Since I haven't yet had a day off since we've started our Stuff Stand-off, I have yet to really feel the pinch of not being able to spend/waste time out shopping. So it's been a quiet week of not really feeling the pinch of our newest decision. It's pretty easy to not spend time shopping when you just don't have any time. We'll see what happens this weekend.

In the meantime, I've started to really take notice of some of the things we have in our home, and I think it's only fair to share a visual of why I've made this decision to my non-existent readers. So here you have it - a photo of my study (for lack of a better term) which is really just the room where we now pile all of the things that don't have a better home. Allow me to provide a brief explanation of some of these items and why they have been deposited in the extra room. In warmer weather, the ironing board lives in the garage, where it still takes up space we don't really have, but I refuse to be out in the cold early in the morning when I'm begrudgingly ironing my church clothes, so for now it lives inside. The couch cushions are replacements for when I switch from our chaise option to our sofa and ottoman option, which I have in fact done. This option is part of why I loved the couches so much and consequently bought them, but I now feel confused and overwhelmed about where these cushions should live when they are not in use. So here they sit. The laundry basket holds in it a variety of kitchenware, placemats, and cloth napkins that lost their home when we recently renovated our kitchen. While we made more space for ourselves when we renovated, somehow we did not make the right amount of space for these items. The tool box on the floor is for some of Jon's art supplies, abandoned since he discovered wood, and the throw pillows on top of that were used in our first version of the living room and matched a couch that we no longer have. But I do use them sometimes when I meditate. Then the closet itself is a beauty to behold. We added shelving last year so that we could maximize every inch of the space there, and we have used every inch for Jon's art supplies and drawings, my arts and crafts supplies, photo albums, and many other odds and ends that find their way there when there is nowhere else to go. While all of the objects in this closet are well-loved, hence why we didn't get rid of them, I feel that I should note that they are rarely used. Yes, when we use them it is worth it, but it is hard to have this closet starting at me all the time with me never going into it to actually retrieve anything.

There are many other places in our house that resemble this closet, though I'm happy to admit nothing looks quite this sloppy. But the point is that our house is full of things that sometimes maybe get used or that we really like and wished we used, and so there they sit. And that can start to feel kind of overwhelming.

My hope is that this endeavor will help us to realize how much we don't actually need to have lying around the house. Maybe, just maybe, we'll learn how to get by with a handful of placemats instead of 10 of them.

Before I stop writing, I do want to mention that I'm keenly aware that thousands of people have lost their homes and their lives over the last 24 hours in Haiti. I've been following the news coverage all day. I thought about not blogging about all my stuff today, because I feel over-privileged and embarrassed to even be having to experiment with not buying things when so many people suffer from such devastating poverty and destruction. But then I realize that perhaps the only way for me to really experience a change is to be totally honest about my way of living, even if it causes me shame in the face of a true disaster. Maybe we should be a little embarrassed about the way we're living in this country. So I'll keep putting it out there, because being aware of the discrepancy between my life and the lives of those who live in Haiti is worth paying attention to. My prayers are with all those who have experienced loss today, and for those for whom a blog of this nature would be a luxury beyond their comprehension.