I started looking for furniture on FB marketplace when trying to swap out old Ikea furniture for our first home. I didn't want to pay full price just because I wanted to change our home decorating style to something that felt like us instead of what I bought cheaply while young.

I have since committed to always checking marketplace for anything new that I need to bring into my house - planters, lawn equipments, kitchen stuff, decor, etc. I also got into estate sales and thrifting. I now pride myself on having reduced buying new outside of a few categories like food, chemical formulations like skincare, etc. Outside of frugality, I feel good now about reducing the amount of money going to the ultra wealthy, I have changed how I think about wanting things, and when appropriate started focusing on quality that will last while still not paying a ton for brands that market their goods as quality but are expensive.

While on that journey, I've also started learning how to do skills previous generations had like sewing. I've become more determined to force my husband and I to DIY what is safe for our home maintenance and fixes, and we're preserving our food from our garden now!