Simplifying Life

do_it_today!

Hi All :hello:
much calmer now
Thanks Mary43
sometimes well (very often!) I forget to take time out for me - I think part of my life simplifying should include mandatory relaxtion time! filing nails and dancing around the bedroom with ipod on is a luxury I dont often allow myself!
Overall I do feel calmer when I practise simplicity in my life - for example when I try not to do 120 different tasks in one day leave with extra time for my journeys - do the task there and then (ie opening/ sorting mail and putting where it needs to go) focusing at one thing at a time..... its weird though because sometimes I feel....numb (numb is not the right word but the closest I can think of !)- because Im not rushing around sooo much! it feels abit weird at times because im used to multi-tasking and juggling so much and that feels natural and its interesting that today had been at times fustrating and that I notice it was while I was expecting myself to resolve a number of different things in a short space of time - acceptance is also helping me in the process - ie things not always turning out how or when I expect it but accepting this simplifies my life.


keep going everyone :j

do_it_today!

Another lightbulb :j
with all the best Intentions im not fantastic with old meal planning even though I have looked at many different examples anyway, the last couple of days I've been thinking about having a simplified meal plan system - instead of thinking of 30 different dinner meals dinner Im going to think of 5-7 different types of dinner and list a number of different dishes that fit the category instead (not set in stone) but for example:
Monday - Soupy dish ** veg/ lentil/ chicken/
Tuesday - Pasta dish ** lasange/ macaroni/ spag bol
Wednesday - salad + dish ** pizza / beans/
Thursday - Simple dish / bangers & mash/ omlette
Friday - Slow cooker dish** stews/ curry
Saturday - Stir fry dish **noodles/ veggies
Sunday - Roastie dish
I think this will guarantee variety and strucure for me it wont be set in stone but will definitely guide me :j

mary43

aril - you are doing well, sorting out the sand pit and getting instant interest from freecycle. That won't be there long will it.
Oh your IL's house sounds almost like something stuck in a time warp........(not to be rude) and I must watch out for leaving 'stuff ' like that (won't be knitting as I don't knit......lol) but what a gem of a house to clear out...........trouble is I'd spend so much time drooling over bits and pieces it would take at least twice the time allocated..........lol

ceridwen - thanks for the recipe............I'll tell OH tomorrow (ooops.....not 'tell' - 'mention') - its the essential oils we're lacking.
Where do you get your energy from ? You're getting so much done it's wearing me out............lol

do it today - I was going to deal with post etc. the day it arrived (one of my new years resolutions !) and kept it up for a few weeks then it seemed to slide back into the habit of leaving it till the letter rack's about to fall over.
I seem to be forever trying to do a lot of things at once and in the end get nothing done that way. I try and make a list of 'stuff to do today' and cross it off as I do it. Sometimes its just a list of phone calls or shopping but if I can put a tick against them all I feel a lot better. Seem to have got out of that habit lately and really must get back to it. Makes so much sense and when I feel 'organised' I feel more confident in myself.
But this weekend is going to me 'me' time for me and OH.............two more days left of our leave................I'll put some more paint on my cupboard but forget that the stairs need painting for a bit now. I want to make the most of a bit of R & R before next week.

do_it_today!

mary43 wrote: »

aril - I want to make the most of a bit of R & R before next week.

good idea Mary43 go for it!

Im abit of a list addict :j I accept most of my lists wont get completed on the same day but I still find it very satisfying to go back and tick things off :rotfl: even if its from last year :j

mary43

Lists are my thing too.............list for everything ! Tomorrows list ? continue painting cupboard, hoover, make get well card, sort out letter rack............but this is a 'maybe' list.............they're all things that don;t really have any sense of urgency so if I just do one of them I'll be happy...........the rest is feet up on the sofa .................lol -just what I'm going to do now.........watch Eastenders and see how bad life can really get................lol

Rowan9

Yes, JenniO, I am much more calm and relaxed since this thread. I think it's a combination of the focus of the thread coinciding with this particular time in my life when I am revisiting meditation and reading of inspirational texts. I don't try to multi-task so much and am focusing on the here and now and present moment. I have found that my needs are lessening - by this I mean things more like wants I suppose - I am happy to have simpler meals, use up what I have, clear out cupboards, drawers and the loft and give away loads of stuff. I find that I have lessened my expectations of others and taken more responsibility for my thoughts and feelings. I can see how we can be swamped by thinking 'she made me feel x' but actually it's our own choice how we react to others' behaviour. We cannot control other people's actions, only our own responses. So, I am more appreciative of myself and knowing that true happiness has to come from within and is not acquired through possessions nor the actions of others. It's lovely to have something nice done for you by someone, and it's lovely to be loved, but underneath it all is the baseline that we are responsible for ourselves.
Whew...that was a long reply to your question!
Hope everyone is having a lovely Easter weekend.
w

ceridwen

Just my mini-organisational simplifying thoughts for the day (whilst still focusing on springcleaning) - I've now lost count of how many times I've reminded myself of Rosiebens comment a while back to the effect that when one simplifies there might be an interim period during which things feel more complicated/cluttered/etc.

