Self-Taught Lessons

Self-generated stess...I'm the master of it. I create enormous to-do lists, set unreasonable goals, expect entirely too much of myself, annnnnd I procrastinate. This is a terrible combination that can lead to nothing other than nearly-constant verbal abuse of self. That's not the simple, or happy, way to live at all!

After recently creating a stupidly stressful day for myself, I got to pondering how I could handle things differently. I have several responsibilities that I (mostly) choose to attend to, but the way I attend to them may not be the best. For example, letting paperwork from Dragon Knits pile up until I have to spend an entire evening straightening it out. Probably not the best plan. So, I'm going to experiment with doing things differently. Because that's what I'm doing, right? Experimenting with life. :)

This is my plan, which is a bit counter-intuitive to simplicity in my mind. A little more structure. Yes. Structure. For example, paperwork for Dragon Knits should be dealt with once a week, not every three months, so I'm actually scheduling a day each week to tend to paperwork. It's on my calendar and everything (that means it's for serious). No more spending entire evenings drowning in receipts and documents for me when it can be taken care of in a few minutes once per week. When you think about it, very few large projects need to be completed in one sitting. From now on my policy is this: unless it's going to land me in jail or dead if I don't complete it immediately, I will break it into small pieces and tackle it one piece at a time. I'm hoping this will help with the procrastination problem, since most of that is generated by being overwhelmed by large projects in the first place.

Part two of the plan: stop creating so many projects for myself in the first place. Half of the items on my to-do list at any time are self-imposed and not necessary. I even stress about going too long without typing something out here. But, really, does it matter? Does it fall under the "imprisonment or death are the consequences" category? Not even close. From now on the tasks I bring down on myself will be more carefully evaluated. If they're not for the greater good of simplicity and happiness in my life, my new strategy is to keep them from ever hitting the to-do list in the first place.

I'll let you know how it goes.

How do you avoid getting overwhelmed by projects and obligations?

They Will Eat Your Brains!

Magazines! I am guilty of falling prey to magazines. I flip through them to read this or that article, trying desperately to ignore the ever-present advertisements telling me that I'm not pretty, young, thin or stylish enough. I even (drum roll) subscribe to one of them. Or, I should say, I did subscribe to one of them, because I have decided to have a magazine-free life from now on. I temporarily deluded myself about the magazine I subscribed to in a couple of ways. I told myself it was different from other women's magazines...it wasn't all about fashion and celebrity gossip. But in some crucial ways, it is exactly like other women's magazines. Particularly in regards to those ads I mentioned up there. The ones that constantly tell me there's something wrong with the way I currently am....that I should be on the constant look out for opportunities to spend money on improving my appearance and style. To that I say a great big phbbbbbbbbbbtht! To put that into actual words, I reject that mentality, and I feel mentally healthier for it. I also fell into the I-will-want-to-look-at-this-article-again-someday trap. And that's the one that leads to clutter. Gasp. Shudder. Not to mention, I never actually go back to those articles. So, to avoid mental and physical clutter, I am banning magazines from my life. No more subscriptions and no more stacks of clutter - they're all heading straight for the recycling bin.

Timeless

A few weeks ago, we made the bold decision to do away with our cable. So far, we haven't missed it even a little bit....except for one tiny detail. The cable box was the only clock in the living room. We no longer have any idea what time it is. The first few days, this seemed like kind of a nuisance. How can we exist if we don't know exactly where we fall in the space-time continuum?!?!? But then I started to notice something...looking at our behavior (you know, in the same way that some people study gorillas and whatnot), I noted some changes. We've started doing strange things. Things like eating dinner when we're hungry instead of when the clock tells us we should. Imagine! We're also letting sleepy feelings tell us when to go to bed - sometimes much earlier, sometimes much later than we're used to. No more dinnertime. No more bedtime. This seems to be a much simpler (and less stressful) way to do things. So, go throw your clocks away and let me know how it goes! ;)

Strip Tease

My family spent yesterday evening absorbed in the oh-so-exciting activity of organizing DVDs. My step-daughter went through every single one of her movies and put them in their cases. My husband and I did the same. Then we went through all of them with the keep, donate, trash method. About half of our DVDs went in the donate pile which automatically freed up about a gazillion cubic feet of space in our living room. Then we decided to get rid of all of those DVD cases for the DVDs we're keeping. Yep. That's right. Our DVDs were naked. Exposed. Shivering in nudity. Well, we couldn't leave them in quite that sad of a state, so we put them in those nifty CD storage cases in an organized fashion.

