A Simpler Life 2018

fuddle

Oh! Oh! Floss you little gem you. I collect pine cones as kindling. You see where I'm going with this dontcha.

Floss

You are very welcome Fuds. I'm happy that the bowl now has a new job in you & DH's very own home

Shropshirelass

I started looking at simple things I have simplified recently.

1. I actually used to buy coloured soap to match the towels. Then I re-discovered Pears soap. I love the old fashioned smell, it doesn't easily melt into a gooey mess, and due to the neat hollow shape, I haven't thrown away any small pieces since I started using it.

2. I use Baby Shampoo for myself, the dog and washing woolies/delicates. Use a conditioner as needed.

3. Put a marble (i.e. kids toy) in kettle to avoid having to de scale

4. We are going away for Christmas. This is another way of simplifying, we always seemed to be at the end of the queue when the kids were arranging their Christmas social calendar, with other family members, and friends being accommodated, while we waited for the dates when they didn't have a better offer. This meant I was organising their visits at the last minute, and got very stressed feeling responsible for their day out, when they were often so hung over they just wanted to sleep.
Now we go away alternate years. We don't go far and really enjoy it. Now they get quite aggrieved that we are not always available. And you know what ...tough!!

Hoping to get more ideas from you lovely, clever people. Thank you all so much.

fuddle

fuddle wrote: »

Oh! Oh! Floss you little gem you. I collect pine cones as kindling. You see where I'm going with this dontcha.

Floss wrote: »

You are very welcome Fuds. I'm happy that the bowl now has a new job in you & DH's very own home

Not only has it got it's new job as pine cone and kindling holder but it has a new home on the bottom shelf of the side table. That shelf had never had a purpose either. See what happens when you just mention something really unimportant on OS? Love it!

LameWolf

GreyQueen wrote: »

To me, jettisoning a large untasty fowl in favour of a nice joint of beef was a no-brainer. Mum was dubious, but I explained that the Christmas Police weren't going to arrest us for eating beef over Crimble. She said she'd check with her MIL (Nan spent Christmas with us) and she raised no objections.

That sounds much like my refusal to do Brussels sprouts. Neither Mr LW nor I like them, so why the heck would we force ourselves to eat them? For Yule this year I have a Qu0rn gammon-style roast; I've never done one of these before, but Mr LW spotted it and asked if we could have it. I'll do our usual roast root veggies and Marmite gravy to go with it.

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

LW I consider you a friend - and feel that I actually know you - even though I havent a clue what you look like! You and I are so alike, I have no RL friends either, I shy away from people for any number of very complicated reasons.

OK that's a little off topic but I have been trying to work out what simplifying life means to me and I think for me its about having and doing things that bring value to my life and make me happier. This forum for example. Its not just about saving money and its definitely not about buying things or doing things to conform to other peoples ideals.

Hope that's not too deep for a Sunday night!

Thank you YL :A Yes life can be complicated; I have never been able to get past having that vile man's DNA in me - it makes me feel like I'm tainted at the most basic level. The only glimmer of hope is that there is a very real possibility that he wasn't actually my biological father; but I have no way of ever finding out for certain.

K.Mack wrote: »

Hi all,
Bit of a lurker here :wave:
I have been reading about bullying and not being popular. I was one of those also. I find it hard to interact with people because of it. I never include myself in things, I always wait to be included if that makes sense. I 'know' I'm accepted at work for instance but do get anxious quite easily, and hate talking about myself!
The only person I feel comfortable with is my husband,but even then can feel anxious on occasions.
I left school just before facebook started and I too feel awful at how the kids can't even feel safe in their own homes anymore.
--
I too want to simplify things. We own a three bed house and all rooms have something in it! Any tricks on getting a husband to throw out his CDs and getting an iPod instead?:rotfl:

Welcome to the thread, K.Mack. Your post resonates with me a lot; I too can feel anxious with Mr LW at times; I keep wondering what the heck he can possibly see in me. And I do feel that Faceache et al have a lot to answer for - I don't "do" social media; I have a Linked1n account, but I haven't visited it in donkeys' ages - literally years.
Imho the only way to get a DH to do anything is to use "headology" and make them think it was their idea in the first place. That's probably not a lot of help.
We still use CDs, because we both prefer them to digital music - I have them all filed alphabetically, same as our books.

