Retail Greed and Consumerism Zombies

My last post I had mentioned that I couldn't figure out where the month of October went.......WHERE HAS NOVEMBER GONE?  I can't believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving!  With that being said....let's talk about Black Friday and why I'm not participating this year.  I know....this may get controversial but simplifying our lives and learning to live with less has made me see this day differently.

Black Friday = Retail Greed and Consumerism Zombies...I mean Walmart is starting Black Friday at 10PM on Thanksgiving!  Target, Kohl's and Best Buy at midnight.  Big retail stores have crushed the soul of Thanksgiving and the true meaning behind the holiday.  A day to spend with our loved ones and being thankful for all that the good Lord has provided for us has morphed into our loved ones leaving to serve the people of our "stuff" thirsty culture.  It's quite sad that after having dinner (after saying grace and sharing what you're thankful for), that most of our society goes out to buy more "stuff" so they feel content. 

More stuff = More debt.  According to the National Retail Federation, 226 million consumers (that's 75% of our population) will shop on Black Friday and are estimated to spend over $21 billion!  The average consumer will spend an average of $400 over the Thanksgiving weekend and an average of $750 over the course of the holiday season. 

I'm opting to give home-made gifts that will mean more to my friends and family than a gift that they can't use, don't need or don't want anyways.  What about you?  What will you be thankful for tomorrow?  Hurrying through dinner to stand in line at the nearest Walmart or enjoying time with loved ones reflecting on all the Lord's provisions so far and all the blessings to come?

This Thanksgiving I pray that I may be consumed with the Creator of all things rather than with things created!

Was it just me? Where did October go?

My, Oh, My how October flew by and before you know it the Holidays will be behind us and we will be shoveling out of the snow once again.  Some of you may be wondering how October numbers went...I saved us $650 and sold $137.33 worth of clutter!

Halloween is one of those holidays that doesn't really have any significance to me.  I could take it or leave.  But it is one of those holidays that can get quite pricey.....easily spending $200 on costumes for Chris and I.  Plus, you can't forget about the accessories and the candy!  This year my husband and I dressed up as 1950's Greasers and I only spent a total of $12!  I found this dress at a consignment store for $12 months ago and knew I HAD to have it and the rest of our ensemble is stuff we had or I borrowed. 

We get bi-monthly pest control and Friday was our day.  We have one of the nicest guys ever but he hates driving in the snow.....why they only have 2-wheel trucks is beyond me.....but he always calls the day before to get a weather/driveway report.  He asked my husband if he could put our account on "hold" until March.  My first thought "I HATE bugs....what if they come in the house?"  My second thought "it would save us money."  I was also worried that we would have to repay for an initial spray in the spring.  NOPE......since we are loyal customers we will just resume normal spray and normal pricing in March AND if we have an issues with bugs he'll come up for FREE.  I won't have any bugs PLUS I'll save $100. 

We only have 7 weeks until Christmas!!  EEK!!  I'm really going to have to think outside of the box to save us money as we prepare for the gift-giving season.  Plus, this year I'm going to have to avoid the temptations that each store entices you with to buy things that you don't NEED but are so cute with their glitter and bows and Christmas packaging.  Hmmmm.....maybe I should avoid stores altogether.....except the grocery store.  That's thinking outside of the box.....wonder if I could have the will-power to do that?!?!

What about you?  Any plans to save money? What home-made gifts do you have planned?  Have you decided do a "Buy Nothing Christmas?"  I'm seriously considering doing this next year!!

The Lord continues to provide

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:19). I love this verse and I am continually reminded that the Lord does provide our every NEED!  He knows the desires of my heart and hears my fears and my anxieties and rescues me. 

Those that have been with me from the beginning of my journey know that I have been more aware of how we spend our money as a family and awhile back I was able to save our family $600 a year by calling our Assessor's office and they decreased the value of our home by $65,000.  Well, I just received "corrected bill" and the value of our home has been decreased by another $65,000 which means that we have saved another $650 a year!!  That's approximately $104 a month off our mortgage payment!  Our God is GREAT and provides our every need!!

Dressing up a plain tee

Stained shirt is now a scarf

I must say that I love Pinterest.  A place to share ideas on crafts, DIY ideas, recipes, fashion, tattoos, etc.  You name, they got it!  In the spirit of re-purposing our consumables, I have found several great ways to re-purpose your old clothing....or even clothing that is boring.  Stay tuned....I have several ideas I want to try....need to go and hit up the thrift stores.