We also cleaned out our Xbox games and traded in all of the games we no longer play for credit at the used game store. (Magical how that place works!)

Now that our games and movies have been cleaned out and organized, the whole entertainment portion of our living room is much simpler to use and clutter-free. :D

Empty Pockets (Part 3)

Upon close analysis of money spent by my husband and myself (okay, it was really more like scrolling through our online statement while muttering and scratching my head), we had to face the ugly, horrifying truth. We spend entirely too much money on eating at restaurants. We can be a rather lazy lot, and tend to do a lot of dining out instead of cooking. Our ongoing love affair with absolutely health-destroying food has not helped. No more! We have made a solemn vow to only dine out two days per week. This may seem like still quite a lot to some people, but for us, it is a monumental step. To aid in sticking to this goal, we've picked two days of the week for dining out. If we don't go out on those days, we just miss out. Just tonight we opted to skip dining out. We had leftovers and we were quite snuggy at home, so we ditched the plan to go out. That doesn't mean we'll make up for it tomorrow. Nope. No more going out until Tuesday. That's just the way we roll now. I sense the waves of confusion flooding my way about our choice of Tuesdays for dining out, but we actually had reasons. Good ones! Many restaurants have specials (kids eat free, two tacos for the price of one, etc.) on Tuesdays and dining establishments tend to not be packed on Tuesday nights. See? We thought this through. ;)

So, what are we hoping to achieve here? Well, obviously spending considerably less money on food, but we're hoping for other fringe benefits - things like eating healthier foods, cooking together, and actually using and enjoying that kitchen that I spent so long cleaning and simplifying.

Two Birds

With the time to return to work for the new school year fast approaching, I've been pondering the further simplification of my wardrobe. I've read in several places that life becomes easier if you have a sort of "uniform" for yourself, and I think this is the route I'm going to take. I've recently learned to sew (a very useful thing, that), so I'm planning to pick up some fabrics I like and make several versions of a skirt that I'm fond of. I already have a nice supply of shirts that are work-appropriate - mostly plain black, cotton shirts that make me happy. I've also already reduced my wardrobe to black, white, and grey - this way everything always matches and I don't feel the need for lots of shoes and purses. Voila! A work uniform has been created. Throw in some tights and a coat, and I'm good through the winter months, too! No more stressing about what to wear to work.

So, how is this killing two birds with one stone (or feeding two birds with one seed for you non-violent types)? By making my own skirts, I don't have to go through the icky drudgery of shopping for things that fit. :)

Let's Talk About Underpants, Shall We?

Yep, today's simplicity project was a panty raid of sorts. I tackled the underwear drawer with thoughts of what I actually use and need in there. Turns out that "not much" is the response to that. Since I have vowed to be honest in this telling of simplicity, I will admit that I got rid of fourteen bras. Fourteen! Who needs that??? Never fear, I kept some. ;) Needless to say, I got rid of an equally insane amount of underpants. Apparently I need to join Lingerie Buyers Anonymous or something. Geez.

I've also decided to make the bold move of getting rid of any clothes that require "special" undergarments. No more Spanx or adhesive bras for me! Another admission: I did keep the strapless bra because of two dresses I'm not ready to part with. I'll get there, I'll get there.

In other simplification news, we made huge progress in my step-daughter's bedroom today. You can see the entire floor in there! Tomorrow's mission? Clean up the bedside shelves and closet. We have an agreement....if she keeps the room sane through Thanksgiving, she gets new furniture from Ikea. :D