Sample Sale

I sent off five bags of crap stuff with the donation truck on Monday. Most of that was the giant pile of costumes. Man, that felt good.

In other news, I have struggled with eating fast food for some time. The Boss and I discovered that I have spent almost $400 on fast food in the past few weeks.
Not a typo.

This doesn't include the weekly trips to the grocery store.

We decided to go on a fast food fast for six weeks and save all that money for a one night stay at Great Wolf Lodge in December.
It's a really hard habit to break so far. We are so accustomed to running through some where to grab dinner that I really have to plan ahead now.
No eating at anywhere with a drive thru. With our busy lifestyle, this will be a true challenge for me, but I'm up for it.
Last night was a perfect example. We had to drop off Mr. Mister at 6pm and Mr. Challenge was out late, so normally, The Boss and I would have grabbed fast food on our way home. Instead we stopped off at the grocery store, she got sushi, I got a steak to grill and a package of strawberries to share. Plus I was able to grab a few things for tonight's dinner. I spent about the same amount, however, I got a lot more and I have to say that the steak was better than McD's any day.

Today I'm struggling with samples.

I got two new samples of products in the mail yesterday and it hit me. Why am I keeping all of these things? The only reason I get any of these products is because someone out there wants me to buy said product.
I keep all those hotel toiletries as well. Why?
In case I travel? To another hotel? It's stupid! In case I run out of shampoo? Do I really want to wash my hair with a two year old sample that came from Holiday Inn?
So, off to the donation bin they go. An entire grocery sack of samples that I have held on to just in case.
Does anyone else have this problem with hoarding sample size items? What do you do with the samples that come in the mail? Do you take the toiletries from hotels?

T.J. Must Not Buy

So, we got The Boss her new Halloween costume. I was able to avoid buying anything else at the costume store, but those styrofoam tombstones were calling my name.

Seriously.

Instead I settled on buying some flowers for the front yard. No clutter and when they die (which they will), into the trash they go!

Then we went to T.J. Maxx. Probably not the smartest thing to do when my resolve is wavering, but I've never claimed to be brilliant.
Well, actually...

I'm strong, I'm steely, no bargain is going-WAIT!
Are those orange pillows? They would totally hide the stains and claw marks all over my couches and make them look brand new. I know they would!
I stood there and held them for the longest time.

Then I remembered that I had some orange fabric in my closet. Yep, that orange fabric that has been in there for four years, that's the stuff. I'll just go home and make new pillows.

I am such a stud.

You know this isn't going to end well, right?
The orange fabric that was in my closet was actually orange felt. With cats on it.
Luckily the pieces were too small to make a pillow out of it or I would have done it just because I wasn't able to buy new ones.
Look what I made honey!

I tossed the fabric into the donation bin and jumped on the treadmill to try to make peace with the fact that I will not have new orange pillows.

Wait.

Where did that orange cat go?

Costume Culling

We are a theatre loving family.
We also love to dress up. So, needless to say, we have an abundance of "costumes"

Today we are going to go get The Boss a new costume for Halloween. She has already decided what she wants and we know where to go, however, today before we go, we will clean out our costume closet. That's right, I said closet.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Anybody want a cat?

So, here is our give away pile of costume crap. That's a load of crap. :-)
This is what I'm talking about. Documenting the amout of stuff that is going out of my home.

That feels good.

100 days

Actually, it's been 104 days, but I was sick and didn't blog.

So, here are my thoughts about where I stand on my challenge.

I miss shopping, like for real. I miss the thrill of the hunt, I miss the smell of new things.

I think that I am using shopping for other people as an excuse to buy things and bring them into my home.

The clutter is not leaving fast enough. I only have 261 days left and I want my house to be noticeably more empty. I still have not found the pictures of my brother that I lost somewhere in the house.
The incident which started this whole process.

I want new Halloween decorations, but I don't need them. I have two boxes of decorations and probably one entire box needs to be thrown out. Things are old, dated, broken, never used. (sounds like some people I know)

So, how do I fix this?

First of all, blog more. Write about my feelings more often and get this stuff out there. I know there have to be other people who feel the way I do. Lost in a sea of my own useless crap.

Give more. Get rid of stuff. Piles of it, pieces of it, stinking piles of it.

Take more pictures of my progress so that I know I am moving forward.

Be honest.
I want to cheat, there is no doubt about that, but i need to remind myself that there will be new decorations to buy next year. I need to purge the things that I don't love to make way for things that I do love.
Less quantity and more quality.