Recently, you may remember that we went BPA free with regards to Charlie’s baby bottles–basically, a chemical that the US had deemed safe, was found to be not safe by the Canadians. All of the sudden, US companies and manufacturers were pledging to eventually go BPA free. While researching the issues, I started to find that BPA isn’t the only chemical that concerns people. There are others.

So, I started reaseaching going green a little bit more–I started reading a book, and Della directed me to this video. The combination really got under my skin. To summarize the video (although I high recommend watching it in it’s entirety), stuff is produced at great cost to our planet, often this stuff involves hazardous chemicals, we buy the stuff because we think it will make us feel better, we get home and throw the stuff away because it’s crap. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

I mean, it makes sense. We get out of our ginormous gas guzzlers that we bought on credit, we drag our sluggish butts into stores where we buy pre-packaged, mass-marketed junk that we fully expect to throw out in the next few years. I am a horrible offender. Horrible. I have mountains of stuff and at this point I don’t even know why I own half of it. I sent about six full boxes to Goodwill when we moved in January and I’ve still got too much stuff. I keep buying more stuff too–magazines, t-shirts, shoes, you name it. I love shopping and buying stuff. I think I like acquiring it more than I actually like the stuff.

Here’s the stuff:

That’s three closets in my house.

Here’s the stuff in the garage:

Close Up:

I think it’s pretty clear that I’ve got NO organization, and there’s NO way I could begin to know what I have much less wear it all. Keep in mind, I already got rid of at least three full boxes of clothes. I never really felt bad about buying a bunch of stuff–I wasn’t hurting anyone, and I didn’t have credit card debt. I’ve changed my mind, though. I need to make do with less, think about the kinds of materials used, and I need to think about quality over quantity.

So, my mission:

1. Buy less.
2. Investigate second-hand and vintage stores
3. Find new homes for things I don’t wear.
4. Get rid of enough stuff to make my wardrobe manageable.

To kick things off, I’m giving away two pairs of shoes. Size 7.

First, I have some hoe-tastic red plastic stilettos that I wore for two hours and I wasn’t even standing up. They haven’t seen the light of day since. Maybe you need them.

Next, I have a pair of never-worn (other than for the picture), off-white cowboy boots with gold accents. They are leather and the brand-name is BCBGirls. Got a little cowgirl in ya? Let me know. I have another pair from this brand that I wore to a country concert and they are very comfortable and I got several compliments on them.

So, if you’re interested in the free shoes, email me at barnyardmama [at] gmail [dot] com. If more than one person is interested in a particular pair, then I’ll put names in a hat. If you don’t care about the shoes, please, go watch the video or even just ask yourself about all the stuff you buy–do you NEED all of it? Some stuff we do need, a lot of stuff we purchase just for the sake of buying something. Time to separate the wheat from the chaff.

I’m going to try to give away stuff every Saturday. I’m going to pay the postage and everything.