Keep doin' what I'm doin'

Well, in light of the unwelcome (but not devastating!) layoff news that I mentioned yesterday, I realize that the best thing I can do right now is to just keep doing what I'm doing. So that's what I'm doing! And here it is:

Yesterday, I saw a post on freecycle offering gift bags and gift wrap. This was wonderful timing, because when wrapping the teacher's gift this week I realized I was about out of both, and started wondering how I could be creative enough to make homemade gift wrap. Now, I realize it can be done but a large haul of someone else's unwanted giftwrap and bags really frees up alot of my time for other things...LOL. The giver lived right in my neighborhood, so I had the chance to go over and meet her. She was as thankful to get the bags out of her closet as I was to receive them! She also warned that some of the bags even still contained forgotten gifts. So things worked out well for both of us!! I won't need to even think about gift wrap again, and even have some gifts on hand now for birthday parties and such.

The next thing on the need list was diapers. They aren't neccessarily on the "do not buy" list, since they are a neccessity in our house. And I wish I had made different choices and thought more about the environment when I started diapering my son 2 1/2 years ago, but right now the situation "is what it is" until he is potty trained. (and if you read one of my previous posts about the last attempt, you'll know what a challenge that will be!!) So anyway, the best diaper deal I could find was at CVS combining a sale, coupons, and extra bucks back. On my way to CVS today, I noticed a newly-opened thrift store affiliated with a nearby church. I considered not stopping, since we don't really need much, but I decided to pop in and check it out for future reference. One of the first things I saw was a table of diapers, new in the package! I found 3 packages of diapers in my son's size, priced at $2 each. So luckily, I walked out with 3 packages for less than the lowest price I could find on ONE package at CVS. So I'm glad I stopped! And in a fit of total extravagance (LOL) I bought my daughter a cute little top for another $2.

I had wondered if any of the fulfillment from not buying anything new would be diminished by the fact that for now I HAVE to do it this way. And surprisingly, it hasn't! Its actually MORE fun!