My girlfriend is reading 30 Days to a Simpler Life, and blogging about it as the adventure unfolds. I happen to read her blog on day one and decided to join in. I haven't been as diligent as she is, she is super woman, so I wasn't ever going to keep up. I will decline from making other excuses at the moment. Day 1 I did quiet easily. It it was very convenient that I had already planned to do some purging and had some books set aside for just this purpose. Then day 2 came, and I failed, I didn't get online to see what I was supposed to do. LOL! On day 6 I remembered I had made the commitment to follow along and read up on what I needed to do to catch up. On day 2 I was supposed to de-clutter one junk drawer. To my delight I realized I can see into the future and had recently done that to the one junk drawer I have. I had even gone through my daughters drawers (which all resemble junk drawers) and had done those. So far not feeling so bad about "falling behind." Day 3, I read, I laugh, out loud. More on that in a minute. I'm now reading Day 4 for the first time. For some reason I've read 5 and 6 but not 4?
I am laughing hysterically now. Just wait a minute I'll get to the laughing.
Day 5, and 6 this is where I realized I have simplicity. And the laughing continues.
So why all the laughing. The first thing that got me started was that she assumed there was more then one junk drawer. The author not my friend. (Note: This should have been a huge clue to what I would realize when reading day 5 and 6.) My junk drawer never gets that bad, and anything in it that needs to go only needs to go to the appropriate place here, and I don't mean the garbage. It's where I throw small things I don't feel like taking down stairs at the time. Day 3 got me really going. Evidently this woman has NEVER been on a budget. (That by the way is a nice way of saying she's never been poor.) EVERYTHING I buy is agonized over. Even food is considered before it makes it's way to the check out. I would have to say I've got #3 covered. As far as taking a sabbatical from non-perishables. I'm doing the opposite at the moment. I did that for years, it's been hard to get back into the mindset that it's ok to buy myself a new pair of underwear when I need it. Day 4 relates to that. I recently was forced to buy a new set of sheets for our bed. The two old sets had to be pitched due to wear. Literally, so old they wore through. So you see I don't have an issue with buying unneeded things. Now you also understand why hysterics ensued when on day 4 it said to take all the sheets out of my closet and decide which ones to donate. (My children also only have 2 sets each.) So that's day 4 checked off without even getting up from the keyboard. I'm good at this. Day 5 is titled Organize Your Closet. Done! I don't have one, we have more of a cut out in the wall that you can hang a few things in. No really, we have a tiny closet that is used mostly by my husband. I just don't have many clothes. Part of that was the financially imposed sabbatical from buying non-perishables for eons. But it had a lot to do with moving several times in the past few years. It also suggests simplifying your entire bedroom. My bedside table is a bit messy, and we could remove the TV. But we don't even have pictures of our kids on the walls, on any walls. I know sad. And it is sad to look at, that's why I don't really agree with the idea of striping down your bedroom that way. Day 6 seems to cover the same thing. All I have left to say is when your wardrobe is all tee-shirts and jeans, nothing is a stray. ;)
Day 7 organize your bathroom, seems to be covered by two things, again the poor gypsy life we've had, and add to that that I don't use a lot of products to start. And there is no art in our bathroom. Like I said sad decor.
Day 8, so done. We have the world's second tiniest kitchen. No room to hold onto things we don't need. In fact I have to keep some things that only get used once a month or so on shelves in the basement. Again, if you are so poor you only buy the necessities when it comes to even food you don't tend to have food you won't be eating, also moving food does not happen here.
Here I was fretting over all the steps I thought I had missed, when really we already live in a simple way. Having no money and moving several times are not the only reasons we live this way. Evidently this is something we want or I wouldn't have thought it a good idea to follow along. My husband and I aren't stuff people. Even now that we can afford more we don't spend our money on things unless we need them because it just doesn't make sense to buy something that doesn't serve some purpose. And we don't like clutter so we don't keep things around we don't use.
Having a book, and even hard times, won't give you a simple life. You have to change you, and the way you look at "things." I don't have the book 30 Days. . .so I can't say if it talks about the internal changes that need to happen. What I have read from my friends blog the book seems to touch on them. If you want some good motivation beyond having a cleaner house. The Story of Stuff is a good place to start.
