I Will Not Quit!

I have a hard time writing about what I am actually doing to simplify my life. If I take time to work at it and throw, toss or organize I somehow forget to write about it.

I think the thought sticks in my head that no one is probably interested. But then I shouldn’t be doing this and caring if anyone is reading this I should be writing to help me sort through the block that I have in my mind.

I am working on my basement floor right now. It is almost Christmas and my craft room is a disaster. This fall I had just finished sorting, throwing and arranging my craft room. I was preparing for myself to have fun and then the rains came.

I previously had been painting a river on the floor. Billy Joel’s “River of Dreams.” was my inspiration. The joke was on me, the river became real. It wasn’t a big river more like a stream. I tried to put my finger in the hole in the wall just like the little dutch boy that stuck his finger in the dyke to save his country. Only the hole was too big, the wall was too crunchy and I was too crabby.

The week before the rains came I got rid of everything in my basement that I thought I didn’t need. After the river of life flowed throught my basement I got rid of all the things I thought I might need and had kept. They were wet and would have been moldy.

The moral is that Mother Nature knew more than I did. The things I thought I needed, Mother Nature thought I didn’t, I do not miss. Mother Nature did know best.

That leads me to my floor. It has to be cleaned up before I can arrange my craft room with the items Mother Nature decided that I could keep. I do know that it eventually needs to be totally resealed and redone, however it is not going to happen for awhile so I decided to use what I had to make it better.

I had a can of paint for cement floors so I am painting my cement floor with the leftover gray cement floor paint. I am sealing it with something that may stop some leaks but I am not telling you what it is because I am sure Mr. Handyman will be shocked. I will tell you I am leaving something that I had leftover from a former project just sitting on my shelf calling me. It said “Use me, use me.” So I did.

I am now using a leftover can of gold spray paint to paint circles on my floor. In the circle I am using leftover paper heart doilies. I put the doily on the gold and I use a leftover can of pink, purple or yellow to spray over the doily. I then lift the doily off and I have a cute imprint of a heart that is gold highlighted by whatever color I chose.

It is a short term fix for a bad situation until the finances are available for a complete and correct restoration.

I wouldn’t recomend this solution if you are going to sell your home in the near future but for a quick fix for a few years it works. And for those of you that are creative it will give you enegy.

Save the Old, Make it New!

The Nate Berkus Show, http://www.thenateshow.com, is a new show this fall that should inspire all of us to look at what we have and make it new. In the midst of all the junk in my basement I have found some treasures that I did not want to leave my life.

My grandparents did not have a lot of money. They made use of what they had. Collecting dust in my basement was a plant stand that my Uncle Frank had made out of old crates. It was calling out to me to be used for my plants that I eventually will have to bring in from the cold and snowy days that I know will start soon.

I decided to lift my plant stands spirits by giving it a new look. You know a little makeover like most of us want. All it took was a coat of gel stain and it looks great. I preserved the crate emblem that was pealing off of the bottom by finishing the stand with polycrylic.

I know, I know. No one will see the bottom but I know who was responsible for giving my plant stand life and I will know that emblem is there reminding me of it’s creator. Keeping my plant stand in my room makes me feel like my uncle Frank is still here helping me muddle through my life and watching over me.

I’m Back!!!

You might think I took a little break from blogging and you would be right. I just haven’t gotten used to putting my thoughts down on a blog. But I haven’t taken a break from Paring Down.

It has been a busy summer. I started with a garage sale. I hauled out all the furniture that I felt I could do without. Who needs 4 Rocking Chairs? I also had accumulated furniture that didn’t really fit in my house but “it’s still good so we have to keep it.” Not! I am happy to report all of it sold and what didn’t sell did not get hauled back into the house. It got put on the curb with a FREE sign. It is amazing what disappears in the middle of the night.

For instance I had an old Dining Room Table and chairs that had belonged to my parents. I had given them to my daughter. They stored it for years and gave it back. It was sitting in my garage. I liked the chairs but not the table. But I felt guilty getting rid of something that had meant something to my parents. I thought about the reason I was keeping it and it was guilt. So the table went on the boulevard and the chairs are going to be reused in my dining room as soon as I refinish and recover the seats. It is possible to let go.

