FRUGAL FRIDAYS-May 6th

I LOVE Fridays :)

Today is gonna be kinda different... I have lots of frugal ideas for things to do over the weekend but you already know that.

Last night we went to the library and FINALLY the book I requested that the library buy CAME IN!!! It's Dave Bruno's book "The 100 Thing Challenge...How I got rid of almost everything, remade my life, and regained my soul." I may be in absolute LOVE with this book!!!!! (To read more about Dave and his lifestyle click on the link above to be transported through cyberspace to his amazing blog.)

So anyway I am only 60 pages in... About 130 pages left to go...but so far I am COMPLETELY in love.

I must quote a few things that he said... please keep in mind that these quotes come out of DAVE BRUNO's book. :)

"I have come to believe that contentment is a virtue we can aspire to rather than a state we can achieve."

"We cannot buy what we need for an ideal life in stores, so we have become habitual shoppers who come up short again and again and therefore have to head back for more. American-style consumerism encourages us to go to a store and pick out the best of the best, but it also plants a seed of doubt in our minds. The dissapointment is built in. When we get home we decide that we just bought may not be the best of the best, and so we put it in our closet or in our garage and go back to a store and get something else that we think is going to be the best of the best."

"Here's the bottom line: what we really want we cannot buy."

There are TONS more good quotes and as I make my way through the book I plan to share.

I realize that minimalism seems a tad bit far fetched to some. Jere fears that he will have to live on 2 pairs of pants and 3 shirts. :) I assured him that is NOT the case. I'm not giving up my heels so don't worry!!

Frankly ,for me, this whole journey is about learning who I am and what is important to me. For years shopping was my "Cardio". Buying clothes and accessories and SHOES SHOES SHOES was what made me happy... until it stopped. One day all the 'Stuff' just didn't seem to matter. I realized that no amount of shoes could heal the hurt I was experiencing and had experinced in life. And I began becoming less and less into material items. Jere and I live a VERY simple lifestyle and I love it... but it's not about the "Stuff" so much as it is what the stuff DOES to us. Makes us want more. Keeps us dissatisfied.

Thankfully I am a frugal gal and so spending lots of money on things is not something I do... but I feel convicted to look at myself and think about WHY I buy things I buy and what purpose they hold. I can't take my heels to heaven... I have to remind myself of that.

This journey is about LIVING. TRULY living... living happily on LESS.