Confessions.

As I have mentioned before, Husband and I will be making a conscious effort this year to let go of “things” and direct our free time and money towards experiences. We will be using this year to examine our behavior and work towards bettering ourselves. 

I love love LOOOOOVE to shop. It’s a decadent, unnecessary and maladaptive behavior. I know this. When I step back and think about it, my head knows that I didn’t need 90% of the crap I purchased in 2011. Furniture, home décor, clothing and eating out are my weaknesses. But in the moment, “things” are so instantly gratifying. In the moment, they made me happy. Scoring something on sale makes my heart swell three sizes like the Grinch. 

A little over two months ago we lived in a nice home that we had fully restored and I had decorated meticulously. It was full of things; pretty things, expensive things, but in the end just things. We were working jobs that paid well, but were unsatisfying. We rarely saw each other, and rarely even got to enjoy our things.

Three months ago we were hurting from the sting of being unable to conceive. On a whim we placed our house on the market as a “maybe, what-if, someday if it happens.” To our surprise our house sold for full asking price 5 days after we listed it. We didn’t really have a plan. When we moved, we let go of most of our things. We didn't know where God would send us, so it seemed silly to pay to store things. It wasn’t sad, it wasn’t hard and I haven’t missed them. 

We have already made a conscious effort to knock off the eating out. We have eaten out a total of four meals in the last two months, two of which were while we were out of town. We have also only indulged in Starbucks (oh how I loveeee Starbucks) a few times. The only other purchases we have made have been clothes as necessary- running shoes for Andrew because his old pair were beyond repair, and some “casual” work clothes for my new teaching job. I haven’t missed the mall or Amazon one bit. 

In 2012 we intent to focus our income (beyond necessities) on savings and experiences.  The last few months have been a stark reminder of how little time we have on this Earth. We have golf clubs, bicycles and ice skates gathering dust. We want to spend more time doing things we enjoy, traveling and finding new hobbies. This year I intend to take up skiing (my husband is already an excellent snowboarder), we want to spend more time at the gun range (a recent hobby) and we are dead set on purchasing ATVs (see what I have been dreaming about below).



Image borrowed from Polaris

What will you be doing in 2012? Any big resolutions?

-M