Simplifying Life

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi Everyone

I am new t the forum and have spent a while looking around before this my first posting

In the last few weeks by OH and i have made some drastic commitments to simplify our lives

OH is has had notice of redundancy,rather than worry we have decide to follow a mutual dream

We are going to sell our home pay our small debts off and go to live in a rented cottage in the North Yorkshire area

This will mean we have abou 80k in the bank and our outgoings will reduce by £500 pcm

he plan is then to take on part time stress free maybe seasonal jobs and be as self sufficient as possible

I already cook from scratch bake bread,make jam etc, make my own cleaning products

We do have a small veg plot but not enough to feed us solely

We have decide that owning a house means you are tied to a job you hate ...........why bother

any tips greatfully recieved

mary43

Hello shaz - and welcome to our merry band -is that the right way to describe us ????
Love the idea of selling up, renting somewhere and just doing the odd job now and then. We always said thats what we''d do rather than be tied to a house than in the end seems to own us and cost a packet to maintain. One day, maybe...................sounds like you're well on the way to having a more carefree life.

champys - de-cluttering in France ??? Ummmmm:drool: can I bring a van ? One mans rubbish -another ones treasure and all that.................lol

ceridwen - I know enough french to say please and thankyou, ask for the loo (very important) and also to ask for coffee with milk and two sugars and how much ?Is that enough to get by ?
Can see you wanting to get rid and me wanting to hang on..............lol

Well, today is an easy day for me............one boy already gone for the next ten days, the other leaving tonight the tomorrow we're off to see son and grandson and hopefully the teenage grandchildren -if their mother permits. Then calling to see Mum (not really looking forward to it if I'm honest) and on to Norfolk destined for two nights in a Travel Lodge, play at being 'tourists', do some shopping (oh dear.........more clutter ????) and then home on Tuesday. Plan is to spend the rest of the week catching up on stuff around the house, painting the stairs etc. Time will tell whether it gets done or not............lol
Actually inspected the garden today - in bad need of a tidy up and some slates are off the roof. Insurance company have asked for two estimates so I'll sort that when I come back. Finding a builder today would be like searching for gold dust ! Might not be worth claiming anyway what with insurance excess but worth enquiring.
Mini daffs were out and grape hyacinth and my flowering raspberry that I was certain OH had killed off. Hopefully we will have some reasonable weather at least part of the time we're home to sort it all out a bit.
Paperwork up to date..................all I have to do now is work out what to pack..............not a lot just for a few days so that should be easy..........oh its lovely to feel relaxed for a change.

Savannah02K

Just fuond this thread and it echoes what I've been trying to do over the last few months. I got rid of my pc at home, have started dejunking and made a resolution to sell one thing every week on Ebay. Money will be stashed in Paypal and used to buy Christmas presents! I make most of my own food, have decided not to buy any more new clothes, make up etc unless absolutely necessary and walk whenever I can. Have saved more this last three months than any other time in my life so it's all going in my retirement fund!

mary43

Hello Savannah and welcome ! Sounds like you're off to a good start - doing better than me ! I seem to get rid of stuff, make a space and it quickly gets filled up ! Still, better to take it a step at a time than ignore it and hope it will either go away on its own or magically disappear ! Haven't sold anything - nothing really worth selling so I gave a lot away. Still have some stuff to sort upstairs stashed away in wardrobes in the spare room............got a bit of time next week so might just make a start upstairs. Trouble is, out of sight becomes out of mind.

Hello David -good luck with your new job. It's nice that you can take your son with you. Hope it all goes well

Found a quote that sums all lot of things up about 'simplifying' I think

Having a wider heart and mind is more important than having a larger house.
Happiness does not come from having much, but from being attached to little

rosieben

Beautiful quote thank you Mary, and so apt for this thread!

