Too Much Stuff

On my previous post, I talked about watching the video, The Story of Stuff.  It really spoke to my shameful materialistic side.  Although I am not up on the newest fashions or styles, I like things.  I like to buy cute stuff, whether I "need" it, or not. The video also pointed out the value of reusing.  Why throw something away if it is useful?
While I agree with this, and I truly believe we buy way too much stuff, when does it go too far?  I recently finished watching the first season of Hoarders on Netflix.  This spoke to my shameful difficulty in getting rid of things.  I have way too much stuff (which is why I am undergoing Project Purge) .  Although I don't have a compulsion to hoard, I understand the struggle these people go through.  I have struggled with obsessive compulsive disorder, and  I know that compulsions are incredibly hard to overcome.  Praise the Lord, God helped me overcome my sickness!  But, how does someone draw the line when it comes to hoarding?  When do you cross over from resourcefulness into hoarding?  When does it become a sickness?
I know that hoarding, like other compulsions, can stem from something biological.  I know that "stuff" is the symptom and not the problem.  But, isn't it sad that our need for things can manifest itself in such a devastating way?  Not only is it bad for the health of our earth, it is bad for our personal health.

#34 No Groceries

Several days ago I watched this video.  I was talking to Brandon about it later and marveling about our increase in cosumption (we consume twice as much as we did 50 years ago, and our homes are twice as big as in the 1970's....and our stuff still doesn't fit).  He mentioned how it amazed him that people could have pantries full, second refrigerators and deep freezers, and still have to go to the grocery store each week.  So, I decided to challenge myself to a week with no groceries.  Just use what I have.  I did go to the store for fruits and vegetables, cause I didn't want a week of straight crap.  Here's what we ate.  


Day 1- Baked burritos
Day 2- Breakfast for dinner (pancakes, eggs, stripples)
Day 3- Brandon didn't want anything....which means he didn't want leftover soup or anything else I offered him. I had popcorn and apples with cinnamon and sugar.  mmmm
Day 4-We both ate out for girls'/guys' nights
Day 5- Rice, lentils, and veggies for me.  Brandon hates lentils, so he had rice, chili beans, and hot dogs (which he said was really good....I didn't try it.)
Day 6- I don't remember.. I know I cooked, but have no clue what I made.
Day 7- Noodles, veggies, and asparagus for lunch.  Ate out with friends for dinner
Day 8- I know the week was over, but we had breakfast for dinner again.  Waffles and eggs.  I made my first fried egg.  Mmmmm

#33 New Traditions

Life is busy and marriage can be hard.    I remember thinking that once I was married, I'd get to see Brandon so much more.  False.  Although we might be in the same house, a little more than when we were dating and living apart (even that might not be true), we don't spend as much time together.  It's so easy to let life get in the way.  I am trying to get so much done at the house.  Plus, I have a weekly Bible study, and weekly or bi weekly trips to make pottery.  I try to spend time with friends when the opportunity presents itself, since I tend to get depressed if I'm not "socialized" enough. 
Brandon, on the other hand, is a PE teacher.  Contrary to what you probably think, this creates a very busy husband.  He's got coaching or games (sometimes 3 in one day).  He also teaches Math and Bible, so he has grading and lesson plans to work on.  Then, he tries to stay active himself, and has volleyball or softball leagues throughout the year.
Needless to say, we don't see each other much.  So, Brandon and I started a new tradition.  We are now waking up just a little early (just 15 minutes).  This gives us time to eat breakfast together and have a short devotional.  It's important to spend time with God, together, plus, it's nice to have some time together before our crazy days begin.

#32 Homemade Christmas

I decided to do a homemade Christmas this year.  It was so much fun to have an excuse to craft, and way less stressful than having to shop for everyone's gifts.  See below the stuff I made.

#31 No Veg?

I might not be able to call myself a vegetarian, anymore.  I always pick at Brandon's chicken, and chicken nuggets always look so good.  Tried one....LOVED it!  I have now sought them out, rather than just picking a bit of Brandon's.  I have ordered chicken nuggets at least 4 times and loved them!  I don't know if I still count as a vegetarian.

#30 Hair cut

I chopped my hair off!  I've cut it short before, but I think this is the shortest I've gone.  I love it.  Brandon told me he'd never heard me say I loved my haircut.  I don't know if that's true, but I really do love this one.

P.S.  I don't have a good picture of it handy, and I'm too lazy to upload any new ones.  Sorry.

#29 Glass Blower, Extraordinaire

Another thing off of my bucket list, sort of.  I've always wanted to blow glass.  Found a place in town that will let you make an ornament.  We got to kind of half do it.  Like when you do an art project in preschool and your teacher does most of the work and just puts your handprint on it.  But, still....I "made" it.  

#28 Artificial Christmas?!

I have always had real Christmas trees.  Last year, I bought a fake tree after Christmas for $10, just to have in case we ever couldn't afford a tree, or wanted a second one for our basement, and so on.  Well, this year, in my efforts to not waste money, I pulled it out.  I always thought it would be terrible, but, honestly, it wasn't so bad.  It was actually kind of great!  No sap, nice and light, didn't have to water it, and it holds heavy ornaments better.  Lose an ornament hook, just bend the limb through.  I think it might have to work again next year.

#27 Money Madness

We don't make tons of money.  But, we make too much to be living paycheck to paycheck.  That's what we've been doing.  So....I've begun to take control of our finances.

I have watched one of the Dave Ramsey videos to start with.  We started using a version of the envelope system.  I used to use that myself before getting married, and loved it.  I have us on a weekly allowance for random purchases (fast food, random things I "have" to have at Target).

But, the biggie is that we have to reduce our bills.  So, I took a look at what we pay for, and what we really need.  Here's what I've done.  I'm so excited about it. 

*Granted, we don't need tv, but I really like it.  So, as I posted earlier, I canceled our sattelite and we got basic cable. 

*I also canceled our home phone.  We use it to call our cell phone if we've lost it, or people (family) will call it if we don't answer our cell phones.  Other than that, we use it to give out instead of our cell number for people that will probably try to market to us.  That's it.  And for a $10 phone line, that ended up costing us $25 after all the fees, not worth it.  But, I'm already frustrated when I call Brandon and know he's home, but he doesn't have his phone on him.  I also am a little scared about the whole 911 thing, as they can't locate you as easily if you call from a cell phone.  I figure if I'm gonna call 911, it would probably be from my cell anyway, though.  And if I can't tell them where I am, I probably can't get up and walk in the kitchen to get the home phone.  But, I'm thinking about getting Magic Jack.  It's 40 bucks initially, and then just 20 bucks a year.  That would be worth the extra phone, to me.

*We switched our internet.  Our phone company requires a home phone in order to get internet, so we switched to the cable company on that, as well.  I was paying $75 a month for home phone and internet and $35 a month for sattelite.  Now that we have TV and internet through the cable company, I am paying $46 a month.  That is a savings of $64 a month and $768 a year!  If we used the Magic Jack, it would be 748 a year of savings.

*I love my recycling.  But, I didn't love paying for it, when I could just drive to the recycling center.  So, I called my garbage company to cancel the recycling.  But, the guy was so nice, he just let me keep the recycling for free!

I'm still working to do some more to reduce our bills, but that sure is a start!