"Now there's something I didn't know that I needed!"

Picking up a few things at Dollar Tree yesterday afternoon, I noticed an end-cap on one of the aisles with Christmas-themed chair seat pads, like for kitchen chairs. I had a flash of a thought, "oooh, I don't have chair pads in a Christmas-y fabric. Maybe I need a set!"

Fortunately, it was only a flash of a thought, and my better sense took over immediately. But it did make me think about how many products are marketed, that we've never even thought we may "need", but are persuaded by marketing/advertisers that we do indeed "need" these items.

Maybe you would like some chair pads in a nice red and green poinsettia fabric. That's okay. But what annoyed me was I had never even thought I might want some sort of seasonal chair pad before. Just the sight of them made me think I could use some.

This time of year, I receive stacks of catalogs with all manner of Christmas decor items. Several years back, I saw some Christmas bed sheets that I felt I "just had to have". Fortunately, again, better sense prevailed and I skipped them altogether. I've found that it's just best to toss those catalogs into the recycle bin without ever opening them.

I must confess, I've even been tempted to buy Christmas sweaters in the past. If you like them, and will wear them, that's great. But many of these impulses to buy seasonal items are often regretted by me later. I'm really not a Christmas sweater-type of girl. (I do have a couple of nice red sweaters (plain, red sweaters), and I do wear those on or near the holidays.)

While keeping the commerce wheel spinning is important for our economy and keeping folks employed, what I feel is excess begins to bother me after a while.

I'm not against having "stuff". For myself, I only want to own the stuff that I really want to have, long term. I have a true minimalist brother-in-law. He says that "stuff" begins to "own" him after a while. "Stuff" needs to be maintained, housed, dusted, repaired, etc. He'd rather not spend his time taking care of his "stuff". He's got a point. How much time and space do we want to devote to our "stuff"?

I guess I really don't "need" those Christmas-themed kitchen chair pads. Our backsides will simply have to deal with our regular chair pads -- they are sage green, after all. Maybe our behinds will still think that they are Christmas-y.  ;)

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Can you go a week without spending money?

I'm not talking about not paying your utility bill, or skipping out on your mortgage payment. I'm talking about spending that looks like a cup of coffee at the corner cafe, a tank of gas for the car, a video rental, a new toy, a quick bite out for lunch or even the cart of groceries to get through the week.

I just realized this morning that I haven't spent ANY money whatsoever, for the past week. No gas for the car, no groceries, no extras, nothing. I'm guessing this happens more often than I realize. I just don't always think about it. How about you? Do you ever go a week or more without spending a single cent?

We live in a society where money appears to flow freely from pocket to merchant. Spending money seems to be the path to life's enjoyment, for many Americans. In my area, the mall and movie theaters are packed to the gills on weekends. This may be news to some, but shopping is not a hobby.

I think it is significant when we realize that the enjoyment of our own lives is not dependent on how much or how little we spend. We can find so much satisfaction with age-old hobbies like drawing, reading, playing games (as kids, my sister and I found ourselves enormously entertained for hours, with an ordinary deck of cards), or making music. And many of these past times won't make you cringe when you open the credit card bill next month.

It's Friday. I'm making plans for our family weekend. We won't be eating out, but instead, we'll work together, and have a good time at that, making our Saturday dinner (probably homemade pizza). We may get out the Scrabble board and see who's learned some new vocabulary. There's an art gallery in my area that I've been meaning to check out. That's on my personal plan for entertainment tomorrow afternoon. We won't be going to the mall, plugging our behinds into a theater seat or screaming our dinner order into the speaker at the drive through. I probably won't think too much about how little money we spend, this weekend. But when our financial goals are someday realized, I'll be glad we made the choices that we did over the years.