Simplifying Life

niglet

Phew!! I have spent all my free time over the last couple of days reading this thread. At one point the pages were going up faster than I was reading them. I had to join up and comment . The posts are so inspirational. I have been slowly working towards a simpler life over the last few years and 2008 saw me in need of a boost to my resolve and I certainly found it here. I look forward to reading more and joining in but maybe I'll wait untill a more civilised hour. Many thanks people!!
niglet xx

Charis

sophiesmum wrote: »

I have been reading a book about the effects supermarkets are having on society today. Its really interesting, but hits home at some of the knock on costs of our cheap food. I followed the thread last year about shopping locally which was what led me to this book in the first place. By the way the book is titled “”SHOPPED The shocking power of Britain’s supermarkets” and it is by Joanna Blythman.

Ooh, I've got that on the bookshelf. Long time since I read it, so I will dust it off and read it again, then release it into the wild (recycle). The kind of browsing which is eating my time is sitting in front of this screen. I am an incurable addict I can think of worse vices though. I think it saves my sanity. Or keeps me happy while insane.
Reading this thread has really prompted me to sort out my priorities. I have been doing a demanding voluntary job for almost a year and it has grown to the extent that I am tied to it like a full time job. Today I have written my letter of resignation. There are plenty more voluntary opportunities and I have my new projects, the overgrown garden, my empty freezer to fill and my studies to keep me busy. It was just being honest with myself and realising that the job was draining all my energy for very little reward that was hard to do. This thread has been like an online therapy group for me, valued all the more because I don't have an OH to share things with,

Charis

rosieben

niglet wrote: »

Phew!! I have spent all my free time over the last couple of days reading this thread. ... I look forward to reading more and joining in but maybe I'll wait untill a more civilised hour. Many thanks people!!
niglet xx

Welcome niglet!! always room for one more, and the best part is we're all learning from each other :T

Charis wrote: »

..... This thread has been like an online therapy group for me, valued all the more because I don't have an OH to share things with,

Charis

Ditto, this is an amazing thread! I dont have an OH either and its great to have like minded people here to share with

piglet6

Aril wrote: »

PS If you're finding the idea of simplifying [however you're wanting to achieve it] a bit overwhelming someone once said to me:
How do you eat a whole elephant? Bit by bit.

Thanks, Aril, I love this quote! Mr P and I were both quite ill last year, and it is a phrase that my godmother used to me over and over again when we were dealing with each operation - "treat it as you would eat an elephant..." (she also sent me a toy elephant while I was in hospital and an elephant jigsaw when I got home, to emphasise her point, and to encourage us while we were "halfway up a leg" or "three quarters of the way through an ear"!!!). Although the toy and the jigsaw haven't helped me in simplifying my life, they have been bits of "clutter" that I am happy to keep to remind me of how far we've come...

Since we have both been out of hospital (me: 8th Dec, Mr P: 24th Dec), we weren't well enough to travel to spend Christmas with family as usual, so used the time to de-clutter our "spare" room. I use the word "spare" very loosely, as you could barely set foot inside the door - we have filled 30+ black bags with rubbish over this festive period from that room alone (including a few bags of re-cycling to charity shops, and several bags of shredded paperwork - why did we feel the need to keep bank statements and credit card bills from last century?!?!). We both agree that this Christmas has been one of the best we have had (very quiet - both sets of parents travelled to stay with us for a couple of days so we have seen them, but still had plenty of time to use "usefully"!).

We are hoping to downsize this year, sell our house in London and move out to the country. Turning our spare room into a "delightful, spacious double bderoom" should help this dream! Being hoarders by nature, we are finding it difficult to de-clutter, but we are really trying... I am following this thread with real interest as I am finding lots of the tips interesting...will be doing my best to put them into action!

Thanks to all who are contributing!

Piglet

[Deleted User]

Anyone any ideas of what to do with a lot of cardstock for cardmaking? I don`t want to use but I do want to give it away. I have 4 shelves full of neatly stashed card making stuff. Ok it looks fine but it will take me 3 lifetimes to get through it.

Well that is my project this week. I will sort out the cardmaking stuff that I know I will USE and I will clear enough to free-up at least one whole shelf. I shudder to think how much I have but don`t use. Perhaps I should be really HONEST with myself and say that I would be happy to finish with 3 free shelves and all my card-making gear stacked on one shelf but that will be hard. I will need to nibble at this. Maybe oxfam because they ask decent prices, whereas the community shop is too cheap

I have ditched the fancy crockery, all except a few bits just in case I need extra. Next ditching is glassware, to my dd first or to the community shop. I have ordered replacements but I found stemless wine glasses, which will double up as tumblers so will take up far less room

So far so good. We like using the white plain (ish) crockery. Well designed all round stuff ie multi-use

ceridwen

moanymoany wrote: »

It would certainly qualify in the 'simplifying life' stakes. Not wanting to be a party pooper (but doing it anyway) I can see difficulties ..... would you have to build a mini yurt as the smallest room? I insist on keeping my porta potty .. I suppose I could make a screen to put inside the yurt, to put the porta potty behind it ... much better not to have to make a dash for it in the rain - ventilation is unlikely to be a problem. I simply refuse to use a bucket or - shudder - perform al fresco. I have standards, low though they may be. :rolleyes:

'On clear nights one can lie in bed and watch the stars through the open crown. On wet nights there is plenty of room for a group of friends to sit in comfort around a warm stove, tell stories and listen to the storm outside. The atmosphere inside the yurt is one of warm, secure, solidity, while from the outside the yurt radiates a welcoming glow.'

