Mar 14, 2011 | No retail shopping, Sharing
Do you share your stuff? If you need a drill, do you go out and buy one or do you try to borrow one? I mean, you just need a hole, right? I own a drill. My dad gave me a new DeWalt drill about 10 years ago, but that one got lost on a mission trip. I never found...
Mar 12, 2011 | No retail shopping |
This is one thing I want to buy, a “Keep Austin weird” t-shirt. I need to find a thrift store and hopefully they’ll have one. I guess I could offer someone some money to take one off their back. After being here for one night, I’m not sure...
Mar 11, 2011 | No retail shopping |
I was doing some blog research and ran across this t-shirt. “I talk to strangers” is the message on the front. I like this t-shirt and it got me thinking. I know we’re supposed to teach this concept to our kids, but I haven’t done that. Do...
Mar 10, 2011 | No retail shopping
Not too much time to blog today. I’m getting ready to go to the SXSW conference and festival. South by Southwest is in Austin, Texas and I’m thinking this is going to be pretty cool. Besides Blake Mycoskie from TOMS shoes being one of the keynote...
Mar 10, 2011 | No retail shopping |
My rent payment is $286. My utilities are $190 this month. I don’t own a phone, I don’t have a job and I have a baby to take care of. My name is Iris Isaacson… but only in this temporary make-believe world. This world I’m speaking of is a...
Mar 8, 2011 | No retail shopping, Thrift store
I dropped off several bags at the Goodwill trailer, and the only logical exit is to drive behind the shopping center. It’s a strip mall with a grocery store, a couple of restaurants and lots of small mom and pop type stores. As we were driving around back to...
Mar 8, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping
My friend was garage sale-ing and ran across an estate sale from a hoarder house, listed on craigslist. I had to work Saturday and Sunday, but decided to check it out after work on Sunday. Unfortunately they had closed up shop but I snapped a few photos while making...
Mar 7, 2011 | Abandoned places, No retail shopping |
I have many happy places, as well as many non-happy places. I guess we all have those lists. Sitting in my hot tub, happy place. Going to the mall, not a happy place. Jumping on the trampoline, happy place. Driving in traffic, not a happy place. Going to the...
Mar 5, 2011 | No retail shopping, Recycle, Repurposed |
Giant, shrink-wrapped books. They’re everywhere. I think it rained phonebooks, although I don’t remember seeing that in my weather forecast. Flint Lockwood must have made another machine, but this one storms phone books. They’re on top of the...
Mar 4, 2011 | No retail shopping
I had an eBay business while I was doing freelance work several years ago. I started eBay for one simple reason. I sell my Syquest Sparq drive and cartridges. Back in the late 90’s, the Iomega Jaz drive was the industry standard for backing up you data. They...
Mar 3, 2011 | No retail shopping |
…of toilets. Yes, it’s true. I cannot bring myself to fix one of these when it breaks. This fear stems from my childhood. When I was about 8, we lived in a house that had 1.5 bathrooms. My mom, being the neat freak that she was, only allowed us to use...
Mar 2, 2011 | No retail shopping, Recycle |
This Children’s Place t-shirt is for sale NEW, and not a used hand-me-down, even though it says it’s a hand-me-down. Am I missing something here? I don’t get it. Why would someone buy this new? If you buy it new, your kid is walking propaganda...
Mar 1, 2011 | No retail shopping
I’ve been working lately on cleaning up my digital garage. Now that I’ve organized all my files, I can’t find anything. It might have been a mess, but I knew where all my stuff was. The new system I set up will be good, it will just take a little...
Feb 28, 2011 | No retail shopping, Salvaged, Save $ |
My friend Lauren posted this photo on her Facebook page last month. It’s her dead Mr. Coffee machine. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many comments on a photo before. This very basic coffee machine lasted 10 years. Now that’s...
Feb 27, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping, Recycle, Thrift store |
Yesterday, I spent the early part of the day running errands before work. Most of them were driving the Infiniti sleigh, full of donations, to all of the required destinations for drop-off. I started at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, dropping off my old back...
Feb 26, 2011 | No retail shopping |
I know my friend would never lie to me, but I really had to question that when she said she was standing in the wine aisle at Walmart, looking at pink cat-shaped bottles of wine. I said, “no way! Send me a photo.” She did. So, is it me, or does anyone...
Feb 26, 2011 | No retail shopping, One year of downsizing
I have to say, I never thought I would call myself anything related to being a minimalist. I was raised in a very materialistic home and placed a pretty high value on having stuff. So what exactly is a minimalist? Here’s the dictionary definition. minimalist...
Feb 24, 2011 | No retail shopping
This is an exciting point, reaching 3/4 of a year in my no retail shopping challenge. It’s exciting because of the lifestyle change, not because I’m closer to being able to shop. I’ve been asked many times if I will go shopping on the day the...
Feb 23, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping
Before After This cleaning and purging job took about 4 full days. Not bad since it’s been in there for 4 years. Heck, I could even park my car in the garage if I wanted to. I gave away several car loads of stuff to the thrift store and had my driveway...
Feb 22, 2011 | No retail shopping, Thrift store
I was asked last night if I ever shopped like a real woman. I’m not quite sure how I should take that… Yes? At least I think so, from what I’ve studied about them. ;) Seriously, my shopping habits are more like a man. I have an easier time...
Feb 21, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping
I spent a few hours yesterday in my garage, again. I’m making progress and getting rid of a lot of stuff I don’t need, or even want for that matter. So this begs the bigger question. Where in the world did all of this stuff come from and why do I have...
Feb 20, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping
I’ve used the term “organized hoarder” in conversations about hoarding, and it usually provokes some strange facial expressions. These photos were take many years ago in the house of an organized hoarder. Dining room Guest bedroom Home office One of...
Feb 19, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping, Read the fine print
The Boyscouts are collecting food items in my neighborhood today to donate to our local food pantry, Frisco Family Services. I want to help, but I just cleaned out my pantry a couple of weeks ago and drastically changed my shopping habits to not have too much extra...
Feb 18, 2011 | No retail shopping, Repurposed, Salvaged |
What!??!?! I can’t hear you, the angels are singing to loudly. The Habitat for Humanity ReStore is heaven on earth… it’s a giant hardware building supply store, but all used stuff. I found some of the home repair stuff I’ve been...
Feb 17, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping, Thrift store
Several months ago, I conducted a Photoshop training class at the church where I work. It was something I did for fun, and for free. All I asked is that people bring something to donate to the local food pantry or a thrift store. The photo is of the food that was...
