The Stuff In-Stuff Out Equation

Math was never my subject, and will never be my subject. I hate it only a little less than I hate vegetables. Last year Emma’s first grade math homework threatened to give me hives, so helping her became Bob’s task. This year was not much better but fortunately he’s been there when she’s needed help.

But I’ve been thinking about math and how I can use numbers to help motivate me through this busy month. I haven’t counted the number of things I’ve given away, and I don’t count the number of things I bring in either. Since I’ve started my project, my awareness of things coming in and things going out has been improved. Lately I’ve been working too much to spend much time shopping, which has helped. But I still want to be more mindful about buying things. When I’m out in a store and see things I want, I’ve gotten better at asking myself if I really want to bring those things into my house when I’m working so hard to get rid of things.

This month is going to be tightly scheduled with year-end school activities and work and preparing for a short camping trip we’re taking at the end of the month. When I’m stressed and busy I have a tendency to shop, but I don’t want to shop. So I’m going to start counting the number of things I bring into the house and the number of things I donate. I won’t count recycled stuff like junk mail and papers because it’ll make the numbers artificially high. I’m also not going to count food, since those items are temporary, and food storage isn’t an issue for us. Everything else- clothes, books, toys, knick-knacks, anything that will need a permanent home will be included. Ideally at the end of the month, the stuff-out number will be significantly higher than the stuff-in number.

This is going to be tough, because there is an amazing used book sale in a neighboring town during Father’s Day weekend. We went last year-two days in a row- and bought a lot. I still have not read all the books I bought, but I’m already thinking about the upcoming sale. I am a sick person.

825

These were our Day 1 purchases.

Restraint is not one of my strengths. I get emails often about used book sales in my area, and they are a frequent occurrence. I decided this sale will be the only one I go to. When the date gets closer, I think I’ll choose a number that’s reasonable and try my hardest to stick to it.

So far this month, I’ve brought nothing in but haven’t gotten rid of anything either. Next week I’m having a pickup, but since I collected those things in May, they won’t count. Plus there is a lot there which I would have to go back and count. Each post for the rest of the month will include updated numbers. Stay tuned!


9 Responses to The Stuff In-Stuff Out Equation

  1. Ok don’t hate me but I don’t agree with limiting your book buying. I would instead limit the space of your books. That way, you can go through books you already purchased, purge them and buy new. Nowingly you will probably purge them after buying for new books. I think books are awesome. So I say, Buy, buy, buy. But maybe one bookcase each. 🙂

    • I could never hate you! 🙂 I decided to go through my books and see if there’s any more to donate. I have been giving away my teacher books in dribs and drabs and am going to get rid of more of those. I decided to keep count and replace half, but also I am going to stick to books I really, really want to read.

  2. If you’re stressed and busy, how do you find the time to shop? Sorry, it doesn’t compute for me, when time is at the minimum I buy crappy fast food more, but not stuff, so I can’t quite understand…

    • Buying stuff helps me decompress- but of course it’s temporary because then I get home and need to find a place for the new things which I am trying to remind myself. Even though I don’t have a lot of time, I know I will end up at the mall to buy birthday and Father’s Day gifts, and in the past I’ve often come home with stuff for myself. I want to remind myself that there’s nothing I need at the moment so I should not buy myself anything!

      • Ah we all decompress differently – mine’s with junk food… Stay strong and keep telling yourself there is nothing you need, and anything you ‘need’ you’ll review in 30 days to see if you can’t live without it!

  3. I’m wondering if you itemize on your income taxes – Intuit’s “It’s Deductible” program gives wonderful values you can use to offset your taxes and it’s so easy to do. If you don’t itemize, consider “giving” your discards to another family member so that they can do that. When we moved last year we kept the receipts from St. Vincent, Habitat, etc. and I used the program at the end of the year – $600 off the taxes!

    • I always keep receipts and our accountant does itemize. I’m too lazy to try and sell things but remembering that it helps at tax time is a definitely motivation. That reminds me that
      I need to organize this year’s receipts, I already have several.

  4. I can identify with the book sale buying urge. Last year at a local book sale I purchase over $1000 worth of books for very little. I’m retired and love to read. I also have spent years trying to cull down the number of books I own, have had a few years of having a moratorium on buying more books, etc.
    I’ve read a lot of the books I bought, and am still going through the others I have. I now read and either pass the book on to another reader, or donate to the library for their sale.
    I say, if books give you as much pleasure as they do me, don’t beat yourself up for buying them. If you have shelf space for them good! If you get to a point where you feel overwhelmed by the number of books you own and don’t have space or time to read, do a self-enforced moratorium. What I found is, during that time I still bought a book or two, but very few compared to my normal rate.
    If shopping or buying more than you need is an issue for you, you might enjoy joining the compact group where you commit to buying nothing new for one year. It helps change your buying perspective on many levels.

    • I like the idea of not buying new things, it’s definitely worth thinking about! I’m going to limit myself to this one sale and be very picky about what I buy- I can pretty happily go without buying anything else for the house but I think books will always be a challenge!

Tell me, tell me...