It's time to face facts. I have a lot of crap. I have junk. I have stuff in my house left over from the 40s - AND I WASN'T ALIVE IN THE 40s. My MOTHER was barely alive in the 40s. But yet I have 40s memorabilia. This is what happens when you move into your great aunt's house, you know. But that's not all. I have kid clothes up the ying-yang, from size newborn to size 8. I don't even need the size 8 stuff yet (my oldest kid is in mostly size 5 right now) but I find things cheap and I buy them. But it's getting ridiculous. No one needs this much crap. I quit buying my kid size 6 stuff because I knew I had quite a bit so I moved up to size 8. Seriously. Seriously???
Hence, I bring you my new mission: the year I don't buy anything. Now, I'm not going to go all anti-consumerism and all that jazz, a la that lady whose book I read a few years ago (actually quite an interesting read: Not Buying It by Judith Levine). Nor is this a statement about saving money, because while I probably will, I'm one of those annoying people who pays her credit card off in full every month. That's right. Every. Single. Month. (Yes, I'm bragging about that a little.) My spending is in control. I can afford the face wash I buy so I'm going to keep buying it. What's ridiculous is the amount of STUFF I've got. So I'm not buying anything that isn't consumable. NO. MORE. STUFF. I am not buying any more kid clothes until someone actually needs an article of clothing. I will not shop at thrift stores, because they just make me want to buy more (it's so cheap!) and I'm avoiding sales. I will continue to read books from the library. I will keep buying caramel macchiatos from Starbucks because I like the sugar. I will go on vacation this year and spend a bucketload of change on said vacation. But I will not buy any stuff.
This goes in tandem with my other mission, which is ridding my house of 2012 things for 2012. I made an admirable dent towards 2011 things for 2011 but got sidetracked at the end of the year by my stupid thesis (which is done, yay!). So yes, my office is still a disaster - no, you may not see it, close the door please! But work will continue. And you know what is really funny? My cousin started throwing away stuff, too. And she started blogging about it. She what happens when you start with a crazy goal? Other people go crazy too! I'm contagious!
I will keep you posted.
PS: I wrote this post a while ago but only just got around to publishing it. Small update: I have done really well following this don't buy anything thing. One thing has tripped me up: I find it easy to justify buying ANYTHING in preparation for vacation. Also, I didn't know I was pregnant when I wrote this (so yeah, I wrote this more than 4 months ago) and since getting knocked up and finishing my thesis, my taste for caramel macch's has gone to nil. I substitute with Chai Lattes occasionally (they seem to soothe my very angry pregnant digestive system) but my visits to Starbucks are fewer and farther between.
PPS: Really, I would LOVE to try out what Judith Levine did. I'm not sure I have the intestinal fortitude, mind you. And I have yet to reconcile how to deal with children's birthday parties, both my kids and others, and the mission. Yes, those are excuses. But I don't want to start something with obvious loopholes in it. So I'm starting with not buying crap, since really, that's my point.
PPSS: Also in the gap between writing and publishing this post, my older daughter has grown! Suddenly some of her pants fit more like clamdiggers, and her tummy is poking out of some shirts. But I haven't bought her any clothes! Because she sooooo still doesn't need any.
PPPSS: When we go on vacation, we are going to buy lots of souvenirs. I know this. I will have to find a balance between letting my kids have some mementoes from their trip while not going overboard.
PPPSSS: Back the birthday party thing. I don't find it all that hard not to buy my own kids birthday presents. Really, they get enough stuff from others. Another temptation is to host a No Gifts party. I would love that. Teaching children that birthdays are all about presents is not the message I want to send to my children. But how do you show up at someone else's house without a present? I guess you could set parameters about paying for experiences instead of STUFF. That's a pretty fine line to walk, though. I'm not sure how to reconcile this. And I do realize that some people cannot afford to buy presents and that they struggle with this life on a daily basis. I acknowledge that my "problems" are rooted in being fortunate enough to have enough money that I can worry about other things.
PPPPSSS: OK, I'm done now.
