Buying things can be an additive habit.

Did you know there’s even a term for it? Oniomania is the technical term for the compulsive desire to shop, also known as shopaholism, shopping addition, compulsive buying disorder, or simply, compulsive buying. You could read about it all over the net, but I know you don’t need to. We’ve all ‘felt it’ in varying degrees.

At a Living Smart course last year, we did an exercise to figure out what our personal triggers were around buying new things.

We were asked, what item or experience is the hardest for you resist buying on impulse? What things do you just ‘have to have’ in the moment you see them?

For one woman on the course, and not a few friends of mine, it’s books. Buying books totally gets them going. 

I do empathise. *glances lovingly at her bookshelf

Any book-oniomaniacs plans for austerity are quite forgotten when they’re confronted with the appearance and scent of, er, publications.

Free Take Home Excercise Booklovers, if you want to give this a try, visit a bookstore, and then carefully watch your reactions and emotions. See and feel what happens. Then leave the store without purchasing. Continue to watch your emotions and then report the whole thing to your friends as part of a funny dinner party anecdote. Of course, people who are moved by other items can adapt this exercise accordingly.

Another fellow said for him it had always been, not books, but Porsches.

oh my! Porsche 924 Carrera GTS (1980) thanks to RaBoe/Wikimedia

For me, it’s off-the-beaten-track op shops. Always do me in. I also have difficulty with stores selling products hand-crafted by artisans.

In an effort to move beyond oniomania, I looked everywhere (page one and two of a google search) to see if there is a term for the compulsive aversion to buying things, and making them yourself. I haven’t found any articles.

Addictions as we know, are a lack of control over your impulses. I couldn’t find any medical references to my emerging condition, but even with my limited understanding of psycho-analysis, I’ve self-diagnosed based on my various triggers.

Sometimes it’s what I hear. For example, our neighbour said recently, ‘you can have as many tomatoes as you want, you just have to pick them yourself’. My pupils dilated. I felt my pulse quicken and saliva glands activate. Must get tomatoes. Must make sauce.

As for when I found mum’s old vacola preserving machine in the shed, well. They nearly had to carry me away.

Any chance to learn to make something of my own is becoming a guaranteed endorphin and dopamine rush. Feel good feelings flood my body and I get really quite excited indeed.

We’re getting to the ‘on drying apricots’ part now. Something I always loved as a kid was ‘fruit medley’. Know the finely chopped, dried fruit mix? Well, recently, I had a crushing realisation at the bulk health food store in Bunbury. Just before filling my nostalgic bag of fruit medley delights, I noticed a small sign.

CONTAINS PRESERVATIVES (202) – potassium sorbate.

Do some reading for yourself if you wish, but I’ve done my share, and from it, have made myself a guiding rule for my health: avoid all numbers and any ingredients I don’t understand.

The thing about finding out this stuff is, well, once you know it, you can’t ignore it if you wish to live with integrity. I intend to live to be a sprightly old lady with bright eyes and a sharp wit, and I don’t believe eating 202 or its dastardly friends will help me with that.

So despite my nostalgic longings, I couldn’t buy the fruit medley and realised it’s time. I need to dry my own fruit for snacks. Fortunately I’m blessed with thousands of fruit trees in the backyard family orchards. Clearly I’m obliged, under the circumstances, to capitalise on this.

Easy steps my sister and I follow for sun-drying our own apricots. Have a go!

1. Scrub up at least two old flyscreens. We got some on the cheap at the dump. I mean, refuse site. The endorphins are really doing their thing, even at this early stage.

2. Get some tree-ripe fruit. Ideally, pick it yourself. If you can’t, visit a farmers’ market. Or even, give me a buzz or email at Newton Brothers Orchards. Locals or visitors can pick-up orders from us on Fridays.

2. Slice or halve ripe summer fruits, then place on the bottom screen in a sunny spot. We used my sister’s north-facing deck.

  3. Fully cover with top screen to keep out flies and bugs, secure sides with weights (eg rocks or bricks. Or books, if you’re into those..)

5. Are there hungry ants nearby? If so, place screens on a table, and place the table legs in buckets of water.

6. Keep checking and tasting! Protect from rain. Bring in at night if it’s really cold or humid.

7. When fully dried, serve up for snacks (like on a cheese plate) or save in a sealed jar. Mmmm!

And NO preservatives aside the natural sugars already in the fruit! This is so satisfying, I can hardly begin to explain. Thanks to my sister for her fabulous photos and, uh, basically doing all the work. Ahem.

It’s our first trial, so I’ll report back later in the year about how long they last, if we have any problems with mould and so on. We figure if we dry them and store them in a dry place, all should be well.

Plenty more fruits on the way, we’re going to try this technique on more plums, pears, and new season apples very soon!

In the meantime, I’m wondering what your triggers are out there in the land of shops, and if you like to make homemade foods and pretty things. Love to hear from you!