SimpleLiving

The only social media I use is Instagram. I am anonymous and post photos of my garden, allotment and walks.
Am off to do some homemade crackers, can't abide the rubbish shop bought ones

jackyann

Back after enforced absence owing to 'works' on our cables. Interesting reading, straying into many areas.
From my lofty years, I want to say to so many of you, don't be hard on yourselves! An old slogan from many campaigns is 'we can only do today, what we can do today'; and I have noticed that those who push themselves too hard, or try to attain too much,or jump on the latest bandwagon, are more likely to tumble than those who quietly persist in getting on with 'what they can do today'. And this doesn't just apply to the title of this thread, it applies to those of us struggling with health and esteem issues of all kinds.
And of course celebrate every small achievement and victory - maybe that should be the next thread?

claireyfairy82

I've spent the last few lunchtimes at work reading this thread and it really made me think. Over the past few years with kids getting older I just seem to get busier and busier with nonsense!
My garden used to produce most of my veg through the Spring, Summer and Autumn; occasionally Winter. I also didn't seem to have so much STUFF! and my food shopping was significantly lower (about 4 times less).


I definitely want to simplify my life in 2018, in that I want to get back into my very messy raised bed's and start growing again, de-clutter and spend less on food and things.


Think I'll baby step it through the first 3 months of the year and see if I can put some of your ideas into practice. As most of you have said we all need to find our own simple!

fuddle

I'm putting youngest DD on packed lunches after Christmas as school dinners have deteriorated. Yesterday she had pasta and a pasty for example.

The Simple Life sends me to ready made snack bars, crisps etc but I want to add to my work load and give her stripped back snack food. I've already spoken to OSers about soups at school and although I know they are frowned upon incase of burning, I may push my luck with a thermos cup that requires no pouring. I don't know. I'm not really up for a fight with the school top brass at the minute.

DD walks a mile and a half of an evening to get home and I'm thinking of taking a thermos of hot chocolate for the journey home. I originally put her on school dinners so she would have a warm good meal for that walk home and it's just not working.

So I have some thinking to do. I think although I will be giving myself more pressure in terms of organisation it will be saving £40 per month that I can use to get some quality ingredients for her.

Citygirl1

Hi, can I join this interesting thread please and ask for some advice also. I live alone and don't have clutter as such in my one bedroomed flat. I got rid of most of my books when I got a Kindle, now I just have a couple of coffee table type ones that you can't get on Kindle. I also sold all my CDs and my music is all elecrtronic. I do have some DVDs though but not many and they are all in one case with the individual cases disposed of.

My wardrobe is pretty basic and minimal. I do eat quite a bit of processed food but not as much ready meals as I used to eat. I do try to batch cook from scratch but then get fed up of the pots it creates afterwards. I now try to have things like breaded fish and chicken with frozen veg. Is this still considered as healthy?

My make up and toiletries are streamlined. I only have one foundation in use at a time, one blusher, lipstick etc. I do like Clinique but resist buying it because of the expense but then wonder if buying that and using it up would be more value for money than buy cheaper stuff that I get fed up of. Any views on this?

I also took up card making in the spring of this year and love it. I have one tower drawer which fits snugly in my living room and I use this for all my equipment and just one drawer of my sideboard. I aim to never go over this space, if I buy something new that won't fit in then I get rid of something to make it fit. Any crafters here who like to minimise too?

I do keep all my old appointment diaries which are small and take up little room, I also have been keeping a journal again since last year (all previous ones destroyed) and I haven't even filled it up yet so they won't pile up a lot and I say that if they do it doesn't matter as I don't hoard anything else.

I used to use the library for books but then got fed up of carrying them. I know they are free though, unlike Kindle books but the Kindle is so handy.