The UPS man is going to miss coming to my house and Amazon will probably start wondering where I am. I am starting The Compact in the New Year. The Compact, for those who haven't heard of it, is a pact to buy only necessities, no wants, no luxuries, just the basic things you need to get by. If you are going to buy something beyond basic necessities, it should be used.

The Compact is many things to many people and I'm going to be using it as a spending fast. No clothes, no toys for J or myself, nothing extraneous beyond what we need for the house. I have a large problem with will power in that I pretty much don't have any and can rationalize any purchase that I make. I need to go completely cold turkey on my shopping and Amazon perusing.

I am hoping that by learning to live with what I have (which is more than enough) and by cutting myself off completely from spending on J (who has more toys than most preschools), I can bring my focus back to what is really important which is time spent with family and especially J. I don't want him growing up thinking his mom shows love through packages that come to the house. Or that he gets a toy every time he behaves at Target. I really want him to grow up knowing he has enough, more than enough, and to be thankful for what he does have and not always asking for more. He doesn't yet but that day will come if we keep down this road. Lest you think he will be doing without, I have toys for him that I have bought over the past year that have been stored away. Some I even forgot about. The child has enough. I have enough. All we need is each other, all he wants is me to play with him.

So my version of The Compact will be this: nothing new, no clothes, no toys, nothing that is not needed for the home (and by home, I mean necessities, nothing extraneous). I will buy new toys for relatives and friend's birthdays but they will be well-made toys not made in China. D is not a part of this (he doesn't need it) so he can pick J up the occasional goody if he wants - I'm pretty sure he will be thrilled to take over this part of parenting.

This is by far going to be one of the most difficult tasks I have set myself and I'm hoping I can achieve it.