Simplifying Life

System

One more comment. The last 12 months has been one hell of an upheaval for me in the house. In April i had to have a new bathroom as we broke the old toilet and couldnt replace what had broke. Before we replaced it both me and MrJudi had to make a decision. We have both wanted to move for a couple of years now but the fact that the house is paid for meant that living in the house is relatively cheap. OK, its not the house we would both like but our finances and age would go against us getting a mortgage, and we cant actually afford what we really want. Then we had to think that we have been putting off having central heating for ages too. Thinking that maybe we would move eventually and probably wouldnt get any more for the house for putting it in, we kept putting it off. If we were going to stay, we both wanted central heating cause this house is damned cold in the winter. It would have been foolish to have a new bathroom to have to disturb the freshly tiled bathroom to lay pipes so the central heating was put in before we renovated the bathroom.

So, a few months later we have made some decent improvements to our rather modest house. During this upheaval i have been taking stock of the junk we have accumulated. I am seriously lacking storage but i like a spacious house and I have been down this route before, the more storage you have, the more you need and i dont want to add to our ever increasing junk. Our kids are 22, 18 and 11. Our 22 year old has been on about buying her own place so i am hoping that when she goes, she will take her 'junk' with her, that includes the 6 coats of hers hanging up in the hallway, leaving no room for anyone elses :mad:. Anyway, the thing is about having a lot of work in your house, you tend to take stock of what you really need and what you dont. Cleaning the dishwasher for the umpteenth time just over a month ago as we had just plastered the kitchen made me wonder why i was cleaning it again when i dont actually use it. Well i did use it until we started getting horendous electricity bills and the kids started getting lazy about washing the odd thing up. So i got MrJudi to disconnect it. I now have an extra worktop unit.

Whilst dusting in the living room, (plaster dust gets everywhere:() i actually asked myself why we have a video player. We havent used our video for a good 13 months now and the picture is naff anyway. It wasnt worth the cost of leaving it plugged in, and certainly not worth dusting every few days. So that got chucked as well. I have a load more room where the dvd player and cable box is now and the cable box doesnt get so hot.

Over the christmas period MrJudi has been catching up on jobs he has wanted to do for a time. One of these jobs was to take the ever increasing pile of junk up the tip. I sulked a bit when he asked me to help as i was doing something more interesting at the time. He had loaded our 4x4 to the brim and there was something very theraputic about getting it out of the motor and chucking it in the huge metal containers. It was like a weight was being lifted off my shoulders.

Well the throw out has just begun, i have my eye on a few bits and peices that are just taking up space but i need to work on MrJudi a bit first.:D

BallandChain

That's great having a sort out. It's so therepeutic isn't it? Judi, if you have anything that is still usable why not have a car boot sale? You'd be surprised what people will buy and you'd make quite a bit in the process. Failing that I give a lot of stuff to charity shops so someone else can get the use of it.

System

BallandChain (great name by the way ), the idea of car booting just doesnt do a thing for me i am afraid though i take the point about the charity shops. I will bear it in mind for the next time. I have a huge mirror over my fireplace (that takes over the whole fireplace) that is going to be donated to the charity shop i think, its far too good to throw away. Why on earth did i buy something so huge? It is far too big for the wall that its on and i am sure, when we come to start working on the living room i can find something far more suitable. I know it means spending a little but the living room is on the list for a major overhaul.

BallandChain

Whatever you do Judi don't break the mirror. I'm superstitious about things like that!

Jillinoz

If it's not too pretentious, I always try to bear in mind William Morris' maxim when I feel the urge to buy yet more 'stuff':

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

Allowing for 'beautiful' to include objects of sentimental value, it is a brilliant guide to what to keep or throw when decluttering, I find.

It's also a good yardstick by which to measure the other half in your life and is one of the reasons I am currently single!

rosieben

BallandChain wrote: »

Whatever you do Judi don't break the mirror. I'm superstitious about things like that!

I used to be too, and then someone told me that if you break a mirror you need to 'wash' the broken pieces under running water then there is no bad luck - and she said 'water runs from your tap'! There's nothing that says it has to be a mountain stream

Ches

Another blog and my current favourite is http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com which I think is surely the ultimate in simple living. Sorry I can't do links. Or have I accidentally done one??? OOOH yes I just tested it and it works.

Kaz2904

So, I have just read the whole thread. The main thing that jumped out at me is that I really need to JUST STOP. The next thing was that I realised that I need to give my SIL more love. She commented when we all went on holiday that she never felt able to cuddle me. I said that her sister always did and she said that "***" always does. I have realised that SiL NEEDS cuddles just as much as I do. I am really lucky because I get it from my colleagues and my patients. She is a SAHM so I am now going to write her a letter saying exactly HOW much I & my family LOVE her and have it delivered to her.
I hope that this will be a huge unexpected boost to her. She really needs this boost as she told DH that she was having counselling whilst we were on holiday.
I have to say, I love her to bits and am so happy to have a SiL that I get on with so well.

huxley

:j Hi, spent far toooooo long reading through all this thread but loved all of it. Over the years life has thrown us many curves that have meant we have had change or simplify our life, to some it seems that we are going without or in need of sympathy but actually for the most part I consider us lucky. Yes I would like to have good health again but when that started to go I found out who true friends were, when my DH was made redundant from a well paid job we took a big step and he became selfemployed financially we now live on a very tight budget but he has a lung condition, the change to working outside has improved his lung age according to the hospital by 10+ years, now thats something worth every penny lost in income.Through joining my locat LETS group I have met many people that normally I may have never of come into contact with, who have different intrests, hobbies and skills and help add to the tapestry of life and of course this site which has been a wealth of information, smiles and has helped me appreciate how much I do have. Oh dear I'm waffling that's what comes of having weird sleep patterns! What I realy just wanted to say was thank you to everyone and maybe we shouldnt just think of it as simplyfying our lives but enriching them as well.

Aril

Can't resist popping over onto this thread every time I'm online!
Decluttering update- I have now potentially freecycled over 100 books, a bag of videos and several freebie DVDs. I'm just waiting for any more takers but it looks like most will be going for fund raising to the NSPCC. Result.
Re toxic friends...my theory is that you find out who your true friends are in a crisis. I had some real surprises when I had a tricky year in 2005 and as a result I have changed who I spend my time with in some instances. I read an article many years ago written by a husband whose wife had had cancer and the changes they made in its aftermath. The following quote seems appropriate-
Stephanie's Recovery
"We became quite selective about how we spent our time. We chose to be around people who made us laugh. We rented movies that made us laugh. I changed the way I approached my job. For me, our family time became precious. I remember taking a few days off right after she was diagnosed . I spent an afternoon with her, right in the middle of my workday, to watch Les Miserables. That would never have happened before"
This type of thinking always reminds me that so long as my basic needs are met it's people not things that are my priority even if they drive me mad sometimes or vice versa:D
Aril