Home Again and Forward into a New Year

We arrived home today after six nights in Yorkshire, staying in two different places.  We had a lovely stay, and our hosts were incredibly hospitable.  We have maxed out on eating chocolate and Christmas foods and are ready to resume our normal diet.  It was lovely coming home and having a simple spaghetti dish with tomato sauce for supper.  (There was little else in the cupboards!)

We are happy to get back to our own home and our familiar things.  In addition to the wonderful hospitality we received on our travels, we also received some lovely presents, but thankfully not too many, which suited us both down to the ground, especially in the light of my 2015 decluttering aims. I feel like I'm definitely turning a corner in my life, particularly with regard to my attitude to acquiring things.  I think in the past I've had a tendency to acquire things to fill some sort of emotional void and make me feel like a better version of myself, but this has only really succeeded in leaving me with a heavy heart, when I look around at all the things in my house that I don't ever use or pull out and even look at.  It wasn't the answer.  A lesson learned, for now at least.

Realising what caused my shopping habits has been a real eye opener to me and has helped me to develop a strategy to change my behavior.  It has resulted in a lot fewer posts about charity shop shopping I'm afraid, as I haven't been visiting many lately, except to drop off donations.  The changes I have managed to make to my behavior have allowed me to pay off debts that I've been carrying for years, and has made me start to put a lot more thought into every purchase and ask myself the questions -  Do I really need it, have I got one already, is it good quality, is it fit for purpose, will I still like/want/use it in 3/6/12 months time? It is a strategy that has worked well so far and often I come home from shopping trips having hardly bought anything at all.

Yes, I'd like to dress smarter and own slightly better clothes this year, and I do intend to purchase some clothes, but as far as anything else is concerned, there's not really anything significant that I want or need to acquire, in the immediate future anyway.  This realisation has freed me to just get on with living and enjoying life, looking after myself, my small business and those around me and will hopefully enable me to give away what I can to help others who have less and in all honesty also help myself in the process, to make my life and heart a little lighter.

Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to getting back to normal, doing a little food shopping, returning to the gym and to reality.   The break from the everyday has been relaxing and rejuvenating, we all need a break sometimes, but I'm ready to get back to it, to what keeps us grounded, motivated and moving forward with our lives.

We still have a few days left of the festive period before work, school, etc. resumes proper, but hopefully we can enjoy these few days and spend them quietly at home, doing simple things; a bit or sewing, reading, watching TV, menu planning, catching up with chores and laundry.  What are you looking forward to in 2015?