portable phone set with two phones, and a carpet cleaner!  Now I will no longer have to pay to clean my living room carpet!! ( Believe me, it needed it!)

If we just use our creativity, there are so many more routes out there than " We buy something"!  What about trading? Or borrowing?