Affiliate links to products I love may be included. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This season of quarantine has brought out different sides in each of us. Sometimes I feel as if I have even gone through some sort of emotional episode. I’ve been on a roller coaster. We.all.have. The ups and downs, the unknown, life has been entirely too much. But let’s celebrate the success of life. We’ve made it (almost). Here in Texas, people are jumping at the bit to get back to our normal life. Well, everyone is, we are ready.
Before we do, I think we all need a reset.
What we’ve gone through is nothing short of traumatic. Hoarding and overbuying are classic responses to stress. Gathering as much as you can without reason, is equivalent to becoming a packrat. It’s not healthy. One of the problems with overbuying is mainly that most of us cannot store the excess that we have purchased. 20+ rolls of paper towels sounded like a great idea until you brought it home and have no place to put it. Excess causes stress. Whether you keep your home in near perfect condition or don’t mind the “we live here” look when things start piling up, it creates significant stress.
Three tips to stop overbuying:
1-Make a list for the grocery store:
Be specific, and only buy what you need. Cancel the auto-ship of your grocery items until you actually need them again.
2-Be creative:
If you don’t try to use up what you’ve purchased, it’s going to expire and be such a waste. If you overbought rice or pasta, work those items into your weekly menu. Don’t just push it to the side. Be smart and think about the items you’ve already purchased; it will save your family some money and will help to get things back to normal at home.
3-Resist the urge to continue:
It’s easy to get sucked into buying excess. It becomes a way to feel ‘safe’ and feel like you have control over an uncontrollable situation. Did we buy extra toilet paper when all this started, yes, absolutely. Are we still buying it? Nooo! We all have enough toilet paper. Lol. I’ve started adding a “Do not buy” list on our shopping list for the week. I add items that we buy on impulse but don’t need it at the moment. “Don’t buy toilet paper, rice, great beans, etc” This may help you and your partner stay on track.
As you venture back to some semblance of everyday life or try to, take stock of your stuff. Are you overbuying? If so, why? Do you need to talk to someone about it? Handling your emotions is hard, but it is so worth it. Spend some time today taking care of you, and let’s all put an end to overbuying.
Love y’all!
~Steph