Simplifying Life

RedSpecs

teacup wrote: »

Hi great thread . I love the start of a new year. My simplify life & resolutions are

1. De-Clutter entire house cupboards, wardrobe, kids rooms, drawers , etc etc , in the hope of becoming organised and not spending my time searching for things

2. Sort out household filing and go through all bills and try and get things cheaper ie virgin media etc etc.Swith lights etc off

3. Always do a shopping list when I go shopping and have meal plans and basic store cupboard ingredients

4. Use all my perfumes, body sprays etc etc that I have in my drawer see how far I can get into 2008 without having to buy any whatsoever!

5. Keep a spending diary

6. when I first came to this site I was a real spendy sort of person but now I dont spend much on clothes or magazines. So want to keep that up.

7. Save some money where possible as have no emergency fund whatsoever not a penny .

8. Lose a stone in weight

9. Look after myself go, for a lovely walk everyday

10. Dont worry about what people think so much ,

11. have some fun family days out and a few more treats

12. not be overdrawn everymonth

13. be lovely and never moan!

14. Count my blessings everyday and appreciate my family for who they are. Stop worrying about what I havent got appreciate what I do have. Be positive opposed to a bit negative sometimes . Find a positive spark when things arent going how I want them too.

15. Do a random act of kindness when and where I can.make someone feel nice amd me too!

Think I'll be joining you in that list of stuff. Good advice for everyone I say!:T

Charis

I went straight from here to Freecycle to release some more possessions from my captivity and the first message I read had a wonderful typo. Just had to share:

52XXXwanted: cordless drill:m

---

need cordless drill to put up self please, mine has just died on me....

Sorry if anyone reads this as rather rude, I was thinking that maybe it's his 'self' which has died on him. Less drilling, methinks. :rotfl:

mary43

poor soul........................:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Charis

Well that's three more things on Freecycle. I don't know how the others feel but I am finding decluttering rather addictive. Some things are precious, although of little monetary worth so I am keeping a few bits of 'clutter', but the more I give away of the rest, the freer I am feeling. Books I have always kept 'for reference' or meant to read (guilt factor) have gone to new homes and someone, somewhere has benefited via the Red Cross Shop. I have started cooking almost everything from scratch again and feel I have reclaimed the kitchen. It is lived in, rather than visited. Spaces are appearing in rooms that were overfilled. The garden is looking clearer than it has for several years. I have plans to grow a few things to eat this year.

My knitting needles came out a couple of weeks ago, as a young friend is expecting her first baby. My son said I looked like a granny when I sit knitting. I pointed out that I have been a granny for nine years. Has he never seen me knit before? I seem to be doing all those things I was going to get around to (or back to) 'one day'. One day has finally arrived! :j

My daily indulgence is reading this thread and some of the home making blogs (especially Rhonda Jean's http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/) I feel have joined the quiet revolution of home makers and others who are living a life of their own choosing, opting out of the mainstream and finding time for simple pleasures.

Some days I have a bit of a log jam but if I can't muster the energy to do much I just clear off a surface or sort a drawer. I have a mass of personal paperwork to ditch or scan and keep but I figure that if I do a little every day, I will get there eventually. I heard someone refer to it as 'eating an elephant one bite at a time'.

Thanks again to Ceridwen for starting this thread and to all the other posters, our virtual friends as Aril calls us. :beer:

mary43

Oh Charis you are doing well and putting me to great shame:undecided I always start off with the best of intentions then 'life' sort of gets in the way (kids, personal issues etc.). But a little at a time can go a long way and makes me possibly more careful when getting rid of stuff than I might be............it would sometimes be so easy just to empty out a drawer into a bin bag, throw the lot and start again but who knows what little personal treasure I'd be losing.
I'll get there but at snails pace I think. Garden is in desparate need of a clear out and that'll be helped by a lady from don'tdumpthat site who is relieving me of the endless plastic flower pots we seem to accumulate. She's had one lot and is taking the rest, along with the empty wine bottles OH keeps adding to so I might just get into the garage without tripping over them all..........lol
We've got some time off next week so hopefully we can both have a go at our bedroom...........I lose the incentive if OH isn't doing his fair share and we betide me if I throw out some precious threadbare jumper he's so fond of ...............lol

Charis

mary43 wrote: »

Oh Charis you are doing well and putting me to great shame:undecided I always start off with the best of intentions then 'life' sort of gets in the way (kids, personal issues etc.).

Oh, Mary you are so hard on yourself and so tender with everyone else. If you keep nibbling away at the 'clutter' and don't get tempted to add to it, it will all get sorted eventually. You have a lot of other things to deal with at the same time but you are trying hard. Sometimes it's difficult to see just how far you have come. Have you thought about taking before and after pictures of an area you are working on? Even just a drawer or a corner? It is a great encouragement. Remember Flylady and her 'baby steps'?

