Why Again?

For a few days right before Christmas last year, we had a stack of Amazon Prime boxes that reached from the floor to the ceiling in our entryway. The thing is, we were already trying for a "simple Christmas"--a gift to read, a gift to wear, a gift to play with. But when you multiply that by 5 kids and add gifts from friends/relatives, adult gifts, and stockings from Santa (that old spendthrift), it was a truly striking pile of materialism.

Looking at those boxes, I told Jonathan that we should do that "buy nothing new for a year" thing, you know, like we used to read about people doing in 2012 (we're always late to the bandwagon). I was ready to start RIGHT THEN but Jonathan pointed out in his practical way that it wasn't quite the time for it--we were getting ready to sell our house, then move, then set up a small rental house in a way that would be comfortable for a family of 7, and maybe we couldn't do all that while limiting ourselves to chance finds at the Salvation Army.

But we're here now! Pretty much settled in. No excuses left. 

Above & beyond holiday overload, we hope a "nothing new year" will give our family the chance develop character attributes we want for ourselves and our kids. This fine venn diagram breaks it down:

NNY for the Earth
-We want our lifestyle to fit with how we feel about the planet. NNY will help cut consumption
-Having less stuff means we can live comfortably in a small house (7 bodies/1300 sq ft)

NNY for Our Minds/Spirits
-Less focus on things, more focus on experiences
-"making do" or repairing what we have builds attributes we want, like patience, resourcefulness, contentedness, creativity
-Less time online shopping = more time doing better things

NNY for Our Pocketbook (actually we don't own any pocketbooks, but I was just reading some historical fiction and it just slipped into the diagram)
-obviously, not buying things = more money saved (though we will still spend on activities)
-though our rules allow buying used, our point system encourages not buying