Simple Ain't Easy

A person would think that living a more simplified life would be easy. That may be the case once life actually gets simplified - I don't know yet. But the process of becoming a simple life kind of gal is not an easy one. The vast amount of work involved in going through all of life's clutter is immense. Then you have to actually do something with the insane amount of gadgets, gizmos, knick-knacks, and nonsense.

Well, I am not what you would call a "motivated" person, so sometimes it's difficult to give myself that kick in the rear end that's required to get this job done. It is much easier to let chaos pile up around me while I sit in my comfy chair with some nice knitting and a yummy iced coffee - which is exactly what I did today rather than go through my kitchen as promised.

Honestly, I was beating myself up about this until I read the newest zenhabits post about change, inertia, and failure. I will fail, and that's okey dokey. I failed to clean out the kitchen, but that failure is not permanent. I need to focus on what I'm trying to do here (and why I'm trying to do it) and have a go at it again tomorrow. Some added motivation? I've made a solemn vow of no iced coffee until I've "earned" it by taking a load of stuff to Goodwill. :)

The Kitchen Sink

My next move in the quest for simplicity is going to be getting rid of all of the nonsense in the kitchen. My husband and I got a good start the other day when we cleared out all of the excess cups and dishes, but we want to keep on clearing out. We started with just looking at our kitchen counters and noting the things that never, ever get used. Does it make any sense to have two coffee makers and a bean grinder when all we use anymore is instant coffee from Starbucks? Why, no, no it doesn't. (Side note: Starbucks makes some mighty slurptastic instant coffee.) A waffle iron??? Who are we kidding? We have a wine rack that's had the same six bottles of wine in it for approximately 4.5 billion years. We don't even drink wine. It's just there for company. Well, we've finally decided that these imaginary wine-drinking guests are going to have to do without. Then we looked to the cabinets and drawers where we saw the list of unused items goes on. And on. And on. So, our plan for tomorrow? To make one heck of a trip to Goodwill. We are saying goodbye to the silicon pumpkin-shaped muffin pan, the fancy silver serving tray, the never-used fondue pot, etc. When next we cook dinner, it will be in a kitchen that has what we need and love, not a bunch of hoarded frou-frou stuff that serves no purpose in our lives. And, yes, we're keeping the sink. ;)

What's On?

My husband and I were discussing ways to cut down on our bills (we are both simply awful with money!) when we took a look at our cable bill. It dawned on us that we haven't watched a single thing on TV in months. Now, I don't want to give the false impression that we're the intellectual sort who never sit on the couch with the glazed-eye stare and nearly-drooling state that TVs seem to induce. We do occasionally. But for months, all of our mindless entertainment has come in the form of Netflix instant streaming. This provides two lovely advantages: watching what we choose to watch and not subjecting ourselves to commercials (which are a nuisance at best, brainwashing at worst, in our minds). So, after realizing this, we made the bold move of calling the cable company and telling them that we'll take internet access, hold the basic cable package, thank you. And now we are rid of one more thing that we don't use, and this one has the added benefit of saving us $90 a month. Win-win. :)

Take a Moment

One of my very most favorite things in the world is chocolate. Mmmmmm......chocolate. But it occurred to me recently that you would never know how much I adore chocolate due to the casual, mindless manner I have when consuming it. My nonchalant consumption of chocolate while on the go would indicate that I think it no more important than the randomly-sized, often confusingly squishy lettuce that comes atop a veggie burger. So I made the bold proclamation (to my husband who is contractually bound to listen to my nonsense) that I would stop being a negligent chocolate-eater.

Now I buy a highfalutin bar of dark chocolate and actually saaaaaavor it. Not all in one sitting, mind you....spread the joy over time. Now that I've chosen to be mindful of what I'm doing, I enjoy this simple pleasure so much more. Am I spending more now that I'm going with hoity-toity confections? Nope. I eat much less now that I'm paying attention, so it all balances out.

The moral of the story? How many things are we treating as side notes that are actually very important to us and could bring us simple joy if we would just stop to savor?

What's New, Pussycat?

In my journey for simplicity, I've noticed how much clutter is going on not in my home, but in my brain. I absolutely adore technology, but I think I'm guilty of using it to become over-informed about meaningless things. How much do I really need to know about some celebrity's wedding or a basketball player's career moves? How does this affect my life? Do I need to send a gold-plated, forty-eight speed blender with a personal chef attachment to the couple in question? I sure hope not. I feel like I don't spend enough time with the people that are dear to me, so why am I wasting time finding out about people I don't even know? Well, in this line of thinking, I have made a minor change in my life. Previously, I had a CNN news feed on my google page (which gets checked with embarrassing regularity). Well, CNN pays an awful lot of attention to celebrity news, and tons of meaningless headlines were sucking up my valuable brain waves. No longer! At the suggestion of a friend, I have changed my news feed choices to NPR and Discovery News, and, already, I've noticed a fabulous difference in the quality of information I'm soaking up. Surely, this will lead to more interesting dinner conversation than the latest Britney/Jessica/Lady Gaga/*insert today's celebrity here* debacle.

In other news, the bathroom de-clutter went fantastically well. Not nearly as scary as I had built it up to be. ;)

The "Beauty" of Less

I have another bold move in the works. One of the areas I dread simplifying is the bathroom...the overwhelming amount of bottles, tubes, compacts, torture devices, blah, blah, blah in there, honestly, frighten me. And when you think that I actually tend to buy and use less of this stuff than most women already...well, let's just say, "Zoiks!" But, tomorrow this is going to happen. I'm going to go to my happy place and dive into those piles of so-called beauty products. I don't use the majority of that goop anyway. I have it there "just in case." I've gotten to the point, though, that I just can't imagine which type of emergency requires six kinds of moisturizer. (We've got a dry one! Lotion! STAT!)

So, this is my battle strategy.

1. Get rid of any repeats. Pick the one that works the best. If none of them work (as in most cases) get rid of it all.

2. Get rid of anything I haven't used in two weeks or longer. Let's face it. This stuff is not like a sweater that you're saving for a chilly day. If you don't moisturize, exfoliate, or whatever in two weeks, you're probably the type of person who just doesn't do that type of thing.

3. Of what is left, I'll keep only the items that either make me feel good (you know, that damn-I-feel-like-a-woman sensation) or are essential for good hygiene (soap, toothpaste, and deodorant are good things, in my opinion).

4. This one is very important. Stop buying all of that crap if you don't use it! Be content with happy, healthy, and clean.

I'll let you know how it turns out. :D

Cabinets Running Over

Our cabinets runneth over - with cups, of all things. Well, not anymore because we've made another bold move. My husband and I spent part of this evening going through our dishes. Some might consider this an odd type of quality time, but we really enjoyed ourselves. We gathered up a ton of stuff to donate to Goodwill once we determined that we really didn't need gazillions of coffee mugs, travel mugs, water bottles, plastic cups, etc. We figure that this will not only make our cabinets more pleasant and easier to deal with, but also reduce our kitchen cleaning nightmares. Having fewer glasses and coffee cups means we need to clean the few we have instead of dirtying up more and more when we don't feel like washing dishes.

My husband so enjoyed himself that he kept going and cleaned out part of our food storage cabinet as well. :)