Beauty

[FindingMyJoy]

I would like to hop back on the Compact bandwagon with you all! I was very good early last year then fell off.

I had an unexpected large purchase end of December - new car to replace my rusty car that finally had too large of a repair bill to pay due to it was twice the value of the car! I have gone 5 years without car payment so it will be a change having 1 again. To start padding my budget for it, I went thru my house any new purchases that weren't being used were returned!!! For example, I had bought 3 Vera bags in October during their TSV but they still had their tags on them! They were returned along with several body lotions/gels that weren't opened. In total, I returned almost $600 in items!! What an eye opener that was....really sad that I was so mindlessly spending...

My January goal - Avoid the Bath and Body Works semi-annual sale!! I do NOT need any gels/potions or any candles. I can easily make it to the next sale in June before I'm down enough candles to see the point in buying any new ones.

I fully commit again to the One Until Done philosophy. It's easier going thru shower gels and lotions if I work one until it's empty.

[Eager2Learn]

Hop back on FindingMyJoy! You did excellent with those returns!

Now, I'm wondering how much was spent on my "inventory". I still have quite a stockpile and I'm slowly working through it. I won't make any promises I can't keep, so my long term goal is to have more going out than coming in.

BTW, Bath & Body Works candles are my weakness! I have ten 3-wicks stashed away, so I passed on the latest sale. I'll have to sit on my hands when the next one comes along.

[TeezNu]

On 1/2/2015 geezerette said:

On 1/2/2015 just bee said:

On 1/2/2015 geezerette said:

On 1/1/2015 just bee said:

On 1/1/2015 number one queen said: My goal for Jan is not to buy anything I don't need. One trick I have found of late is put things check status, then I can think about things, also I can wait and check out the reviews , this helps some,esp . if it's shoes or boots to size up or down, I will stay away from that hassle!

YES! It helps with a lot of those impulsive little purchases that we use to make ourselves feel better (and, of course, they really don't). If we take time to research the items, familiarity will breed contempt!

Yet another thing I've been turning back to lately is paying as much as I can with good, old-fashioned cash. I know that it's not possible with everything, but it does give me a different perspective when I'm in the process of purchasing. Somehow, having to actually figure out and give away 'X' number of bills to a stranger in a store makes me stop and think if I really do want all the stuff I've just put in my cart. It's one of the dangers of shopping online for me. It's just so easy to enter my credit card number and click 'send' without realizing how much I've just actually spent. I also now order as much as I can via phone instead of using the computer for that exact reason, as well. Having to talk to another human being and go through my order makes me sure that I really want what I'm ordering.

Also, with all the identity/credit card theft going on lately, it makes me feel better too. Someone did try to use one of my credit cards; thankfully, the bank caught it, but it freaked me out. And it's more private too, if that's a concern. Of course, on the downside, bad people can still steal your money.

Yup! I usually wait until December to do the bulk of my charitable donations and now I've developed the (bad) habit of waiting until 12/31 to do all my last minute online donating. It never fails -- the bank contacted me this week and told me my card was compromised and canceled. This isn't the first time my bank has caught someone trying to use my card.

So now I'm a little freaked and am considering going back to those paper things. What are they called? Checks? You know -- the rectangle things with pictures of animals on them? They come in a stack, in numerical order, and you write stuff on them and they're kinda like money. This means I have to buy stamps again and lick envelopes. But maybe I won't wait until December to send those end-of-the-year gifts. Maybe I should send money monthly.

This card fraud is really bringing me down.

I never stopped using those paper things, so I don't have to switch back now! Problem is, now they're talking about doing in the post office! Is nothing sacred?!

I've gotten terribly paranoid about all things digital/online. Wait, isn't paranoia when you think something is happening/someone is following you and they're not? What do you call it when it's actually happening? I've thought it's because I've never really gotten into all this online stuff like smartphones, etc. and I just don't understand how to use all that stuff safely. Now you can't even use your credit card at a brick-and-mortar store without the chance of it being stolen! The idea of keeping safe has actually become as much, if not more, of a motivation to me to pare everything down. Easier to keep track of, less to steal. Most of our stuff in our house is so old and out of date now that I think the thieves wouldn't even be interested--a good thing!

