Simplifying Life

bails

OH is in on the challenge and is simplifying as we speak! The thing is, he's trying to get rid of all the things I like and keeping all the stuff I don't! I think we may need to talk about this...
Going for a walk and redoing the budget this morning then may pull something out of the hat later...:D Have a simple day!

teacup_2

well i have started the simplifying process . Only little steps to start with I cleared the cleaning cupboard out in the kitchen and scaled it down lots so I can see what I have as switching to stardrops soon when I have finished my other products. Also defrosted freezer really well and I can actually see in there now, gave fridge a really good clean and organize. Also spent yesterday evening writing a shopping list and actually thinking about what we are going to eat using a one week meal plan. sorted some ebay things out and put them on ebay already and put some things on www.gumtree.com as you can list them free and it does different areas and doesnt cost a penny.
It is apparant in my house that the clothes pose the biggest problem as so many drying on airers then I iron them and i never seem to be organised so I will tackle this by not adding anymore to kids or mine . I open cupboards and there is lots of stuff so I am being brutal thinking right if it hasnt been used its ebay/charity no more excuses for me. More organised = easier life for everyone as more simplified and less clutter:beer:

System

Dont forget your pc too. I dumped loads of mp3's and silly pictures off mine a couple of weeks ago which gave me loads more room on my hard drive.

champys

meanmarie wrote: »

I haven't yet been able to let my parents 'go'...they died within eight weeks of each other in 1994, neither death really expected up to the last minute and I couldn't even change the paint colour on the walls of their house where I now live for several years...I do at last regard the house as mine, but its still hard to part with 'their' stuff...maybe this year I can make a start on that too.

Marie

I am struggling with the 'sentimental items' as well. My OH's parents died within a year from each other, and at the same time my mother moved from the family home into a flat. I feel inundated with things, but know that many of them are important memories and must be given a proper place and proper use rather than being stuffed in the attic 'for the time being'. Sometimes it feels like processing clutter is my main activity apart from my job. If any of you have good ideas in how to handle these memories, thinning them with respect, then I would be grateful to hear.

thriftlady_2

rosieben wrote: »

Thriftlady, thank you for the lnik - loads of interesting stuff on that site

Will you be starting a simplified menu thread? or posting on this one? hope you will do one or the other, I found your war-time thread so interesteing :T

I don't know Rosieben, I haven't really thought it through. I'm not sure what my parameters would be yet. I'm sure there are loads of people reading this forum who have pretty simple diets. First I'm working on using stuff up and once my cupboards are a bit barer I'll have another think. I have been thinking about eating as locally as I can, so may be that's a project, mind you it wouldn't be that different from wartime rationing -maybe I'll go back on rations....:think:

JenniO

I believe it was Thriftlady who talked about having 6 different kinds of cheese, bacon and chorizo, etc in her fridge and this inspired me - no offence Thriftlady!!!. I've just added this post to my blog but actually thought it may prove helpful for people looking to simplify life:

In an effort to minimise the amount of food I used to waste by going grocery shopping every week, I realised that what I mostly threw away weeek on week was perishable foods that were forgotten about and had rotted in my refrigerator.

What I realised was, in my opinion, that refrigerators were created as temporary cool storage to stop foods from quickly going bad. The way modern society has come to treat them now is to cram them full every week with 'stuff' - maybe it was reduced or on offer while you were out shopping (I have a love/hate relationship with buy one get one free offers myself), maybe you still have foods you purchased from the week before that never got used but hadn't officially gone off yet or even 'well meaning' leftovers that never got used the following day or day after.

If you are seeing yourself in this story, I suggest the following:

1. Go through it and be ruthless - if its gone off, past its best, etc - throw it out

2. Please be ruthless about your condiments as well. No one NEEDS 5 kinds of jam in there at once and if you haven't fancied gherkins or olives for a year now, then please throw them out.

3. Write down what is actually left in the fridge - just real food, not condiments

4. Get creative and figure out 'meals' you can make by adding your own store cupboard ingredients to them and try to make a few simple meals.

5. Spend the day turning all your food into meals and then either plan to have them over the next 2 days or freeze what you won't be eating just then.

6. I've even used ageing fruit in the frige to make cobblers or crumbles out of so please get creative.

7. Start to get used to not seeing your fridge stuffed to the gills. It's scary, I know it is, but soon you will get used to it and it won't frighten you anymore.

