Waste

After having paired down our belongings the last couple years, part of my feeling of maintenance is to not buy stuff unless we are going to consume it, pretty much, or use it to make our lives easier - like my new steamer.  II buy clothes or shoes, they essentially have a purpose (like my hiking shoes or my new casual flat booties - I no longer need high heels).  And even then, I get rid of other less useful, less comfortable, less flattering items.  I got rid of 2 high heel booties that I will never wear once I am not dressing for the office.
Even if we consume, I get the best deal I can find on products, use any coupons or points apps and buy the most economic size.  As for food, I buy a lot of vegetables that we can consume raw or cooked.  That way, if we don't consume them raw (salad), I can freeze it in the freezer and make smoothies (spinach) or cook in a soup or stirfry.  Produce is so expensive, I avoid waste.  I saw a great idea for using all food purchased on one of those life hack articles on the internet:  if you buy a plastic bin and use it in the fridge, you can easily sequester such items here when they are nearing the end of their shelf life and be sure you won't waste them.  I like it.  We have also discussed with our brother in law possibly getting some local pork, so DH and I are thinking of buying a new upright freezer before the end of the summer.  We had one a while back for years that I loved buying meat and other stuff on sale and stockpiling, but it stopped working about 2 years ago.  It was sort of handy that it shot craps when it did, because it was in our basement and it gave us plenty of time to get ride of it before we moved this year.  I used all the stuff out of it that we wanted and then I cleaned it out.  Then DH took the door off of it and we moved it out the back door (we have walk out basement) and into our large SUV and drove it around to the front and put it on the curb for heavy trash pick up.  Now we will just buy a new one for RH and have it delivered there.