Seeking to Simplify

   I have still been working a lot on going through stuff around here. That process plus going through others' homes last week has caused time for more reflection on what living simply means to me and what stuff is beneficial and what is not.

  One thing that is coming up again and again in my mind is my desire to know what we have and not have boxes, drawers or shelves that contain items that I haven't seen, much less used, for years. This process of going through things has truly been quite fun. We are uncovering some forgotten treasures that we will enjoy using more often in the future and then we are also uncovering some things that it was silly for us to have kept. Sometimes those things are only fit for the trash and at other times we can pass them on to others who may well consider them a treasure.

  Going through all my clothes and wearing them was fun. Reading through our books has been a lot of fun for us (and I have a 10 year old who will probably be able to skip college and just take all the tests to get her degree if she wants :-) ). I have also been working on playing my instruments more and not neglecting them and that has been a blast. I love it. It is especially fun when others in the family pull out their instruments too and my solo turns into a duet or a trio or.... And sometimes they just sing along. That is the sort of simple life that I love.

While mending the other day I enjoyed listening to this:

I especially love this quote from it: " I have the world's largest collection of sea shells. I keep it scattered on the beaches around the world. Perhaps you have seen it." - A neat reminder that we don't have to necessarily own things in order to enjoy them.

 I love how she took her bucket list and they realized that the life they had been leading didn't match up to her goals in life. Then she and her husband set to change that. Her bucket list and mine are quite different and so the direction we take will be quite different but still I found her inspiring to listen too.

  A couple of my goals would include improving at playing my instruments. It is the activity that I enjoy but there is some stuff that is necessary for that goal to happen - such as having a piano, violin, cello, guitar, accordion and also some music. Another goal is seeing if we can grow our own food and find local sources enough to stay out of grocery store for a year. Again it is the experience that I enjoy but some stuff is needed to make that happen.

   So, I know that for me my goal is not to get rid of all (or even close to all) of my/our stuff but to just go through and get rid of the unneeded stuff so that it doesn't hold me back from doing the things that matter to me.

  I didn't report last week so here is a report for the last 2 weeks:
I did go through and clean and declutter 5 spaces each week.
I got rid of 70 items in the last 2 weeks.
I did go through 5 photo folders on 7 days (not the 10 that was my goal)
I did keep my e-mail inbox cleaned out.
I did not sell anything.