And since we are on the subject of clothes......it's that time of the year.  Time to switch out the summer clothes for the sweaters and scarves.  I have a hard time (sometimes!) getting rid of my clothes...."I might some day want to wear it or need it for a photo shoot or costume."  So I found this idea and I have implemented this into my closet.  When it's time to switch my closet out for flip flops and tanks, I will simply re-purpose or thrift store all the items that are still on the backwards hangers. 

September totals blew August out of the water!

Anyone excited to know what our grand total was for September?  Drum roll please......I saved our family $1315.29 and I sold $101.50 worth of stuff!!  I never thought that I would ever get to this point in my life.  I have always been the type of girl who can't wait to have the next big best thing; weather it be the latest clothes, gadget, household item, etc.  It's crazy that the more that I get rid of, the more I want to continue getting rid of.  It's hard to explain but I have a new passion for life and it's so amazing to watch how the Lord is blessing our family!  It truly is going to be the Year of Blessings ;)

Our vanilla is FINALLY done!  I made Home-Made Vanilla and it has been in our cupboard for the last two months curing and it is finally ready to use!  And by making our own vanilla I'm saving approximately $40/year! 

Vanilla Extract

3 vanilla beans

1 cup vodka

Mason jar

 

1) Use kitchen scissors to cut lengthwise down each vanilla bean, splitting them in half, leaving an inch at the end connected.

2) Put vanilla beans and vodka in a mason jar.

3) Give the bottle a good shake every once in a while.  Store in a dark, cool place for 2 months or longer.

*Lasts for years.  You can keep topping it off with vodka once in a while as you use it, just remember to give it a good shake.
*Personal Experience: Briar Patch had the cheapest vanilla beans and they were 100% Organic and I doubled the batch since it takes 2 months to cure!

 

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes!!  This last weekend I went to Sisters Closet, which is a clothing swap put on by Twin Cities Church and was able to find some amazing clothes.  Afterwards, we went to the Harvest Festival at Western Gateway Park and they were doing a rummage sale and all clothes were $0.50!!  I got a total of 5 skirts and 2 tops between our two destinations and only spent $1.00!!  I LOVE shopping this way and I had no buyers remorse afterwards AND EVEN BETTER was I didn't have to come up with a creative way of telling my husband how much I spent!!

Now that the Christmas season is just around the corner (and it's finally starting to feel like fall) I have been busy coming up with the products that I will be crafting up this season!  I've been having so much fun but also trying to remember to keep in mind our new way of living a simpler life.  Coming up with some great new ideas plus coming up with ways to re-use our throw away consumables as gifts.  Super excited and can't wait to share some of my new creations.  I LOVE making home-made gifts for my family and for re-sale! 

 



Sharing our way of life with my grandparents

I am so blessed and grateful to have had my grandparents visit us for 6 days....It was such a busy time sightseeing and catching up.  Time went by entirely to fast but we were able to share our rich and culturally diverse state.  And I was excited to share our new and not so new way of living with them. 

Their visit started out with a local visit.....Nevada City and Grass Valley.  We walked around downtown and window shopped.....I bought NOTHING.....just in case you were wondering ;)

The next day we drove down to San Francisco and had an amazing time and the weather was beautiful. Coming from a small town in Ohio, my grandparents were a little culture shocked by the big city and how far we have to travel to everything (even the grocery store is almost an hour).  We were able to drive them across the Golden Gate Bridge, experience the Wharf and Pier 39, introduced them to their first street performers, bought bread at Boudin's, they got to eat lunch at The Hard Rock Cafe for the first time and walk down Haight Ashbury.  It was such a great experience to be able to go to a "touristy" area and I came home with no tchotchke items....no key chains, no sweatshirt and no stuffed animal (In full disclosure....I did buy my husband some salt water taffy).  I left with amazing memories of my grandparents, my mom and my sister experiencing the big city together and that was worth more than any store-bought trinket. 

On Thursday, my husband had the day off and wanted to work on the foundation so we relaxed at home.  I was able to harvest the garden with my grandparents and put our bounty to good use and made fresh salsa.  Chris showed them what Jerusalem Artichokes were and how to harvest them....and the two completely different tastes you can experience.  Chris taught Grandpa Randy how to use our lumber mill...they turned ordinary trees into lumber for our house.  We will always have the memories of how they helped build our home. 

