I haven’t regularly gone to garage sales in over a year. I rarely go shopping.
But yesterday, I had some time in a city that actually has some real stores, and I had just found a visa gift card that I received for Christmas.
And I wanted shoes. Everybody else in the world seems to have cute shoes. Everybody but me.
I sit in my discussion group circle at my Bible Study, and although I try not to, I can’t help noticing shoes.
So when I found the giftcard, AND I was going to be around some good stores, I envisioned the perfect day.
But then reality happened and the quick errand for hubby took 10 times longer than it should have, and my normally cheerful 3yo shopping buddy fell asleep during the 2 minute drive from hubby’s store to the store I actually wanted go to.
But I braved the circumstances and shopped anyway. And found no shoes.
So today I tried again. And I did find some.
But all of that time spent in random stores reminded me why I need to stay out of them.
Seeing all that “stuff” makes me dissatisfied. It makes me want. Even when I’m not buying anything but the shoes, I start making a mental list of all the stuff I would love to have. And the list goes on much farther than any available funds.
And of course, at garage sales (I LOVE garage sales) the funds DO go much further. So I get lots more. Usually lots more than I need. And I bring it home. And it becomes much less cute than it was when it wasn’t mine yet. And eventually I look around, and I realize that all of those things I thought would make me happy are really just clutter. And they not only DON’T make me happy, they actually make me miserable.
And yes, my old shoes were fine. (But I do love the new ones!)
When I decluttering my house or in the moody to declutter (hubby was tonight) I look at things and say I don't need more things I getting rid of it and I don't buy anything. This week I had to go clothes shopping I had two pants that I wore and then there was one and you guess it I had none. I hate to clothes shop but do I feel good wearing nice jeans. Now I have three.
I can so relate to this. I could definitely be a girl that likes to shop – if I had time, energy and money (and who has that?!).
But when I go into stores – even Walmart – I am totally discontent. There are tons of things that I would love to have: cute shoes, some decent pants, any stationary product, on and on.
So I try to avoid shopping. I see no reason to be discontent when God has allowed me to have so many things in my life. It almost seems disrespectful to Him to be so ungrateful for what I have that I want more a lot of the time. (I'm speaking only about me here).
But you're totally right. A whole lot of new stuff won't make me happy at all! It just leaves us wanting more and not having anywhere to put it!
-Lauren
You need a Tweet button – this is good stuff!
-Lauren
This is the same reason why I basically don’t read glossies or watch tv anymore. All those shiny advertisements…
I’m trying really hard to stay out of stores too. But it’s time to start potty training the grand baby. And she had no training panties. ( I AM NOT paying for those stupid pull ups, which are just more expensive diapers.)
Anyhoo, had to go to Walmart. Got out of there for under $40. Yes, I bought more than training panties. sigh
Similar to idea of hedonic treadmill.
One of the most important and growing costs of the modern way of life is ‘cultural
fraud’: the promotion of images and ideals of ‘the good life’ that serve the economy but do not meet psychological needs, nor reflect social realities.
-Richard Eckersley
http://happierhuman.com/hedonic-treadmill/
I’ve become very good at avoiding shops (two active little boys help!) and have slowly been decluttering all the purchases I’ve made over the years, but my problem now is my very generous, loving friends (2 in particular) who just adore showering gifts on my boys! In spite of my regular requests to stop, even turning downright rude and telling people they are not allowed to give my kids stuff, our house is still FULL of toys and clothes that I really struggle to get rid of because it is perfectly good stuff and all gifts.
Why not use the extra clothes and toys that are given to your kids as a perfect opportunity to give them to children who really have little to no clothes or toys? Homeless shelters that take families in is a great place to start.
And let people (especially the major gift showerers) know that that is the plan.
(I know this is a very old comment, but I’m sure many people are still experiencing this)
And/or for very special gifts (or really annoying toys), you can tell the giver that the gift can stay at that house so that the children have something really special to look forward to when they are visiting. I did this, not so much because I was aware of my clutter problem at the time, but because my sister and mother kept buying really annoying toys that made a lot of digital noise and I couldn’t stand them. But it should work for handling clutter too – put the problem back onto the person who wouldn’t listen to the requests to stop in the first place.