My little sister has a shopping addiction. I've had it myself at times, I admit it. But, I hope, I manage to control it most times. But sometimes she gets out of control. She had latched on to this new Temu that you see on Facebook. I've looked at it a few times, but have resisted buying from it. Prices are great; I can't deny that. And, according to my sister, quality is good as well. (so how can they sell so cheap? I don't know) For example, she said the other day her hubby told her he thought she shouldn't wear sweatshirts with sayings on them anymore (she has a lot of Jesus sayings on her sweatshirts) and I have no idea why he would even say that... I really don't... but because she said he did.... she went to Temu and bought 7 new sweatshirts, a pair of sandals, and I forget what else she bought.
Anyway, what has brought this thought up is that last night she was sending me via messenger several (ok, 4) links to Temu with 'spin to win' things. I don't do those things. So I sent a note to her to stop sending them to me; I wasn't going to play along and tempt myself to buy something I really don't need. To stop looking at Temu and quit ordering things! She smart-mouth'd me back that she was just calling their bluff to see if she'd win a prize. Uh huh. I told her I was trying to 'save her from herself' by telling her to quit shopping at all - and she said she deleted the app. She admitted she shops too much and buys too much.
I know, I know. I bought some things from JCP last week. I bought two dresses, two jackets for the dresses that I can interchange with other outfits, and a skirt. Granted, I don't go in to the office anymore, but I do go to church.... and I don't see myself buying anymore for a long while, and I haven't bought for a long while. But, it's nice to get something new to wear once in awhile. I've worn the same 4-5 dresses for the past 4 years. I may look, but I don't always buy. In fact, I've been reining in all shopping since Christmas! I spent way too much money. My family has grown and I may as well spend it on them now and see them enjoy it, rather than (if there is any left) they get it after I'm gone, right? I like to think I'm spending my children's inheritance. LOL
I think my children would prefer I get the clutter out of my house and things in order than to leave them money AND they still have to clean out my house. My siblings used to tell our mother that (when she lived in her house and when she lived in the trailer) when she died, they would just have a goodwill truck back up to the door and start carrying things out. Almost seems like I was told that a time or two as well. It seems that like every time we have moved in the past 42 years I have had one or two truckloads of things donated and thrown away. I think the biggest was this last move - it broke my heart to get rid of some things and I have no idea what I did get rid of.... nothing without my knowledge, I'm sure ... but nevertheless, I had no place to put it. And I still have more things stored I need to let go of. And when the weather warms up some, I plan to do just that. I still haven't gotten the Christmas things put in the cabinets in the garage; they are sitting in the way, while I wait for the weather to warm up. Or I get energetic enough to just do it.
Philippians 4:8 (NIV): "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."
Ouch. After I typed that verse out, I went up and deleted some of the things I wrote... why? Because they were just comments that didn't need to be said. We all do that, don't we. Sarcastic or snotty comments sometimes just come naturally. I do it. My oldest son is very good at it. :-) But, sometimes our sarcastic and snotty comments aren't really nice, or they hurt people. We truly don't want to hurt people, and my sister would be livid if she knew I wrote about her occasionally, well, about the things I do write about - which are usually her 'faults'. I guess I need to remove the log in my own eye before I try to help her get rid of the one in hers, huh?
Matthew 7:5 (NIV): "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
Big ouch. Guess I need to shut my mouth when I do the same thing, huh! Only not as often. (Justification?)
Gotta go - I'm out of time. Have a great day - hope this gives you something to think about!
Blessings!
