Home Parties

Watcha gonna buy?

Last Friday I was invited to a home party.  You know, one of those multi level marketing to women things where they say it's all about the fun time with friends, but it's often really about finding the cheapest thing you can live with in their catalog to support your hosting friend.

If I sound cynical, I have reason to be.  I used to be a Mary Kay Consultant, and though Mary Kay in my opinion is a good company besides the home party thing, I've also hosted other parties for kitchen stuff, jewelry and others.  It's really not about the fun night with women, because if I wanted a fun night with my friends, I wouldn't make them feel like they should buy stuff they don't need or want.  In some instances though, the products are pretty good and possibly not available in other ways.  But in the case of last Friday night, meh.

The show was about bags.  Bags to put everything in, even some large enough for your kitchen sink.  Bags for babies, kids, cars, bags to organize, to keep your food cool, all in a large assortment of colors.  I looked down at my favorite Vera Bradley bag, and it far outshone anything that was being offered at the party.  What was I supposed to buy to support my friend?

• I didn't like the purses, though I love purses
• The cooler bags seemed unecessary as I just use a quilted tote bag for hot or cold items, which can double as a regular bag
• I don't want huge organizing bags because that means I have to fill them (the thought of accumulating enough stuff for the largest bag for traveling stressed me a little, to think of unpacking it)

So, I'm not their target audience - anymore.  I did find a small zippered pouch to put some things in for my upcoming trip to England.  So yeah, I found one of the cheapest things in the catalog that I could live with.  I chalk it up to a lesson learned - no more home parties.

I used to enjoy going to these things and supporting friends.  But I realize that I no longer with to accumulate stuff in this way.  If I want or need something, I will go out and find it myself.  I will be declining home parties in the future, which will also free up time too.  

Unshopping

I had a couple of incidents this last weekend that made me realize that I no longer had the desire to shop.  On Saturday, my husband and I drove around to do some errands and get some things for the house.  We went to a town that's 45 minutes away, so he asked me where else I'd like go since we were out there.  I thought about the normal places that I like to shop and couldn't think of one place that I wanted to buy anything in, except for an organic grocery store.

Today, a friend wanted to go shop at Goodwill with me.  We've done this before and I used to purchase name brand purses to put in my shop booth.  Instead, I took the opportunity to bring in the 6 boxes, 1 bag and stereo that I had decluttered, and brought them to Goodwill.  Inside the store, I talked myself out of the 1 thing I was tempted to buy.

But in a weak moment, we stopped at a garage sale on the way home.  I found a set of 3 nesting bread pans from a specialty name brand for $7.50.  They were new and since I had our loaf pan earmarked for replacing, I thought this was a good thing to get.

Not a bad trade at all, today.  I unloaded 6 boxes, 1 bag, a stereo system for a set of 3 nesting loaf pans.  And I don't feel like I need to go shopping at all, except for groceries.

Our old loaf pan is already in the next giveaway box.