It's Cheap Because It's CHEAP!

I have discovered that when moving there is often a fair bit of shopping involved with getting settled. I am not a big shopper. I honestly think that in my old house and old routine I was okay with heading to the shops maybe once a week and it was usually for groceries. But all that changed when we bought this house and it feels like I am always looking for the next opportunity to head out. My 'To Buy' list is the longest it has ever been, especially for this DIY Diva who'd rather create what I need than hand over hard earned money for the convenience of having someone else do it. This DIY mentality can only get you so far. I can make a lot of things but a couch is not one of them!

It all started with living room furniture to replace the aged couch that should have been in the dump years ago. Of course that's a big thing but there are plenty of little things that I was not expecting. Like waste baskets for the extra bathroom, entrance mats for doorways and a vacuum (a few rooms have carpets now).

A normal person would be excited at the prospect of shopping around looking for that perfect 'whatever' to go with the paint in the bathroom. But I'm not normal so it's no surprise that I haven't been too excited about hitting the shops.

I think part of my trepidation is the fact that I stress about every dollar, nay every penny. Why waste a dime on something that is a short term solution or minor luxury? I have also developed this obsession with steering clear of cheap stuff. I know as a frugal person I should be looking for the cheap stuff but it's cheap for a reason. It's cheap because it's CHEAP. Instead I am on the look out for the best deal, or in other words, the most bang for my buck and sometimes that means buying something a little more high end with a better warranty and a longer life span.

But of course this way of shopping prolongs the already excruciating process. Instead of one overly busy store now I must got to two or three or more to make sure the thing I saw at the first store was really the best 'bang for my buck'. This leaves little time for the still unpacked boxes or the mountain of empty boxes hibernating in the garage waiting to be recycled.

It feels like I am not getting much done but I think I have resigned myself to the fact that this is the way it has to be for now. Like sucking it up and eating my gruel, I must use more than just impulse to get what I need. If that takes more time and effort so be it. It will save me the aggravation of replacing a broken item in a year or so when a cheap impulse purchase comes around to bite me in the butt.

Entertainment without a Footprint

I am loving this digital age. There are so many ways to cut back on our garbage, refuse and clutter if we learn to embrace the technological age. The very fact that I am embrassing technology separates me from many homesteading and simple living advocates. Most would have us believe that new age technology keeps us chained to our desks, slaves to our jobs and always plugged in.

I agree in some ways. Being such a technologically advanced society has many draw backs. There is quite a large pile of electronic garbage piling up as things like VCRs, VHS tapes, cassette tapes, old cell phones, broken printers and any number of out dated computer related garbage. Sometimes new technology is manufactured so cheaply that when an item breaks down it becomes more cost effecient to buy a new one. One could also argue that being so plugged in makes employers expect more by way of productivity. It makes us slaves to the office and it causes many to interrupt family time to answer the blackberry or check innumerable emails.

On the other hand, if approached wisely technology can be a boon for those of us who are environmentally conscious. For one, most electronic items can be recycled with nearly all parts finding new uses leaving very little to be sent to the landfill. These recycling places are usually private businesses that accept your broken monitors and televisions for free. Their employees strip it down and then sell the material to industries needing the copper, glass, gold and plastic that is found within. To find one near you check your phone book. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Another trick is to think about the items that give you and your situation the most bang for your buck.

For me, I love my digital camera. I can take a plethora of photos, save 100s of pictures on a disc and put them away for safe keeping, never having to print any unless I have a specific use for them. I love that no chemicals are used so I can enjoy my pictures.

I have a digital picture frame that flips through hundreds of photos, always changing and showing me memories through out my day. I am often pleasantly surprised and thus my photoframe never blends in with my surroundings. When on vacation my most prized souvenirs are my photos so I never have to purchase snow globes, pins or other such items found in most gift shops (and then later at the second hand store). It would also be good to note that keeping your photo files on a disc which is stored in a fire safe box is a good way to guard your memories against fire or, even a more likely, a computer crash. You may loose a lot in a house fire, but the most common item missed is family photos.

My husband and I have also made a pact when it comes to electronic and entertainment items. We no longer buy new music in CD form. We either shop online for MP3 formatted music or purchase used. DVD's are approached in the same way, buying only used movies. This has drastically reduced our garbage from these items.

My husband is a big PC gamer. He loves getting a new game each month and I just couldn't imagine the waste we would generate if he bought those video games at the stores. Instead he belongs to an online account, in our case Steam, that allows him to purchase games which are then virtually added to his profile. He can play as often as he wants and if our computer crashes there is no chance of loosing his purchases because they are operated through this company that holds his account. In this way he can be entertained by this modern convention without contributing to the landfill issue. There are no emmissions from trucks transporting his games to him. And he didn't need to create emmissions going to the store.

I bet if everyone sat back and thought about digital ways to cutback on waste hundreds of pounds of plastic could be prevented from going to our landfills. There could be less trucks on the road carting these goods around. And less chemicals filling the air while manfacturing these products.

Clutter, Stuff and Hoarding

It's resolution time and I bet along with loosing weight, exercising more and quitting smoking that organizing is one of the top five resolutions people make at this time of year.

New Years signifies the end of something, and beginning again with a clean slate. A clear calendar with no mistakes. January 1st can be a great starting line, a start date for things you have always wanted to do.

An organized home is not something taught in school. Organizing and the ability to discern clutter from usable goods is a life skill usually passed down from parents or other mentors in your life. If you had neither of these and from infancy you have always managed to keep everything well organize and shiny clean then you are a freak of nature and probably anything I say will be of little use to you. But read on if you wish.

...for me to claim ownership of something I simply must love it or love it's usefulness

Organizing is finding a place for everything and putting everything in it's place. Easier said than done but do-able. When I was younger I certainly was not the best housekeeper. Over time I have amassed tips and techniques that have slowly but surely transformed my home.

The main thing I needed to master was defining clutter. Is clutter something superfluous or something usable? Could I have clutter and still have organization. I believe the answer is yes and no. Clutter is a group of items gathered with no or little purpose. Clutter neither brings me usefulness nor enjoyment. That is not to say that anything without a purpose is clutter. Certainly not but for me to claim ownership of something I simply must love it or love it's usefulness.

Using the above definition we can classify clutter as just stuff. Our modern society loves stuff. Big stuff. Little stuff. Expensive stuff. Cheap stuff. In fact we love our stuff so much our economy is kept afloat by our continued desire to amass stuff.

When our desire to claim ownership grossly exceeds our need we call it hoarding. Hoarding is a growing phenomenon, something that happens behind closed doors, away from prying eyes. It is something I think everyone suffers from to a certain extent. We buy and buy and buy, getting rid of things we bought a year ago to make room for the stuff we bought today. The only difference between us and diagnosed hoarders is that hoarders never get rid of anything and just continue to add to the pile.

When I hear stories of compulsive hoarders I am struck by the poignancy of their plight. These people are just doing what the last century of marketing told us to do. Their homes with floor to ceiling piles of clothes never worn and gifts never given away is really a reflection of each and every one of us. We are a society of hoarders, collectors, and stuff savers.

Somehow we think this makes us affluent. Somewhere along the line we told ourselves this makes us the envy of the world.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned on this road to simplicity is that these things, these materials make us no better at our jobs or our relationships. They provide us with no more comfort than a rock. In fact these things only further our sheltering from those around us. Like protective padding, this stuff is really just cluttering up our heads even more than they do our homes.

Give you one guess what I am doing Jan 1st...