May 5, 2011 | No retail shopping |
It seems as though every time I get one thing off my plate, they come back and bring friends. Is everything on my plate attached to a bungee cord? That might just be the case. I’m actually 2 days behind in blogging due to my Mexico trip, so I’m really on...
May 4, 2011 | Cultural chaos, No retail shopping |
I’m pretty sure when God handed out our humanly traits, he did so in alphabetical order. Clearly I received my ADHD first, because something distracted me from a few of the other lines like crying and fear. I was probably off looking for abandoned clouds or...
May 3, 2011 | No retail shopping
Some would say I broke the challenge on a purchase this weekend, but if I did, it was in every effort to rethink good. I was in Mexico, which is why I haven’t been blogging the last few days. The internet was sporadic and I simply had something better to...
Apr 30, 2011 | Creative weirdness, No retail shopping
No, I don’t have a gun. I mean packing for a short trip. One full day to be exact. Why do I always feel like I need so much stuff? A while back, I always had the philosophy that if I forget something, I’ll just buy it. Rarely did I ever have to take...
Apr 29, 2011 | Downsizing, Ideas, No retail shopping
They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. I’ve never actually tried to type that up to check it, but it seems accurate. What if we take that one step further… a picture is worth 1,000 things? So what do I mean by this? If you own a camera, you can snap a...
Apr 28, 2011 | No retail shopping, Save $
Tonight, we’re discussing some household budget items… electric, groceries, dining, movie rentals, cable tv and more. When I say ‘we’, I mean me and my kids. No, I’m not excluding my spouse, I don’t have one. I know my kids are...
Apr 27, 2011 | No retail shopping, Trying to matter |
Let me start by asking a few of the big questions here. Is re-gifting good or bad? Is it okay to get rid of a gift? Should you ever give a used gift? I think people mostly view these as bad things, and although there’s no simple answer to these questions, there...
Apr 26, 2011 | Cultural chaos, Downsizing, No retail shopping
I met Dave Bruno several weeks ago at SXSW. He’s the author of The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life and Regained My Soul. The basis of the book is simplicity, minimalism and living with less stuff. I finished reading his...
Apr 25, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping, Thrift store
This morning, all I heard was, “Mom! Where are my Crocs? I can’t find any shoes to wear!” My kids only have 2 or 3 pairs of shoes at a time. They’re not only growing fast, but boys shoes are hard to find used and in good condition. I try to...
Apr 24, 2011 | No retail shopping
I found this photo of my son recently. A photo I obviously did not take. My mom took this photo years ago after she dressed him up in a bunny suit. I should probably get rid of these photos so I don’t have to pay his therapy bills. I...
Apr 23, 2011 | Creative weirdness, No retail shopping, Repurposed
I used 6 boxes of Peeps to make a video. Peeps are food, however I didn’t buy them. After spending some quality time with my Peeps, I really didn’t want to get rid of the little guys. I took a bite out of one and quickly remembered why I don’t eat...
Apr 23, 2011 | No retail shopping, Recycle
Yesterday was Earth Day. I didn’t do anything different, as I try to be good to the earth everyday. Earth Day (back then, a week) was a product of the late 60’s, born in 1970, as a political movement to create awareness for environmental issues. In the...
Apr 22, 2011 | No retail shopping
I had to go to Staples for work a week ago, to buy the transparencies for my art project. That was easy to do, thus the easy button that says it over and over. I avoid shopping for work and use it as a last resort. I utilize my frugal “no retail’...
Apr 21, 2011 | Book reviews, No retail shopping |
I bought an ebook yesterday. I never really set any challenge rules around electronic media, so I thought I would share my though process around this purchase. I bought the ebook Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. I’m well aware that I own enough print books to...
Apr 20, 2011 | No retail shopping |
Anyone who knows me, knows I love my outdoor living space. My backyard is one of the reasons I bought the house I live in. It’s small, but it’s one of the few houses in Frisco with trees. I’ve been fighting with my yard for 4.5 years now....
Apr 19, 2011 | Cultural chaos, No retail shopping, Repurposed, Save $, Sharing |
I was given a challenge several weeks ago to come up with an artistic creative element to do during a church service. I remembered about two years ago, I had seen some motion sand art created on a light table with a camera mounted above it. As I started fantasizing...
Apr 18, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping
I miss my grill. A lot. I’ve been researching grills. A lot. After careful research and deliberation, I narrowed it down to the modular Minden gas grill. Simple, now all I have to do is find a used one. Well, that was the plan anyway. The grill is so new...
Apr 16, 2011 | Cultural chaos, No retail shopping
The challenge is done in 40 days. Will I run out and retail shop? No. If I did, that would only mean that I learned nothing from this amazing experience. Will I have changed my shopping habits? Yes, in a major way. It’s all about making wise choices, not...
Apr 16, 2011 | Cultural chaos, No retail shopping |
I went out last Saturday night with a group of people to a busy restaurant. We had a pretty large group, so we had to grab the first table we could find. There was a table about to become available, so we stalked it, and slid into the seats at the same time the...
Apr 15, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping, Thrift store
About 2 weeks ago, I decided to downsize my wardrobe again. Why? I realized I still have too many clothes I don’t wear. I started by purposely wearing things toward the back, things I haven’t worn in a while. That led to either realizing I really...
Apr 14, 2011 | No retail shopping
I received this list of gift suggestions from eBay a little while back. I know this type of marketing must appeal to the masses, but there’s nothing on the “for her” list that even remotely interests me. We’re surrounded by advertisements of...
Apr 12, 2011 | No retail shopping
I really miss having door knobs. Finding used black or brushed nickel knobs for my house is proving to be a difficult task. It wasn’t so bad until the storm a couple of nights ago. We were sleeping with the windows open upstairs and the wind was blowing the...
Apr 12, 2011 | No retail shopping
I’m a day behind on my blogging because I spent too much time yesterday being busy. A good part of it was productive busy, but some of it just wasn’t. It was self imposed busyness and stress. I need to stop giving myself too much to do. That’s...
Apr 10, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping, Recycle, Repurposed, Save $, Thrift store
There’s a lot of stuff that might be considered trash, but before you throw something away, think about the possible uses for it. These are partially full cleaning supplies and pesticides, well, there’s also a random bottle of unopened champagne too....
Apr 9, 2011 | No retail shopping |
I’m really tired of fighting with my yard. When I moved into this house over 4 years ago, I had very little grass. I have so many trees shading the grass, that type of grass just couldn’t grow. I had to shovel mud off the sidewalks after any rainfall....
