**Post written by Kevin Olega connect with him on twitter   facebook   g+**

It’s the second half of 2012 and I haven’t bought anything big. So far so good. This minimalist lifestyle is finally paying off. Despite multiple financial setbacks I have stayed afloat and I compared to past setbacks didn’t get as crippled.

To keep up this pace I am creating a rule of not buying anything new for myself so impulsive buying doesn’t eat a good chunk of my resources.

This is a list of things I won’t buy for 2012 to prevent me from overspending as I have done so in my past eight years of working.

This is a list of things I believe I am likely impulsively buy. I would also like to keep my things under 100 as to not have as much mental clutter.

1. No New Notebooks

Our house is filled with notebooks. A lot of them are slightly used. I think we have close to forty. That’s a lot and I buy notebooks that catches my eye as I write a lot of things on a daily basis. I feel it’s smarter to use what I have. **

2. No New Gadgets

I experience a lot of gadget envy. In fact as I was using my cousin’s iPad 2 I thought about buying the new iPad with retina display. My cousin doesn’t use his iPad as much during schooldays so he sometimes lets me use it and leaves it in my room. The iPad has all the apps I commonly use so I get to use it as often as I want. The iPad sits in his room and sometimes my room unused in the box. I still prefer writing on my laptop and my iPod touch. Despite that I still want to buy one for myself. I feel that one day I’ll go crazy and use all my money and finally buy one. I’m also thinking of getting a new phone. 3. No New Exercise Equipment

**I want to take a few weights home whenever I see one at the store. This forces me to be consistent with my workout. **

4. No New Bags

I’m a bag guy. Its the first thing I check out when I’m at the mall or at thrift stores. A bag Isn’t expensive if you’re smart but I already want the bag I want to use for the meantime and our living room floor is cluttered by a pile of bags we no longer use. **

5. No New Apps

I was on app shopper everyday waiting for new apps that are now free. But it turns out the apps I use are the same apps I’ve used since I got the iPod touch. I use Nexus Money, iDoneThis, Simplenote, Dropbox, Kindle, Bible Reader, The built in apps and Social Media Apps. That’s it. I avoid games because I get super addicted to them. **

6. No New Writing Software

I got myself scrivener and evernote last year and I don’t use them as much. I prefer using simplenote and textfiles in Dropbox. **

7. No New Movies

I’m not looking forward to a new movie in particular and I don’t feel like spending on one. **

8. No New Index Cards

I buy lots of them on a regular basis and now I have a pile of unused notes in index cards. I think the better options is to just use the forty or so notebooks at home and leave my remaining for business use. **

9. No New Websites

I now have seven websites that I manage. It’s starting to take more time than I like. I’ll just continue to maintain what I have and do my best with them. **

10. No New Social Networks

I don’t have Pinterest, stumble upon and I don’t have a separate social media profile for each of my seven sites. I think adding a new one would kill me. I’ll consolidate everything on my personal account and that’s it for now. **

11. No New Books

I like reading books. I have a lot of backlog reading on my kindle app. I spend a lot of money of my books.

There you go this is my not to buy list. What’s on your not to buy list?


Thank you for reading.

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