Rowdy Kittens eBooks — A Winner, Plus Fantastic Reader Comments

Thank you to everyone who entered to win their own copies of Tammy Strobel’s simple living eBooks. The randomly chosen winner was Jennifer, whose comment garners her some terrific reading material for her own simple living journey.

Thank you to everyone who entered this giveaway. I have some fan-freaking-tastic giveaways coming up in the next few weeks, so make sure to check in every Monday for your opportunity to win!

Here are a few of the reader comments from you guys, which as always are the best part of The Non-Consumer Advocate. I’ll start you out with what I’m doing.

Katy:

I have been ruthlessly decluttering our enormous house. We are adding a second bathroom and extra bedroom, which means that we’re losing our storage space. Suddenly all this Stuff that had been out of sight is in my everyday line of vision. My goal is to only have things I actually want to look at live in my house. I know that sounds like a bit of a “duh” situation, but that means the life size Darth Vader standup needs to find a new home! Yes, it’s cool, and I have lots of great Star Wars birthday party memories associated with it, but it has no place in my bedroom. Today I am going to go through a tall chest of drawers that hold extra school and art supplies and donate the majority to SCRAP, which is:

“SCRAP (School & Community Reuse Action Project) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that inspires creative reuse and environmentally sustainable behavior by providing education programs and affordable materials to the community.”

Yesterday I:

• Loaded the minivan up with all the leftover stuff I had been storing from last year’s garage sale and took it to a secondhand shop, (they paid $12 for some of it. I could have accepted more $$ for store credit, but that would have defeated the purpose!) and then to Goodwill.
• I also dropped some kid crap stuff at the children’s consignment store, where they gave me $12 for things I had brought on a previous trip.
• Later, I sold a pair of my son’s hockey skates (a $2 garage sale find) through Craigslist for $7. I have four or five other things on Craigslist at the moment that have yet to sell, but my experience is that most things need to be listed a few times before the they get bought.
• I also took four boxes of canning jars and supplies over to my father house, as he has a “canning room” in his basement. The only time I ever do canning is at his house, so it makes sense to keep all the supplies there.

I have a Japanese exchange teacher moving in with us next weekend, so my goal is to declutter the entire house before then. Yes, it’s a lofty goal, but it’s all I will be doing until then. It’s a pain in the tuchus for now, but I’m looking forward to a house that’s easier to keep clean and find the things we want and need.

Jennifer:

“We are trying to say no whenever we can. Those commitments, even just once a month, can really add up to a time drain and make life more stressful.”

Dave:

“We’re planning, at the end of our current lease, to move some place downtown to help us live virtually car-free. Also Craigslisting things to clear out excess crap (and make a little extra $$).”

Missy Lindley:

“Maybe some of the “simple living” habits I’m trying to cultivate don’t seem that “simple”: gardening, knitting, canning; however, when I do these types of things, it causes me to slow down, concentrate, and be in the moment. And that, to me, is simple living at its core. My next endeavor will be to focus on not over-committing. I love to volunteer and be helpful, but then have less time to focus on simple living. I’m working to find that balance. It’s a constant dance.”

Leslie:

“I feel like a kid at school…”oooh oohh me me!!”

I am making a big change this month by particpating in the Hang ‘Em Dry challenge over at Crunchy Chicken. Line drying exclusively and loving it!!”

Heather:

“This is right up my alley. I am trying to reclaim our “space” from our “stuff.” This weekend, I sold a chair we never use, and my old camera. I’m struggling with the smarty farty college books I never read. I may hold onto those for a bit longer. But everything else is fair game. Including the new husband’s old broken kegerator. He doesn’t even use it! It’s broken! Plus, he’s not a bachelor anymore!”

Sage Norbury:

“I’m riding a bike to work. I found it in my neighbor’s trash and there was nothing wrong with it. They had just gotten a new one.

I’m using craigslist and freecycle to “de-crap” my house and life. The more that goes out, the better I feel.”

Dynelle:

“I’ve always loved to declutter, but I’m being much more ruthless now, especially where sentimental things are concerned. I have a hard time trying to save everything from the kids. . .and I have to ask myself, “If my mom had saved that, would I have wanted to be saddled with it?” Most of the time, the answer is. . . no. So I have to realize that what I’m saving is not for THEM, it’s for ME. And do I want all the clutter? Um. . . no. Gotta let it go.”

Sharron:

“What a great give-away! Ironically, we are downsizing from a two car family to one car–not perfect but better by far. My daughter and I are going to try to share. Our city now has bike racks on certain buses, so hopefully I’ll be able to ride my bike part of the way and then catch a bus on some days. She’ll walk to school on others. IF we can sell the second car (which still has a loan balance) it will save us around $400 a month in payment, insurance, maintenance and gas. That’s a lot of cash, especially since we live on a very tight, single-parent budget.”

MP:

“The biggest change has been my mindset. Not having a steady income for a while now, I’d been feeling deprived because I couldn’t go buy things. Reading your blog and others like it made me question why I wanted to buy an item. And almost everytime it wasn’t because I needed it, but because I wanted to get rid of the feeling of lack. Now, I’m feeling much more peaceful and like I have enough.”