On Friday, we took them to see all that Sierra County had to offer.  We went to Downieville, checked out the breathtaking Sierra Buttes, had lunch in Sierraville and experienced the beautiful Lake Tahoe. 

I will forever cherish the quality time that I was able to spend with my grandparents.  I was able to show them the beautiful state that I now call home, they were able to bond with my husband, and experience our new radical way of simple living.  We ate 100% organic and locally grown food, we harvested and prepared food out of our very own garden, my grandpa helped Chris mill lumber for our new home, and I was able to learn a lot about true forgiveness. 

Replacing the dinosaur

I know I'm a few days late on my post.....I was sick and now I'm preparing for my grandparents arrival from Ohio!  So much to do and never enough time in the day seems to be my motto lately ;)

Well, we broke down and replaced our 10 year-old dinosaur of a printer.  It still worked great.....I know.....why replace it?  No one carried the ink in-store anymore.  I was going to have to order ink online and have it shipped to Staples so I could avoid shipping costs.  That didn't sound very "simplifying" to me.  I did the math and it made more economical sense to buy a new one and who can beat $75 for a printer/copier/scanner right!?!
          Let's do the math:  1)  I checked my scrapbook from last year and I paid a local drug store to print approximately 100 prints at 29 cents each.  I bought the fancy HP photo paper and I now can print my photos wirelessly from my laptop and Smartphone!  How cool is that!!  I am saving about $14 a year if I maintain my 100 prints.  Plus, I can print my photos as I go and update my scrapbook instead of spending weekends at a time when I finally get around to printing my pictures.  So far it has simplified my whole scrapbooking experience and that's always a plus!   2)  Ink for my new printer is significantly cheaper.  My old dinosaur cost $86.26 to replace the black and all the colors.  My new printer costs only $32.73 and only has a black and 1 color.  END TOTAL: I'm saving a total of $67.53 this year by printing my pictures and ink costs (and that's only buying ink once....I buy ink at least 2 or 3 times a year)!  I've pretty much paid for it once I have to buy my first new cartridges. 

A couple of months ago Chris and I were reviewing our life insurance policies and I realized that we were still paying a smoking rate for Chris and he quit smoking 15 months ago!!  WOOHOO.....So proud of my husband!!  Anyways, we went and updated his policy and had to undergo the blood tests and exams and such.  We just got our letter in the mail stating that he passed....duh....and we are saving $53.96/month plus we increased his benefit amount!!  That's an additional $647.52 a year!!

I'm CHANGING my ways......who would have thought?  We recently broke our glass juice pitcher so I ran into Ross when I was in Auburn.  And I ONLY bought a juice pitcher (for only $3.99).  No clothes, no cute picture "for when we move into the big house," no cute outfit for my dog who looks so sad when when I put it on her, NOTHING but my juice pitcher.  I'm finding myself asking "do I NEED this.....or do I WANT this?"

What about you?  Anyone venturing on this journey with me? I would love to hear how things are going with you ;)

Minimalism is not the lack of something. 

It is the RIGHT amount of everything.

An extra $600 a year? Yes, Please!

What a wonderful and exhausting week....but I had such a great time modeling with La Trashionistas again and encouraging everyone to reduce, reuse and recycle.  It's so nice to be able to promote something that I'm so passionate about....recycling, reusing as many of our waste products as possible, and living a simplier more intentional life. 

My mom and I
 

I am ashamed to admit that eating healthy during the show proved to be harder than I expected.  Mistake #1....I didn't plan ahead.  Hair and make up proved to take longer than expected and we justified eating fast food by sharing a meal =)  The second day we pre-planned and ate before so we didn't have the temptation to run through the drive-thru again.  This journey is to help me stay accountable and hopefully encourage others.  I think it's important to share my struggles and short falls as well....I am only human.  We live in a society that glamorizes perfection....perfect bodies, perfect marriages, perfect life......but the reality is that we all struggle, and we all fail.  Temptation is hard especially when life gets busy.  I learned that it's important to plan ahead and be prepared for anything. 


AN EXTRA $600 A YEAR?  YES, PLEASE!
We received a notice in the mail notifying us that our property taxes have went up once again.  Not sure how our taxes could continue increasing when our property values continue to decline I called the Assessor's Office and had them re-assess our property value.  We just received a notice that they have decreased the value of home by $65,000 which equals a savings of $600 a year!