I think at some point in the past five days or so I have entirely forgotten about buying or not buying new things. That is, it has become a habit not to buy new things. It's interesting. It wasn't that way at first. Even though it wasn't that difficult I did think about it. Weirdly, in a way, I miss thinking about it, noticing my patterns, and being aware of them (although writing this blog does force me to think about it at least at the end of the day). And, on the positive side, my new not-buying habit probably now frees me up to notice different things. I was really intrigued (actually, fascinated) buy how prominent consumption was in my life before this no-new-things project. At that point, I didn't notice how much I was buying and to what degree it was a reflex (I didn't think of ways of doing things otherwise).
About the styrofoam balls: Michal needed them for a school project (she had to make an imaginary planet; she'd already done most of it with papier mache but was stumped by circular houses she needed to make). After some discussion we all decided (with the exception of Ben who couldn't see why caps shouldn't fit into this category) that if Joel and I get exemptions for work-related items then Michal should have an exemption for a necessary school-related item. On the work-buying front, btw, I have not bought a single new thing in the past 40 days (and I don't think Joel has either). Actually, I did buy 2 new books in the early days but haven't since. I had anticipated buying a lot of work-related things (if only to satisfy that desire to consume) but have not even been tempted. Nevertheless, when we run out of printer paper that will be a necessary purchase.
On the Mother's Day front, Michal made me truffles (delicious!), Ben made me a painted plaque (he was sweetly proud of it), and Michal also made me a necklace. Today Michal noticed that I hadn't taken my necklace off since she gave it to me. I told her that since I hadn't had anything "new" for the last while it was exciting to have a new necklace to wear. And that was true! I definitely notice and appreciate this necklace in a way that I don't think I would have before.
Moral virtue, says Aristotle in the Nichomachean Ethics "comes about as a result of habit".
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