Or get yourself a good mom:
When we got married my husband and his mom danced to Simple Man, by Lynyrd Skynyrd. She told me that when her boys were little this song came on the radio one evening as she and her husband sat outside. She told her husband that was what she wanted for her boys, for them to grow up to be simple men. I'd have to say he has been successful. We both are satisfied with what we have: love, healthy kids, and enough food.
I am laughing hysterically now. Just wait a minute I'll get to the laughing.
Day 5, and 6 this is where I realized I have simplicity. And the laughing continues.
So why all the laughing. The first thing that got me started was that she assumed there was more then one junk drawer. The author not my friend. (Note: This should have been a huge clue to what I would realize when reading day 5 and 6.) My junk drawer never gets that bad, and anything in it that needs to go only needs to go to the appropriate place here, and I don't mean the garbage. It's where I throw small things I don't feel like taking down stairs at the time. Day 3 got me really going. Evidently this woman has NEVER been on a budget. (That by the way is a nice way of saying she's never been poor.) EVERYTHING I buy is agonized over. Even food is considered before it makes it's way to the check out. I would have to say I've got #3 covered. As far as taking a sabbatical from non-perishables. I'm doing the opposite at the moment. I did that for years, it's been hard to get back into the mindset that it's ok to buy myself a new pair of underwear when I need it. Day 4 relates to that. I recently was forced to buy a new set of sheets for our bed. The two old sets had to be pitched due to wear. Literally, so old they wore through. So you see I don't have an issue with buying unneeded things. Now you also understand why hysterics ensued when on day 4 it said to take all the sheets out of my closet and decide which ones to donate. (My children also only have 2 sets each.) So that's day 4 checked off without even getting up from the keyboard. I'm good at this. Day 5 is titled Organize Your Closet. Done! I don't have one, we have more of a cut out in the wall that you can hang a few things in. No really, we have a tiny closet that is used mostly by my husband. I just don't have many clothes. Part of that was the financially imposed sabbatical from buying non-perishables for eons. But it had a lot to do with moving several times in the past few years. It also suggests simplifying your entire bedroom. My bedside table is a bit messy, and we could remove the TV. But we don't even have pictures of our kids on the walls, on any walls. I know sad. And it is sad to look at, that's why I don't really agree with the idea of striping down your bedroom that way. Day 6 seems to cover the same thing. All I have left to say is when your wardrobe is all tee-shirts and jeans, nothing is a stray. ;)
Day 7 organize your bathroom, seems to be covered by two things, again the poor gypsy life we've had, and add to that that I don't use a lot of products to start. And there is no art in our bathroom. Like I said sad decor.
Day 8, so done. We have the world's second tiniest kitchen. No room to hold onto things we don't need. In fact I have to keep some things that only get used once a month or so on shelves in the basement. Again, if you are so poor you only buy the necessities when it comes to even food you don't tend to have food you won't be eating, also moving food does not happen here.
Here I was fretting over all the steps I thought I had missed, when really we already live in a simple way. Having no money and moving several times are not the only reasons we live this way. Evidently this is something we want or I wouldn't have thought it a good idea to follow along. My husband and I aren't stuff people. Even now that we can afford more we don't spend our money on things unless we need them because it just doesn't make sense to buy something that doesn't serve some purpose. And we don't like clutter so we don't keep things around we don't use.
Having a book, and even hard times, won't give you a simple life. You have to change you, and the way you look at "things." I don't have the book 30 Days. . .so I can't say if it talks about the internal changes that need to happen. What I have read from my friends blog the book seems to touch on them. If you want some good motivation beyond having a cleaner house. The Story of Stuff is a good place to start.
Or get yourself a good mom:
When we got married my husband and his mom danced to Simple Man, by Lynyrd Skynyrd. She told me that when her boys were little this song came on the radio one evening as she and her husband sat outside. She told her husband that was what she wanted for her boys, for them to grow up to be simple men. I'd have to say he has been successful. We both are satisfied with what we have: love, healthy kids, and enough food.
I always knew you were a simplicity rock star :-)
ReplyDeleteI actually have J to thank for a lot of it. Before him I was a pack rat, I didn't buy a ton of stuff, but I never got rid of stuff either.
ReplyDelete