Having had four children of my own, now nearly all grown, I know I couldn't take on other people's problem children like you do. Once they get to a certain age it can be a battle of wills can't it? More so if they have 'issues'. Make sure you spend some time every day on yourself, doing what you want to do, even half an hour of doing nothing at all, 'cos it helps to step off the hamster wheel for a little break now and again. Be kind to yourself.

<<hugs>>

Charis

rosieben

I've really missed this thread, been involved with other things and havent been able to visit as usual. Sorry to hear that some of you are going through a rough time, sending positive thoughts to you all. Just remember, 'this too will pass'.

I'm decluttering in earnest this week. I'm moving - probably the end of April - and so March is designated 'sort and throw month', and April will be 'pack and move month'. So far I feel totally unmotivated ...... even though I love my new place and really look forward to living there. I think when some of the renovations are done it will feel more 'real' to me iyswim.

Thank you all for the wonderful quotes and poems; groatie queen, that poem is beautiful.

Charis

rosieben wrote: »

I'm decluttering in earnest this week. I'm moving - probably the end of April - and so March is designated 'sort and throw month', and April will be 'pack and move month'.

Not moving away from the 'field in Gloucestershire'? I can see the Gloucestershire fields from here. (just!)

Charis

rosieben

Charis wrote: »

Not moving away from the 'field in Gloucestershire'? I can see the Gloucestershire fields from here. (just!)

Charis

no, to a different field in Gloucestershire - I'm only moving about 2 miles along the road

which direction are you viewing the Gloucestershire fields from?

ceridwen

Hi Rosie:hello:

Had noticed your absence and wondered "where you were" so to say.

And for today.....I'm feeling relief at dropping one further "burden" - ie my last part-time job (ie from the extra jobs I was doing on top of my full-time job - as I've always been/still am low-paid). I've felt I had to wait to fulfil an agreement I had made as to how long I was going to do that for - so as not to let them down and give them a "headache" trying to replace me. Its gone now thank goodness - just that full-time job left to go now when I retire. So I shall have a little mini celebration of having reclaimed that much of my life.

I hadnt really dared to work out just how much has been involved in sideline income-earning - think I would have got grey hairs:D - but on and off for 20 odd years I have been doing what I can to get extra income one way and another to cope with the added expenses of being single and living in a dear area and having bought a moneypit of a house - whew! The first 2 added expenses will continue - but I've decided there has to come a time when one calls a halt to just how much of ones energy and sparetime can be devoted to the expenses of a moneypit house and say "Right - it could still do with thousands (well okay tens of thousands of £s) of work - but Its Good Enough - and I'm just not going to lose any more spare time earning extra money to throw at it or live in a "building site" at intervals" Time to reclaim all my spare time for more important things. I am trying here to do a "count my blessings" way of looking at it - rather than thinking "20 odd years""Crikey - 20 odd years - all that time!!!!!aaaaagh!". I am trying to remind myself here that at least I'm in the Baby Boom Generation - because if I was in the next one down then things would be one heck of a sight worse for me and I would seriously wonder if I would EVER be able to reclaim my life - with house prices even more stratospheric than the huge burden I took on buying one on my own/student loans/pension problems on the one hand coupled with the fact that it looks to me like the next generation seem much more determined not to "settle" for marrying or staying married to the "wrong" person - so many of them will also have to cover the extra expenses of being single for much of their lives. Hence my interest in what JoJoB is planning for instance - as she is trying to work out ways to avoid being in that trap - and I wish her the best that it works out for her.

I guess what I'm saying is I am prioritising - a lot of us have to sit down at some point and think "there isnt enough time and/or there isnt enough income" - and choices have to be made. So I've thought "blow it - its not my forever house anyway - and its Good Enough". One has to have enough time and energy for the things that really matter in life - like people, like developing ones own inner resources.

Right now - I'm thinking of someone I know of who is now too old and ill to do much "external" stuff in life - so they are apparently devoting their time to "grimping and grizzling" about Life and Everyone In It. I dont want to be like that ever - an object lesson in what to avoid. I look round and realise I already have a lot more "inner resources" than many people seem to - and, to me, I think it makes sense to develop more. I can quite happily spend hours reading/meditating (if only I had the time!)/surfing the "web"/studying/going for walks/etc). I am thinking if more people worked on developing some "inner resources" of their own - then there would be less shopping for the sake of it/grimping and grinching about others/etc.

(Now - can anyone point me in the direction of that "Good Enough"Thread?)