Simplifying Life

mary43

We've never used our car for a 'drive out' - we've always had somewhere we either needed or wanted to go and when Mum used to stay it was still all little local trips -she so enjoyed looking around the market towns where we live and we could take in the countryside as we did it.

Well, today I've done some more de-cluttering..............four wicker baskets under my desk are now still there but the contents have been either chucked out or found a new home (candles for outdoors are now in a cupboard where they're handier to get at and we won't forget they're there should we have some warm summer evenings. Even found some card making stuff I forgot I had, two college style folders and two concertina ones (keeping the latter as they are useful) One had duplications of fam. tree stuff in that I don't need to hand on to so they're for the shredder. Electric typewrite my nephew gave me was tucked away there as well so thats going onto freecycle. It was his and he gave it me in my pre-computer days.........not likely to use it now and it weighs a ton (slight exaggeration there)...........then I found my Dads little union jack !!!!! Don';t know quite how it got there. I just know I've had it for years and never really thought about it so thats upstairs in his suitcase.

Room is a total chaotic mess though..........hoover still there waiting in anticipation that I just might go a bit further............in the company of dustpan and brush and duster !! Bags of rubbish, piles of stuff to be shredded,bags of stuff for charity shop................still I've done it !!!!
So I'm well pleased with myself:T

Next bit will be underneath my other desk............gran's bible box with stuff in that I know I won't want though I'm keeping the two bibles and the endless prayer books,crucifixes etc. plus her little notebook she wrote recipes in when she was in domestic service................actually thats going to be an interesting thing to do...........haven't had a read through that for ages.
Maybe that'll be tomorrow's little project after I've got rid of this lot of stuff.

missyg_3

Hi everyone, I've popped in here before but not for a while, so thought I'd say hello again.

I'm wondering if there's anyone here who's at a stage in their simplifying journey where they are starting to think - "I've simplified everything... now what?"

Some great discussions on here in the last few pages, I've been having a read through and found myself nodding a lot!

Charis

Hi missyg

missyg wrote: »

I'm wondering if there's anyone here who's at a stage in their simplifying journey where they are starting to think - "I've simplified everything... now what?"

Not quite there yet but I am beginning to think 'Where do I stop?' I think you can 'declutter' the character right out of a home even if some of it is still behind cupboard doors.

Also I still have a few things I have kept for sentimental reasons but I find that nostalgia can make me sad, it's tricky knowing what to keep and what to throw away.

mary43

I don't think I'll ever be truly 'simplified'..........too much stuff around me but then I do kind of like it that way - my bits and pieces, photographs, paintings done by my son and shelves with bits and pieces on, all that have a tale to tell. As for clearing out my head............well thats a totally different matter although I am clearing out 'my dad' quite well, and I mean that in a nice way. It's just letting go of the non-personal things of his that I had found hard and now its starting to come very easy to me.
Along with that of course follows the ease to clear out a lot of other 'stuff' that has no real meaning to me, it's just there because I bought it at a time when I liked it and there it's stayed.

Nostalgia can be a sad thing at times charis but then so can the present......I have to pick my moments to look through some of the things I've kept. Not all of my family things are on show so when I get some 'me' time that feels right to relive bits of the past (for want of a better term) I take them out, have a smile or a tear or both, then put them away again till the next time. I'm trying to get it to work like that in my head.........not winning there on some things but not for want of trying.

missyg - you've done so well. I wish at times I had a house like that but then, it wouldn't really be 'me' would it.

ceridwen

Hi missyg

Not quite there yet - to the totally simplified stage. I was thinking today that I am pretty well on the route. I have spent,I would say, the last year doing simplifying-type stuff of one description or another. I can now see a lot of "daylight" coming up on the horizon. Guesstimate at present is about a month away from being as "sorted" as I can basically get (partly because some of it involves other people doing various jobs in my house). My head feels noticeably clearer and I'm not quite so fast at reaching for a consolatory glass or two of wine for (yet another) bit of hassle appearing (usually translating into another bad day at w**k). So its proving worth it.

As for "now what?" at the end of it - well herein lies I suspect one of the reasons why we can sometimes be disinclined to simplify/get rid of "clutter" of whatever description (material or otherwise). Reason - then we are less able to tell ourselves we dont have the time/energy/whatever resources we need to really give a bit more thought to our own personal lives/society we are in/etc.

