Cleansing and maintenance

With the news that the condo that we're renting that has a foreclosure judgment against it is almost under contract by people who want to use it as an investment property and keep us as tenants, we have been finally able to unpack and settle into this place to make it more of a home than just a place to sleep. I never realized the impact of not having a 'home' until earlier this year and it was something that was causing me a great deal of stress. Well, that, being the unwitting victims of the foreclosure crisis and having boxes of crap everywhere. Long story short, we're finally unpacking crap and while I was in Phoenix visiting Gramma and Grampa, Tom unloaded our storage room. We have a lot of crap. A.Lot.of.Crap. And Tom and I are both feeling a little overwhelmed by it, so we've decided to do something about it.

Tom and I have been working really hard the last few weeks going through a bunch of stuff and creating donate and to sell piles in our bedroom which are both substantial. We're getting rid of a lot and it feels really good. Having less stuff, and less clutter, really makes living in our home much easier. This weekend will be the ebay and craigslist where we will attempt the amazing feat of listing all of the goods for sale. And there is a lot to sell.

Then, there's the maintenance of this new crap-less lifestyle which will be the most difficult part. How do we stay at where we are and not get caught up in the consumerist trap again? Why not try a month without buying stuff other than essentials? Sounds easy enough, right? Not really, but we've setup some ground rules for Not Buying it - July

1. The basic premise is to only spend money on and buy essentials. Rent, food, kibble for wieners, bill payments, etc. are all essentials.

2. We each get one exception - Tom gets to buy a camera lens he's been stalking if it ever comes back in stock and I get to buy a spinning wheel since I had previously purchased one and had to return it (pending refund which I'm still waiting on).

3. We may buy other semi-essential items from the moneys earned from selling off our stuff. I have a key-tar that I'm getting rid of that will probably get me around 250 bucks which when combined with a gift certificate unspent from Christmas could potentially buy Tom and I a much needed new mattress from Ikea - one of the ones with foam. Certified Space Technology. Certified by the Space institute. Well not really, but I really like saying that about foam :)

4. Eating out, is a luxury and totally unnecessary. However, we may treat ourselves to eating out once a week pending a review of how well we've accomplished not buying it for that week.

So here goes day one. Hopefully I'll be able to make it through the end of the day. Tom, I'm sure, will do just fine ;)

07.01.08 8:51am(9 comments)