Welcome to Consume-alot (How to not buy stuff)

How to not buy things:

This year is all about me trying not to buy stuff. I am not completely off the consumer wheel as we are still purchasing items if they break, or if our kids NEED them (this is our project, not theirs), and also going to restaurants within reason. 

The object here is to cut down on acquiring more things, as this is taxing not only on our space, but on our resources and souls too. We are more than this stuff, and I wish to find my way back to this essence, and also to set a good example for my children. 

Don't get me wrong, this is difficult for me, as I am a clothes ho (FO, sho!), and love make up and purses seriously ease my heart, but WHY do they is the question I'm rooting out. On the 31st I had a bit of a freak-out thinking of all the things I WOULDN'T be purchasing over the next year and realized I needed a new bathing suit, so I hit up Victoria's Secret and purchased one, and a few other fun things, and then a pair of shoes. Sheesh...i know i know hypocrite. But I'm new at this too.

It just arrived today and I put the box way up in the closet so that when summer arrives it can be "new". I did the same with some of my Christmas present so that I can treat myself occasionally with the feeling of shopping without actually shopping.

Helpful hints:

Stay away from the mall- if you don't see it, you don't buy it

Don't visit store websites (same as above)

List any advertisements that come to your inbox as spam

Cancel any store cards so you aren't tempted by their "sales"

Give yourself an incentive to not spend, whether it be altruistic, or financial, and post it somewhere to remind yourself of it daily.

Steer away from magazines (these inspire you to buy, and really are giant advertisements, although I must admit I am a magazine junkie)Look up statistics on how much waste we put out as a country- or just look out on your street every trash day.

Instead:

Read books- borrowed from the library

Write, sew,paint or anything creative

Get active

"Shop" in friend's closet's- when cleaning out old stuff, trade items. My friend gives me so much of her stuff and it is like Christmas every time she does!

Hang out with kids

Reuse clothes that your children have outgrown (Ruffles and Stuff is a great blog for that)

Browse blogs that teach you how to reuse items to remake into other things

Love and less stuff,

Kerry the Momster

Capsualized:Wrapping up the year

As a fun family project for the end of the year, we created a family time capsule. It was a lot of fun to sit around and rehash the years activities and events, and we all had some input.

Creating the time capsule is quite simple and can be as complex or sparse as you want it to be. We used a box and added items to it. Each year I label a box (shoe box or whatever) with the year and stick it up in our office. As the year progresses I toss ticket stubs, hotel keys, brochures of places we go, random photos, funny quotes my daughter says,plane tickets, artwork and anything else I feel might be good to preserve. It's what I call my "lazy mommy's scrapbooking". So on New Years Eve we all sat around and pulled everything out of the box and talked about all the fun things we did. 

Questions we asked each other and wrote the answers for our time capsule:

• Favorite song right now
• Best item bought/gifted this year
• People we like to hang out with
• Best holiday of the year
• Hobby
• Biggest news headlines of the year
• Proudest accomplishment this year

We added a dollar (money changes over time), a grocery store ad ( its fun to see the price of everyday items years from now) and some more photos. We decided that we will open the capsule in 10 years. Although my daughter enjoyed making it so much, that she wants to make another one and open it tomorrow. (I don't think that she quite grasps the pint of it all yet, hahha)

Remember this is yours, so keep it personal and try to capture a "moment in time".

Love and memories, 

Kerry the Momster

Here are a few more ideas of what to put in them, from ivillage.