Day 18: How Many Sunglasses Do You Need?

This game is hilarious. Each day I am focussing on a particular area of the house.

Today's focus was the drawer in the cabinet near the front door. You know the one, full of keys, sun glasses and other mindless crap thrown in there as we enter the house. 

Out went 4 pairs of sun glasses, one of them Sammi's when she was much younger. Not a lot I know but it was the pile of receipts and bits of rubbish that was the annoying part. Lately I have not been asking for or taking receipts when out grocery shopping. This means I only walk into the house with the food and not the clutter... saves paper and carbon footprint too.

The old saying 'count the pennies and the pounds count themselves' is really hitting home at the moment. As we work on the small parts of life, the rest starts shaping up. Not only are we cleansing our home of clutter and jumping off the consumer train, we are looking at other areas of our life and making better decisions aligned to our hearts and minds.

 

How about Thai for dinner?

In the morning we considered our Sunday activities and discussed the potential for going to the movies and/or going out for dinner to our favourite Thai restaurant. It was great considering these decision early without the chance of impulse decisions later.

We couldn't decide. Interesting. And didn't make a clear decision. Instead we got about our day ending up at Terrigal Beach enjoying the sun and surf. We also took the opportunity to scope out the area for my birthday gathering I am planning. 

At the end of the afternoon Sammi asked for Fish and Chips as a snack. This is not a normal request from her. In fact she rarely asks for take away or makes demands on needing food. So we thought about our earlier considerations about going out for dinner and even tossed around the idea of going for Mexican (which we love) but realised this would now be impulsive. Instead we took Sammi for a small fish and chips with the plan to go home and enjoy the home-cooked pasta we had ready to go. 

Brilliant decision! The cost of the day was $7 on fish and chips, $4.20 on some fruit we bought on the way to the beach. Yay us!!   

What went out - 5 items

4 pairs of sunglasses, a useless old house alarm key and a big pile of paper waste.

 

What came in - 0 items

Nothings other than food

INSIGHTS

(1) When compelled to spend money on 'consumer' items (dinner out included) it is simply addictive behaviour
(2) Saying yes to uncommon requests as often as you can, when not a high expense, is a lovely thing to do for your kids  


TOTAL: OUT - 407   IN - 28