Covid 19: Comfort Shopping

 What purchases did you make during Covid 19 lockdowns and beyond to deal with this crazy new reality?

I definitely realize, despite my devotion to the FIRE movement, I can get carried away with anxiety during a weird pandemic and look to buying a few things to distract me. 

Back in March a woman was giving her away a piano. I've always wanted one, so despite not seeing it in person before organizing the movers I went for it. Yeah it's a little bigger than anticipated. PapaBird is not a big fan but is putting up with it. We are now the proud owners of a 19th century Player Piano, minus the player mechanism. Extra big so it could fit inside. Total cost for this freebie: $200 to move it here, $130 to tune it, and $150 for the Simply Piano app to teach myself to play. 

PapaBird got to buy the Hogworts Castle after that one. It was on backorder when purchased in April and finally showed up in July. We definitely weren't the only ones after this one. $525. 

Bought a bunch of fabric, because I have great plans to sew up all the pretty things, but Covid 19 anxiety has stolen my sewing mojo. Working to get it back, but I just don't have the patience to deal with projects that might fail or be very involved right now, so have kept to really simple ones. 

Water Tower Textiles Order: $238

L'oiseau Fabrics: $192

Jalie Patterns: $44

LoveNotions Patterns: $7

How much have I sewn? Not much. Made a bunch of masks that I sold and then made a equivalent donation to the food bank, but I've gotten tired of that. Still need to do a few more for kids before back to school. I did use one bit from recent orders to make a work out capsule wardrobe I've been meaning to blog about for awhile. Here's the Pika I made with the Stripped fabric from Water Tower Textiles so 1m out of roughly 25 sewn up. 

When I was not feeling the motivation to sew I ordered a bunch of markers and paints from Michaels to learn how to do hand lettering. $100, and also bought a bunch of entertainment stuff for the kids: $75. I haven't really touched it since. Maybe I'll come back to it one day. I do still want to learn. 

As spring approached and the fear of not being able to go anywhere, we went and bought an above ground pool for the kids. We then learnt that municipal bylaws would make it a bit difficult to set up so we returned it. 

Middle of July I noticed Canadian Tire finally had a trampoline in stock. Impulse bought the 14 foot tramp rather than the 12 because that was all they had. Kids are getting good use out of it, but definitely wouldn't have bought it without covid. $577

So year, despite being on the journey to FIRE, we're not immune to impulse or retail therapy. I did try to be mindful before each purchase but the anxiety and stress around covid has definitely come into play with many of these purchases. 

Total Entertainment, boredom busting purchases: $2238. And can't promise I won't find justifications for other ones, but I'll keep trying to be mindful and keep moving forward.