I am not convinced - does the open crown close up at the first sign of precipitation? Have you smelt wet sheep fleeces - 'The yurt is traditionally covered with felt, made by beating and rolling wet sheep fleece' - mmmm!

There is a blog about some yurtlers trying to establish a yurt community in France. They seem to be meeting some resistance from the sane. Can't remember the address - Ceridwen, over to you.......

Well....you know me by now Moanie - my mind is a field on which many seeds fall - and some then go on to germinate!! lol. I'm a voracious reader - as everyone has doubtless gathered - an "ideas hamster" as Pandora123 calls me (giggling!). Some ideas I keep and use myself, others arent for me, but may be meant for someone else - so I pass them on. You have to admit my "threads" are quite a rich tapestry - lol:D

ceridwen

sophiesmum wrote: »

Anyway it has made me think and I have come to the conclusion that shopping of all types has become a sort of pastime in the family and I want to cut down on the time, energy and money that is wasted on it, I will be doing more constructive things with my time from now on instead of traipsing round town every Saturday like a zombie.If i could manage on 3 - 4 shopping trips a year that would free up around 5 hours a week for me currently spent shopping and browsing. To put it in perspective that is 10 whole days - almost half my annual leave:eek:

Good on you - one of my points precisely. The thing is about time spent going round the shops aimlessly (as opposed to a "constructive" shopping trip - where one knows what is needed/gets it/sorted) and also about working more than a full-time workweek is that that time has gone and one has seen nothing much for it. It is time that could be used for being with people/creative activities/etc.

I try to only shop "constructively" - ie as required. And what prompted the whole "thread" is I have dropped some of my sideline income activities. I found I was missing out on things I wanted to do with my leisuretime - because of clashing commitments or lack of energy (as in it had been used up for work purposes).

There is one sideline activity still to go - being carried on for time being - purely as I have made a commitment to them and know I couldnt be easily replaced - but I'm looking to drop that one too at some point.

It is, at the moment, increasingly difficult for people to hold onto their leisure time for themselves (rather than using it for work - because of doing extra work to increase earnings or because employers are trying to shift work over into being done in traditional leisure times, like evenings and weekends, etc). I feel we need to resist this as much as possible - so we dont lose the things that matter - like community for instance. We do need to retain these traditional leisure times as far as possible - it was good to be able to rely on everyone being around to interreact with socially, etc at the same times - ie the evenings/weekends/bank holidays - and we need to try and reclaim our traditional leisure times for this and for ourselves to have solo time too.

ceridwen

kittie wrote: »

Anyone any ideas of what to do with a lot of cardstock for cardmaking? I don`t want to use but I do want to give it away. I have 4 shelves full of neatly stashed card making stuff.

Playgroups? Freecycle? Freeeconomy?

On a different note - stemless wine glasses (ie tumbler style) help on moneysaving front - I havent broken one since swopping to them a while back - but the others would get smashed at very frequent intervals.

JAMIEDODGER

my dd is due to start school in september. one thing i would really like to do is volunteer to do reading and help out at the school.

i havent been able to do this with my other 3 as i have always had one at home, but dd is my youngest so i want to do this with her.

i work for myself, at home so i can pick and choose my hours to suit, i would also like to do some volunteering elsewhere when dd goes full time in march 2009.

i am loving this thread and reading what others are doing to simplify their lives.

thanks ceridwen:)

ceridwen

niglet wrote: »

Phew!! I have spent all my free time over the last couple of days reading this thread. At one point the pages were going up faster than I was reading them. I had to join up and comment . The posts are so inspirational. I have been slowly working towards a simpler life over the last few years and 2008 saw me in need of a boost to my resolve and I certainly found it here. I look forward to reading more and joining in but maybe I'll wait untill a more civilised hour. Many thanks people!!
niglet xx

:rotfl: :rotfl: welcome to our world.

At this rate of growth Martin will be heading in my direction to either tie me up and gag me or hand me a bunch of flowers - I'm not sure which. Hi Martin:hello:

thinks....I'd better smile very sweetly at Martin at this point and offer him a "virtual cup of coffee" - whoops, hang on in there a minute, "coffee" having other connotations in this day and age.... edit that: make it a a "virtual mug of cocoa" !