Posts Tagged ‘reducing the stuff’
Accomplishment
Posted by Erin | Filed under General
Over the last couple of weekends, I’ve managed to go through some of the excess clothes that make up the Stuff that we own but don’t use. In doing so, I found a few items I can still wear, so those are going “back into rotation.” The rest got put into boxes and one of those boxes got dropped off at Goodwill today. Two more boxes will be going tomorrow. I still have several other totes to go through, and I’m sure I’ll have more boxes to get donated in the next couple of weeks. Just glad that I am finally making progress on Reducing the Stuff.
I’m also feeling accomplished about cooking at home more often. The last few weekends I’ve managed to cook at least 2-3 meals at home each weekend. While that doesn’t sound like much, its huge for us because 3 meals cooked at home equals 1 meal going out, in terms of cost.
Speaking of costs, I’m also revisiting getting a solid budget put together. Its hard to do, especially when your $outgo exceeds your $income every single month. Since before I started working at LW I have not been able to make it one month without adding to my credit card debt, and that is really sad. However, with the help of some unexpected extra $income I got about a month ago, I may be able to break that trend. May being the keyword here. We’ll see.
Stuff
Posted by Erin | Filed under General
When we moved from Lansing to Grand Rapids (technically Wyoming but I think that might confuse people because one usually thinks of Wyoming as a state first, and not as a city within Michigan) and again, this last couple of weeks – I really got a good overall picture of the fact that we have so much Stuff. We have about 10 toothbrushes, aside from the ones we actually use daily (thank you Dr K, for providing most of those free with dental cleanings), a dozen or more cartridges of dental floss, a horde of this, a gazillion of that, etc. Most of which is not being used. We brought a plastic 3-drawer cart full of “stuff” from Lansing, and for the 10 months we lived in our first apartment here, it was never opened. I don’t even know whats in it anymore (toiletries of some kind I’m guessing, but beyond that, no idea). Cutting the tape open on that sucker is going to be like Christmas.
CLOTHES. OMG clothes. I know, just offhand, there are 3 fairly large plastic totes full of just clothes. Some are mine, some are Barton’s. That we’re not wearing now. That we might never wear. In the fall we took a couple of boxes of clothes to my Dad’s (along with boxes of other Stuff).
I don’t know why this happens. I’d like to think I tend to be frugal in my purchases. I don’t go on “shopping sprees” very often, maybe twice a year. I spend hours in the store(s) looking for just the X thing that suits my need. I have a coupon or its on sale. I buy it, bring it home, BUT.. (like in the case of the damned clothes) I re-decide later that it doesn’t work. The clothes that DO work for me though. I keep wearing those for years. Looking at my ‘wardrobe’ now, honestly, most of the stuff I wear daily looks kinda shabby. :/
“Damn, the legs on these jeans I just bought are too tight. But they didn’t feel that way in the store? Well, shit. I washed them now, they probably shrank. I’ll throw them in the closet and maybe in 6 months I’ll lose some weight and they’ll fit.”
But does that ever happen? Fuck no. And so, the Stuff Grows.
We’re going to be in this new apartment at least until May 2011. Between now and then, the extra, unused, unnecessary Stuff must shrink, and be gone. Really gone. Donated, trashed, sold – not just stored, but really and truly gone. It will be my mission.