Avoiding internet shopping

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So, it is 10:09am and I have just sat down to have my midmorning coffee. And as per usual I'm comfy on the sofa with my laptop in front of me about to open Facebook and have a game of Cookie Jam. Yes I know, "What a waste of time!". However downtime is downtime and we are all entitled to that. A little mindless activity to while away your relaxation time is totally acceptable in my book. The other thing I do during my downtime is browse Pinterest for craft ideas. Oh, how I can waste hours on that. But it more often than not inspires me to jump up and get creating soon enough. All that being Continue reading

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Kids and clutter ~ A guest post by Andréia

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I am a mother. I have two small children and, as all mothers will agree, I have been constantly aware how much our kids are brainwashed to want stuff. It is hard that even in school they do that. Recently there was a book fair at my son’s school. At the present moment we are really short of cash for extras so there is no money for spares.  And I am a big FAN of books so I don’t usually question buying a book! Anyway, along comes my 4 year old son (who can’t read) with two little slips of paper saying that he wants two books, for the “lovely” bargain of US$50. Just so you have an Continue reading

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Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Shopping on TV

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Once your house is mostly decluttered, besides maintenance, the biggest thing you need to watch out for is accumulation. Everything you buy takes you back toward The Land of Clutter. We've talked about shopping because you're angry, bored, lonely. Because it's social or habitual for you. One thing we haven't talked about is the dangers of drinking, lonliness, boredom, and TV shopping. A woman I know drinks a lot of wine every night, and she shops. The Home Shopping Network seems to be her favorite. Slightly tipsy, she orders jewelry, knick knacks, and shiny things that catch her eye while Continue reading

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Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Resistance Is NOT Futile

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Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Any fan of Star Trek or American pop culture has heard the phrase "Resistance is futile." It was popularized on the TV show Star Trek when the Borg (human-machine hybrids) were about to assimilate (i.e., suck in, take over, and destroy) a new race of beings. This phrase popped into my mind yesterday when I was perusing the sales flier for the big box discount store Costco. Costco and its competitor Sam's sell items in bulk - big bulk - in a warehouse setting and at discounted prices, often significantly discounted. Not only can you buy food in bulk, more than Continue reading

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From the Archives ~ Day 328 Black Friday

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Written by:- Cindy Bogard If you're in a big hurry, just read this:  Resist! If you're not in such a hurry, feel free to read on. In the United States, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, which was on Thursday this week. Sadly, the website Answers.com defines Black Friday as "an unofficial American holiday". Sad, not because the rest of you are missing out; sad because a day of shopping insanity has somehow become "an unofficial American holiday". So what is Black Friday? As I said, it's the day after Thanksgiving and the official start to what's called the holiday Continue reading

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Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – I’m Stocking Up For Christmas, Are You?

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Cindy's Weekly Wisdom I've started stocking up for Christmas. I'm not entirely sure this is a good idea. In the past, when my children were younger, I'd sometimes see something six months before Christmas that I thought would make a good gift. By the time Christmas came 'round, I'd realized that my child was too old / too young / no longer interested in X, so now my gift needed to be re-gifted. (Do you call it re-gifting when it's never even been gifted once?) My caution about stocking up is compounded by my once good idea that went bad on me: Having a gift box full of a choice of generic Continue reading

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Scarcity vs. Sacrifice & (The One Week Closet Experiment) ~ Guest Post by Mohamed Tohami

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We live in a world ruled by excessive consumerism. Everyday we receive hundreds of messages that try to make us feel incomplete. They try to sell us the idea that we don’t have enough stuff, so that we go buy more stuff to fill the void and be happy. These messages use the influence of scarcity to trigger your pains and fears. The question is: how can you protect yourself from the negative influence of the scarcity mentality. The answer lies in your ability to sacrifice. When you make a small sacrifice by getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter, by eliminating the unnecessary Continue reading

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Happy Thanksgiving & Black Friday Advice

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Colleen and Cindy wish all our American readers and the good folk of Leiden (Netherlands) a very happy Thanksgiving May you eat all you want and not gain an ounce. Now that would be something to be grateful for. A little more Wisdom from Cindy In the United States, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, the day that marks the start of the "holiday shopping season." It's a day of amazing sales and deep discounts. Some stores open as early as 4:00 am, with people staying up all night in the parking lot so they can be the first in the door, as the very best sales (aptly named Continue reading

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Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ You Can’t Push a String

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Cindy's Weekly Wisdom You can't push a string... Different people have different styles, styles of gift giving being no exception. In my family, specific (extremely specific) gift requests aren't considered out of line. In my husband's family, many gifts, all surprises, are the norm. Well, we all know what happens when people you rarely see or talk to give you "surprise" gifts, right? It took me years of interacting with my in-laws before I realized that I could not control them, I could only control myself. (Some very obvious lessons are nonetheless hard to learn.) I started announcing in Continue reading

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Ideealistin ~ An interview the Dave Bruno

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As promised on Tuesday I have another wonderful interview to share with you today. Once again Ideealistin has put together a great interview, this time with Dave Bruno of The 100 Thing Challenge. You might remember back on January 13th my post consisted of a review of Dave's book The 100 Thing Challenge and how my skepticism changed to enlightenment once I had read the book. Before this I had only seen snippets from other bloggers about this concept and I thought it was just a fad that would be expensive to retract when the novelty wore of for some of the over eager participants who plunged Continue reading

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