8. When you next do your grocery shopping buy less of everything and if possible menu plan using what you already have in the house and just buy the few things it would take to complete your meals. Your wallet/purse will thank you.

System

I presently own a larder type fridge and a seperate small chest freezer. The fridge i must admit has seen better days and i know its on its last legs but i am hoping that when i replace it, i will buy a fridge freezer which will allow me loads more space in my kitchen. I used to have a fridge freezer years ago when all 5 of my children were at home so i know i can manage now that 2 have left at home. Again, i think the more space you have, the more you tend to fill it. I tend to stock up on offers at the supermarket and once we have had it once or twice we dont want it again.

thriftlady_2

Thanks for that useful post JenniO I've been mulling over my food situation and I've decided that I'd like to start from scratch with a completely bare fridge, freezer and cupboard. I want to set myself a tight budget and see if I can stick to it utilising a basic larder of foods. People often come on the board and ask for examples of how to manage a small food budget, and I think it'd be useful and maybe fun to chronicle a week or two's meals on such a budget.

Step 1 is to use up all my cheese:D and everything else that I have accumulated. I am therefore not buying anymore dry stores except stuff that I use regularly like bread flour and oats. So, no more pasta, rice, pulses, spices, frozen veg, tinned stuff as I have enough to keep me going for a few months. I will buy milk, butter, fruit and veg and some meat and fish.

Step 2 will be to restock my empty cupboards with the basics. I've no idea how long it will take to reach this stage...knowing me I'll have probably gone off the whole idea before I reach it :rolleyes: Still I'm feeling quite excited about it at the moment -how sad is that? :rotfl:

ceridwen

I've been thinking on about Rhonda Jean's comment earlier re the extra time it takes to lead a simpler lifestyle. Certainly accurate I find.

So - as someone who is trying to be O.S. on top of the dreaded (full-time) job - I would be particularly interested in the sort of organisational tips that cut that extra "time" as much as possible.

Was planning, for instance, on trying out the one about making bread dough and leaving it to rise overnight in the fridge and then baking it the next morning - but that one will have to wait till next time - as right now I've just eaten the last of my bread - so have to get baking tonight. But that idea - to me - saves "headspace" focusing on waiting 40 odd minutes for the dough to rise (even though I set timers for everything in my house - to free me up from having to focus on such things as much as poss). So - next time - I'll do that overnight rise thing and then bake it whilst I eat breakfast and it'll be ready for taking to work as packed lunch.

So - if anyone has any other ideas along these lines it would be appreciated.

edited: financial organisation type ideas also welcome. eg I am already having all the bills direct debited each month - so I've never got to rush off and pay one at the last minute or worry about how to do so if I were ill.

further edit: and my idea of clothes shopping used to be to pop into a certain very wellknown High Street store and think "I'll have that jumper" and buy it in 3 different colours and then head elsewhere in the store and think "I'll have those trousers as well" and get them in 3 different colours as well. I'm visibly restraining myself now - bearing in mind other considerations like a jampacked wardrobe and the need to bear other factors in mind as much as poss. - like Fairtrade considerations, etc.

ceridwen

....right - thats the bread sitting there rising now. (thinks....wonder if anyone will notice the breadmaker sitting there in my kitchen still in pristine condition - as I've never used it yet...:o hangs head in shame. Not exactly my shining moment over a year ago now when I thought "nice homemade bread to wake up to" and bought the breadmaker first, then the breadmaker books - dont ask - 3 of them! I then read the books, thought "whoops - dried milk - that wont be organic. Whoops - sugar - oh dear!" and duly abandoned project). I have now read a comment on another thread re being able to make bread in a breadmaker without using either of these things - right, thats me going to have a go then now - no excuse.

Thinking further on general organisational lines - there was a time - in fairly recent years - where darn nearly everyone I knew (including me) never had to think how to decorate or furnish a house. Automatically - it was white painted walls, plain wood furniture in a pale coloured wood and oatmeal-coloured berber-style carpet. The biggest decision was what shade of white the paint was going to be. Not QUITE such an ubiquitous scheme now - I actually had to make a decision what colour the hallway walls were going to be when they were decorated last! It did make for decision-making ease though while it lasted - and I still have some white walls and oatmeal carpet now.