Tag Archives: simplicity

Solitude

Posted in minimalism, simplicity, travel, Uncategorized by

I’m taking this idea from over at the blog ‘a smaller and simpler life’   

written by Sue from Wales. She is a wonderful writer and is truly living what she aspires to be.

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I’ve always been an introvert but in my earlier years just ignored what I needed. I don’t do that anymore. I don’t like crowds, parties, concerts etc. It’s just not what I’m interested in.

I am truly in a place where I like being alone/or with B who’s generally outside doing something so I have time to do what I want. When he was traveling for work I had many days where I was alone all day till either my daughter or son came home later in the evening. I was perfectly happy doing my own thing whatever that may have been.

I am embracing this as I get older and don’t feel the need at all to ‘fit’ in.

Having embraced minimalism and loving the simplicity of things, I don’t need to overextend or keep busy. I do my daily routines and enjoy the day. I may work on a project or plan something that might need to be done.

Now that we’re in ‘treatment’ mode, there’s no traveling about and as a matter of fact, I just canceled our spring trip to New Brighton beach because another round of chemo will start.  That’s okay because I believe you must live the season you’re in and not fight it.  We’ll go traveling again when this is over and it will be delightful.

 

Simple Sunday

Posted in decluttering, travel, Uncategorized by

The decluttering count is up to 850. This is since October 1st I think.

My husband cleaned up his office and threw tons of stuff away( yeah B!!!!). Then I had him get the Christmas bins and reduced from 4 to 2. My goal is always to reduce by half. I didn’t go thru the ornaments just cleaned up boxes and threw away some things I know I won’t use.( in thrift store box). ( 3 tree candles, a computer mini tree that lights up, and some other things I threw out(boxes and a leaking snow globe. At one point I collected snow globes but realized this wasn’t for me. I have a few left and when I open then at decorating time I’ll decide whether to give them to goodwill.

So all in all a win-win.

We went to Costco pre-Holiday time and won’t be back till probably after Christmas. I spent @ $300 on just food. This includes beer for B and wine (4 bottles) for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So lots of butter for baking, cheese, cuz it’s cheese, organic tofu, Starbucks winter blend of coffee, mayo on sale( I love that). So all good there.

It’s interesting going to Costco as a non-consumer advocate (as much as possible for us, right now), and seeing ALL THE STUFF! Wow, it is a little overwhelming. It’s important to just get what you need and go. So for instance. I use some mayonnaise and the coupon was for, I think,$2.00 off. So a giant mayo for $4 something. I will get thru it actually as I make egg salad, tuna salad, dressings etc with mayo. So a good purchase.

Dinner is grilled tofu with golden gravy, a salad of kale, spinach, chard, walnuts, and pomegranate things. Plus mashed potatoes.  I was disappointed Costco didn’t have the huge bag of russets.  One of the best freezer meals to make are double stuffed potatoes. We use these all the time. So, I’ll have to wait till next time.img_0496

Exciting news, tomorrow we head up to South Lake Tahoe for B to work and I get to tag along. Lucky me!!! At the condo, I’ll cook some dinner and we’ll do breakfast.  Just simple scrambled eggs and toast!!

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Beautiful Lake Tahoe!!

 

 

A simple life

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Since we’ve gone to a more minimalist lifestyle, I’d say our lives are simpler. We have less stuff to clean, less stuff around to take care of.

We’ve always been influenced by simplicity even from the time we were first married and Quakers. I think it’s a progression in life with kids houses etc, to get more stuff and accumulate things. We still live in a very small house, but there’s less stuff. Okay, the barn still has stuff, but not too much. 

I live a simple life. I never am overly busy and never over commit. I’m always a little taken back when people say how busy they are. It’s like, wait, you have a choice. I chose to have lots of time just for me, reading, walking, cooking.  I’d like our finances to be even more simple so I’m trying to pay more on our mortgage but most of the time we have just what we need to pay the bills with a little left over. It’d be nice if we didn’t have a mortgage but that’s not what it is. So, we try and live simply with what we have. We don’t have cable or cc bills. If I use a cc it is paid right away( almost) so there’s no interest and we get points. 

I think that’s the key with living a simple life, do what you can with what you have. Don’t add more stuff, debt or time constraints.

Some things that have helped me are:

getting up early@ 5am is nice

a regular daily walk

decluttering constantly

organizing what we do have so we know where things are and they’re labeled.

a daily housekeeping ,for example, I wipe the bathroom daily, the kitchen counters are kept clean and empty, process one load of laundry daily, use fly lady’s zones on the house. There’s probably other stuff but that’s the basics. 

Life is a journey and it’s all about learning how to live with who you are. 

William Morris project

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So, I love this quote. I try to live by it and all my decluttering has been based on this. When I decided to get rid of the MIL Navajo rugs, it was because they were not useful and I didn’t love them . So many examples of this. But , there isn’t a lot left to make this decision on. But I’d still like to get rid of 50 % more. So far some things I’ve accomplished are: all Life magazines bins except 10. I’d like to get this to 5. Then my kids art work from school. One bin each. That’s down from about 8 total . So, I got rid of half my dishes. The closet and pantry looks good. I’m still working on it for now , happy decluttering.

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Sunday night chit chat

Posted in budgeting, cooking, freezer cooking, frugalism, minimalism, reading, simplicity by

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  • Reading? The new Jack Reacher”A Wanted Man” , very good.
  • Listening to? We were listening to the wind.
  • Watching?later, Castle.
  • Cooking/Baking? Made the stuffed shells ,from the freezer cookbook, a big salad with blue cheese dressing.
  • Happy you accomplished this week?alot with my new freezer cookbook.
  • Looking forward to next week? I have next Saturday off, so I’ll go to the farmers market!
  • Thankful for today? My 2 great kids, my cancer is stable, and my husband.
  • *Bonus Question* Do you like your name? Would you change it if you could?
  • I’ve always liked Anne or Annie.