I talked about this a bit in an earlier post but it's been on my mind a lot again. After Christmas and wonderful celebrations with family including the joy of gift giving I started really thinking about what goes on in the secular world during the month of December. Businesses get new "must have" products, spend crazy money to advertise sales and incentives to convince us to buy the must have products (and other stuff we don't need once they have us in the store), consumers oblige and stores increase their revenue. Then the week after Christmas people spend money, gifts cards, or return things that they really didn't want. It just really got me to thinking about how much money changes hands during the holidays and how much is really necessary.
Don't get me wrong, gift giving to those near and dear to you is a great joy and I enjoy it. However, I think that the marketing and extra spending in December does speak to the material nature of our society. We are programmed to desire the latest and best in order to make our lives easier and supposedly more enjoyable/fulfilled. (At least that's what advertisements would have us believe).
At the same time I was reflecting on material excess I'd also been working to de-clutter our home and purge our own excess. I have been working on this room by room and finally got to tackle our closet. This meant that months after I needed to wear any of my maternity clothes I was finally getting around to putting those away and getting the rest of my regular clothes back out (my closet had been a disorganized mix of both). Once the maternity clothes were safely in bins, I was shocked by the huge pile of regular clothes that I had to rearrange. At one point I looked at a stack of 4 or 5 plain white t-shirts which I used to wear very frequently as a first layer with assorted other shirts over it. Oh sure, they are slightly different. One has a scoop neck, one a v-neck, one thinner and softer material. I literally felt physically sick in the gut when I realized how much I have. I was disgusted. The next couple hours were spent really thinking about what I wear and don't wear (or haven't worn in over a year or more) and making huge piles to donate to the thrift store.
Interestingly enough, I recall having made piles to donate when I switched from regular to maternity clothes. (Clearly I held on to way to much at that point). The thing is, I am not a huge shopper. Shopping is not a destination or recreation for me. I shop when I need something. The white shirts were probably purchased over the course of 3 -5 years and had been saved and used since then. But really, who needs that many white shirts whether they can be claimed as a "wardrobe builder" or not?!
And have you ever noticed that once you buy something, it causes you to "need" to buy something else? For example, my husband and I decided that we really wanted technology with video capability (because we are old fashioned around here and our cell phones and digital camera do not video -- we don't update our technology very often). We were especially excited to be able to record the girls' first Christmas and other milestones. This purchase was highly thought about and researched to look for value and quality. Once we did purchase it, we had to buy an SD card to use in it and then I found myself wanting to buy a case to hold it. So many of our things require more "things" to make the first thing more useful, efficient, desirable, etc. With Christmas money I decided to replace my winter jacket that I had for 10 years and I got it at nearly 80% off! Still one could argue if this was excess and if I truly needed it. And guess what, once I had the new coat, I thought it would be nice to have a new scarf and hat to match it. (For the record, I did not purchase a case for our video recorder or a new scarf and hat).
Being on one income forces the issue of living a simpler life because we have less disposable income. There is freedom in going to the store to get just what you need and living with less. It's great not to be too tied to material possessions. And even more than I have in the past, I know that I will be thinking, "do I really need this" when faced with potential purchases. God's been increasing this idea of living simply in my heart more and more over the past few years and it's a gift to be able to dig deeper and let go of material things.
