Making the Internet My Accountability Partner

I swiped my debit card and the realization hit. I broke my no-buy rules, not just with that transaction but also with an earlier one that day. My no-buy rules covered beauty and personal care items, books, and kinda notebooks. I can’t find proof of where I wrote home goods, but I internally felt like that was on the list. There are several things I will need to furnish my new place, but I do not need any more decorations.

However, I was out thrift shopping with my boyfriend. I still have not had an actual conversation with him about my no-buy goals. So he wasn’t in any way pressuring me, but he gets excited about fandom stuff, and so when he found something that was Harry Potter-themed themed his excitement was contagious. I bought the set of house flags without a second thought.

Later that day we were at five-below. We were looking for one specific item that we were struggling to find elsewhere. But as one does, we wound up perusing the aisles looking at all the random things you could get. We found the Funko Pop section and I became enamored with the blueberry Eggo waffle pop. Again I didn’t even think about it. That was until my receipt printed and I realized I had broken my no-buy.

The next day we had tickets to visit Harry Potter The Exhibition. The gift shop was so exciting! I did limit myself in that there were several items I picked up but ultimately decided against. However, I still left having bought two journals, both Hufflepuff-themed. As I was journaling after adding those two to the pile of blank journals, I realized that I thought I should feel some ‘negative’ emotion about acquiring things I can’t currently use. Instead I really only felt the excitement I feel every time I look at my pile of unused journals.

This then made me start to question, how do I feel about these purchases in hindsight? The Harry Potter flags surprisingly feel like the right move. My current room is very pink, floral, and feminine. While I will carry some of it over to my new place with my boyfriend I know not all of it will come. He has less interest in aesthetics and is more interested in decorating with his interests and fandoms. With the flags, I’m able to include a second interest of mine (the first being Taylor Swift) in our likely fandom-themed living space.

The waffle pop I am on the face about. I do think he’s cute and there was a while where I could picture him on the shelf with my boyfriend’s Funkos. But I also realize that if we ever need to make space on that shelf the first suggestion I’m making is let’s declutter the waffle. So this leaves me with the what now question. One thought I had was that with decor I can start a one in one out policy that will encourage me to stay on track for the future. To make room for the flags I instantly thought of which wall decor I already knew I won’t be bringing to a new home. However, for the Funko I don’t have anything like him. And when I expand his category to something super broad, there’s nothing I’m willing to consider parting with. So I will take until the end of the month to decide if I will part with something to make room or if I will return him.