...or do without.

I had an epiphany yesterday that I thought was blog-worthy.

"Use it up, wear it out.  Make it do, or do without."

English is so funny.  I'd always thought of this statement as being a plan to avoid having to "do without."

So when I thought the other night, that the second sentence is a choice; I was shocked!  "Do without"?  Why would I want to do without?  Then I thought of how there are plenty of things I do without, and plenty more that I could stand to do without.  I can make less room in my life for these things.

When I cook, I never follow recipes.  That's me making do with the ingredients I have.  And cheetos, while delicious, we just do without. 

Just because we can have something in our lives, does not mean we need to.  And less things in your life frees you up to just live.

I've been able to get rid of various toys recently.  Puzzles with missing parts, or that I'm just tired of cleaning up.  My poor kids.  I don't remember ever having a puzzle in my childhood.  No, I do remember getting one that had a picture of shoes, that I won at and event with our neighbor Becky.  It was probably a 100 piece puzzle.

I really like some educational puzzles that my mom got the kids a few years ago.  Those have been worth the effort of maintaining.  But the puzzles of cartoon characters we've had for 6 years... we can get rid of them.  Sadly a lot of them have bent bits so they don't go together too well.  Those take up more emotional effort, keeping track of them, than they are worth to me, or my kids apparently.

I have an entire shelf, equal to the clothes that I wear, of clothes I never wear.  I've finally got it sorted out.  I need to just get rid of them.  I could store something else on that shelf!  Or I could just be more organized.  I can do more to prepare for the apocalypse than hanging on to clothes that are not a good fit. 

So that's my epiphany;  Do Without!

Make room for experiences instead of stuff!