Mejojac's Memos

Simplify
I like to spend money. Hubby would testify to this. Some people eat when they're bored, I go shopping. Instead of taking Baby Girl to the park so that we can get out of the house, I take her to Kohls or Target. And, of course, we can't walk out empty handed. Then I bring the random item home and I have to find a place for it. Trouble is... usually there's not a spot for it. So, it gets set down somewhere till I can figure out what to do with it. Then the next item gets put on top of the first item... and so on and so on.

We have so much stuff that it's overwhelming. I look around and I'm surrounded by stacks of things. Piles of papers. Boxes of toys. Mountains of stuff everywhere I look. It makes me feel helpless and kind of lost. No one should feel that way in their own home. And yet, I do.

I was visiting with a friend the other day. She was telling me about how she and her husband are minimalists. They keep things very simple. They don't spend money on things they don't need. And it made me wonder about why I buy the things I buy... is it just on a whim? Or do the things in my life have purpose?

Then I was reading over at Morris Moments. You see, Julie and I have a few things in common. We both have three kids. We both love my play list (hee hee). AND we both HATE laundry!! I usually just sit and whine about it. But she DID something! She figured out exactly how many outfits each kid needed and then got rid of the rest of the clothes. SO AWESOME!! Now she doesn't have as much laundry to do.

And THEN... Yvonne at The Life and Travels of Me blogged about a cleaning system that she has used in the past and is starting up again. It breaks things down into daily, weekly, and monthly chores. It's a great system!

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I've been inspired. It's time to get rid of the "stuff". I don't need it. And I don't want it any more. The kids have too many toys. We (as a family) have too many clothes. My cupboards are filled with dishes, odds and ends containers, and small appliances that never get used.

Our neighborhood will have a garage sale... probably sometime in March. And so, I'm setting a goal. I'm going to have my home dejunked so that we can sell as much as possible on that day. That money will then go into the vacation fund so that we can maybe stay an extra day on our trip!

I've tried to dejunk before by doing one room at a time. It doesn't work for me. So, I think this time I will focus on items. For example, I'm going start with clothes. And when I get that done, then I'm going to hit the fabric and craft stuff that I don't use or need. Next up will be toys and then the kitchen. After that... the garage (involuntary shudder). I'm hoping to be ruthless. I have also created a list of questions I'm going to ask myself every time I go shopping.

• Do we NEED it? Not want... need.
• What are the pros for this item? What are the cons?
• Do I have a place where I can put it without having to rearrange anything?

Hopefully this will keep my spending at a minimum. We're hoping to get some of our big debts paid off this year. It has occurred to me that if I spend less, this may become a reality sooner. I know that's not a shocking discovery, but it's something I forget from time to time. And, like I said, I like to spend money.

So, let the dejunking begin. Let the money diet proceed. And let the overwhelming hopelessness disappear!