Light Bulb Moment

You know those moments in cartoons when the light bulb appears over a character's head?  I had one of those moments the other day.

Mid January Paxton was outgrowing his coat.  I knew when the cuffs were hitting closer to the elbow than the wrist that we would have to buy one soon.  I ended up going to the children's resale shop and finding a cute coat in excellent condition.  About a month later, a friend of mine asked if I needed a coat for Paxton because her son had outgrown his.  I said no and didn't think another thing about it.

This weekend I was talking with my mom.  For some reason the offer of the extra coat came up, and my mom said she would have taken it.  She said she always liked to have an extra in case one got dirty or wet.

This is when the light bulb came on.  I completely agreed with my mom.  It is nice to have an extra coat, which is why almost all of my kids have at least 2(Gray and Madalynn have 3).  But that moment I was standing with my friend, I was thinking of all of the extra stuff I have and thought maybe I really didn't need an extra coat.  There is only 1 more month of winter, surely 1 coat will get him by.   

Too often I am given things that I don't really need, and I accept them happily.  They are things that I believe might come in handy.  I go through hand-me-down clothes and keep most of it.  I come home with loads of stuff every time I go back home.  My grandparents give me things, my mom and dad give me things, my sister gives me things, and the list could go on.

I am a sucker for cast-offs.

I have a great desire to provide for my family.  I know that we may not always have the money to buy new things, so I keep the old stuff.  If someone is getting rid of something that might be useful, why not keep it?  If I have things I haven't used in years... Who cares?  I wouldn't want to buy it again, so I keep it.  Pretty soon I have filled my house with things.  Things that I don't want to get rid of in case I need them later.

Don't get me wrong.  I purge on a regular basis.  When the kids outgrow things, I resell or give them away.  I get rid of clothes that are torn or stained.  I throw away broken things(unless I think I can fix it).  But still I feel overrun by things.

This light bulb moment made me realize that part of the reason I keep things could be inborn or learned from my parents.  But it also made me realize that I had said no to adding another thing to my household, another thing that I probably didn't need.

I know that I can overcome the stuff that clutters my life, and even though my first instinct is to take and keep things that are offered,  I am going to change my ways.  I am going to get really choosy with the things that occupy my space, and hopefully, soon, we won't be picking up junk all of the time!