Clutter Creep

It happens. I was doing so well, than suddenly I realize I can't park in the garage. And the bar in the kitchen is covered with canned goods from a week ago. And a gift bag was left out of the Christmas wrap box, and someone thought the best place to put it was on the entertainment center...not away.

So I'm back at it. I posted a project armoire on Craigslist. Hopefully someone else will want a project his rainy season. My poor husband would like to get out of the car without rain falling on his head. Weird. I also took a lot of things to the shop (which is over-full, so they're cluttering up my parents' house, but that's a different issue...) so the garage is already a little better. I also posted a couple of vintage drawers that I intended to repurpose for the shop, but since the first ones haven't sold yet, I'm letting these go. If the others sell, I'll look around for more things to paint.

I have a lot of little things that have been sitting around, waiting to be posted to ebay. They just look clutter-y, and now they're on their way out. I've taken pictures, posted the pics, and now the clutter can go sit in the barn for a few weeks. If no one is interested online, I'll pass them along to the thrift shop and enjoy the space in my home. The cute ceramic butter churn my daughter used during her "Little House on the Prairie" phase. A fiddle-bottle I once used to gift vanilla. A couple of books my niece was getting rid of. Clutter.

And on and on it goes. But I'm glad I caught it early, and I'm able to move these things when they aren't so overwhelming a task, and it only takes a few minutes to post them to the world. If I wait, posting the accumulated clutter will take hours, I'll want to put it off (even if I can do it in bite-sized pieces) and the clutter will get worse. By taking this time now, I've forestalled future clutter!

Decluttering

I spent yesterday helping my sister-in-law declutter her spare room, so it would be useful as a bedroom. She had a lot of boxes from her mother, things that were too sentimental to pass along right after my mother-in-law died, but with a little more distance it was easier.

My sister-in-law was so brave about letting things go. She is incredibly sentimental, and she has always felt that hanging on to things allows her to resurrect memories. We kept single items from collections, took pictures out of frames (and donated the frames) so the pictures can be scanned and put in a digital frame, recycled a LOT of paper, and just let some things go. The samples of Belgian lace my mother-in-law brought back from her trip to Europe meant that her mother thought of her in Europe, but that was all, and my sister-in-law let the pieces go.

As much as she wanted her space back, the thing that most struck me was a comment my SIL made, just casually, about not wanting to make her daughter go through all this someday. It is such a loving reason to put herself through an exhausting day, physically and emotionally.

We took two full carloads of stuff away from the house. Stuffed animals will go to the firehouse to be loved my children that really need a distraction. A coffee table will go to a group of refugees. Frames and miscellaneous went to Goodwill. Many cans of paper went out to the recycling bin.

We asked questions like: What does this object make you think about? Where do you want to display this? (I'll put it somewhere is not an acceptable answer, that means it will always live in a box.) How will you view these? When will you use this? We also considered the 20/20 rule: if you can replace it in twenty minutes and for less than $20, it's not worth saving "just in case."

I am so happy my sister-in-law has so much more space, and I really hope she is happier with her additional room. But what I keep thinking about is her motivation to spare her family from having to clear out several generations worth of clutter when the time comes.

Happy

Happy New Year! I know I'm late, but the sentiment was there are the same. We had a wonderful, restful holiday. After Christmas day we took a short week to camp a little, stay in an actual caboose a few nights, and watch the Rose Parade.

The nights in the caboose were beautiful, amazing nights. We were on a redwood grove, with no tv, no movies, no wifi. We just had to hang out together. I felt like it was insight into what life in a tiny home would be like. We enjoyed being together, and we surprisingly seemed to have enough room for the things we wanted to do. However, I don't know if it would have been as charming if I needed to do laundry, and if I had to hand wash dishes every day.  I would be willing to try, however.

I am thrilled at some material redistribution around the house. At a family party, one niece mentioned that she'd like to make almond milk, but she doesn't have a food processor. I have one that I only use when the zucchini are big, so I'm happy that she can use it, decide if she likes it, and even have time to look for a second-hand one. Maybe mine will live at her house permanently, and on;y come visit when the zucchini need to be processed and frozen. At the same party, another niece mentioned that she was considering getting a waterpik. My daughter got one because she so desperately needed it to keep her braces clean -- then she only used it a few times. So that niece gets a free waterpik, and I don't have to be frustrated about resources going to waste!

Having a community of people that can share what we don't need makes me so happy!

Merry Christmas!

I will be taking a (deliberate) break from posting for Christmas. I'll be back when the family goes back to school.

I wish everyone a peaceful, joyful season. Christmas should be more than one day -- I'd like to carry Christmas with me throughout the year, like Scrooge, but for right now I'm trying to keep the magic through Epiphany (January 6th). I'll be spending time with the family, reading books, walking the dogs, playing games. Napping. Watching movies -- we haven't even gotten around to watching A Christmas Carol (with George C. Scott) this year, and this Needs To Be Done.

I will take this opportunity to be grateful for my blessing, starting with my family. I little family, who made Christmas cookies by themselves and my husband who wrote the Christmas letter, addressed and sent the Christmas cards. And my big family who have held together this difficult year. And my friends, who held me together when I felt like snarling and snapping even though I knew my family didn't deserve it.

