More Thoughts on Simplifying

And maybe a few other thoughts as well!

I've been thinking about a simpler life, which I blogged about several days back. I'm still thinking about it. But I have come to a few conclusions. For one, I think I/we spend too much money. Mostly me, but part of that is because I'm in charge of our finances. I have started taking steps to economize in terms of groceries. Now I think I need to start being careful in other areas financially. (Froggy - keep the comments to yourself! Vacation spending was budgeted so I could have fun and not worry! And it was fun.)

I used to use coupons, but I quit for many years. I'm starting to use them again but only if they really do save money. For example if I buy a name brand with a coupon but the store brand is still cheaper, have I really saved anything? There are some things that I can not compromise on, such as clothes detergent, soap, etc., because of allergies. So I'm not going to worry about that too much. But if I can cut a corner, I will. I try to consolidate car trips as much as I can, but that is not as easy as it sounds. But I do try.

I figured that is a good place to start. So that's where I'm starting.

Otter went to work with me today, which I always enjoy. Bill was able to meet us for lunch, which was really nice. Otter and I went to Hobby Lobby to look around after lunch since we had time to kill. She is very much her parent's daughter, she has the crafting gene and it's dominant! We had to stop at Wallyworld for a couple of grocery type things after work, I left her in the craft section while I got what I needed and she was very well occupied when I came back to her. She said that she could probably live in WalMart's craft section, and that she now has a lot of ideas for projects. A woman after my own heart! :)

Bill has a joke about how he always knows when I'm going to redecorate, because I always start with the bathmat. He says that when he comes home and there is a new bathmat, that it's time to hide! I'm not quite that bad, but I do like to change things around once in a while. I've had palm trees as my decor in the bedroom since shortly before we moved, and they have been decorating our bathroom since shortly after we moved. So I've had them for about 4 years, in other words. Which is actually a long time for me. But you know what? I have absolutely NO desire to change them. I like my palm tree stuff. BUT I am probably going to get a new bathmat. The one I have is slowly coming apart, each time I wash it there is less and less of it when it comes out of the dryer. I've already told Bill that if he comes home one day and sees a new bathmat that it is not a reason to panic!

I am making a few changes to my palm tree decor. I have a set by Spring Maid which I never was really wild about, but it was the only thing I could half-way stand when I decided to go with palms. The pieces are ceramic and kind of awkward. The bathroom cup is square and tall, and it's the same size/shape as the toothbrush holder. More than once Bill's tried to fill the toothbrush holder with water in the middle of the night! So when we were in Walgreen's last week (getting his prescription), I noticed that they have a palm tree collection on their clearance aisle. The drinking glasses are short, but they are round and much easier to hold. They are also plastic and harder to break, so that is one less concern. I bought two glasses, one is to drink out of and the other one is now holding the toothpaste & toothbrushes. They are still the same size/shape but I don't think Bill will get them mixed up in the dark because he'll be able to tell that there are toothbrushes in them, which was hard with the other one. While I was at it, I also bought one of the dinner-sized plates (also plastic) and it is now hanging on the wall in the bathroom. So I'm going to put my ceramic set on eBay, sometime in the near future. It's a drinking glass, toothbrush holder, lotion pump & soap dish. Oh yeah, there is also a small rectangular candy dish with the set that Walgreen's has. I bought two of them - one has q-tips in it and the other one has soap. Part of the Spring Maid set was switchplate and outlet covers. I don't like them any better than the rest of the set. I came across an unpainted switchplate cover and outlet cover in a box from an auction recently, and today I bought two more switchplate covers at Wallyworld to match. I'm just going to paint them a neutral color that matches the bathroom walls and put the palm tree ones on eBay at the same time as the bath set. Also, the Walgreen's set was all on clearance and I spent less than $2.00 for all of it.

Yes I know I spent money today that I probably could have avoided on the switchplates. But I'm pretty sure that I can make it back when I list the bath set.

I think that's enough for today.