For a while now, my friend Lacy and I have been chatting on the topic of “happiness”. What is it? Where does it come from? How do we get more of it? What makes us really happy? What makes one person a “happy person” and another not? The questions are endless, but the research, it turns out, is fun! We have in no way become experts, but have learned one thing: Happiness is, among other things, a practice. So like anything else we want to do better, we must make it a habit.
Lacy has been 'practicing' for a long time now, and I feel she has a lot to share on the topic. So when I decided to start this blog, I asked her if she would do regular guest-posts to talk about it. I plan to make a habit of reading them. xoxo, Leigh
Hand Me Up!!
There's something so wonderful about giving and receiving. I pride myself on being a giver. I just love to give for the sake of making someone's day sparkle a little brighter. Some of my fave things lately are hand me ups. Ok so yes- I know they are traditionally called 'hand me downs' but as a glass half full kind of girl I am deeming them 'hand me ups'! My iphone was a hand me up from a girlfriend who upgraded and didn't want to let her old one just lay around. It is now of course, appropriately dressed in a fancy Curly Girl Skin! You never know when something that is seemingly out of date or used up to you can bring joy to someone else. I mean seriously that phone is never far from me and because I had my own I didn't have to get a contract for my service, double score!
A few rules of thumb for maximum hand me up happiness:
1. Don't pass it off as new. There's just no need. The days of secret re-gifting are long gone. Saying –hey I am not using this anymore and thought you might like it is plenty nice enough.
2. Send the good stuff. Your gently-worn-just-not-quite-right-on-you sweater may become your gal pal's all time favorite sweater!
3. Box it up. The potential for a party in a box is huge with hand me ups! And let's face it anything in the mail that is not a bill is a total delight! Old clothes but new tissue, make a joy to unwrap and discover!
4. Always include a little handwritten love note. Ahem… on a Curly Girl card of course.
5.Pass it on. If you receive something that isn't quite right for you pass it on to another friend, give it to a homeless person or send it along in your next donation box.
Lacy Young is a professional happy person. You can find out more about her on her blog.
I LOVE that you call them ‘hand me ups’!! I love passing things on and mailing little surprises to people. I am a big thrift store and garage sale treasure hunter and sometimes I’ll pick stuff up from there if I think it’s perfect for someone. My sister loves getting boxes in the mail, my nieces too!
There’s nothing like the feeling one gets from giving whether it’s a material object or a warm greeting. Great post.
I love my son’s advice to his brother, “Get back to happy”. It surely is a state of mind.
Peace and love AND happiness!
Did I say ‘love’ enough times? LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE!!!
Great idea – love the concept of handing gently used items up! Goes well with last month’s initiative to de-clutter, which is something I am working to be better about.
I seem to remember a few pair of ‘hand me up’ shoes that have passed between the two of us! I still love those brown kitten heels you sent me home with on one of my biz trips and I’ve noticed from your blog photos how much you love your tall brown boots… 😉 I can speak from experience how fun it is to get your little love gifts in the mail!!! Great tips!
I’m in on the “hand-me-up” shoes, too! Matter of fact, I am wearing a pair right now.
Love the ideas! Never thought about actually wrapping a gently used item but I will certainly use your tip.
I love the idea of “hand-me-ups”!! Thank you for the reminder to pass along things that no longer work for us to a new home. I LOVE this post! ~Jen
I love Lacy! I think when one looks up happiness on wikipedia, her picture should be there 🙂 On another note, I love the iphone skin. I want one with the faith card. That’s my favorite!
LOVE! hand me ups were a great source of joy and a means to things I truly would never have had access to, being raised by a hard working single mom – seeing treasures come in boxes and bags from family and friends – and we would take whatever we couldn’t use to church and as far as orphanages in Mexico! I love this post – well said!
This is fantastic-I love the way you put the important things into words—this has now been rolling around in my head all day—I LOVE hand me ups and am packing some up for friend of my daughter’s right now.