Something Old, Something New

Today's blog is brought to you by a dear friend who attended my class in June. She has definitely understood the spirit of Living Large with Less. Here is her story: In the spirit of getting ready for fall, making a few dollars, and my belief that “less is more”, we decided to have a garage sale today. We spent Saturday evening sorting through the attic (things we’d put up there when we moved in five years ago), the “organizational” boxes in the basement (blue tubs full of things we had mostly not seen in five years), and the living room buffet (full of pretty things, many of which we never use). We sold today from 9-3, met some nice people, bonded with our neighbors, and made $100, which will go toward new eyeglasses for Marty. $100 having fun and ridding ourselves of things we never use! The rest we threw in the back of the truck and delivered to Goodwill. We feel lighter. Mission accomplished.

In addition, we discovered things in the attic that WE can use. What a concept! We had come close on Friday night to buying some new bedding at Fred Meyer…we’ve been wanting “spare” bedding to take with us to our timeshare at Mt. Baker and here it was on sale. We looked at flannel sheets, down comforters, etc. Fortunately, we held off. When we went through the attic on Saturday, we discovered all kinds of great bedding that we’ve had over the years. We had a CHOICE about which we would use for the timeshare! So I washed up some flannel sheets, a duvet, and a duvet cover, and we are set! We easily saved ourselves $100 there…yay!

Lastly, this is all relatively new to me…the garage sale, the using what we already have instead of buying new, the being excited about saving money. Though this last year has been financially tough on us, one of the gifts of this time has been that I have become much thriftier, wiser about spending/buying/wasting, and I am much more likely to recycle goods as a way of life. Another “yay!”