I am such a Magpie. I have an imaginary list as long as my arm of lovely shiny things that I would like. I thought I should write it down and so here is a list of the things I currently covet:
1. Roomba the Hoovering Robot
2. An iPhone
3. An iPad
4. A road bike
5. A garage conversion
6. Half of the neighbour’s back garden
7. An electric car
8. Solar Panels
9. Reconfigured downstairs bedrooms
10. An Air Source Heat Pump
11. A garden bench
12. A water butt
13. Garden plants (various)
14. Shelves for my garden shed
15. A chimera outside wood burner
16. Liposuction (on muffin top)
17. New boots
18. New fleece top
19. Reupholstered dining room chairs
20. Set of side tables for the living room
21. Bedside table for the spare room
22. Bedside table for my room
23. Chest of drawers to store my dressmaking material
24. Books (various)
25. Magazines
26. Membership of ethical organisations (Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth...)
Not to mention a constant supply of fresh ground coffees, lunches out during the week, restaurant meals at the weekend, visits to country houses, tickets to shows and the odd gin and tonic. And if I am being brutally honest we also shouldn’t forget the second home in the country, the Cocker Spaniel and the flat in town for my son when he starts university in a couple of years, (partly so we can rent out the spare rooms and make ourselves a nice little nest egg, and we should do it now while it is a buyers' market!!)
Oh dear.
But actually I don't want to desire all of these things, and we certainly can't afford them. I would like to say goodbye to my magpie self and find the real me. I hope that the real me is a person who is happy with what they have and someone who would like to live a different life which is not dependent on things and possessions. So, with my family's support, for the next twelve months I am putting Goodbye Magpie in to operation, with the aim of drastically cutting spending, paying off the credit card, getting back into the black, living thriftly and foregoing easy shopping thrills to find a more meaningful and fulfulling life which doesn't involve spending money like it is going out of fashion.
So join me as I try to say Goodbye Magpie: Hello Me
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