A Simpler Life 2018

fuddle

After an error in judgement from me I decided I would have my greying hair coloured last May. I soon regretted it and now have very nearly 2 inch regrowth amongst ends that are dead looking, straw like and brassy.

To my mind, once hair is coloured more colour is needed to keep it healthy looking. No thank you. I have to live with my error every day but I get round it by twisting it at the back, tucking the ends under and pinning.

My appearance matters to me but only in terms of looking healthy. It's taken such a long time to go without make up but I finally got there a few months ago. I can tell by my appearance when I'm not fully fit. I know when my pale face is too pale and when I'm a little yellow or grey I know that I need to pay attention to my body. This is a new skill for me. I've had every brand of foundation hiding my skin all my adult life.

My nail polish once hid the fact I had double pneumonia with effusion and that I needed urgent medical help. My toenails had turned purple underneath my lovely false dark purple polish. I've never touched nail polish since then. The irony isn't lost on me. I try to embrace that I have a life and although these feelings are quite new I am getting strength that is turning into confidence.

As long as I'm clean, look healthy, tidy and respectable I am confident like never before. I no longer care but I tell you this...

I cannot wait until I just have my own salt and pepper hair again!

Bluegreen143

Really interesting discussion on what makes the simple life. Some of the lifestyle choices we make for the simple life are anything but simple - eg it would simplify my chore load and be cheaper just to buy eggs, but my chickens are part of what I want simple living to look like.

For us, we still want to be able to travel in the future (when we aren’t in this crazy hectic baby stage any longer) and we still like going out socialising and even sometimes drinking too much but I want to cut out extraneous stuff, worries and activities so we are just doing the things that make us happy. Less stuff, more self-reliance, less consumerism, more time with friends, more time for family, less chores, more gardening/reading/crafting. Most importantly I want to bring my son up in the mindset that it’s normal to make do, mend and live fairly simply.

thriftwizard

Well. I’ve been reading along since the thread began but haven’t found the time to post, partly because I’ve been spending waayy too much time trying to out technical issues with my business website. Which I hadn’t been using, and realised last night that I hadn’t missed... All my customers look at my FB page to find out where I’m popping up next, and I can (& do) sell on EBay. I don’t need to be paying hosting fees for a site and a web shop I hardly ever use.

I was also about to sign on the dotted line for a business “must-have” which would have tied me down for 3 years - and on reflection, I don’t need that either! So - deal cancelled, website deleted, and I feel half a stone lighter. Thank you all for inspiring me into a bit of much-needed simplifying!

VJsmum

I dye and am not about to give up.. So ner

I wear make up too.....

My aim for simplifying is to do less, not schedule so many activities... So far it isn't going so well...

patentgirl

Thank you for sharing baked bean recipe Mrs Lurchwalker sounds yummy excellent post too I still dye my hair myself an Avon one every 10 weeks but been thinking of letting grey through I am blonde so will be a gradual progress I think but maybe leave it when next due and see what it looks like, I still use make up but not as much as I used to have condensed down to foundation in a compact which lasts for ages with bit of mascara and lip gloss used to have pots of stuff containers full but that was one of the first things I downsized have done wardrobe now and mornings are so much easier now with only few choices.

dolly84

patentgirl wrote: »

Thank you for sharing baked bean recipe Mrs Lurchwalker sounds yummy excellent post too I still dye my hair myself an Avon one every 10 weeks but been thinking of letting grey through I am blonde so will be a gradual progress I think but maybe leave it when next due and see what it looks like, I still use make up but not as much as I used to have condensed down to foundation in a compact which lasts for ages with bit of mascara and lip gloss used to have pots of stuff containers full but that was one of the first things I downsized have done wardrobe now and mornings are so much easier now with only few choices.

I dye my own hair with an Avon dye too, I get about the same length of time as you do from one and I prefer it to the grey, I'm just not ready for that yet.

Cottage_Economy

MrsLurcherwalker

That sounds lovely. I will be adding that to my soup recipes.

I made red onion and mushroom soup yesterday for my lunch and then made a huge pot of leek and potato soup for our dinner when DH came in.

The heating is on the blink at the moment but we were lovely and warm after that!

Bluegreen143 wrote: »

Not been by in a few days as I discovered the KonMari threads, read the book and have been purging my wardrobe. It’s eye-opening as I was already operating a capsule wardrobe (albeit with an extra box of out of rotation clothes) and thought it was pretty well decluttered. But there are bags of stuff to go now I really look at it!

Off to read the last few pages of the thread ☺️

I've been doing bits and pieces over the last few days, a couple of drawers, a shelf in the airing cupboard, the shelves in the wardrobe, and have managed to put together a box to go to the charity shop and a few bits to go to the tip. I found I was keeping a broken heated blanket in case it came in useful??!!

Pooky

I’m 44 and ditched the dye in 2016. I hated it at first but I keep my hair short so wasn’t long before it was grown out and back to natural which I described as “dishwater grey” but then over the summer my hair lightened naturally and the grey was more highlights and it’s sort of stayed that way. I’ve had loads of compliments and I think it’s far more flattering to my skin tone than any dye ever was.

I’m not a make up person either, never have been. Mascara makes my eyes water, any sort of foundation or powder brings me out in blistery spots the next day. I didn’t wear make up on my wedding day much to the disgust of my friends but Hubby certinaly didn’t complain.

Like Fuddle said, clean and presentable is what I aim for. My clothes are mostly CS finds, my gorgeous grey, military style, 3/4 length wool winter coat was £4 last summer in a CS, it’s perfect and will last for years. I don’t have my nails done, just keep them trimmed and clean, I don’t have facials - a scrub with a flannel works fine and I don’t have things waxed or threaded from my face either...I have a pair of tweezers. This is one of the main ways I simplify my life. I don’t need to be paying out each month for stuff I can do myself.

My only concession is a hair cut every 4/6 weeks (I keep it very short so it needs shaping) and pay a friend in the village and have a cuppa and catch up with her rather than pay fancy salon prices.

I love how we’re all different and what simple things make us who we are and what works for me won’t work for everyone else but I’m so pleased I’ve found the confidence (with age) to be the person I want to be with out caring a jot what others think.

Katieowl

A fab face scrub is a soluble aspirin! Smooshed up in the palm of one hand with some water, and worked over a damp face with the fingertip of the other hand briefly and well rinsed off, it's a great skin brightener, and your foundation goes on so smoothly afterwards. Pack of 12 cheapies is about 16-20p in most shops!

Cottage_Economy

I have a dodgy thyroid so my long hair became very poor condition, brittle and very fine. I started going to a salon every 2-3 months to have the worst bits taken off (started with 9 inches off it) and a semi-permanent colour rinse to improve the condition and make it look better. After two years it is looking much improved. I have greys but am not that fussed about them. I'm more concerned with stopping the breaking, which does seem to have stopped now.

My facial skin used to peel off in great lumps and was raw underneath, sometimes bleeding if touched. Quite a difference from my usual greasy skin. After years of trying different things I have now settled on a magic make up cloth + water to clean it and organic jojoba oil. I still have small dry patches but it is 100 times better.

One of the things I'll be doing this week is getting rid of all of the hair and face care bits and pieces I have accumulated over the last couple of years and no longer use. No point keeping them around. They may have even gone off by now. Might even look at replacing some of my ancient make-up. I don't wear a lot - concealer, mascara, blusher and lip gloss - but keeping a mascara hanging around for years is probably not the most hygienic of things to do.