We don't have TV at home. I mean... we have a TV, but we have no TV reception. I used to get a fuzzy version of channel 9, but with the digital switch, that's gone too, so I'm down to zero channels. This works really well for our family.
But.
But when I have the chance, I TV-binge (It's one of the reasons why having no TV at home works so well for us - I just don't have it in me to turn the dang thing off once it's on!). While we were in Atlanta, I had the TV on basically whenever we were in our hotel room (which was kind of a lot). I fell hard for HGTV and all their real estate shows. I watched hour after hour of people looking for a house (and wandering through all these great (or admittedly not so great) houses), or fixing up or staging a house to sell, or redecorating homes after buying them.
So guess what happened when I got home?
(Besides major TV withdrawals, of course.)
I was unhappy with my house in a big way.
My house is small. My house has electrical outlets in all the wrong places. My house has no closet space to speak of. My kitchen is minuscule. The only (!!!) bathroom is roughly the size of a postage stamp. The list goes on and on.
The thing is - I love our house. My house is cute. My house has lots of pretty features.
It finally hit me - it's not my house's fault!
I have too much stuff, and all the stuff I have is completely disorganized.
So I came up with a plan. A simple plan: Buy NOTHING until Christmas (except for food, toiletries, and gifts), and get rid of some of the stuff that's accumulated but is no longer being used.
I've blessed some of my friends with clothes that no longer fit anyone in my family, I've made some little advent gifts with fabric I've hoarded for several years, and I've only been to Target once in three weeks.
My birthday is in December, and I'm happy to report that this year will be the first time in probably about a decade when I won't have to shrug and smile awkwardly when people ask me for a wish list, since I've abandoned my amazon "just one more CD and I get free shipping" habit and my Target "I think I deserve a movie" habit.
I haven't been without moments of weakness (like, look at this! And this! And this!), but overall, this has been easier than anticipated. Yay for not buying stuff!
But.
But when I have the chance, I TV-binge (It's one of the reasons why having no TV at home works so well for us - I just don't have it in me to turn the dang thing off once it's on!). While we were in Atlanta, I had the TV on basically whenever we were in our hotel room (which was kind of a lot). I fell hard for HGTV and all their real estate shows. I watched hour after hour of people looking for a house (and wandering through all these great (or admittedly not so great) houses), or fixing up or staging a house to sell, or redecorating homes after buying them.
So guess what happened when I got home?
(Besides major TV withdrawals, of course.)
I was unhappy with my house in a big way.
My house is small. My house has electrical outlets in all the wrong places. My house has no closet space to speak of. My kitchen is minuscule. The only (!!!) bathroom is roughly the size of a postage stamp. The list goes on and on.
The thing is - I love our house. My house is cute. My house has lots of pretty features.
It finally hit me - it's not my house's fault!
I have too much stuff, and all the stuff I have is completely disorganized.
So I came up with a plan. A simple plan: Buy NOTHING until Christmas (except for food, toiletries, and gifts), and get rid of some of the stuff that's accumulated but is no longer being used.
I've blessed some of my friends with clothes that no longer fit anyone in my family, I've made some little advent gifts with fabric I've hoarded for several years, and I've only been to Target once in three weeks.
My birthday is in December, and I'm happy to report that this year will be the first time in probably about a decade when I won't have to shrug and smile awkwardly when people ask me for a wish list, since I've abandoned my amazon "just one more CD and I get free shipping" habit and my Target "I think I deserve a movie" habit.
I haven't been without moments of weakness (like, look at this! And this! And this!), but overall, this has been easier than anticipated. Yay for not buying stuff!
Alright, woman. Enough!
