“The amount of money you have has got nothing to do with what you earn… people earning a million dollars a year can have no money and… people earning $35,000 a year can be quite well off.  It’s not what you earn, it’s what you spend.”
~Paul Clitheroe

“Have nothing in your house that you don’t know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
~Author Unknown

“With greater emphasis on working to live, not living to work, we are creating awareness for simpler solutions, a more creative existence with healthier, happier longevity, for those brave enough to accept the challenge.”
~Tracey Smith

“Never let the defeat of the past rob you of the success of your future.”
~Ray Comfort

This post was inspired by Trent’s post over at The Simple Dollar on “Ethical Frugality: Regifting”. I was struck by the absurdity of people who said things like:

• “re-gifting in any form is rude, thoughtless, and downright disrespectful.”
• “(re-gifting) just tells me about that person. Lazy, shallow, thoughtless.”
• “Regifting is fine when doing a “Chinese” gift exchange.”
• “ the consensus seems to be regifting is only OK if you can plausibly lie about it “

And then of course, there is my wonderfully diplomatic, tactful response:

“For those that consider re-gifting to be gauche, wrong, whatever . . .

Have you considered that you are allowing advertising and marketing firms to form your opinions for you? That it hasn’t been until the last 40 years that most gifts weren’t necessarily new (they were usually hand made and/or remodeled/repaired re-gifted items) and . . .

That by NOT re-gifting you are conforming to consumerism, waste and landfill/environmental issues.

I find it funny that many of the same “you are an idiot if you re-gift” are also the ones that think that anyone using anything but a bike or hybrid is a drain on our natural resources. What hypocrites.”

No, tact is not my middle name.

Ok, here are 6 reasons why you MUST re-gift.

1. Re-gifting gets rid of the clutter in your life you don’t love.
2. Re-gifting gives you the opportunity to take more time and care in determining who can best use (and love) something you already have.
3. Re-gifting leaves you more money to help those in need.
4. Re-gifting shows you haven’t succumbed to mass advertising and marketing pressures.
5. Re-gifting shows you aren’t influenced by consumerism.
6. Re-gifting shows you are doing everything possible to alleviate waste and landfill issues.

Here is an element of what I was talking about in my last post - Jason over at Bible Money Matters said it much better than I did.

Avoid the Pressure to Spend.

and ultimately become sacrifices . . .

I very much would love to be a “chauffeur” for my son - he’s going on a field trip with his class next week and they are looking for volunteer drivers.

Cool!  I’m in.

Only to learn that it will cost $3 admission to the event I would be driving to.

Hum.  We have decided to budget so tight that $3 is nothing to sneeze at and frankly, I’d much rather throw it towards debt and be FREE than to spend it just so I can drive (and pay for gas too).

It’s things like this that come up and nickle - and - dime you to death.

Don’t let that happen.

Don’t let others make you feel guilty for not doing something like the above when the ultimate reason you are doing it is so much better for you and your family then to drive a few classmates on a field trip.

2005 Chevy Trailblazer
Dark grey exterior
Beige fabric interior
63,000 miles
A/C
CD/Radio
Roof rack
Tinted windows
Very good to excellent condition
4 wheel drive
Clean title

LOVE this vehicle but Dave Ramsey say’s SELL
$10,995 + our contribution pays off the credit union and it’s yours

KBB.com private party value
Excellent condition $11,290
Good condition $10,615

. . . none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor.”

~Samuel Johnson

Stopped by Walmart for a couple of things I haven’t been able to find recently with coupons or cheaper else where - grabbed my Airwick $6.00 off coupons that I clipped and kept even though I never use those things, but I thought “who knows”…

Walmart had the items on sale for $6.00 and I had (4) $6.00 coupons.  Guess what I got?  Freebies!  No, I won’t use them personally, but I will be putting these $14.00 retail priced items into baskets as housewarming gifts for friends.

I love free!