A Simpler Life 2018

tighteningthebelt

cottage economy
Thought it was a madness all my own - to look in empty drawers!
I've got either a drawer or a cupboard empty in every room now, and one and a half shelves in the shed!! I can't tell if it's smugness or happiness I'm feeling, or maybe there's a place they overlap!?
So encouraging to be here with like minded people - thank you all!

JIL

Mortgage free in three has a very easy mayonnaise recipe. It uses one egg, 250mls oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and half teaspoon dry mustard, and half teaspoon of salt. All blitzed together for 10 seconds.
I tried it and was surprised how nice it was.

crazytree

I'm delurking to tell you all how jealous I am of your empty spaces! I'm forever trying to declutter my house but Himself loves to keep vast amounts of carp in case it comes in useful at some point before we die. I'm just moving it about a lot of the time - so he couldn't find it even if he needed it (which he doesn't).
I'm glad your cat is feeling better Cottage Economy, I don't know how we cope if one of ours had to be confined.
I'm going to go find out about Hannah Hauxwell. I'd heard the name but know nothing about her...
Tx

tighteningthebelt

crazytree
I'm single. It's good for some things and not others!
I was married for a while and my husband used to buy two of things, at the same time, "one and a spare". I could understand some things (teabags, beans) but others (dog leads, jeans, spades) were beyond me. I was very glad to get my own space when we split up. My son left for uni last year, and I've enjoyed reclaiming that space too.
It seems like an animal / territory kind of thing, it's not always good though, I hate it being disturbed, for example I get upset if I have workmen in. In fact now I've written that I'm aware I am becoming a little inflexible. Duly noted!

dolly84

tighteningthebelt wrote: »

cottage economy
Thought it was a madness all my own - to look in empty drawers!
I've got either a drawer or a cupboard empty in every room now, and one and a half shelves in the shed!! I can't tell if it's smugness or happiness I'm feeling, or maybe there's a place they overlap!?
So encouraging to be here with like minded people - thank you all!

I like to look at my empty spaces too, after I cleared the top of DD's wardrobe a couple of weeks ago I couldn't stop popping my head around the door to admire it.

crazytree wrote: »

I'm delurking to tell you all how jealous I am of your empty spaces! I'm forever trying to declutter my house but Himself loves to keep vast amounts of carp in case it comes in useful at some point before we die. I'm just moving it about a lot of the time - so he couldn't find it even if he needed it (which he doesn't).
I'm glad your cat is feeling better Cottage Economy, I don't know how we cope if one of ours had to be confined.
I'm going to go find out about Hannah Hauxwell. I'd heard the name but know nothing about her...
Tx

Tell him about the 'Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning', I am doing it at the moment.

tighteningthebelt wrote: »

crazytree
I'm single. It's good for some things and not others!
I was married for a while and my husband used to buy two of things, at the same time, "one and a spare". I could understand some things (teabags, beans) but others (dog leads, jeans, spades) were beyond me. I was very glad to get my own space when we split up. My son left for uni last year, and I've enjoyed reclaiming that space too.
It seems like an animal / territory kind of thing, it's not always good though, I hate it being disturbed, for example I get upset if I have workmen in. In fact now I've written that I'm aware I am becoming a little inflexible. Duly noted!

I'm the same re workmen, it is a bit of a worry as I don't want to be old and living in a house which is very badly rundown.

dolly84

Cleared a lot of baby stuff out of our loft yesterday (youngest is 12), unfortunately we had left it in there way too long, we live in an old house built from Yorkshire stone and they use something call black lime to back point the roofs, the stuff is evil and creates a dust of black all over everything so sadly it was no longer able to be used safely. I feel very, very bad about this.

[Deleted User]

I had never heard of death cleaning and have just looked online and got a feeling of 'rightness' with the whole concept. Thank you so much for flagging it up as an idea, it's so simple (I'll bet it's emotionally difficult though) and makes so much sense. I've done it in a mild way as a prelude to moving house but I think I'll have a re-think and be much more thorough now I've read the idea and de-clutter us with a vengeance. Brilliant!!!

SuperMoose

Hello :wave:

Just delurking to let you know I posted some links about Hannah Hauxwell on this thread
Hannah Hauxwell

I can still remember watching "Too long a winter" for the first time. One of the opening scenes is Hannah leading her cow out of a barn into a snowstorm.
She was a very special lady.

SuperMoose

crazytree wrote: »

I'm going to go find out about Hannah Hauxwell. I'd heard the name but know nothing about her...
Tx

My apologies - my post above was in reply to this post.
I thought I'd quoted it but obviously not :rotfl:

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

dolly84,

Thanks for the tip about “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning’ - read a quick article & it does seem less traumatic than Kondoing:) My DSis has only just cleared out our parents clothes after 11 years of them sitting in wardrobes & drawers in the shut off bedroom!

The clothes sort out needs to commence but I don’t really associate clothes with joy so really I would have to wander around naked:eek: not a pretty sight. So I will try the Swedish Death Cleaning tomorrow, in between doing some actual cleaning. I think it will also make sorting personal paperwork, jewellery, photos, ornaments etc easier too. We shall see how it goes:o

Apart from food for us & the birdies, nothing much is coming in that isn’t either a replacement for something that is broken or for a specific project which is done ASAP.
Leftovers from meals are utilised for new meals, doing lots of baking, making soups & breads, lots of trips to cs which is helping with exercising & getting me out of the house.

However, need to speed up on the decluttering & decorating fronts as only have two months less about 7 or 8 days to sort everything out before my DSis moves in for an unspecified amount of time:eek:

To a Simpler Life

MrsSD:)