Using a check scares me to death, and I try to avoid it as much as possible. Once that piece of paper leaves your hands, any person in the pipeline now has your bank name, account #, account name, and routing #.

[kns110]

Thank you for starting the Compact again JustBee! I am still here and still need the support. Happy New Year everyone!

[BExplorer]

Happy New Year, ComPactors! I have been off work over the holidays and am happy to report accomplishing some compacting, tossing out, shredding, organizing and boxing up items for donation this week! I will be taking three boxes of clothing and collectibles plus ten suits/dresses to Goodwill today. I posted the following William Morris quote to my refrigerator for continued inspiration: "Have Nothing in Your House That You do Not Know to be Useful, or Believe to be Beautiful." If helped me let go of those collectibles and suits that do have monetary value, but are only clutter to me now.

[nightnurse9381]

I'm in with all of you, too!! I posted on the other thread but will start posting on both. I love the ORC -- and will start with this tomorrow -- or maybe tonight since DH isn't home. I cleaned out my closet the other day and filled a donate box, but I didn't go thru purses, shoes and other stuff. So my first room to declutter is going to be our bedroom. Thanks for this thread, looking forward to everyone's progress (on both threads!!) I did mention in the other thread that there is a website "donate.com" that will pick up donations from your front porch and leave a tax receipt. I've used them several times over the years.

[just bee]

On 1/2/2015 nightnurse9381 said:

I'm in with all of you, too!! I posted on the other thread but will start posting on both. I love the ORC -- and will start with this tomorrow -- or maybe tonight since DH isn't home. I cleaned out my closet the other day and filled a donate box, but I didn't go thru purses, shoes and other stuff. So my first room to declutter is going to be our bedroom. Thanks for this thread, looking forward to everyone's progress (on both threads!!) I did mention in the other thread that there is a website "donate.com" that will pick up donations from your front porch and leave a tax receipt. I've used them several times over the years.

[just bee]

On 1/2/2015 BExplorer said: Happy New Year, ComPactors! I have been off work over the holidays and am happy to report accomplishing some compacting, tossing out, shredding, organizing and boxing up items for donation this week! I will be taking three boxes of clothing and collectibles plus ten suits/dresses to Goodwill today. I posted the following William Morris quote to my refrigerator for continued inspiration: "Have Nothing in Your House That You do Not Know to be Useful, or Believe to be Beautiful." If helped me let go of those collectibles and suits that do have monetary value, but are only clutter to me now.

BExplorer, have you seen this?

http://pancakesandfrenchfries.com/2013/02/

The William Morris Project: Creating an intentional home.

[just bee]

On 1/2/2015 geezerette said:

I hope you don't find your stuff in your attic like I just found mine. When we moved to our present home almost nine years ago now (we had only intended to be here long enough to sell the property we own before we moved on!), I stored most of my 'treasures' in the attic, only keeping out enough necessities to live the short time we planned to be here. Hah! So, as I said, nine years later(!) I was just up in the attic perusing some of those said treasure so that I could bring them down to use. Much to my chagrin, most were useless. Ruined. Age, temperature fluctuations, broken in original transit--various reasons. It just reiterated what we're all learning about the value of stuff.

Oh, the first few years we were here living with just the basics (before both my husband and I got back into filling the place up with mostly useless stuff again), it was delightfully easy and wonderfully freeing. Gotta remember those feelings...

Your post reminds me of our house. We bought it without even seeing a model; it was the plot of land we were interested in. Just sand at the top of a hill and a view of the Sandia Mountains and the Rio Grande bosque. We moved from California in January 1995 and walked into our new EMPTY house. It was glorious. So many windows and not a single window treatment. No blinds. Just light and views of the world outside. I just remember how much I wished I could live in a house without covering all those pretty windows. And I liked it so much without furniture...

And your post also reminds me of something I've always been guilty of: Saving favorite items for a day that never comes. And then when you reach for that item, it's no longer the thing you had protected. Suddenly it's something that could have been used and enjoyed... but now it's too late.

[just bee]

Where is your money hanging out?