Hello Savannah, glad you found us, David too, all welcome!!

ceridwen

Indeed - hi to Savannah and shaz - welcome to the fold so to say.

mary - have a good "break" - and try not to come back with any more "stuff" for a future declutter (think - ceridwen putting virtual padlock on your purse!):D Just relax and explore the scenery and maybe a nice meal or two (and as Moanie and I would both say - well possibly a glass or two of wine is allowed.)

mary43

Not sure about enjoying the scenery ceridwen - weather forecast not looking brilliant and I can't drink wine due to medication..............however a large cappacino or mocha or something like that will suffice.
I promise not bring anything back I can't use or get pleasure from..........it'll either be card making stuff, stuff for gift baskets or something for my dresser shelves..............don't think OH would let me run riot anyway.............he's de-cluttered enough he says and doesn't intend to have to start again .....lol
No need for padlock on the purse..............not much in there.............lol
I'll miss you all but catch you when I get back on Tuesday.......or maybe Wednesday by the time I've caught up with threads/emails etc.
:wave: Keep the quotes coming................I keep sending them to big bruv and he never answers them.............maybe he's still trying to understand them..................lol

moanymoany

Well today a lovely young couple with children came to look at the house. They loved the house, the layout and the decoration - didn't like the garden which is an odd shape.

Shame, because it would be nce for a young family to live in the house. From their names I thought they may be muslims so I put away the wine rack and wine. No sense in offending anyone.

I sat in the garage as the agent showed them around - me and the dawg! I had a book to read, but he took all my attention as he was inclined to bark! Strangers in HIS house! I do love him so.

The house does look lovely and clean - my, you could eat off of any surface you care to name!!!! Hard work though.

My love to everyone on this thread. Such support, wonderful. :A

Becky_2

Hi all!

At last the weekend is here. On Friday evenings I feel too tired to do anything and I also I have a tendency to feel quite irritated on Fridays. Does anyone else recognise this? If anyone has got any good ideas on how to deal with this I would like to know.

Thanks for all your postings during the week, I have enjoyed reading them.

Also, I would like to share with you an inspiration poem which a friend e-mailed me earlier this week.

Have a nice weekend.

Becky
x

The Dilemma is a well known inspirational poem by an unknown author.

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk rejection.
To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ridicule.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk
nothing.
The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn, feel, change,
grow or love.
Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave.
Only a person who takes risks is free.

This poem was cited in:

Women and Aging: Celebrating Ourselves by Ruth Raymond Thone, ISBN
1560241519, published 1992, page 112 (found on Google Books)

Illustrations Unlimited by James S. Hewitt, ISBN 0842315691, published
1988, page 129 (found on Google Books)

Aril

Hello virtual friends:j
Ooh some lovely quotes in my absence. Thanks so much!
I feel great relief at having waved off two huges bags of stuff to the charity shop collection this morning. With all this sorting I have been in the position for the first time this year to make some headway on projects that I've either had in mind or have ground to a stop on.
This week I've started to make the small person a Dennis the Menace cushion from an old jumper of mine that I had managed to unintentionally felt:D as the backing and then I intend to stitch the cut out pictures of Dennis and Gnasher from a couple of his old pj tops. We've also moved our kitchen refit on another stage [for cost reasons we're doing it] and are actually ready to put some paint on the walls [so far it's been all preparation] and I have also been lucky to get some lovely sounding handles from freecycle which we'll collect next week.
I've just caught a bit of SportRelief [I don't usually watch TV as a rule] but those short films really concentrate the mind don't they. Just what some have to go through both here and in other parts of the world. I am sitting here and realising just how incredibly lucky I am. Yesterday my parents returned from a 5 week holiday and we and my sister are just so pleased to be back in our little family unit once more. Tomorrow we celebrate her civil partnership:j after what has been a very difficult 3 years for her following her marriage breakup and divorce...
Today I leave you with a couple of very simple quotes:
Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.
Anon
Those who bring sunshine into our lives cannot keep it from themselves.
J M Barrie
Have a lovely weekend.
Aril