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Here’s some links on Compacting, Purging and Simplifying Your Life…
The Compacting Committment – Meg talks about the compacting commitment and looks at it from a Christian perspective.
Room to Breathe – Amy talks about how she simplifies her life by purging out extra toys and clothes. Wash them more, but have less makes it so it doesn’t get out of control, or so she says.
Steve Pavlina writes:
There are a few rules that have served me well whenever I go through a purge cycle:
1. When in doubt, throw it out.
2. Ask, “What would be the worst-case outcome if I threw this item out by mistake?” If the answer is little or nothing, throw it out.
3. Could someone else benefit from this item more than I would?
Liss76 is purging this year, and keeping track of the amount in pounds!
Annie recommends having a toy garage sale for your children. They are much better at choosing what toys they really want than you think, and if you have older children let them know that they can pocket the profits.
Carol Keller talks about organizing one’s kitchen. Simply put, check out your current needs, weed out those things that are seldom used, throw out the things that don’t work.
airforcewife did something I don’t recommend, but understand. She purged while the husband was away because he wouldn’t. But she had the following advice that’s golden:
If you haven’t worn the clothes in the last two years, you do not need them (this is mainly a guideline for me). Pieces of fence chain from 1992 are really not necessary. And just how many stuffed animals are necessary for my kids’ survival? Apparently in excess of five thousand. Anything over that number and I send it to Goodwill.
In college, I saved everything. I moved several times throughout my six years (including graduate school) and I’d probably took with me two of those mini 2 drawer filing cabinets. I met a friend when I moved to Tampa 4 years ago that loved to organize. She helped me purge many of those papers I’d not touched since freshman year!
…just another thought about purging. Getting out of debt has been great (although I just purchased a new car, last night). For a while I had so many little bills that doing the budget was a pain. Now I’m on track and feel doing my budget each month is much easier because of that.
A “new” car? You know what Ramsey would say– you should have gone for 2 year old. But I guess if you paid cash… 🙂
I definitely know what Dave would say! However, since I’ll have this car for the rest of my life (and I’m only 28) and the oldest model was an ’06 I decided to go for it :whistle: Wish I knew of Dave Ramsey 4 years ago when I leased :dizzy: my last vehicle!
When you “fleeced” your last vehicle? 🙂
Well, at least it was an ’06 and not an ’07. Hope you get many years out of it. How do you expect it to last for the rest of your life?
I am going to take really really really good care of it :biggrin:
Meg and I have been getting rid of a ton of stuff recently as we prepare to move.
Let me tell you, if you ever have any doubt on how much stuff you have, just hire a group of painters to paint the whole interior of your house. As you move everything out of the rooms you will quickly see how much stuff you really have.
In our preparations for moving we have thrown away at LEAST 30 full trash bags of just junk, taken at least another 20 to goodwill, and probably given another 10-20 worth to other people.
The really strange thing is that our house doesn’t really look that different. It didn’t look that extremely cluttered before and except for a few small areas, it really doesn’t look that uncluttered now (well especially not now, since everything is in turmoil from the painters).
I’m amazed at how much clutter and junk can hide among all the seemingly useful things ;-).
My biggest problem is saving things with “potential” like high school papers that I’m sure my kids will benefit from or homework from the time I spent in England.
I used to draw comics on the top of my notebooks and I saved that too– perhaps I should scan that in an post some of the adventures! LOL
Colleen,
I bought my first car while I was in college, and I broke the “rule” and bought it new. If you’re careful with your purchase it is not always a bad decision to buy new. The entry level car for many manufacturers typically has a much lower markup then the “premium” vehicles. As a result the day you drive off the lot there is much less of a depreciation in value. If you also negotiate a good deal on this entry level vehicle the impact is even less. Once you add in the decreased maintenance costs you could come out ahead.
E.G. I bought my 2001 Toyota Echo in November of 2000 for $12,000. Sticker value on the car was ~$14,000. When I drove off the lot it was worth about what I paid for it. Now, 6.5 years later all I have done is regular maintenance and the car is still worth about $5.5k (It’d be worth more if we didn’t drive it 130k). While that is still a depreciation of over 50% in 6.5 years, I’d likely see similar depreciation for any used vehicle and maintenance costs would have been higher.
Fortunately where I work they have a partnership with Ford so I got the card for dirt cheap and from all that I read on this vehicle it’s going to last for a while. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and example and car buying experience! Where you driving that you put so many miles on it?
Well, I went to college in NC and my family lived in NH. That meant at least 3-4 trips back and forth each year while school was in session. When I graduated from college, I got married and we’ve only ever had one vehicle. When you take into account I sold insurance door-to-door for 2-3 months, and I had a job for 8 months where I worked 45 minutes away (and when my wife needed to use the car she dropped me off at work), the miles get racked up pretty quickly. Fortunately the Toyota Echo gets 42 mpg highway, so we didn’t spend a fortune in gas.
I have to confess I went out on my birthday last month and bought myself a brand new vehicle.
It is cery shiny, almost silent in motion. Wonderful gearing, open topped.
Very much a vehicle just for me – not the family.
Okay, okay. It’s a bike 🙂