Is simple living carrying the spirit of Christmas throughout the year? It might be. But at least it will be for the next couple of weeks.

Out With The Old

I should have this down already.

I ended up decluttering my clothes a little, because I bought a couple of new dresses. My new dresses are so beautiful -- I cannot remember the last time I loved clothing this much! They're long enough to wear with boots (and I can wear socks, and not have cold feet!), and made by people who are paid a living wage, and absolutely beautiful in cut and color. (I got them from eShakti, if you're in need to a pretty dress. Or other clothes.

I bought these dresses -- new! -- because I usually feel like I don't have a dress to wear to church. I get frustrated because I feel like I am too limited by the options that I have. So I bought something I feel good about. (I know, this isn't really the insight of the ages, but it's really unusual for me to purchase something new. I usually stick to second-hand, because I can feel good about used as a responsible environmental choice.)

It's been two weeks, and I finally realized that I needed to get rid of the dresses I had before that I didn't want to wear. I had a boring tan business dress that I didn't like because it was so boring. I had a pretty green polka dot dress that will not zip with me in it.

While I was at it, I cleared out a shirt that I just don't like. My family likes it, and always complements me on it, but I don't feel good when I choose it out of the closet. And I don't feel good when I see it, and feel like I ought to wear it, but I don't want to. Who needs this pressure from clothes? Gone. I got rid of a sweater I don't ever choose to wear -- I have one I like better. (I should have gotten rid of this one when I got the new one, but I can't go back in time.)

I feel so proud of myself for being aware of the increase in stuff, and recognizing that I need to pare back. Make space for the new by getting rid of the old. It should be habit now, but "should" doesn't help, so it really has no  relevance in my actions. I do what I can when I realize I need to, and move forward from there.

But I am really happy with my cleared-out clothing storage, and my new dresses.

There is a Season

I was reading a friend's blog (Hi, Trish!), and she got me thinking about the season we are currently celebrating. According to the church calendar, we are currently in the season of Advent. Advent is the season of preparation prior to Christmas.

So why does this matter? Because I always felt a conflict between how I was supposed to feel at "Christmas" and how I actually felt. On more than one occasion I would end up in tears, torn between the stress of the "Christmas" season and the joy I wanted to feel. Christmas is supposed to be joyful, right? So why wasn't I feeling any joy, right up to Christmas Eve or Christmas morning when the joy usually appeared, suddenly and surprisingly.

I was reading a historical novel some years ago (I have no idea what), and the characters were preparing for Christmas during the season of Advent (sewing or whatever historical characters do), then they celebrated Christmas during the twelve days following. And I was struck suddenly that we do not allow ourselves to prepare to celebrate -- we expect to do both things at once.

But in real life, we prepare before the anticipated event happens. I prepared long and hard before my children were born. I prepare before a birthday party, or other family party. My daughter prepares, starting in August, prior to our annual Christmas caroling party. We prepare before finals, we prepare before a vacation. We should prepare before Christmas!

If we waited until the baby arrived to paint the nursery, purchase clothes, acquire a crib, we'd be too busy and stressed to enjoy the baby. (And we'd be too sleep deprived to enjoy selecting colors and all the other things I did.) I enjoyed selecting a paint color, a wallpaper border, and baby clothes while anticipating the arrival of my first child. If I had waited until he arrived, I would either have been overwhelmed by the need to address all the details or I would have skipped them altogether.

So we now recognize that Christmas doesn't start until Christmas Eve. We do fun things to anticipate Christmas, but we don't have to be joyful yet. We watch the Grinch, we make Christmas cookies, we study for finals, and we purchase presents in preparation for what is coming. But by recognizing that  the preparation isn't the goal, I feel free of the pressure to feel differently than I actually feel.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1.

Good News

It's been almost a week, and I'm still off Pinterest. I realize it is such a habit to pop over after I check my email, etc, but knowing that I "no longer do that" halts my click. I don't type in the keystrokes to go waste my time.

It's just willpower, but it only takes a second. I am wasting more time with Ted Talks on Youtube, but since that's educational, I think it's ok. I found a really amazing talk yesterday about stopping desertification of the grasslands, and it gave us a conversational start at the dinner table last night. Sharing good news, hopeful news about the environment is a really nice change from most of the environmental news I've heard lately.

Actually, that's not true. I've been hearing a lot of really hopeful news lately. Morning Edition ran a piece about a company, Carbon Engineering, that is pulling carbon out of the atmosphere. They're currently planning to make that carbon into fuel, to create a closed carbon cycle, but they could also bury the carbon, to reduce the amount of excess carbon that is currently in the atmosphere. I also heard a Youtube about Plastic Bank, an organization that pays people in impoverished countries to collect the plastic litter that washes into the oceans, and Plastic Bank then recycles they plastic.

Because I listen to Ted Talks while I work, I'm also getting more done. Because this time of year, I can definitely find things to do while I listen, rather than mindlessly scroll down. Presents are being made and wrapped while I listen to happy things.

I'm so excited to learn about the good things that are going on in the world. People are working to reduce waste, protect the oceans, reverse climate change. And I have learned all this in the week since I stopped browsing Pinterest mindlessly. I knew in my mind that the endless time was a bad use of time, but I'm so happy to learn the difference in my heart!