How to have a binder without your parents knowing:
- Open a private window on your browser and pick the binder you want online, add it to the website’s shopping cart and start to check out until you find how much it costs with shipping and tax. If you don’t have access to a computer at home, use one at the library.
- Save up enough money to buy the binder. Make sure you have a few dollars extra for the extra fee of buying a prepaid card, which can be around $4. If you have a debit card but don’t want your parents to see the purchase, withdraw money from your account and use the cash to buy a prepaid card. You can say you just wanted to have some cash in case you needed it.
- Go into a store and buy a prepaid VISA gift card. They have them at lots of stores, even CVS. (You can also ask a friend to do this if you can’t walk/bike/get a ride to a store on your own)
- Prepaid credit cards require you to be 18 to open an account, but you can purchase prepaid gift cards at a grocery or other store at any age and use them wherever Visa, MasterCard or AMEX are accepted.
- These gift cards, which aren’t reloadable, usually carry an activation fee along the lines of $4.95 for every $50 increment. You usually find them in denominations of $25, $50 or $100.
- Buy the binder online. Put the name on the card as “Visa” in the payment section of the website.
- Clear your internet history if you’re at home and didn’t use a private browser window. Make sure the invoice is sent to an email that only you have access to, or a disposable email (just google “disposable email”)
- Figure out where you’re going to get it shipped to.
- Ship it to a consenting friend’s house or an accepting relative, if you have one.
- Ship it to your own house and try to get the mail yourself. If the parent gets there first, say you bought a present for someone. You may have to go to a store in person and buy a physical present to then gift to cover up that it wasn’t in the package. You could also ask a friend to lend you a shirt, tell your parents you won a shirt in a giveaway or bought it but decided to give it to a friend as a present, then give the shirt back to the friend.
- Get a PO box if you’re going to be getting things in the mail frequently.
- If you buy an Underworks binder on Amazon you can pick it up at an Amazon Locker at Whole Foods or a different location.
- Hide it when you get it.
- Handwash it when it gets dirty. Or start doing your laundry yourself. Wring it out and hang it to dry in the back of your closet.
- Bring it in a bag with you to change into it when you’re out of the house.
(Or ask a friend with a debit/credit/gift card to buy you a binder if you give them the cash.)
This is amazing and can also be used to buy any kind of item you need without the threat of being outed to your parents or guardians. I wish I’d had this post years ago