Thinning the Herd

In the past when I've gotten rid of things, for the most part, it was because we had to. There were several years when we had the obligatory garage sale, but other than that, whenever we moved we've dejunked. We downsized when we moved the the house before last because there was no real storage. The amount of stuff we found in the basement as we were moving was shocking. I swore never again. But nearly 12 years in this house, we've got it packed to the rafters. Or at least it feels that way.

Since I'm not in a panic of needing to have it gone by the time the moving truck arrives, I'm giving the process some thought, and I'm employing a couple strategies. The first is to attack an area and just dig in. I did that last week for the sewing cabinet and knitting supplies. The second is just to make a small change and watch it spread. When I decided to take a break from using the dishwasher, when I realized I was hoarding dishes, utensils, storage containers so I could fill a dishwasher and still have tools to use, I discovered just how full my cupboards were. It became easier to thin the herd when I had it all in one place.

One day I took about 15 minutes to go through my storage containers. I kept only the name brand ones that I prefer, and the disposable ones I used to take to work hit the recycling or the box for the cottage. I made sure I only kept the containers with matching lids. The rest are gone, and the cupboard I used to dread is now under control.

If you could thin the herd somewhere, which herd would it be? Can you focus on one small section, a cupboard, a drawer, a stack of paper for 15 minutes and see where it leads? Leave me a comment and let me know.

File this under "Obvious"

I went into the kitchen this morning to get a bowl of cereal and discovered that the only bowls that were clean were either the baby bear bowls or the the papa bear bowls. The former are little ones that I use mostly for late night snacks. Or I use them for a little fast breaker before a walk then have second breakfast once I'm home and showered. The latter are the ones that came with my dishes: the ones that were the selling point when hubby bought me those dishes for Christmas one year. BIG BOWLS. When it comes to everyday breakfast bowls it seems we both prefer Tupperware cereal bowls. Unfortunately, we only have 3. I'm not sure where the 4th one went. I suspect it melted somewhere along the way. Until recently, we filled the gap with some cheap GFS bowls we'd bought for salsa for our son's Chipotle-catered wedding rehearsal dinner. I tossed the last of those bowls last month.

Here's where the obvious part comes in. I opened the cupboard this morning and the mama-sized bowls are gone. That means that yesterday DH and I each used one. He used one this morning, and now I'm stuck with just using a baby-sized bowl or a papa-sized bowl because the 3 mama-sized bowls are in the dishwasher waiting for a full load to run it. As I stood in front of the cupboard debating on the baby bowl or the papa bowl I realized that I could just hand wash one of the mama-sized bowls.

Now the light comes on. I need extra dishes, glasses, coffee mugs because I don't run the dishwasher every day. Of course we need to have enough dishes for guests if we have more than just the two of us for dinner. But even when the boys where home, we sometimes went 2 days before we ran the dishwasher. The ugly fact is, I'm storing dirty dishes. Not only that, but I'm storing dirty dishes until I have enough to wash them. *blink*

Suddenly using my dishwasher makes absolutely no sense, especially my dishes are coated with white junk since detergent companies removed the phosphates. If I hand wash my dishes, I need fewer dishes altogether because I don't need extras to use while I'm waiting for the dishes to be washed. Now I want to go through my cupboards and see what I have been keeping just so I have enough backup for what I've been storing in the dishwasher.

Obvious.

Finishing up and making room

Last year I swapped my craft room with my office. The former had been one of the boy's bedrooms, well actually each had been in that room at some point. It was bigger, yellow (I like yellow), and cooler in the summer. When I made the switch, I used our youngest son's bedroom as a staging area, and thus it remained until last weekend. We're getting a visit from him next month, so his room moved to the top of the to-do list.

What made working on his room a challenge was mostly what remained was drabble--flotsam and jetsam that really had no home until I created it or donated it.

• a plastic box of knitting needles and crochet hooks
• a plastic box of wood roving
• several photo albums
• a dismantled computer (pilfered for its hard drive)
• 2 monitors
• a computer keyboard with the letters worn off
• 2 stacks of books

The books are destined for the library book sale. I have another box that I'm going to fill with books that I have read and I've no intention of reading again. The electronics are headed for the local electronics recycler. That's already half the list. The photo albums are part of this winter's massive photo project (more on that later). The rest of the craft supplies are another matter.

Cleaned out and organized knitting supplies.

I have a wonderful antique sewing cabinet that my hubby bought me many moons ago. It's been in my craft room for the last several months. I think it took the trip upstairs over the holidays to make room for the tree, but since I hadn't been making good use of it, I didn't even miss it. This past weekend I cleaned the sewing stuff out and replaced it with the pile of knitting stuff that I had lying on the floor next to the recliner. I also sorted through the plastic bin and only kept the tools I would actually use. Turns out I'm pretty picky about my knitting needles. At this point, my sewing cabinet is now my knitting cabinet, and the only things in it are things I actually use.