Me - I'm doing this because I want that time/energy/clearer head to focus on "more important things". I dont want to be preoccupied all the time with what I call "the existence side of life" - there doesnt feel much point to me personally to a life that only consists of "getting and spending". Thinking here of the phrase "in getting and spending we lay waste our days".

I personally want to reclaim my life - meaning the "life" side of my life more. I used to be - for quite some time - what I would describe as an "activist"/a pretty "political" sort of person (dont all fall around laughing at this point thinking "we never would have guessed - much":D ). I am partly "rescuing" some of my time and energy that got lost in the sheer process of moneymaking to be available for some more "social concern" type stuff. Partly also I want my time and energy "rescued" for more directly personal stuff - to be able to take things like yoga/meditation/healing/self-development work off the "back burner" (where they have been languishing for some time).

The reason for simplifying/decluttering/organising will vary from person to person. Some will be doing so for similar reasons to myself, some want more time and energy to focus on their families, others want to focus more on creative pursuits ...who knows? You could ask 10 different people and possibly get 10 different answers. I can only answer for myself personally.

System

missyg wrote: »

I'm wondering if there's anyone here who's at a stage in their simplifying journey where they are starting to think - "I've simplified everything... now what?"

Yes thats me. I get to a stage where i have uncluttered everything out of my mind, out of my home and simplified things in general and i sit back satisfied...... then a few weeks later, i notice that things start to creep in again and before i know it i need to start again. You see, simplifying things doesnt come natural to me. I have to work on it.:o

mary43

Pleased you're so near your goal ceridwen - but please dont leave us once you get there...............:j

Now off to have some quality time with OH and a bit of mindless tele after a bit of a day.................but patting myself on the back I am:T

ceridwen

mary43 wrote: »

Pleased you're so near your goal ceridwen - but please dont leave us once you get there...............:j

:T

Aw shucks! I expect I'll still be "around" mary....being me I'll find other "concerns" doubtless:D and I like picking up tips from others. I'm taking a particular interest right now in weezl's frugal eating thread - I see where shes coming from and am following with interest.

Aril

Hello virtual friends:j
Back again to bother you all:D I've been reading a book this week about downshifting which seems to go hand in hand with simplicity in many respects. I've realised that I've been effectively downshifting for the last 15 years. One example was last week when I realised just how much of a square peg in a round hole I am at times [and pleased to be so I hasten to add]. We're currently redoing our kitchen...it's taking time because we're doing it ourselves. The one we inherited is literally falling apart. This is being done on a steady basis and we are using trying not to just strip everything out and replace it eg we've got a sink and knobs off freecycle and we've bought replacement doors but are keeping the original carcases- this is done out of a mixture of green and moneysaving motivations. My friend came over for a cuppa last week and asked me if I was planning to replace my 20 year old oven....I hadn't planned to and told her I'll only do so when it's stopped working. She looked at me very puzzled. I then told her that my sister is moving and has offered my her washing machine [which I've said yes to and will store it in the garage until we need it to replace ours] and a dishwasher which I refused. I've never had one nor do I have the space for it. My friend was by this time absolutely horrified and despite doing her best to get me to change my mind couldn't fathom it when I confirmed we are quite happy with the personal choice we had made with having sufficient machines. I think she thinks I'm decidedly strange but I'm unrepentant and perfectly happy:rotfl::rotfl:I suppose it's all about ploughing your own furrow and being happy to do so.
The following lovely set of words were emailed to me by my friend earlier this week. Hope you enjoy them!
Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.
I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back the calories. From then on I've tried to be a little more flexible!!
How many women out there will eat home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you!!
How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched "Who wants to me a millionaire" on television?
I cannot count the number of times I called my sister and said, "how about going to lunch in half an hour?". She would gas up and stammer, "I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain". And my personal favourite: "It's Monday", She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.
Because we cram so much into our lives, we tend to even schedule our headaches. We live ona sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect. We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.
Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of "I'm going to", "I plan on", and "Someday, when things settle down a bit".
When anyone callse my "seize the moment" friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk to with her for five minutes and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.
My lips have not touched icecream in 10 years. I love icecream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy. Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to ....not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and only had one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?
Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.
Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed a the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply.
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child "We'll do it tomorrow" And in your haste not seen his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say hi?
When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift...thrown away...Life is not a race. Hear the music before the song is over.

Aril

ceridwen

Another good one Aril - helping to keep us all on track.

We miss you when you're not around:D