It’s so easy to daydream about things you’d buy or build or learn or get. And especially this time of year we are inundated with consumerism. We are shopping for others so we may as well buy ourselves a small treat or that thing we’d been eyeing for awhile. I am a huge culprit in this regard. Christmas shopping for family often winds up being my own shopping spree for new clothes or things I’ve been wanting.

We’re challenging ourselves this year to not buy new things unless we need them. This goes across the board. We’re eating from our cupboards this month. We have so many cans and boxes and “maybe we’ll need that someday” foods that have gotten lost in the back of the pantry. We’re getting creative with the meals we cook. After some negotiating – we agreed we can buy fresh produce once a week – this has been working well for the month. Our grocery bill is virtually non-existent this month when all of our gift spending is high.

I’ve realized this mindset can be applied to a lot of other aspects. We get caught up in seeing what others have and wishing for something different from our own circumstances, but most of us have a lot that we’re not using. We have old furniture we can make new again. We have clothes we haven’t worn in years. We have so many things we keep for “someday”. In this season it’s worth going through them and deciding whether you are going to use them and when or whether they need to go to someone else who will.

It is so easy to focus on the cool new thing and take your own things for granted. Whether that’s skills you have or stuff you have sitting in your garage or things you’ve made or produced. Look around and put things to use. Fix them, change them, move them, gift them, but use the things you have to satisfy the needs you have. Clear out the backlog and clutter and find the simple solutions. You probably have more to work with than you realize.