I was inspired by my friend and fellow mommy blogger, Elizabeth, over at Flourish in Progress, she initially began blogging when she challenged herself not to shop for one year! Wow, I know she cheated at least once, but talk about will power. The other night my friend, Lea Ann of Mommy’s Wish List and I discussed not necessarily giving up shopping for a year, but what about only re-purposing or buying only gently used items. Well, we are in the process of getting bids to add on to our home, so I am not sure how “green” I can be as far as that is concerned, but I am certainly willing to give it a try and if not my other spending expenditures can help buy/save for the said furniture/furnishings in the new spaces.

     So far, I have re-purposed antique picture frames for several gallery areas in my home, re-painted used furniture, made a chalkboard from an old framed piece, I decorated my son’s room almost entirely from antique, re-purposed or collectible items – I will say, linens, bedding, drapery must be new – I can’t handle anything fabric that must be touched on a daily basis to be used. I bought used or donated items to re-decorate a living room wall (before and after pictures to come) and found many other delightful goodies inside the walls of the resale places. Why buy new when so many great used items or to be found?

Another example – just after Christmas I won a handbag, yes, I know, I won, from the SITS girls, 12 Days of Christmas! I thought “how fantastic”! About a month passed, when I learned the product I had won was on back order and they asked if I would rather have the cash value and buy my own handbag. I did just that. Here I went again – I hopped on eBay – spied the perfect, very gently used, handbag purchased it and still have 1 cent left over. So, of course I am sure this challenge won’t be easy, but in an effort to not spend so much, not waste so much and be a better steward of the resources God has a afforded me – I will continue to look to resale, eBay, Craigslist and other places to find incredible items at incredible prices. I will keep you in the loop as I travel on this journey! I cannot wait to see where it may lead! I will continue to post updates, have show and tell of what I’ve created and what I’ve learned in the process! Help encourage me and others to try doing this challenge as well.

    I initially thought – I’ll try for a week, then I’ll try for a month – now, I think I just need to give it a go for the remainder of 2013 – what do you think? Anyone interested in joining me?