Trying to Restore the Novelty Value

A couple blogs I read regularly provide tips for simplifying, organizing, and decluttering your life, all things I want to know about. However, when it comes to putting your money where your mouth is, so-to-speak, I have a much harder time.

Having just recently had my hours reduced (at work), and hence, my paychecks, I believe now is the time to really put these ideas to work. One thing I’ve already done is sort through my VHS tapes (yes, I still have some, being the dinosaur I am) and DVDs. I managed to come up with a pretty good stack I plan to donate to a local senior center (being that they’re all B/W classics). I also have another stack to watch before donating. Just by doing this I managed to free up a bit of space in the drawer where they’re stored. I also checked Netflix and was able to determine which I can stream through a home computer (or games system too I think), rendering the item somewhat redundant to keep.

Keeping spending to a minimum will be harder to do since I almost always find at least one superfluous item on a shopping trip. I guess the best way to avoid that is to just stay out of the stores. This time of year (with the warmer weather), it’s certainly much easier, but there’s always temptation to do a little online shopping (amazon, ebay, and etsy being my three favorite stores).

While going through my videos and dvds, and seeing how many things I still have yet to watch, the thought occurred to me, 'this is like discovering buried treasure.' With the amount of stuff I have on DVR, DVD, and VHS, it will probably be several months before I need to go out and rent something new, which is a happy thought.

I also have several Wii games I hardly ever play, and a new one I just got for my birthday, so there’s still a lot of longevity left in those.

I won’t even get into how many books I have squirreled away for a rainy day, but I easily have several years’ worth to read just under my own roof.

I guess the whole key is to entertain yourself with what you already have by “trying to restore the novelty value.”

Of course I’m not saying this concept will last forever. A time will come when I have listened to every CD, watched every video/dvd, played every Wii game, and read every book, but it certainly won’t be for quite awhile, so I should just enjoy the fruits I’ve been blessed with, instead of searching for more – just yet.