Buying only the essentials...

A little over a month ago, my friend (Ben's first cousin) Lulu & I were driving my boys out to Buffalo State Park to go swimming and play in the sand.  Lulu teaches 3-5 year olds at Head Start and so we seem to touch many similar children, since I do foster care.  I love her heart.  She's a sweet, authentic person who has a love for Jesus & kids.

Lulu and I were talking about different books we'd read recently.  She was telling me about a book of a guy who scaled back his possessions to only 100 items - with underwear (7 or 8 pairs) counting as 1 item. :)  She said that she didn't know if she could do that but she wanted to try something.  I told her of a blog I'd heard about where the girl stopped buying the non-essential/non-disposable for 5 YEARS (!) - only buying what was disposable (toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, soap, food...).  She said she would like to try that.  I said I would too...

We looked at each other.

"Should we?"  I asked her, adding, "I tried to do that 3 years ago and it didn't go well.  It only made me want to buy everything in sight!  It might be easier if I did it with a buddy."

She nodded, "I'm game."

So, we set up this commitment from buying anything nonessential/non-disposable for ourselves. We set the end date as January 1, 2015.  That is the day we can begin buying the non-essential again, if we so choose.

Every now and then we check in with each other to ask if something is "essential."

I did buy a hair dryer.  I don't know if you count that as essential but when mine broke and the days are growing colder, I think of my hair dryer as a pretty essential item.  Otherwise, these are the things I haven't bought but occasionally I think it about:

* pretty mums for the outside of my house,
* i-tunes songs,
* Kindle books,
* fall clothes,
* items at upcoming "junk" sale...

Whenever I get the urge to buy an i-tunes song, I go to You tube and watch it a few times.  That usually does the trick to satisfy the urge to buy it.

Whenever I want to buy flowers for the outside of my house, I remember the pretty flowers I already have and resist the urge.

Whenever I get magazines advertizing new fall clothes (or e-mails), I discard them immediately into the garbage and don't even look at them.

I don't plan to attend the junk sale.  In fact that day Lulu is coming over and we are planning to make our own "junk" using extra fabric, fabric markers, and craft things that I have already on hand.  I'm not exactly sure what we're going to make but I know that it will feel good using what I already have.

Since starting this "fast," I've cleaned out my laundry room, my linen closet, and my walk-in closet and have donated lots of things and found things I didn't know I already owned. It's been eye-opening!

In a way, this activity really feels cleansing.  I am not tempted to buy as I usually am around this time of the year.  I can simply enjoy the best things about Autumn ... cooler days and nights, taking the little Guy to preschool, eating healthier and trying to exercise more, reading the books I already have on my Kindle, wearing the fall clothes from last year.

I'm glad to have Lulu to do this with as it keeps me accountable.  I'm excited to see what God is going to teach us through it.


Sept. 11, 2014