Tag Archives: simple life

Apr14

The ridiculousness of “stuff”

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I really want to simplify my life.

I am a super busy person and am starting to feel the crunch of having a few too many obligations. I looked at my life and asked where I could make cuts. (This is not easy if you work full time, go to grad school and have three kids, two of who play sports, let me tell you.) So far I have condensed my email subscriptions, reduced my magazine habit to those I can read in the waiting room or check-out line, avoid the mall and those dreaded “after-the-holiday” sales, and sworn off most prime time television. I reduced the number of clubs and organizations I am involved with and try to enjoy just being. However… there is one aspect of my life that I am having the hardest time simplifying. My STUFF.

By far one of my favorite blogs out there is On Simplicity. Recently I read the post about the “but I might need it someday” syndrome. I so understand this completely. I am a pack rat. Not in the weird keep-every-bottle-cap-I’ve-ever-found way, but more in a practical (or so I tell myself) I-may-have-a-use-for-it kind of way.

I will take a moment here and say that in my defense I did once make a complete “doll house” and “school bus” out of what my parents had deemed useless trash. (Did you know you can use those hard rounded rectangular mirror and flooring samples from the hardware store to make a cool over the seat-back rear-view mirror for an imaginary bus driver who is only 3 inches tall?? or that you can use the metal spout from a salt container to make an exhaust pipe for that same 1-foot long painted yellow bus?? yep it’s true.)

Anyway, the point is that as I am approaching yet another birthday, I find myself thinking more and more about just how much junk (yes the J-word)  I have, and how happier I might be if I could just get rid of some of it.

Getting past the idea that I might need it, the reasoning for shedding these things is deeper. They have become a burden. We live in a consumer driven culture, where bigger is better, and “why not just upgrade” thinking is the norm. Well, I am tired of the accumulation. There is so much that I don’t need, want or to be honest, even remember that I have in the first place. This “stuff” sits in drawers, on shelves, in the hallway closet, on the porch, in the garage, collecting dust and becoming obstacles that I indelibly trip over or dump out when I am trying to locate the “stuff” I really need.

Do I really need 75 coffee mugs when I only use 2, or three T.V.s all of which are now obsolete in the digital age? Maybe I will use those 10 phone books, or really find a use for the broken pieces of trellis, the poster board with both sides used or the infamous stop sign in the garage.I might fix the broken picture frames or eventually use the 10,000 “extra” buttons that every item of clothing you buy now cheerfully provides lest you lose one. Maybe…someday…right?

The absurdity of it.

So to get back to the point of this post, I was asked to write out a birthday list. I could have sat down and listed a bunch more “stuff” I could reasonably justify in getting, but this time I really tried to put some thought into it. I asked myself what I wanted, that could in no way qualify as stuff (meaning it would be incapable of taking of more room in my already packed house). It took a little while but when I was finished I admitted to myself that I was quite proud of what I had come up with.

Topping my list?  Time.

Time for laughter, my kids, music, rafting trips, writing, working in the garden, exploring, romantic dinners, new experiences, old favorites….

So, as I approach the end of another year on this glorious planet I am making the conscious decision that I will reduce my “stuff” to a more manageable load. I admit it is an experiment, so I have no idea what will happen. But check back once and a while and see if I am making progress. If my theory is correct, the difference will be obvious and far-reaching. I may not be ready to live in a hut with only the clothes on my back, but I expect to at least be able to open my over-stuffed drawers without yanking on them.

Wish me luck.

Jan17

life at the crossroads…

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So I have been blogging for two long years now, primarily over at my professional blog, and well, things are changing.

My perspective on life in general has changed tremendously over the last 24 months, for a number of reasons.  I graduated college, had another baby, got an awesome job, went back to college, got published, had my blog picked up by several independent sites, made some awesome blogger contacts, got married…

I love to blog, I love to write…and I am quickly learning that doing what you love is far more important than bringing home a paycheck, at least in the idealistic world in my head. I guess I never really been in sync with our capitalistic country that praises  the good girls and boys who play nice, work 9-5 and have neighborhood barbecues and outings at the local country club.

I have a family to support and granted writing for free will not keep the roof over their heads or put food in their bellies, but what kind of example would I be setting if I spent my life being miserable. Would they look back as adults and pity all that I had given up on, opportunities missed?

I tell my kids that anything is possible, that all they have to do is believe and then of course put in a ton of hard work (nothing great is ever easy you know). How can I sleep at night if I don’t follow my own advice?

I really want to become a role model for them, and to do that there have to be some serious changes made.

I made a list of new years resolutions like millions of others all over the world. I am afraid however that I have already abandoned the list and it is only the 17th day of the new year…

I really want to write about the things I am passionate about, and I worry that I am limited by my professional blog.

I am thinking seriously of shutting it down and hoping that my loyal readers will migrate with me over to this blog where I feel that I can really write more about life, balance, family, and of course the old standby, saving the planet.

If  Ryan Paugh can do it, well why can’t I? Maybe I am not a successful as he is, but he makes some very good points for making a change. After all I am turning 30 this year….so I guess I am not really a millennial for much longer. (certainly not by Brazen Careerist standards since they stop featuring you when you hit that magic number). Well we got a runner Logan, I am growing up through my writing and so maybe my blog needs to grow up too.

Aug7

Lost my watch but not my mind…

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I am one of those people who can’t live without a wristwatch, one who feels absolutely naked without it, or at least I thought I was until quite recently.

I never spend more than $10 on a watch, primarily because I am in the field a good bit and something is always happening to them and I am a cheapskate besides. However, despite my thriftiness, I always try to pick a decent watch, one that can get wet or dropped or scratched without dying on me usually when I need it most.

My most recent watch was great. Clear aqua plastic with a stop watch, the date, and alarm – classic Wal-Mart model. (only $4.95) I wore the thing for an unprecedented amount of time for a cheapie too, a little more than three years!

So I was a little sad when it died after a late night swim in a pool in Nashville. I sent it on to a better place, the drawer where I keep all the carcasses of great watches that are too cheap to get fixed. I guess I am a little bit of a sentimental pack-rat.

The funny thing is… I haven’t replaced it yet after almost a month. Usually I am out within a day if not within the hour buying a new one, lest I miss even one important second ticking down by having that exposed tan line on my wrist.

I have been doing a good bit of yard work and that was when I first began to really notice that the watch line was disappearing. How did I miss that?

Am I finally beginning to relax? My hubby always jokes that me and my eldest are two peas in a pod, perpetually “on” and almost never relaxed. There is truth in that. I have lists of what I need to do, where to go, what to buy and even what to make more lists about. I am a time management fool and have never once considered that maybe I was doing a little damage to my psyche.

So even though I still reach for my watch in the morning after my face wash routine, and even though I still glance at my wrist without fail half a dozen times a day, I am going to ride this out a while longer. Maybe I do not need to be as concerned with time.

I still get to work on time. There is a clock in the car and one on my cell phone… I still keep appointments and manage the busyness of my life. Where I am noticing the difference is in my so-called free time. When I am out at dinner with D or at one of the kid’s games I am not constantly checking my watch. It is not that I was bored, I am simply that set in my ways (ok you can call it anal).

Now I find that I am focusing more on the world around me and less on how much I can do in twenty-four hours. Definitely something to contemplate further.