Happy New Year 2017

Happy New Year to everyone I hope you all had a lovely Christmas with your family and friends as well.  I find these years are going by much quicker as you get older however it's always nice having a fresh start and think about how you want to live your life in 2017.

In the last few years I've stopped buying "stuff" because I have too much stuff, most of the stuff doesn't make you happy and it costs money.  I have been decluttering using our local Buy & Sell FB group for the past two years and that money has gone a long way towards paying bills like electricity, rates, water and at the same time getting items out of our home.  I still have a long way to go however this has been a huge help toward our finances and also getting rid of things that I don't need, want or doesn't bring me joy anymore has been great.  

When Kmart brought out their decorating range a couple of years ago everything was so "cool" and so "cheap" I remember seeing a silver camera that looked like a chunky money box but wasn't a money box just something to put on your shelf if you know what I mean in terms of size etc and it was $7 which I thought was a bargain.  I love photography and loved this $7 decor item but I had got into the habit of not purchasing "stuff" anymore and even though it was $7 and I would have loved it I decided I didn't need it. 

The week before Christmas I was doing the Christmas shopping and Kmart had a lovely "Ho Ho Ho" print fully framed for $9 which I thought was great and thought for a moment about buying it.  As it was a week before Christmas I thought it's $9 and looks good but I'm just going to have it out for a week and then put it away for a year and I don't need another thing to store so I decided not to buy it at the time.  Fast forward one week when I had ti take some items back that were the wrong size and Kmart had a section for their Christmas items that were reduced and I saw the print for $3 which I thought I would buy it.  Again I stood there and thought I liked it when it was $9 and chose not to buy it and it's a bargain at $3 but again Christmas is over and I'm going to have to store that 33x44 cm frame away for a year and I decided not to buy it.  I really don't need it even though I still like it and it's now only $3.  I picked it up to take one last look at it nothing the shelf price said $3 however the framed print had a yellow sticker on it for $1.50.  I immediately bought it.  At $3 I could resist it but at $1.50 it was an absolute bargain so I brought it home and now I'm going to have to store it for a year but I'm okay with that.

Often when I see clothing that is on sale something that I ask myself when I'm standing in the shop is .... is it because the top was $40 and it's now down to $10 that has drawn me into the shop or is it because I really like the top.  If this top was $40 would I love it enough to buy it and wear it, and if so I buy it for $10 if not, I would not spend the $10.  Yes it's only $10 and you can justify it by saying to yourself if you wear it a couple of times you've at least got your $10 worth.  If it was $40 would I have stopped and wanted to buy the top.  This often answers my question and I walk away not buying the top.