Long time no see! I guess June was just a little busy. These past few months I have been thinking a lot about how to continue living more simply, especially with the kids at home more this summer. I have come to this brilliant conclusion:
Living simply is a state of mind that requires a certain mindset, a certain kind of discipline and usually only a few key lifestyle changes.
One of the biggest lifestyle changes my family has made these last 6 months is to stop making shopping a recreational activity. (I am 10 minutes away from an outlet mall, so this is much harder than it sounds!!) When my kids were younger, and much less busy, we would think nothing of hopping in the van and drive 10 minutes to the outlet mall and just shop. Of course, back in those days, my kids were growing more and wearing out their clothes more, so a little more shopping was warranted. (Right?) And my kids really didn't mind shopping. But when I look back now at how full their closets and drawers and toyboxes and bookshelves were... it makes me shudder.
You see, I used to be one of those moms who thought that their kids needed Things and Stuff in order to be happy. Ok, so maybe I didn't think they needed everything, but I sure thought they needed a lot. ( I didn't think that I was that mom, but I was more than I realized). And the more Things and Stuff we had, the less money we had and the more we had to take care of. And back in those days (3-4+ years ago), it was me taking care of most of their stuff. (And back then is when I should have started them doing more... that did come evertually...)
When my son got older and into activities like his sister, life got Really Busy. And for some reason, shopping became our de-stressing recreation of choice. We'd shop at our "little" Walmart (buzz), at our "big" Walmart (Buzz), at the outlet mall, at our local rinky dink mall, at our "big mall" 45 minutes away, at Target 45 minutes away (BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ...)
We went out to eat a lot in those days, too. (Buzz...)
Even grocery shopping kind of gave me a buzz... have you ever been to Wegman's? What can I say other than... Buzz!!!!
And then I discovered the Magical World on Online Shopping. Shopping from home- what could be better? Gymboree, amazon.com, The Children's Place, and eBay, just to name a few. I didn't always buy a ton of stuff, but I did it frequently. And if I went a long time without shopping, I'd go on a little spreeeee.....
Now, after taking a long hard look at our finances and having goals in place for paying off our debt, I hardly shop at all. Not even grocery shopping. With our Menu Planning in place (another Godsend, and these days we plan our menu week by week), my husband sets out on Saturday morning while I tackle household chores. Helikes to make the rounds: he usually goes to 4 different stores, including Walmart and Aldis, to get the best bargains. (Fortunately they are all within a mile radius of each other). We buy what we need for the week and my husband will make an occasional stop on the way home for something we need before the next shopping trip (usually milk). We stock up a little bit, but really not too much. No more than 1 ahead on most things except for toilet paper.
My daughter, my son and I have each taken a turn to get some new clothes these past few months. We spent about $100 on each of us. What can I say, my son has grown, my daughter is a teenager and a girl has to have a few new things to wear once in a while. I'm sure my husband's day is coming. My daughter also needs new sneakers and we had to replace our shredder last week and we need to call the plumber Monday and get the muffler fixed on the 11th.... but I digresss. We live just like everybody else: we just just ry to do without consuming too much extra stuff.
Anyway, as I mentioned above, we use Menu Planning. In a nutshell, that means we just figure out the meals we want to eat for the week and add items to the grocery list we may need to make those meals happen. That's pretty much it. Usually one night a week we have Leftover Night. Leftovers are a Big Deal in our house- my husband takes leftovers to work for lunch and during the school year, my kids eat mostly homemade lunches, including leftovers, for lunch. I have to say that I have grown pretty fond of leftover night. I truly love it when we eat up what's in the fridge throughout the week. As the fridge empties, I feel a certain satisfaction that we chose food wisely, made tasty and healthy meals out o four food that stretched our budget throughout the week, often cutting down on cooking time. I would go so far as to say I get a little buzz when we use things up. (BUZZZZ!!!)
I feel the same way about our pantry. As I see food being eaten up and enjoyed by my family, it makes me feel good that I am nourishing them with good food and that the food is just not there to be eaten "someday". I know people whose pantries are just loaded with food and I don't know how they know when they need to buy something at the store. I'm guessing they don't and that they probably buy things over and over that they really don't need. And that food just sits there. That, my friend, is what I call Money on the Shelf.
You see, when we buy stuff and it sits on our shelf (or cupboard, or fridge, or drawer or closet, or wherever you keep your stuff), waiting around to be consumed (or worn or used in some way) and it then becomes Money on the Shelf. Money that you spent on Something and now that Something just Sits There. Because I don't know about you, but everything in my house costs money, and I would much rather take the money spent on extra food that I couldn't possibly eat in a month and put it towards reducing my debt (and if I didn't have debt, I would rather put that money in my davings). So if it can't be consumed or used in the near future, then to me it is a bit like Hoarding.
And anything we don't consume, like wasted food, often becomes Money in the Trash.
My mother, for example, was a big fan of filling up her fridge with tons and tons of leftovers. She was truly a product of her generation (raised during the depression, married during WWII) andbelieve in "use it up, wear it out" and all of that, but even after all 9 of her children left the house, she never could get the knack of cooking for a few people instead of the large family she raised. I can't tell you how many leftovers she must have thrown away during her lifetime. Money in the Trash. And one thing I hate more than Money on the Shelf, is Money on the Trash. In fact, you wouldn't believe the amount of food items that needed to be thrown away when she passed away because the items were well past their sell by date. She never did like to miss a good sale.
Not only do I seldom shop anymore, I have recently come to the realization that stores are kind of like the enemy to me now. The ads on TV are just so fake and so full of gimmicks to get you to come into their store to spend your hard earned money. Sale after sale after sale... bargain after bargain after bargain... it is endless. There will always be another sale. Repeat after me: there will always be another sale. Trust me.
Now don't get me wrong, I like nice things and I love a good sale as much as the next person. Who doesn't love to save money? But now I only shop for an item on sale when I truly need that item. Like when our 6 year old desktop computer decided it was going to start giving us big trouble a few months after my laptop met it's demise at the ripe old age of 4. I can't tell you how much my husband and I really did not want to part with our money to buy a newlaptop, and I was proud of us for feeling that way because we have come so far. But we found a great deal and purchased one last month. Sometimes, you have to bite the bullet- it's just knowing when to do it.
Our dishwasher, on the other hand, has been broken for a few months now. As much as I would love to replace it right now, I knew we needed the new computer more. This is actually a huge sacrifice on my part because I truly hate washing dishes and have had a dishwasher for the last 12 years. I'm hoping we can replace it at Christmas time when our computer is paid for. We shall see... I do know whenever we get it, I will certainly appreciate it more than I ever did before.
So now, instead of spending our free time crawling the malls, we spend our free time together as a family. Being more physically active, keeping a closer eye on our spending, only buying what we need and watching that debt decrease so we can start saving for our future.
May it always be so... BUZZ! :-)
