Thoughts on Black Friday/Buy Nothing Day

Whew! Thanksgiving is over, and I'm wiped out. It was 2 solid days of prep (W & Th), and then the guests started coming (an hour early!) at 3:30PM. But everyone had a great time, the food was wonderful -- and I have enough leftovers so that I don't have to cook for a week, which means more time to clear the clutter! Fortunately or unfortunately, everyone had such a good time that the last guest didn't leave till 10:30, which is way past my bedtime these days. So I'm bushed, and have a headache.

And even in the last few days, I did manage to get rid of some really old food, like a box of egg replacer my husband bought before we were married (it had practically become an ugly part of the wallpaper) and perhaps half a dozen catalogs and magazines.

I also emptied out the junk my stepson had stored (I think mostly so he didn't have to look at it) in the file drawers in his old room. I just threw it on the floor for him to paw through, or not. (if he doesn't care about his stuff, why should I?) Then I emptied the 2 1/2 (don't ask) file drawers my husband has in the living room, and put those contents in my husband's new office (i.e. his son's old room). Today, if I get enough cleaning up of the Thanksgiving mess done, I'll move my recipe and crafts clipping files into those file drawers, perhaps with the catalogs. That means more space in my file drawers down here in my office. Not sure exactly how that will help down here, but it will. At least my files will all have room to breathe.

I've decided that after I'm done in the house, I'll move to the garage and clean it out. For now, anything that doesn't go on freecycle is going down into the garage, but in a way, that's making the garage worse. And after the garage is cleaned out -- goal is at least one car in it -- then I'll work more in the yard. This is hard, because in the yard, I don't really know what I'm doing. But hey, I'll learn. And again, the goal is to have everything but the yard done by New Year's Day. Wish me luck! :)

So since I'm in the mode of getting rid of stuff, I'm not much in the mode of shopping. Actually, I'm not much of a shopper anyway, but I do like a good deal. And they abound today. So I'm really of 2 minds about it -- I am not programmed to buy at the drop of a circular, but I do need some new beer steins, and they're 6 for $6.50 at Kmart this weekend. (I broke a few in some misguided experiments to heat my morning latte milk without the microwave, and only have 2 left. And hey, those came from a garage sale, so I was really good there.) What to do? Buy them today, or buy them later for more money, as a sign of protest? I'll buy them now, because why would I give KMart extra money for the same stuff just to prove a point? Just to improve their bottom line? I don't think so.