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May 2021 Gentlemanly Restraint Until Month End (GRUME)

This restraint is for May 1-31, 2021.

If you're seeing this late and you've made no purchases in May, feel free to jump in. Registration closes on the 15th.

Have what you need and use what you have: that is our definition of "Restraint". The idea is to use, learn about and enjoy what you have, restraining yourself from making frivolous purchases.

This monthly restraint is perfect for those who have failed the yearly or quarterly sabbatical and want to curb their ADs. Keep fighting the urges! If you fail out of the GRUME, please tell the group, take your (friendly) lumps and continue to play along at home.

There will be roll calls during the restraint. Check-ins, especially with SOTD info and pics, are encouraged and mutual support is appreciated. :)

All are welcome!

Rules:


1.a. If you were in the April GRUME, 5/1 is your restock date for any needed product (i.e., it's not an excuse for treewhaling).
1.b. If you were not in the April GRUME, you do not get a restock date in May; plan ahead and see Rule 1.c., below.
1.c. Members should have the necessary supplies to last the duration of the Restraint, but this is a Restraint, not a Sabbatical. If something breaks or runs out and you have no suitable or usable replacement, it can be replaced.

2. No personal shaving purchases in May. Members may purchase shaving related items for others to encourage the hobby/lifestyle (PIF or Gifting). Members are not allowed to request any form of compensation in return. Please use your best judgement. Also, no sampling or testing of those gift items.

3.a. GIFT cards (including eBay bucks, Amazon gift cards, credit card reward points, etc.) cannot be redeemed for shaving items, even if the cards were purchased and/or received in previous months.
3.b. The "Birthday Rule": Members are not allowed to ask (or even hint) for shaving gear as gifts for any occasion.

4. Any shaving-related services, like replating or restorations, cannot be arranged or paid for in the month of the restraint if they are not strictly necessary.

5. You are encouraged to engage in trades (especially with each other), but don't enter any PIFs. Signing up for a product waitlist (without placing a deposit) is okay.

6. If you have to ask, it probably will put you out. That said, this is a Gentlemanly Restraint - use your own best judgement to self-assess based on the rules above.

Exceptions:

1. Members may participate in B&B Group Buys or B&B branded shaving item purchases, because these may be limited items and all support this common ground. They must be advertised on behalf of B&B to qualify. In an effort to stay true to restraints commitments, please limit B&B purchases to one (1) shaving item per month, including contributions to B&B! (All Non-Shaving B&B items are fair game.)

2. During the season, Sue Moore Items are all exempt from the-no buying rules. Treewhaling on anything Sue Moore-related is encouraged.

3. Members who are in a Quarterly or Yearly sabbatical are allowed to exercise their documented exceptions for those events without failing the monthly restraint.

Mods:

Please leave this thread in the General Shaving Discussion forum until May15th so we can get as many as possible to see the GRUME. Afterwards, feel free to move the thread to Brotherhoods and Clubs. Thanks!

Tips:

Check out this Wiki article for tips on how to survive a Restraint (or GRUME). It includes a comprehensive checklist to help you figure out whether you've got everything you need for the month.
http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Help:...ve_a_Restraint

How to Join:

Copy the entire list below
and add your number and name to the bottom. Also, you are welcome to update your signature to show you are in the restraint; for example, "GRUME - [Month] 2020 #1". To do so, click Settings at the top of the forum and then click Edit Signature on the left.

1) FoolishMortal
2)
3)

Good luck, all, and have fun!
 
I have nursed the wounds from the April GRUME and am ready for the May GRUME. Maybe too ready. I am having doubts about my moral standing.

Imagine a hypothetical person who joins the GRUME every other month. He purchases nothing whatsoever that is shave related during the GRUME months. During the off months, he arranges to have packages delivered throughout the GRUME month that will soothe his cravings. What would you say about such a person. Is he truly participating in the GRUME?

That person is me, after the purchasing orgy that commenced after I fell off the April wagon. Packages will be arriving during May. Probably throughout May, because I think some of them are of foreign origin.

I would like to rationalize and say that the point is just about initiating purchases during an entire month, and achieving that is worth something. I would also point out that either I do May or I don't, and doing it is better -- but I do feel a bit unclean about the whole thing. I welcome the thoughts of the bretheren of restraint.
 

Chef455

Head Cheese Head Chef
I have nursed the wounds from the April GRUME and am ready for the May GRUME. Maybe too ready. I am having doubts about my moral standing.

Imagine a hypothetical person who joins the GRUME every other month. He purchases nothing whatsoever that is shave related during the GRUME months. During the off months, he arranges to have packages delivered throughout the GRUME month that will soothe his cravings. What would you say about such a person. Is he truly participating in the GRUME?

That person is me, after the purchasing orgy that commenced after I fell off the April wagon. Packages will be arriving during May. Probably throughout May, because I think some of them are of foreign origin.

I would like to rationalize and say that the point is just about initiating purchases during an entire month, and achieving that is worth something. I would also point out that either I do May or I don't, and doing it is better -- but I do feel a bit unclean about the whole thing. I welcome the thoughts of the bretheren of restraint.
Sir, I admire your honesty and would just have you take a hard look at your intent. The vast majority of G.R.U.M.E.R.s (myself included) have fallen out a time or twenty. Yet you're here. You'll get some kudos for participating, a lot of support for toughing it out and some understanding for not completing. It is nice, however, to start your day with intent and have some support on the way.

Also....I'm in!

1) FoolishMortal
2) Doti B
3) MtView
4) wmadoty
5) Herrenberg
6) La Malice
7) Burundian Hawk
8) cryhavoc - GRUYERE
9) henrickd - GRUYERE
10) Heavy_Metal_Hound
11) Roedeer
12) Chef455
 
...I would like to rationalize and say that the point is just about initiating purchases during an entire month, and achieving that is worth something. I would also point out that either I do May or I don't, and doing it is better -- but I do feel a bit unclean about the whole thing. I welcome the thoughts of the bretheren of restraint.
The GRUME is about using and enjoying what you already have. A successful GRUME should help you answer the question: "How much is enough?" You've found a clever way to avoid this question.

As participants in a consumer-driven economy, we have been trained all our lives to avoid this question. What we have is never enough. There is always something we need; always something we lack; some way in which we are not good enough as we are. Eventually we discover this way of thinking does not really serve us. It serves those who sell things to us.

Remember, you can replenish if you run out of something. There is no shortage.
 
I have nursed the wounds from the April GRUME and am ready for the May GRUME. Maybe too ready. I am having doubts about my moral standing.

Imagine a hypothetical person who joins the GRUME every other month. He purchases nothing whatsoever that is shave related during the GRUME months. During the off months, he arranges to have packages delivered throughout the GRUME month that will soothe his cravings. What would you say about such a person. Is he truly participating in the GRUME?

That person is me, after the purchasing orgy that commenced after I fell off the April wagon. Packages will be arriving during May. Probably throughout May, because I think some of them are of foreign origin.

I would like to rationalize and say that the point is just about initiating purchases during an entire month, and achieving that is worth something. I would also point out that either I do May or I don't, and doing it is better -- but I do feel a bit unclean about the whole thing. I welcome the thoughts of the bretheren of restraint.
It sounds as though being in has made you think harder about what you buy, and that should get you more cost-effective results than being unrestrained all the time. I'd say go for it!

I dropped out of April because of a one-off that needed an instant decision (silver lathering bowl).

Then I scratched my April curiosity itches (Astra SS, a different variety of Nivea balm). I also got 2 MWF refill pucks, because that's my favourite soap, and things that I like often become unavailable. None of those was an "impulse buy".
 
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