The Year of Living Minimally - Week Nineteen

Or not. I choose not to. Come on - isn't it enough already? Haven't you had enough of the pressure?Part of my quest to living more minimally means having less, buying less, using less. For the past 19 weeks, I've purged, recycled, donated, and tossed out a lot of things that others can use but we do not need.According to the National Retail Federation, consumers say they will spend an average $967.13 this Christmas (season), according to the annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. I bet most of it will be charged. And some of that will not be paid off in full when the bill comes in. And you know what I say - DEBT is a four-letter word.We've all been taught that gift-giving means love. The bigger the gift, the more we love that person. Wrong! Our obsession with giving material things is simply a "requirement" created by the retail industry.Try giving your time to someone this year. Make a memory. Live an experience.