Sterilizer cabinet houses thread.

The thread that I had in the top drawer of the cabinet has a new home in this antique sterilizer cabinet. I'd rather not think about how anything in this cabinet with its cardboard backing and wood sides could ever be considered sterilized. But I have organized my threads by color family and I can easily see what is there. Unlike the drawer in my sewing cabinet, everything fits.

The other sewing stuff that was in the cabinet found new homes as well. The actual sewing stuff for the most part went into my toolbox that I used to use for costuming shows. Most of my sewing tools were there anyway. This just put it all in one place. Other things, such as uncompleted cross stitch projects, hit the trash. I'm not likely to ever take up cross stitch again, and if I do, I won't want to finish those.

I'll need to spend another hour or so in my son's room corralling the dust bunnies and such, but the dejunking of my stuff in there is complete. Now if I can get him to dejunk his stuff when he's here.

Simplify September: Week 1

Depending on your point of view, I'm either early or late for this post. I'd been planning to do Minimizing Mondays, recording my attempts at scaling down my stuff and simplifying my life. However, this Monday I had to share my marathon story, and it's a pretty long post, so I'm moving this to Tuesday, kinda of.

In its own way finishing the 1/2 was one way I've simplified my life. I finally can get back to walking and be done with training. My walks can be more about clearing my head and staying healthy and less about distance and pace. I enjoyed my walk less when it was focused on results. I'm looking forward to not setting the timer on my phone and just walking.

When it comes to practical, physical scaling down, last week we got rid of an old freezer that we've been keeping plugged in even though it was usually empty. We'll be getting $50 back from AEP's appliance recycling program. They are only paying $35 right now; we got in on a special offer. But unplugging the freezer plus a $50 check is a pretty good start for the month.

Walking in the Light

When the hubs and I got married his family was into a multi-level marketing program, big time. Not that any of us made a lot of money at it, but we drew those crazy circles like we were spreading the Gospel, trying to convert as many people as we could to...I hesitate to say what I'm thinking...The Dark Side. Not that it was The Dark Side at the time, but I was the first to see the light.

Photo by arielmeow.

We were taught to dream big. To see ourselves in, and even to test drive, shiny new cars (my personal favorite was the Cadillac Seville), go to the Parade of Homes and wander through McMansions, or RV shows to see how the cool kids recreate. Before long, I realized that all that wishful thinking did was to create discontent. We no longer were happy with what we had. We only wanted bigger, newer and equated that with better. Sure, discontent was the purpose of the exercise. If you want it badly enough, you can achieve it. But I didn't like feeling that what I had was never good enough. Not one little bit. It wasn't long before I gave up on the MLM scheme and started trying to be content with what I had.

I just finished reading this blog "On Wanting Stuff."  It hit a chord, well maybe a couple. I've long ago given up going to the mall, stopped looking at most catalogs, ended magazine subscriptions. I do still browse Lehman's from time to time. But come on! How can a catalog for simple living be bad?

It wasn't until I read this blog that I realized how far I've come in finding contentment. I see the temptations and the failures. I look at how I can justify tempting purchases and think, "I'll never get there." Seems I'm much farther along than I thought. Sure, I still want an iPhone or in a pinch a Droid. Yes, I can justify an e-reader so I could get rid of some of my book collection. But, I haven't bought any of those things, and everyday I'm lightening the load a bit. I'm still moving out of the shadows and into the light.

Pardon me now while I go find another couple of boxes of stuff to give to charity.

Am I walking like a trader?

I've watched that video we saw at church yesterday probably 10 times now. I've already stumbled onto the path of trading what I have and what I do for more important things. The video gave it a name: A Trader.

I've been walking now for nearly 2 years and I've lost more than 100 lbs. I started walking when I started my new telecommuting job because I didn't want to sit through my one hour lunch break watching TV and eating too much. I started by walking around the block, which was insanely difficult. Little by little I added more distance to my walk. Then I started using Sparkpeople to track my exercise and what I was eating. Next thing I knew, I'd lost 20 lbs.

Using Sparkpeople I realized how much fat I was eating. I would easy run out of fat grams before I ran out of calories. I started looking for lower fat options, fish, chicken, turkey, vegetables. I discovered that, for me, lettuce is the delivery system for the salad dressing. I don't really like lettuce; my idea salad has a lot of other vegetables in it and the occasional piece of fruit.

Eventually, I shifted my walk from lunchtime to early morning because I couldn't get enough walking in at lunch time. The hour lunch break wasn't enough for walking, but I've been learning to use that time to just be quiet. I do the prep work for dinner. Or I close my eyes and unplug from the Matrix a bit.

