Something New

I try to spend my life without getting caught up in materialism, keeping up with the Kardashians, or clamoring for the latest and greatest innovations and devices.

In our household, the modus operandi is to 

• 1) use it til it wears down, 
• 2) when it shows signs of failure, give it few days to see if it will fix itself,  which happens more often than you might think,
• 3) when all else fails, surrender and go shopping for last year's model, or the bargain discount to replace whatever died. 

That's how we operate on many levels. OK, maybe not everything we own, but much of what we own. That's often our default behavior. When it comes to our household items, good enough is usually good enough.

Raising four kids, we navigated the emerging driver scene very economically. We always wound up with hand-me-down cars to pass on through high school and college days. The only time we had to actually buy a car for one of our kids, we got an old used vehicle from a neighbor for $1000. Although you can no longer get parts for the engine, it's still hobbling along about 10 years after we purchased it. Great deal!

For years, in our family room we used the sofa from my grandmother's assisted living apartment. With young kids and pets in our house, it was well worn and a little stained. But it was sturdy and had a usable sofa bed, so it was all we needed. When we decided to replace that sofa, I called Goodwill to come and pick it up for their donation drive. The Goodwill worker took one look at our sofa and said "No, I'm not taking that. That's the worst sofa I've ever seen." I was like, "But it's the sofa we've been using. Surely it would be ok for somebody?"  He shook his head, "No way. I'm not taking that thing." Yep, that's the kind of stuff we used in our house.

There was a happy ending for the sofa, though. A good friend who had upholstery skills took the sofa, recovered it, and then gave it new life in her lake house where it stayed for years. Then she gave it back to us in fine shape, and it pulled duty as extra seating in a basement room for even longer. Take THAT, Goodwill.

Almost all of the furniture in our house came as castoffs from parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends. Back in the day, that's how all new homeowners furnished their homes. We just never took the next step. Rob & I, married for 38 years, had literally never bought any amount of furniture until 2 years ago when we bit the bullet and purchased a new sofa, upholstered armchair, and leather chair for our family room. Weeks after it arrived, my daughter's new kitten Franklin joined the household and immediately started shredding all three pieces of furniture with his feisty claws. Well, dang.

Pretty nice lookin' leather chair. Until you look closely. Bad kitty.

As far as iconic TV show families go, we are very much like the Heck family from the 2010s TV show The Middle. Frankie, Mike, Axl, Sue, and Brick. Often a day late and a dollar short, trying to use whatever is lying around to make do as best as we can.

Anyhoo, I'm trying to paint the picture that, as far as possessions go, we have a pretty laid-back, anything-will-do attitude.

We are currently in the process of building a retirement house. We expect there to be an overlapping period of time where we will juggle both the new house and our current house. We've arrived at the conclusion that there is very little of our current crap that we would want to move to a new house. If we don't buy new furniture now, then when would we ever? So, I am excitedly and nervously entering the grownup world of shopping for furniture and fixtures. I'm checking out traditional bona fide stores, resale shops, stores like IKEA, online retailers, and also hitting Estate Sales. I am mindful that the goal is to wait a few months and, hopefully, make purchases from stores in the vicinity of the new destination after the house is completed, so that we won't have to transport furniture in a moving van. But, I'm, shall we say, window shopping now, to get a feel for things. And I'm checking out accessories and other things, making a few purchases along the way.

Right now, I'd say that our best purchases so far are unique display items for our new Wet Bar area. All wrapped up and ready to go when The Bar is opened up. Priorities, and all.

My basement is also full of things I salvaged from my mom's house when we were cleaning it out. Some sentimental, but still okay under my new vision, because they haven't been cluttering my house for decades. There are also a large number of still-in-the-box items that found their way into my mom's online shopping cart, but were never opened or used. My new kitchen will be nearly completely stocked from all of those boxes waiting in my basement.

Being recently retired, this is an exciting project for me, and I am hilariously under qualified, since I've never done anything like this before. I find myself taking bold steps like Get rid of the china dishes, we don't need no stinkin' china cabinet! Like, This wedding present has been sitting around for 38 years, it has to go! Like, I've always hated this table! Goodbye! Like, That lamp looks stupid, get it out of here! Like, If the kids don't want it, trash it! Like, I got this dresser when I was 12 years old--I can bear it no more! Like, Purge and simplify! I'll be sure to advertise when we schedule the Moving Sale.

It's a fresh start! We're uppin' our game! Of course, in the constraints of reality, I have to be very mindful of costs and expenses. We can't go crazy here. But, Rob and I have agreed that we can stretch. For the 1st time in our adult lives we can put together the home that we want, not because someone gave us their stuff, not because it's what works for a family of six, or what's best for a household of growing kids, but what WE want. It is an amazing feeling. Like I said, if not now, when?

Have you had any similar experience? Any words of wisdom to share? 

I find it surprising that I am trying to fine-tune my sense of style. My what? And, I am trying to build confidence in deciding what goes with what. I would never let the experts tell me; I want to figure it out myself. Always comfort over looks. Practicality over posh. Functionality over fluff. At this stage of the game, I'm spending maybe 15 or 20% of my time thinking about this building project. I have a lot of other things going on, too. But, I know that in the coming months this project will ramp up to be a major focus of my time. 

So, in 2024-- learning to stretch myself in unfamiliar territory, taking chances on an exciting beginning. Something new, and I'm lovin' the ride!