Hard to believe it is almost the end of November already!  As you might recall, I declared November to be a no shopping kind of month and……success!  I only bought one thing non related to food or taking care of the house, well, maybe technically two.  The first was a calendar being sold by Chance’s doggy daycare (to fund more toys and such) but I had to buy it – he was featured in the photos.  The second was gray hair removal and that is sort of a requirement for me personally.

Otherwise, I did no online shopping and no “errands” disguised as shopping for odds and ends that weren’t really needed. So I saved money, time AND gas.  It hasn’t been all that hard to do for the most part.  It’s hard – really hard – to ignore all the “shiny objects” the marketing people want to you pay attention to.  The BUY NOW or REGRET IT FOREVER messages that surround us day in and day out.  But then I thought about whether or not the shiny object was a necessity and it really wasn’t.  At all.

This holiday weekend will be spent doing projects around the house to clear up clutter.  I have a giant – and I do mean GIANT – stack of old bills and papers that need to be shredded.  Every time I look at it, I get discouraged and walk away but I am determined to make a dent in it as part of the decluttering of my de facto office space.  And I need to tackle the kitchen, too.  So many projects and plans!

And then there will be Christmas shopping which means I will technically break the no shopping thing, though it will be for others.  Luckily, we don’t go overboard in my family (and it’s a small family) but I will have to think about my “Christmas list” to not add useless stuff which I am trying to keep to a minimum.  Interesting dilemma.

If you are reading this before Thanksgiving, I hope you and your loved ones have a peaceful, relaxing day.  Remember to think about all the things you already have to be thankful for, and not about all the things you THINK you need to have.