Costco...or what on earth was I thinking???

I don't know what possessed me, I truly don't. The lure of inexpensive meat that is not purchased at No Frills ? (because, ew, really, even our budget can do better than that). The feeling that I'd better use the d!@# membership since I'd purchased it, and wanted to get my money's worth? A deep seated (so deep that I didn't even know about it) desire for a 1/4lb. hot dog for 99 cents? Whatever it was I found myself crawling into the Costco parking lot in Upper Scarberia this past Sunday. Crawling because apparently 10,000 other Torontonians didn't have anything else to do on a Sunday either. From left turn lane to parking lot....20 minutes, with not even a hint of exaggeration. And the parking was not a pleasant Sunday drive either....it was me up against thousands of other drivers, all determined to spend lots of money on lots of REALLY BIG things.

Which brings me to the truly mystifying part of this trip. What was I, of all people, writer of a blog entitled Smaller is Better doing in a store that epitomizes the big box, that justifies the suburban monster home with its 1400 sq. ft. of storage? The last time we lived in a smaller home and I visited Costco it resulted in an elaborate weeks long project to convert an old closet into a spacious pantry (said project was completed by my lovely wife,  not me of course). Well in this house, that old closet has already been converted: into a laundry room on the main floor, and into a staircase leading to the attic on the 2nd floor. So what was I doing buying humongous 24 packs of toilet paper and kleenex??? To top it off, I was fighting off a cold or something at the time, so I entered the behemoth business in an already weakened state for extra danger and foolishness.

The good news: We don't have to buy meat or vitamin supplements for the next 6 months. The bad news: it will be longer than that before I recover from my Costco-induced trauma and set foot in the store again....though they did have some great deals on suitcases...and cameras...oh and I forgot to get the bread.....hmm...are you doing anything next weekend??

so about this smaller is better thing

I have been totally neglecting this blog, which I realize in large part is because I've been having a lot of trouble feeling the 'smaller is better' love. I mean, in theory I am all in favour of doing more with less, making do, having a smaller ecofootprint and all that. But the reality of a teeny tiny kitchen, one bathroom, a living room full of c@#$ and a bedroom full of s@#$ has been kicking my butt lately. And as a result, I do what I often do in these situations, start getting antsy, dreaming of something better, thinking of buying a bigger house (ha! not with this budget in this city) and thinking of all the things we could do to change the status quo. And frankly doing a lot more thinking than doing...as a result, here we are, almost two months later, and we still have a LOT to do. So I'm relaunching this blog as a way to inspire myself, motivate myself, and ask my readers to help motivate me too. We have decided we want to stay where we are for at least the next two years (breathe in, breathe out). So I am going to do it!! Not just make do, but make it fabulous. Not just do more with less, but do even more, with even less.

So what do we need to do to make this place work?
-deal with the mold problem that seems to keep on making us all sick and may be rotting our basement storage items.
-deal with the FREEZING cold living room...we have recently realized that the charming exposed brick wall is a bit more exposed than we might like, given that it is an EXTERIOR wall.
-deal with our bedroom which is awash in boxes and all the crap we can't find another spot to store.
-resolve the perennial parental dilemma: we have a playroom but the kids don't really play up there but we don't want to turn our living room into a playroom.
-maybe possibly figure out a better place to put overnight guests.
-rearrange our dining room space...we just can't seem to make it work.
-triple our kitchen storage without adding any new furniture.
-quadruple our living room storage without adding any new furniture.
Oh and, get rid of a LOT more stuff!!!

Wish me luck, and welcome to the ride!