Life Goals

Categories: BlogBy Published On: September 1, 201844.3 min read975 words1 Comment on Life Goals

I am amazed at how I find inspiration some days. I was browsing Fb and came across this article:

Here

It had me thinking about how I could offer myself more discipline and only buy what I  “need.” Living in America a “need” is a funny word…right? I mean, I have been to third world countries where needs are a completely different thing.

Just buying my “needs” is probably unrealistic. I will have to work up to that. I know just off the top of my head the number one luxury expense that we spend on, is eating out. I would like to eat out less but Rob loves eating out.  So I try to go out once a week on his day off to make him feel happy. But then sometimes we will eat out several days a week depending on life ect. So I would like to go back to just once a week unless there is a special occasion.

Our other expensive habit ( as a family) would be pet supplies. We are always buying the dogs stuff. Stuff they don’t need….we as a family love to go to Petco and drop a pretty penny on ridiculous stuff. I am not sure I will stop that..so much. but maybe be more mindful of the dogs’ needs. They must have chew toys ect. We spend a lot of money on this each month.

So looking at my spending habits there are a few things that I buy regularly and I have a healthy supply. Healthy as in I can probably go a year without buying any….and be fine.  But for some reason I still buy. So I am thinking next year, I am going to not buy these things unless I completely run out.

  1. candles
  2. makeup (I do get a monthly IPSY bag…but Clarissa pretty much takes that)
  3. lotion
  4. quilt kits ( I buy kits and rarely put them together because I like picking my own stuff out better) So I need to quit buying them. Although, I have been buy a few lately just so that I can have a “planned” project for a line of fabric rather than just buying yardage not knowing what I am going to do with it.
  5. I think, I really have cut down on buying fabric for myself. Now with designing I will be sewing for samples ect and I won’t have as much time to sew from my stash. So I will really need to keep that type of spending to a minimum. so  a reasonable fabric fast is probably in order

I am going to watch my habits in the next few months to see where else I can trim the fat. This isn’t just a budget exercise but also just a need to simplify. These last few months, I have been cleaning out closets, rooms, sheds, ect and I have so much stuff and I have gotten rid of so much stuff….and there really isn’t a need for so much stuff. It’s overwhelming. Causes so much work ….dusting, cleaning, moving, finding a place for it ect. Why do we do this to ourselves? My house is also my business so I have areas dedicated to that …and I need certain things for that. But honestly there are so many things I have been able to part with and I feel good about it. However, I have also added some large pieces of furniture to organize, display ect. So I still feel like I am accumulating. Although, honestly, I got rid of WAY more than I brought in….success. There was a purpose.

So I am thinking I will be doing a continuing “cleanse” of stuff. some stuff I couldn’t part with now….but maybe on the next round when I realize it’s not being used I will be parting with it . I also feel good because in most instances. I was able to purge my stuff and give it to people who were selling it for a cause important to them. That makes me feel good as well. If you come to my house you will still think it’s full and over stuffed. I don’t think I will ever be a minimalist. My mind can’t even wrap around that concept. But I think, I am getting better and better. collecting junk doesn’t make me happy. I have a few things I collect that make me happy. family photos, family heirlooms, quilts, fabric and  food.

I am getting way better about not buying so much food. I am trying to use everything up and just buy what we need.  As far as my list above….those are honestly things I use every single day. But I don’t need to keep a 1-2 year supply on hand. I can just use what I have and buy as I need it. I think when the kids were home I was always hoarding & stocking up because we went through things so quickly. We were on a strict budget, so I had to buy when I had money or when things went on sale. I can change that mentality now and not worry about “storing” so much. It will free me up.

I think this exercise is going to be good for me. I will keep you updated on my progress and pay attention to what is happening as I go along.

I want to see how I feel when I don’t give in to the urge, see how my budget is affected and also see how my closets and drawers start to change because I don’t need to constantly organize to fit everything in. I think I waste so much time trying to fit everything in.

What things do you think you could give up? Lets share ideas.

Charisma

 

 

 

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One Comment

  1. Maria September 1, 2018 at 10:46 pm

    Accumulating stuff … it’s what we as Americans are trained to do from birth. Our whole economy is built on it – I’m not saying this based on my opinion, it is a fact. When I was in grad school for my masters in history, I had a class just based on consumerism. We read one book that focused on children as consumers. Around the 1880s is when we changed our consumption habits, largely due to the Industrial Age, and it has only grown from there. I recently read a book by a Japanese woman about simplifying through decluttering. I was primed for it because over the past couple of years I’ve had to clean out my dad’s house (he was a hoarder), and my grandmother’s house (also a hoarder but not to the same level, thank goodness). My grandmother is the one who taught me to quilt, so it made me think about keeping so much fabric and trims and buttons etc. on hand. I don’t have to try every creative product out there, and I can let stuff go now that I realized my stuff owned me instead of me owning it. I’ve made four or five scrap quilts this year and could easily make that many more, so I’m now focusing on taking patterns that I really want to make and putting together my own kits together, precutting everything. It helps me to see just how much fabric I really have so that I don’t feel the urge to constantly keep buying. Good luck on your quest!

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