Unexpected Shopping Withdraw

I have been on a self imposed spending freeze for all non essential items for the past month or so. I felt myself at a loss for something to do and depressed. I didn't realize how much of my time is spent, shopping, planning to shop, comparison shopping, online shopping, clothes shopping, gift shopping, electronic equipment shopping, furniture shopping, food/supply shopping, make-up shopping, accessory shopping, linen/bedding shopping, dog shopping, organizational supply shopping, and I could go on forever. With the downsizing, the space for shopping is eliminated. This will undoubtedly free up thousands of dollars in my budget. February is the first no car payment month. March will be the first month of decreased house-keeper expense. My plan is to fill my life with something other than shopping and eating out. That is all I have been doing! My mother said "my God, you are depressed because you have moved into a rabbit hole". Greg and discussed moving back. We both agree that is not what we want to do. Moving is one of the top 3 life stressors and we don't want to go through it again. I am mourning the loss of all that stuff and giving up my procurement habit. Not easy.

One Step Closer to the 300 square foot committment

As part of our small living journey we have left ourselves an "out" by keeping the old place while we transition into the small space. I have been floating between two places having the security of an extra 2000 square feet to house all the "stuff". Finally got rid of all the stuff. And I do mean stuff. I must have had 4 different pairs of pink tennis shoes, 30 small white frames from IKEA, every manual of every piece of electronic equipment I have ever owned, and 4 sets of dishes. It became so overwhelming I ditched the idea of having a sale and had my handy man Gilbert come over. I said "Gilbert, please make it all go away, I do not care where it goes, make it gone." Next thing I knew there was 3 generations of the Rodriguez family thrilled to be carrying away my extra stuff. I was immediately relieved that I wasn't contributing to some land fill somewhere. I wanted the stuff to be used, I just became overwhelmed with trying to place it in the right home. I have had the old place repainted and cleaned and it is ready to rent. The question is, am I ready to close the door to moving back? YES. Door close please, I am ready. I began to feel the stuff suffocating me. I found things I had been keeping because I was told that it was some family member that died that I didn't know and therefore had to be kept. Why am I the keeper of garage sale crap of decades past? My new policy, once something has been giving to me, I will not feel obligated to house it if it does not fit in my life. If someone gives you a fruit cake are you obligated to eat it? The leasing company has been called and final decision has been made.

Ten Bags of Clothes

Ten bags of clothes were removed from my house on Tuesday. My current closet is pretty big but nowhere near the walk-in at the old place. I took the creme de la creme of the lot. I found clothes I hadn't seen in years. Clothes I love and haven't been wearing because they were lost in the swarm of second class clothes. My goal now is to keep only clothes I really love and wear. I have become a fan of Coldwater Creek Iron Free white button down shirts. I want to have a more simple uniform. One like men do, in which you have your basic white shirt, black pants and accessories. Shopping was one of my biggest forms of entertainment. The self imposed space constraints are a major deterrent of sport shopping. I am quiting shopping for the sake of shopping. I am embarrassed to admit how many unused and barely used purses, shoes and dresses I own. I continue to read that in order to simplify constant "editing" is required. Tuesday was the first round of "edits". I brought more clothes to the new place than I really want. For some reason I was buying multiples of the same item. I must have 10 pairs of black leggings, 6 pairs of a various pink tennis shoes, and the list could go on forever. My new motto is to entirely use something before purchasing another. I routinely bought mass quantities of anything I used on a regular basis. I am resisting the current urge to go on line right now and buy more Coldwater Creek shirts; the rationale being that I just purged all those clothes and now I can start building my new "uniform". This is the behavior that landed me with all this extra stuff to begin with. I took everything in all closets piled it in the middle of the living and dining rooms. I looked around and thought "this looks like a bad scene for the TV show "Hoarders". There are still many things in the old place that have to go. The weather has been bad and I haven't been able to have a garage sale. The task is so daunting, I am tempted to hire someone to just come and take it all away. Any ideas on how I can quickly and easily rid myself of all the extra stuff?

Finally Practicing What I Preach

Since I am a divorce attorney, I have represented many women who are facing a financial shift in their life. For example, I had a client who had never had a car valued at less than $50,000.00. She was facing a shift from having “spending money “in the amount of $6,000.00 a month with all of her bills paid, to having to live on $2,500.00 per month and whatever she could earn (which wasn’t much). The lease on her Mercedes was up and she had to get a new car. She could not grasp the concept that she could drive anything else. She kept telling me “Well, John drives a $60k car I should have at least a $30k car.” She was unwilling to drive a car that cost $10k. I tried to explain to her the freedom she would feel if she paid cash for a car instead of getting into a $800.00 a month car payment. I know now because I am living it that it can be done. The good news is that it doesn’t really hurt. Once you stop worrying what other people think. “What will the mothers in the car pool think of my Kia”? It doesn’t matter. Being able to live within your means and afford to save for you and your children’s future is more important. Unfortunately, I think her game plan is to quickly find another rich husband. The sad thing is that she will not know the freedom of being self supporting, the freedom of being debt free or, the freedom of having a secure future.