My Black Friday at Home

I have to give a lot of credit to my friend and fellow blogger Nicole from Mom Saves Money. In her recent blog post "Why I'm choosing not to shop Black Friday", she was able to articulate much of what I've been feeling and so I talked it over with my husband and I'm sleeping in and staying in this year. I think of Black Friday as no sleep, long lines, and bitter cold temps. There are only two items that might tempt me to go out--a new laptop that I've been waiting for a good sale on and a Dream Light for my daughter since it's all she talks about. (But I've been looking, they are not on sale.)

My kids have too much stuff. We can't contain it in their rooms, we have a basement overflowing with stuff--most of it played with once then discarded. Our living room is often an ocean of toys. I'm done. I look around some days and get concerned that the crew from Hoarders is going to show up on my doorstep. I'm working on digging out from under 15 years of accumulation of kid (and grown-up) stuff. I'm slowly working into these areas and reclaiming them for us. So instead of adding to the clutter with a lot of unnecessary junk, I'm working to purchase a few (as in 2-3) gifts that they really wanted. The desires of their hearts. The thing that will be loved and cherished and not discarded on Dec. 26. So my kids won't have as much under the tree this year. I'll spend about the same amount of money on them--but getting the things they want instead of a bunch of  'great stuff' that was 80-90% off. 

And if you know me well, you know how hard it is for me to turn down a deal like that. But I've made a decision that I am working at sticking to. One of our goals as parents is to instill in our children the attitude of gratitude. And while I know they like ripping lots and lots of paper, I'm trying to give them more. We're talking about purchasing less, saving the money and doing better things with it. In part, we're giving a little more to charities this year because they are hurting, too. Some will go to our vacation fund. We're putting the savings into our family and taking away some of the power of the 'stuff'. 

I'm blessed with three fantastic children. They have never been kids who circle magazines of what they want (like I did). They have a good head on their shoulders. But I look at our clutter and hoarde of stuff and then look at their precious faces...and I wonder what I'm teaching them by my own lifestyle. And so I'm looking at a better future for all of us. One with less clutter and more of the things that matter---family and time. And with those thoughts in my head, I will stay home, watch a movie with my kids, not be exhausted and not fill my house with even more clutter. And while they might be disappointed with less under the tree, I think the long term benefits will be worth it for all of us.

Happy Black Friday from Coolestmommy and the Coolest-Crew

(located for today at home)