I'm getting there - theres various bits of my home that are now well-organised and others still halfway through - so I'm starting to feel the benefits. The single biggest thing that is helping right now is to be able to instantly access information (speaking as someone who has only recently acquired a home computer). Where to buy something/how to clean something/etc - just look up the Internet. I've certainly been able to throw quite a bit of info I had in paper form on various things now I have a home pc. That has helped a lot. I just remain conscious of remembering the World Wide Web is not invulnerable - so I must keep my basic collection of reference books - just in case.

So - todays thoughts so far:

1. Always remain well stocked-up with basic things (eg in my case breadmaking flour/canned tomatoes/cereals/pasta) and then theres no unexpected hassle (and corner shop expense) of running out of something just as you are about to use it.

2. One does have to be moneysaving - and I have had to do some pretty extreme moneysaving things in my time - but there are times when it saves a heck of a lot of time/hassle to just "throw money at the problem". I've just thrown some money at a problem that had the potential to turn into a pretty darn big problem and that was threatening to hang over my head for weeks (maybe even months) - so I've thrown a bit of money at it and bingo - sorted hopefully. There is the "last straw syndrome" to bear in mind when simplifying (as in "its the last straw that breaks the camels back"). Each of us has a limit beyond which even one teensy thing extra has gone over our personal limit and then things start breaking down. Its always something to be aware of - how much hassle/mega problem stuff is happening in the whole "picture" of your life and whether one extra thing might be just one thing too many. (Rough rule of thumb for when you are bumping up against your personal "limit" in my experience is when you are tearful for hours about something that is actually pretty darn minor - just a teensy little blip on the "screen". When that happens then just think "Well - I'm human and I will throw whatever money I can at whatever I can to bring the threshold back down again". If I'm finding it difficult to be nice to people - then I'm also near my personal "limit" and have to try and think up coping strategies pretty darn quick.

3. Now I've done the swop to environmentally-friendly cleaners I have this odd range of containers with all sorts of things in - so I've used one long plastic tray that I had which is meant for being an under-tray for a trough-type plastic plant container to plonk these bits in on my windowsill. Someday - I will get something nice-looking in pottery - but right now it serves a useful purpose.

4. When going into a shop one rarely ventures into (Boots in my case) buy umpteen things at once of whatever one has gone in there for (in my case - blow the one container of mascara I needed - I've come out with 4 at once - wont have to go in there again for a while then;) . Well - it is only £2 each).

5. Always be aware tasks might (probably will) overrun their allotted time.

My general comment on the above - there is times when there is merit in running your home like a business and working out just how time-efficient and cost-efficient things are and tweaking things accordingly (this is from the woman who is very conscious that her kitchen has not been designed in the most time and motion-conscious way:o - but it will be if I ever redo it).

misty-moodles

Hi ceridwen, I can really relate to Rosieben's comment, but now feel as though I'm starting to 'come out the other side' as it were.

I've just spent the morning/early afternoon re-organising the bookcases in the hall, after painting the hall yesterday, and everything feels just so much simpler now. Instead of a real mish-mash of books just placed on random shelves, I've gone into librarian mode, and organised shelves into different sections ie my fiction, the children's books, railways books for OH etc. It just feels so much better.

The other thing I've done recently is to make a sort of household journal, where I've recorded meal plans for the week, the monthly budget, lists of jobs that need doing etc, and again it just makes my life feel much simpler.

I really dislike shopping and love your idea of bulk-buying whatever one has gone into a particular shop for - must try that.

I think the thing that I really need to work on is mental/emotional simplifing. I find I go through phases where I really dwell on things that others have said to me, or that I have said to them, and tend to replay things over and over, which gets me nowhere. I am also a great worrier, although again I'm really trying to stop all the 'what ifs'.

ceridwen

misty-moodles wrote: »

I think the thing that I really need to work on is mental/emotional simplifing. I find I go through phases where I really dwell on things that others have said to me, or that I have said to them, and tend to replay things over and over, which gets me nowhere. I am also a great worrier, although again I'm really trying to stop all the 'what ifs'.

My bookshelves are also arranged in subject order - as per library - and I subdivide in that. Eg in cookery books - they are subdivided into cheapie/student/foreign/missing out various foods for different reasons (eg vegan/macrobiotic/allergies/etc).

I know exactly what you mean though - your bit I have quoted. "Tell me about it" is my phrase that comes right to mind here. I'm a right worrier too - thats for sure. I will get Zen peacefulness state of mind one day....I will....I will....I will.;) A lot of what I say is coping strategies I have had to learn for myself to cope with the fact that I am a worrier. I have got to the stage now where I put that on a backburner a lot of the time and manage to stay detached - but it does still surface from time to time - so I do know where you are coming from.

I'm just reminding myself again of a comment made years ago by my "angel" friend (as in "sometimes you have angels walking amongst you all unawares"). She said words to effect of "Sometimes all you can do is just live...just get through....and if thats all you can do sometimes...then thats okay....you will get back to normal at some point...and then you can do more than just get through the day again.".

misty-moodles

Wow ceridwen, that is very organised on the bookshelf front, I hadn't thought about sub-dividing subjects (might have to go and have another reorganisation now!)

I used to meditate every day for 30mins, about 4 years ago now, and I definitely had an easier state of mind then, didn't get so wrapped up in things and thoughts. Then I became quite poorly with a chronic illness (now in remission thankfully), and meditation just went by the wayside. It has become so easy to slip back into my 'worrying' mindset - but, I too pledge I will achieve Zen peacefullness one day;)

I love the quote from your 'angel' friend - quite beautiful.