Dragging my family to the shops on a rainy weekend used to be my favourite past time.
Strangely enough, I would feel overwhelm after a few hours but ignored this obvious sign. It really was a crazy way to spend our family time.
As a contrast, we spent quality time together this three day long weekend enjoying various passions such as playing music, beach combing, de-cluttering, playing games, cooking, reading, relaxing afternoon sleeps and some movies.
It was a great weekend and we all feel so much better for it.
Makes me realise as I write this that I have not been into a shop since 2014, other than food supermarkets.
Actually that is not entirely true... we browsed a home-ware shop at our favourite beach side suburb to buy our favourite vegetable soap.
What went out - 69 items
14 more pieces of clothing from Sammi's bedroom left the building.
Plus we sent 55 of Sammi's 'keeping' clothes over to Steve's (ex hubby, Sam's dad) house to save him buying any this year. He was thrilled. We all love making life easier for each other. Perfect outcome!
What came in - 6 items
Shells and a rock from our rainy day beachcombing. One of these Sammi made into a necklace.
INSIGHTS
(1) Walking the beach in the rain is wonderful
(2) I have not experienced the urge to impulse buy - perhaps because I have not been seduced by the shopping centre tricks
TOTAL: OUT - 575 IN - 43
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
I totally busted myself in the consumer trance again. It was hilarious! And the funny thing was I didn't know I was in it until I was away from it. Boy this journey is insightful. Here's what happened....
Birthday Dinner - Consumer ALERT woot, woot, woot!
We are planning a birthday dinner for yours truly. We walked around Terrigal yesterday and looked at a few places, grabbed some menus and made a tentative booking at two places.
I got home and took a bath as my back had been sore all day. Sammi and I reviewed the menus whilst in the bath when it dawned on me.
WTF was I thinking!!!
This is not true to do, nor it is in line with what I really choose or want. Woohoo!!
So instead we are cooking up an BYO BBQ at Terrigal Haven. The cost will be heavily reduced. Instead of $60 to $80 plus alcohol costs it should be far less and we will enjoy more.
So over the next few days I will whip up an invite for my good buddies and see if they want to join us for an afternoon/evening of good food, great friends, maybe some games and most importantly, connection.
The interesting thing is to position the present thing so that folks don't give me 'stuff'. Keep you posted as I come up with the best way to say it on the invite.
Wish-List Time (for the family)
Yesterday we spent time on our wish-list. We started with the items for the house. There are many things we need, want and would love. It is interesting sitting around with the family with a lovely cup of tea brainstorming items on the list.
We took it in turn. Sammi wanted her wall painted purple and her room painted like the spare room, Jerry wanted a new stove top, I wanted a new front door. We kept going until we had exhausted our ideas. The list is large but functional. Next weekend we will spend time prioritising it. What will we work towards first. This should be a fun session. May need more than tea to get through this...LOL.
Next we will work on the list of things we would like to do, see, explore. E.G. holidays, weekend bushwalks, movies etc. This will be loads of fun.
What Went Out - 1 Item
Jerry put a desk trinket in the gone-ski box. It was a present however it was never his thing. It doesn't devalue the love of the gifting, it is just not true to keep a gift that is not something you love.
What Came In - 0 Items
Doing well here. We are very conscious about what comes into our lives.
INSIGHTS
(1) When you put your guiding principals first, your imagination will find the truest solution
(2) Connecting is a natural human state and we all want and love it
2015 TOTAL: OUT - 296 IN - 4
