This Thrifted Life

Perusing such great sites as The Non-Consumer Advocate and Early Retirement Extreme tipped me off to some books I really wanted to read. I had no luck finding them at the library or the thrift store, so I ordered some used copies via half.com.

Work Less, Live More–I wasn’t so crazy about this book. It seemed to be mostly numbers and got a little tedious for someone like me who is more idea-based. Though it did espouse frugality, it also echoed the idea that you need to have xx amount of dollars to retire and still live a comfortable lifestyle. For an early retirement/downshifting book, I much prefer Your Money Or Your Life.

Simple Prosperity–Loved this book. It is by one of the co-authors of Affluenza and presents so many practical ideas and solutions for creating a simpler, more sustainable lifestyle and economy.

How to Survive Without a Salary–I had actually been wanting to read this book for a long time, and I’m glad I finally did. The most compelling idea in this book that really stuck with me is how quickly we jump straight to the idea of buying a product as the solution to whatever dilemma we are facing. For example, I was thisclose to running out to Target last week to buy a small storage ottoman for some extra office supplies. But a product isn’t actually what I need–I need to store some supplies. I need to learn to recognize the actual need rather than jumping straight to the product that is marketed for that need. I may end up buying that ottoman, but–if I take the time to brainstorm about the actual dilemma–I may think of something even better and less costly.

Finger weight, that is.

As I’ve been simplifying many areas of my life, I noticed one aspect of my wardrobe that hadn’t changed. I didn’t feel it really reflected who I was trying to become, and I spent a lot of time pondering if it was time to let it go. I decided it was. So, this past weekend, we sold my engagement ring through craigslist.

Why did I feel it was time to let go of my ring?

1. Neither of us ever believed a piece of jewelry was some sort of tangible evidence of our love and marriage. It was a just a traditional ring I picked out myself because it was beautiful and we were getting married. I loved it all the years I wore it.

2. While my engagement ring was far from an idol, I do believe I had far too much vanity vested in such a little thing. I wouldn’t say it was something I thought impressed others (it wasn’t a honker or anything!) but I think I was a little too attached to the prettiness of it. It was freeing to break the material link.

3. Having been bought at chain jewelry store, my ring was probably a conflict diamond, and I was always pretty uncomfortable about that. The more we explore and expound upon our values, the more I want my life to be aligned with them.

4. Wearing a simple band is a better reflection of the lifestyle shift we are slowly making. I wear very little jewelry, and letting go of this ring was just another step in that direction. I much prefer to throw a warm scarf around my neck if I want to accessorize.  

I sold the ring to an adorable girl living in a nearby town. I hope she loves it and gets a lot of wear out of it–I sure did.

(And, for the record, I’m not telling anyone they should go and dump their jewelry! This is just what is working for me at this time in my life.)

I started couponing a few years ago when Jason and I were paying off medical debt and really needed to stretch our dollars. I learned a lot from Crystal over at Money Saving Mom (she is beyond expert at living a fun, frugal life) and the monumental Tightwad Gazette. I also started menu planning around the same time, and the combined savings really made a dent in our budget–and made cooking a lot more convenient when I didn’t have to scramble for dinner ideas after work.

When we moved to a larger city a couple of years ago, I started couponing like there was no tomorrow. I had many more stores to choose from and thicker coupon inserts in the paper. We now lived right down the street from a CVS and hitting up their sales and earning Extra Care Bucks helped me to stretch my budget even further. Plus, we were able to score lots of free toiletries to give to families in need. It was a fun game.

When we started cutting more processed foods out of our diet (yes, even the organic ones), I began using less and less coupons. But it was still worth it to pick up a Sunday paper for the few coupons I still redeemed–and I was still getting hooked up with all those free and nearly-free toiletries.

But now we live in a tiny town where CVS isn’t close to me at all. The local paper only gets one thin coupon insert; I would have to drive to a store over 15 minutes away to find the bigger newspaper from the city. So instead of simplifying my life and budget, couponing would really be more of a headache now. Thus it has fallen to the wayside so I can save my time and energy for more important areas.

If you would like to do more couponing, please check out Money Saving Mom–it’s a fantastic resource. And Apron Thrift Girl has an oldie-but-goodie post today about how she plans her menus.

