Sunday, November 05, 2006

Compacting Update


We have been "Compacting" our life for 23 days. I feel extremely empowered by my recent lack of shopping, although slightly dissappointed in my lack of decluttering efforts. After a finishing up with the chickenpox, I am ready to get back to the original plans of rehoming our unused possessions. So far I've only screwed up once at not buying anything new. At the last minute I realized I was not going to be able to finish my daughter's Halloween costume and had to purchase one at Target the night before. I got sucked into the shiny happy store and bought clothing for her also. I ended up leaving the store with not only a costume (which will be reused for dress-up) but also 2 long sleeved shirts and 2 pairs of warm pants, but of course I could have looked around and found them used elsewhere. She recently went through a growth spurt and now the majority of her clothing is way too short, so she really did *need* some clothing since the weather is cool out now. I just wish I had not been so easily swayed and stuck to my original plan of buying quality used clothing for my kids.

My purchases at Target were a symptom of something bigger than just a momentary mindlessness. They showed me how much going into a store like that feeds into the addictive consumeristic cycle. 2 nights after my shopping failure, I returned to Target with a group of friends after our knitting group that meets across the street, but managed to with only close-calls when it came to a clearance costume and a wooden farmset. I resisted the urge to purchase and by the time I got to my car I knew that I didn't *need* anything I thought I did in the store, that passing urge was gone. If I am going to continue the Compact (which I most definitely am!) I need to be more mindful of what places I go!

I did somewhat make up for my shopping screw up by spending part of Friday scouring the local kids consignment stores for the specific items I wanted to purchase and not getting sucked into whatever else they had. We came home with *only* the clothing that I really thought the kids needed, plus 1 sweater that I found at Goodwill for myself for only a dollar. It will be nice to be able to wear warmer clothes and turn down the heat a little!

Today's photo is courtesy of our trip to the "farm" at Terry's Berries last week. My 2 year old loves those chickens so much! I can't wait until we are able to have our own chickens and ducks!

1 Comments:

At 8:42 AM, Blogger Sara said...

Ooooh...the evil Target machine! That place creates material desires out of thin air. Flee! Flee!

I have decided that Target doesn't have anything that I need. I can get all food/health items at my grocery store or other small markets. This also helps me to shop locally.

It's so fun to go to the thrift store with something in mind...and finding that exact item. I found slippers this weekend, exactly the kind I needed and in my size. Oh the joy!

 

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