To fight against unnecessary spending and compulsive purchases, a family living in Finistère has implemented an original technique: using scraps of paper. We explain to you.
While all French people are affected by inflation and rising prices, this family found a most original method to avoid giving in to compulsive shopping. As reported by our colleagues from HuffPost, Maëlle, Renaud and their children recently moved into an old house in Finistère, Brittany, and have started major works. Faced with the current crisis and the increase in the price of raw materials, they have however been forced to put the brakes on the renovation of their building and, above all, to make serious savings. This is where the little family got the idea for this amazing technique.
They actually made a Post-it system to regulate their expenses. In addition to purchases of basic necessities (food, hygiene products, etc.), as soon as one of them wants to buy something, he writes on a small piece of paper what he wants and sticks it on a sheet of paper hanging on the wall. “At the end of the month, we get together around the Post-its and we wonder if we still really want or need them. If so, we see if we can buy them. It’s a little disturbing because it’s not immediate consumption. But it is an important and necessary first step towards degrowth”explained Renaud, the 52-year-old father.
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“Of the twelve Post-its, two turned into purchases”
The couple decided to share this method on their TikTok account. “When the work costs more than expected…”, he says in the caption, before explaining what their trick is. On the video, we can see that the mother, Maëlle, for example wrote on her Post-it “glass Sodastream bottle”. Renaud, meanwhile, noted “new pair of shoes”while the two children, Louise and Charlie, have registered “bunny soft toy”, “lip balm”, “earrings” or “modeling dough”.
At the end of January, the family took stock. “Of the twelve Post-its displayed, two turned into purchases”informed the mother to the HuffPost. All the other papers therefore remained taped to the board for the month of February. “This technique has saved us a lot of stupid purchases of 5 or 6 € on each outing. We think better and we save”wrote Maëlle on social networks. “No frustration since the things we really want, we leave them on the wall at Post-it, so it will come“, she concluded. A method to try!