Last fall I walked New Albany Walking Classic's 10k. This year I'm working on their 1/2 marathon. After I signed up my employer and the pregnancy center I support developed Marathons for Moms. I signed up as a walker. Yesterday's post about being a trader points right here. My job is helping non-profits with their fundraising walks and banquets. I also am walking to raise money for my local pregnancy center. These are things that are important to me. My work is more than a job. Walking is more than a way to lose weight. I'm using both as a way to help others. That makes me a trader.

Are You a Trader?

As I've written over the past couple of posts, I've been reading articles from several bloggers on minimalism. I recognize the need to simplify my life and especially to pare down the amount of stuff I have and the number of distractions in my life. This weekend I heard this same message in a Beth Moore word study at Schottenstein Arena and from the pulpit at my church. When you start hearing it everywhere, you know you have to listen.

One of the things that Beth Moore mentioned was that if we are doing a thousand things, how can we expect to do any of them well? Wouldn't it be better to find one or two things and excel at those? I brag about working with 2 computers going with 4 workspaces each, yet I wonder why I feel like I have ADD when I try to only do one thing at a time. I find myself seeking the distraction.

When I think about focusing my energies, I start questioning all the stuff I own that is not part of that focus. I know that I have a pattern of changing hobbies and interests every two years or so, but that doesn't mean I have gotten rid of those materials. Anything that I do longer than that is usually something that I truly love. Looking at my stash, there aren't many things that fit that category.

A video we showed at church this morning suggests trading in the stuff and the distractions for something with meaning. This is where I'm heading. Are You A Trader?

Travel light

I read this piece, The Tao of Travel,  and was highly motivated by Leo Babauta's ability to pack light. I've done it before, not quite to his level, but I've been tempted more than once to throw caution to the wind and go for it: pack the least that I can get away with. This weekend seemed to be the perfect time. I was meeting friends to see Beth Moore in Columbus and staying with them overnight at the home of one of their daughters.

I grabbed my backpack and tossed in my regular travel 1quart baggie, my small makeup bag, a clean top, pjs, socks, and my Bible. Before walking out the door, I grabbed the charger for my cellphone, my knitting, and the wristband I needed to entry into the event.

I am proud to say that I used every single item that I took with me. There was nothing extraneous.  There was, however, something I missed. As I neared Schottenstein Arena the thought occurred to me, "Did you pack underwear?"

Drat!

Simple Black Coffee

It's not what he said that got my attention. It's the title of his blog: Simple Black Coffee. I looked at the title. I looked at my coffee with milk and artificial sweetener and suddenly the latter felt very wrong.

I know that artificial anything is not good for you, but I use the "pink stuff". You know the one that was villainized in reports of rats getting cancer after the equivalent of 80 cans of pop ("soda" for the rest of you) a day.

"I don't drink 80 cans of pop. I'm fine," I rationalize.

Today's coffee is sweetener free. We'll talk about the milk later. After all, I need my calcium.

Finding Balance

I've run across some bloggers lately who are reigniting my thoughts about simplifying my life. I poke at the concept from time to time, but it's never seemed as real as it does now. I wonder if it's because the hubs and I talk about actually moving to the cabin by the lake (CBTL) and we know there is no way all the stuff in this 4 bedroom 3 floor house is going to fit into a 2 bedroom slab.

I started paring things down months ago, although you can't really tell it. It was easy to do after moving my office to a different room, and Salvation Army was coming anyway to pick up my old, too-large clothes. But there is a voice inside of me that keeps thinking that I should be selling my stuff on Ebay or CraigsList. Having worked in shipping for a couple years, I know just how annoying that can be. Add to that photographing, listing, and all the headaches that go with selling things online, I know I don't want to do it. Then I read Decluttering 101: to Sell or not to Sell. It gave me an interesting perspective on getting rid of stuff.

Miss Minimalist talks about the process of selling her stuff and how the loathing of the process now keeps her from buying new stuff. I realized that for me, selling my stuff seems like a penance for owning it in the first place. It's like the stretch marks and hangy skin after losing 100+ pounds are the battle scars for being stupid enough to gain all that weight in the first place. Selling this stuff is the cleansing I need to get me out of the chaos and into a simpler life.

I'm adding selling stuff to the list I've been thinking about. Over the next 6 months I will:

• scan family photos left by hubs' mom and grandmothers so I can pass the actual photos to other members of the family. 
• after making as many Christmas and birthday gifts as possible with my craft stash on hand, follow up with my previous plan of purging craft supplies. If they don't fit in the craft cupboard they are gone.
• reassess what things I really don't want to live without. I may even toy with the idea of a 100 things list. Not sure I'm ready for that yet.
• start listing items on Craigslist and Ebay.

Not sure how far I'll get in 6 months, but it has to be better than where I am right now. Like losing weight was a one step at a time process, so will simplifying my life. I didn't lose this weight overnight. It took a while find balance between eating healthy and exercising. It's time to seek that balance in other areas of my life.