Check it out!

From a knife block full of knives I never used to one fabulous chef’s knife…

And from an unsightly dvd rack to folders easily stashed away in drawers…

Anything you’ve simplified lately?

As the world gears up for Christmas, I am checking myself to make sure I only get caught up in the fun and joy, not the stress. I am keeping gifts simple and sweet, keeping in mind that something special is more meaningful than something merely flashy (and if it’s special and flashy? All the better!). And now that I’m honing those famous snake eyes, I am finding lots of great gifts at the thrift stores. Why buy another plastic toy destined for the yard sale when you can pick up a jewelry-making kit sure to spark creativity for 50 cents? With those savings, I can make quite the gift basket of fun, experience-making items.

And holiday decorating? Since we either sold or gave away nearly all of our holiday decorations before we moved, I am taking my time picking up a few things here and there at the thrift shops. I’m not going to worry about having the beautifully decorated home, ready for the magazine pages. It’s not me; I let my talented friends handle that one. And I am making a rule that most things need to fit my life year-round. With a little creativity, I should be able to make one centerpiece work for both Christmas and birthdays.

I plan to make lots of easy homemade cocoa. Spend time with family and friends. Keep slowly putting our home together. Wrap gifts with comics and twine. Pay attention. Realize the everyday moments are the special ones.

What are you doing to make your holiday season one of peace and joy, rather than stress and chaos?

Yesterday we woke up to this wet mess:

So after I did some cleaning and laundry, I cranked up the gas heater in the den and hunkered down with the numerous cats running around our house for some peace and quiet, catching up on reading and searching out crafty goodness on the webz.

Today will be spent around a table decorated with thrifted garland

Drinking local apple cider

And noshing on homemade goodness

Wishing you all a happy, healthy Thanksgiving.

Downshifting is not a journey with a definitive beginning, middle, and end. There is no school you can attend for a few years and graduate with an I have successfully completed my downshifting course diploma. Minimizing the consumption and busyness in our lives is going to look different for everyone. For me, material objects were one of the first places I started. Though there was nothing in my home I would’ve been devastated to lose (sad, yes, but not devastated), I still felt weighted down with all the stuff I had accrued in my short quarter century on this earth. The requisite clothes, movies, kitchen gadgets, collectibles—it was all too much. My house wasn’t even close to bursting at the seams, but I still recognized I was far from unencumbered. So I decided I would choose only certain types of objects to emphasize in my home, and those were books and art. Everything else needed to be streamlined, because I was wasting my money and energy on objects that, it turned out, didn’t really mean so much to me. Here are some of the actions I took; your actions might be totally different, but I hope you find something that speaks to your soul.

 –I got rid of almost all the colorful clothes in my daily wardrobe. Now my clothes and shoes are almost all neutral, with some navy pieces mixed in. This might be boring and unsatisfying to someone else, but now I really appreciate the versatility of my current wardrobe. I also got rid of lots of black shoes since I had so many pairs, and I downsized my jewelry box to only the pieces I wore over and over again.

 –Although books were going to be one of the areas I cherished, I still needed to let go of what wasn’t very important to me. As I focused on quality rather than quantity, I carefully combed through my shelves and weeded out what I didn’t truly love or find useful.

 –I moved on to my movies and let go of quite a bit. If I only watched a film every couple of years, I decided I could rent it from the library or Netflix instead—I didn’t need to own it. We sold our intrusive dvd rack and filed away all of our discs in inexpensive cd cases.

 –I was constantly on the lookout for doubles; I discovered I had 3 sets of measuring spoons, for goodness’ sake. Whenever I found too many of a particular kind of item, the extras went out the door.

 –I cleaned out photos. The horror! Again, I had so many mediocre shots that really didn’t need to be kept. I only have a few family photos from the generations before me, and they’re enough. I don’t need a huge box full of photos to remember my family by. I also tossed my yearbooks. High school doesn’t hold a lot of great memories for me, and those heavy books I was lugging from house to house only caused resentment to flare up. I read through them one last time, chuckled a few times and remembered some good times, and then they went out the door. It was one of the most freeing things I’ve ever done.

I am far from finished, and may never be. But I know I want to continue to lighten my material load, picking up joy and meaning along the way.