The power of limits.

Circumstances have forced me back to a carfree life again and it's really amazing what I've remembered from my last stint of carfree living. Most recently I've realized the power of limits on your behavior and the ability to force you to live in the here and now. In particular I am realizing that having limited amount of space in my backpack and in my panniers forces me to decide exactly what I am buying at the store and do I really need it since I have to lug it around for the rest of the day. In the past I'd buy something and I could just toss it in my trunk. I see this in so many cars that I get rides from that our cars become our lockers. I know mine was.

Since i have to be very careful about what I need to buy since I need to carry it, I find myself more conscious of my purchases. Do I really need all those peaches? And if so how many do I need. What am I going to do with them? I find myself buying just in time vs just in case. A nice side benefit is that there is less clutter accumulating in my life.

And for what does stay in my life, I find out that I can figure out new uses for different ingredients and tools. Limits of things makes your mind think of new ways of using what you have.

If it wasn't so easy to carry things that we buy as we go from store to store, it means we would probably make fewer impulse buys. I know I do. Limits bring you into the moment, asking you what do you need vs what might you need. It shows you the possibility of what you can do with what you have even if you weren't planning to use it that way.

Limits force you to better choices.