Back to basics...

Confession time: I have always been drawn to the whole concept of "living simply." I love thrift stores. I love buying junky pieces of furniture and making them into my own - I once deco-podged [sp?] a small wooden table and completely mismatched chair with bright, colorful pictures from magazines and used it as a desk - got lots of compliments on them, but they just absolutely wouldn't fit in the moving truck so we abandoned them. Having been an extremely fast reader all my life, I typically do not buy books at Barnes & Noble or Borders [although I love spending time in those places - checking out new books that I want to hunt down at the library, drinking coffee, looking at the cool journals and pens...] because I think it's a waste of money to spend $15 - $20 for one or two afternoons of entertainment. The Goodwill and I have an unofficial barter system going - I buy books from there, read them, and then put them in my Goodwill stack and "donate" them. Then I go in and buy some more...

I am so sick of "stuff." Partially for financial reasons - I'm trying to get out of debt; and partially for environmental reasons. I live by the adage, "one man's trash is another man's treasure," and am not interested in throwing more junk in already full landfills. I do not believe that one needs to be a tree-hugging hippie in order to care about the environment. God gave us this earth to rule and have dominion over, and therefore, I just want to do my best with one of the jobs He has trusted me to do.

Recycling has become a conviction in the past few weeks - yes, I said a conviction. I just think that if something can be recycled, it should be recycled. Plastic...aluminum...all the stuff that we normally just throw away. I used to recycle when I owned a home and it was mandatory to put the little plastic tub out on the curb once a week. I rent now, and apparently, the recycling truck does not come to our apartment complex, so I have grown lazy. But I really feel like I need to get off my butt and find out where I can take my cans and plastic bottles. Either that or save them and learn to be more "crafty," and make them into gifts [which wouldn't be a bad idea, pocketbook-wise!].

Some would say that my renting an apartment is an unwise investment. That I am just "throwing my money away." To me, buying a house and having a mortgage [which would be much larger than my rent payment!], homeowner's insurance, and property taxes to worry about would be not only unwise, but impossible at this point. I love where I live. I love my apartment. And...I love not being financially responsible for home repairs!! The only downside is not being able to paint my walls. I do not like white walls. But I can be creative with that, too - my kitchen, for example, is a "Coca Cola" theme - and I bought a Coke calendar, ripped it apart, and lined the white part above my cabinets with vintage Coke ads.

My husband and I have gone back and forth on the idea of getting a second car...once I finally get around to practicing my driving and passing my road test [I know, I know!!]. It might make things somewhat more convenient, but truthfully? All I see is:

*More money spent on insurance.
*More money spent on gas.
*More money spent on maintenance.
*My husband and I literally NEVER seeing each other some days [there are some days where we at least have time together in the car, if nothing else!].

Now that he works nights, a license would be great for me to have, since he could come home and sleep instead of coming home and picking me up and dropping me off. It's not like he uses the car during the day. We're working on that...but a second car? I'm just not sure I want the financial responsibility. I really want to free up my finances and create the need for LESS stuff. In another year and half to two years, we will be completely free from all our consumer debt, as well as have our car paid off. I am not anxious to rack up more debt after working so hard to pay it off...

I don't think I will ever be a vegetarian, because I KNOW my husband will never be one - and neither of us feels like cooking two separate things for each meal. I will never go completely "all natural" or "organic." It's way too expensive to buy organic fruits and veggies when I can bring the regular ones home and wash them in soap and hot water for the same effect. I will never be one of those women who uses "natural" feminine products because...just...yuck. And I probably won't use cloth diapers on my future kids for the same reason.

But...just a warning...I have been tempted many times to just comb my unruly hair into dreadlocks to save time in the morning and money on hair products - so if I can ever convince my husband that they would be totally hot on me [he insists that white people universally look bad in dreads - I disagree!]...I will post pictures :o).