INTRODUCING: I don't buy it

An anti-wishlist

It seems like I can only look at this glowing rectangle I keep in my pocket for a minute or two before someone shows me something they love that I should buy. I wanted to talk for a second about something I love NOT buying. Maybe you have something you love not buying too?

I’m not going to type it out the name of the educational baby toy company here even though I would LOVE to talk with EVERYone about how ridiculous they seem - if people want to buy it they 100% can and lots of people seem happy with it. I just don’t buy it personally.

Do your babies, dogs, cats, and mice have store-bought toys, or do they play with other things instead? I used to make Kip a single-use dog toy every time we finished a cereal box - he started losing interest so I haven’t made one in a while, but maybe I’ll try again when we finish the next carton of Cinnamon Harvest.

What things do you not buy? Does your dog also use your sweatshirts as blankets instead of using dog blankets? Do you grow your own tomatoes? Are you a library person instead of a bookstore person? My hairstylist recently traded someone a haircut for a sweater, and I have a friend who makes her own miso.

I’m going to start illustrating the things my friends and people I admire don’t buy - sometimes the internet seems like a giant shopping cart and I’d love to create a small corner that’s the opposite. Let me know in the comments, or you can send me a message by clicking here or replying to this email.

Thanks for being here and loaning me some of your time — you could have been spending that time knitting to make a sweater to trade for a haircut, and that is not lost on me. I appreciate it. I hope your week is full of people and places you love, and that you learn about gravity and object permanence if you haven’t yet.