Wow.  I totally FLUNKED the minimalist lifestyle test yesterday.  After a weekend of cleaning closets, finding boxes and bags of things to donate to my local youth-organization thrift shop, I went out and bought…

• 1 Flat Panel 42″ LCD/LED HDTV
• 1 pair of brown shoes for work
• 1 pair of black shoes for work
• 1 pair of black shoes for work (not a typo…or repeat, more later.)
• 1 pair of ‘rubbers’ (haha…more later on that too.)
• 1 grey skirt for work
• 1 brown sweater for work

Yes.  I flunked.  And I found success all at the same time.

First, did you notice how I put ‘for work’ at the end of most of that stuff?  As if buying it FOR WORK makes it all okay.  This, folks, is called ‘justification’.  The TV was FOR MY HUSBAND, not for me.  Also justification.  Its a wicked web.

Alas, I could beat myself up about it…but as I stated…I also learned something – which is, afterall, the point.  Right?  Here goes…

1)  All the shoes are, yes indeed, for work.  I realized that spending a few extra dollars on GOOD QUALITY shoes is better than continueously buying shoes that are ‘temporary’.  Plus, did you know that our feet actually grow as we age?  Which is explains why 1) my feet have been killing me with every pair of shoes I put on these days, it seems and 2) I have been ‘forced’ to buy size 9, when I’ve been a size 7.5 – 8 all my life.  My feet hurt because my old shoes are TOO SMALL.  Strange, huh?

2)  The TV was a Christmas gift from each other to each other.  We just got it because we saved for it…and we paid cash for it.  It’s awesome and we enjoy watching movies together on the weekends as our ‘date night’.  I don’t feel guilty.

3) I’ve wanted a pair of ‘rubbers’ for quite some time.  Missouri weather isn’t like New England weather.  It snows and then immediately gets slushy.  I hate slushy.  (As a side note, the ‘rubbers’ story is funny because the store I shopped in is owned by a local, more mature family.  Another customer came in – older, more mature – and announced “I need to get some rubbers for my grandson”.  The other younger shopper and I looked at each other…and I know she was thinking the same thing I was which was “Um…this ain’t Wal-Greens, lady.”  But the older saleswoman knew exactly what she meant.  Just goes to show how the generations evolve.  I had no idea that galashes were called ‘rubbers’. )  So, I bought some ‘rubbers’ which were normally $70 for $28 and felt awesome because I’ve wanted a pair for over a year, but refused to spend my hard earned cash of a pair of crappy ones from Target.  I feel okay about the purchase and after I wear them today…in the slushy-ass so-called ‘snow’ then I probably won’t feel guilty at all.

4)  As for the skirt and the sweater.  Well…I do feel a bit guilty because I really don’t need them and even if I wear them for work…I didn’t need them for work.  And since I bought them at a local boutique and they were 75% off…I can’t take them back.  (This, I have found, is the only drawback to shopping at local small businesses.  The return policies suck.)  So…I admit it…this was completely an impulse purchase…I don’t need them, and I’m not sure I love them.  SO…this purchase was a flashback to the ‘I buy crap I don’t need or love’ era.  Admitting it is the first step, right? 

So there you have it.  I plan to chuck a pair of brown shoes and black shoes into the ‘thrift store box’ today…

…unless you need a pair of size 8 shoes.  The old TV is still awaiting a home…do we hang it in the bedroom or donate it to a local thrift store?  I don’t know yet.  I have four brown sweaters now.  I suppose I could determine which brown sweater I dislike the most…and throw it in with the shoes.  No…I WILL determine which brown sweaterh I dislike the most…and throw it in with the shoes.  Ahhh….progress.

As always, my message is, mindful consumerism.  Know what you buy and why you buy it.  In addition, consider where you buy it and try really hard to shop local.  (And if you haven’t mastered the art of saying ‘no’ to yourself…Dryer’s Shoe Store and Krickets Fine Fashions are having ONE HECK OF A SALE!!!)

(Oh…and here’s a photo of my organized kitchen shelf and ‘closet’ desk…because I’m just so damn proud of both.)