Just the other day, Gommy was in the grocery store and every time an impulse (that is also a ploy that is cleverly used by companies to make you 'impulsively' buy their product) to buy something arose, Gommy asked herself the question..."Do you need that or just want it?" It turned out that most times it was a 'want' and not a 'need' item. When you don't have a credit card to fall back on to purchase something, you choose more wisely. We definitely live in an 'instant gratification' culture today. You see children have absolute meltdowns when they are told 'no'......and it is scary to say, but adults have the same meltdowns, they just hide them with the ability to have a little or a lot of 'retail therapy' that is unnecessary.
After moving for the second time in a year....(yeah I know!) it became obvious that Gommy could possibly be considered an impulse buyer AND a hoarder.....whew....there I said it! Grandpa was very gentle at first as the boxes were mounting up and it was becoming evident that the new place only had a certain number of square feet to put the 'stuff' in....then Grandpa became a little grumpy and asked, in no uncertain terms...."Where in the heck are you going to put all this stuff that you haven't used in the last year since we moved it before?" That was a wake-up call for Gommy. At first, in a state of panic, Gommy tried to think of how to keep all the 'stuff'. Another storage unit? No, we did that already and after nine months of paying storage, put all the boxes of 'stuff' in our apartment. So many boxes that it looked like we WERE the storage unit now...... Soooooooooo, Gommy just gave the extra 'stuff' away. Some of it went to a woman who was getting a different kind of job and needed dress clothes and dress shoes .....Hey, Gommy had plenty of dress clothes and dress shoes that she doesn't use anymore....poof....gone....Then there were boxes and boxes of very good kitchen pots, pans, dishes, gadgets.....(yes boxes...I know!) that Grandpa gave to a man at his work....poof...gone...The man later told us that he shared all the 'stuff' with several families and they were very grateful to get it.....The moral here is that you can only use so much 'stuff' wear so much 'stuff' and eat so much 'stuff'....after that you are officially a 'hoarder'....admit it.....you hoard. Many of us hoard...Get over it...it is really cathartic after you FORCE yourself purge all the 'stuff' you don't REALLY need. And you get a bonus...you feel really good about yourself for helping people out. I know! Amazing.....
As for doing things that don't cost anything....Gommy and Grandpa have become the 'Grand-Poo-Pa's' of doing things
Gommy thinks the best thing that ever happened to her and Grandpa was to become the 'have-nots' because it brought a whole new dimension to 'living happily ever after'.....Realizing that talking to each other instead of trying to go somewhere or do something to be enterained is really more rewarding.... That cooking a meal at home that costs pennies a serving instead of gobs of dollars at a restaurant is smarter and tastes pretty good too....That making memories instead of making mounds of 'stuff' that you really don't need, will last much longer and be more gratifying in the scheme of things.... And that simplicity is more relaxing than having to keep an eye on your 'too much stuff'. Try it, it works. I know!!!!