Ask yourself why you are keeping that old furniture? Do you like it? Do you have an emotional bond to it? Or are you keeping it because it was in the family for years and you feel bound by it? Keeping furniture from the past only because you feel guilty keeps you in the past.

I had one rocking chair that fit nowhere in my home. It was a beautiful old rocker that my dad sat in day after day. I didn’t want to let it go but it was stored in a bedroom and no one was using it. It fit perfectly in my neighbors living room. She borrowed it and it is still mine and when I am ready or have a place that will do it justice I will get it back. In the meantime someone is enjoying it’s beauty and comfort.

Let go and live.

Blah Blog

I am not a very good blogger or very good at Paring Down. I get sidetracked and I have a failure to believe my words would make a difference to anyone. So I perked up my theme and we will see what happens. Life happens when you are looking the other way.

Out Of The Dust and Into The Dustpan!

I have been so remiss at following through at things. I am going to pull myself out of the dust, wipe myself off and sweep up the dust in my mind that has been sabotaging my paring down. I am going to throw that dust into the dust pan and start anew.

That is not to say that I have not made some progress in the past weeks. After my garage sale I did not knick knack my family room to death with new things. It is in fact quite bare with a few decorations that I love. Can I get rid of that dust once or will I sabotage myself again?

I have realized it isn’t a matter of letting go, it is a matter of giving up, being tired and being lazy. It is easier to sit on my porch and sip coffee than it is to clean a drawer. Having decided this I realize that we also have to work on our mind. If our mind is scattered and going many different directions we can’t possibly declutter our junk unless we declutter our junk in our mind.

I love my Yoga magazine. It helps center me. I did start back to Yoga and then I got side tracked. Does anyone out there understand? Does anyone else out there sabotage themselves?

I turned 60 this week. 60 instead of being a downer is a time of reflection. Where have I been? Who am I? Am I who I want to be or who everyone else expects me to be? Is clutter ok? I am not a neatnik but I am not a slob. Can I be in between and let it be? What am I missing by taking care of stuff? How much is memory or guilt that what I did not let go of belongs in the family so it must stay? Does my hanging on to memories keep me from moving forward and living a full life? So many questions, so few answers yet!

Two Books Down

I have been away from blogging for awhile. I have felt like “Who wants to hear anything I have to say about getting rid of my stuff.” But I’m back. Ya can’t get rid of me so easily. I took a breath and started back on my paring down path.

It may not seem like much but finishing a book in a busy life is huge. The first book I finished was by one of my favorite authors Debbie Macomber. It is titled A Good Yarn. The story takes place in a yarn shop and it brings together four people who might have never met if it had not been for these knitting classes. It is so much like life. We all have something in common with each other if we take the time to get to know someone that is much different than each of us.

Age doesn’t matter but age in all stages can enhance our lives. I truly believe the book is about our life. God puts people in our lives when we need them. I will tell you about the other book later.

I also started crocheting again because of this book but I decided to try something new. It is in accordance with paring down. I am making a plastic bag rug. More on that later. Check back later and I will blog about the second book I finished.

I have decided that when I finish a book I am going to offer it free to the first person that contacts me. So let me know. I will pay postage. It is my way of paring down and giving back and hopefully bringing joy into someone elses life.

Organization! Now I Can’t Find Anything!

There is something to be said for paring down but I suspect I work better in an unorganized mode.

I had a letter from a city entity documenting they were going to fix something on my street. I have kept this letter for six years waiting for the improvement. It never happened. This week I decided to take it back to City Hall. I needed to find my letter. I knew I had the letter months earlier as I was cleaning out and organizing my filing cabinet. I knew where I had kept it for six years. Now in my organized state I could not find the letter. I knew what folder it was in. Where was the folder?

I paniced. Maybe in my need to get organized I felt improvement would never happen and I threw it out? My husband informed me that would never happen. I spent the weekend looking in every file. I even checked tax papers in case in my madness I threw the letter in the box. I had given up hope.

Suddenly the light bulb dimly went off in my head. I had a plastic file container where I had kept patterns for sewing. Since I was no longer sewing I had cleaned it out and put papers that I would need in the plastic container. However since I failed to register that in my mind as I was putting things back in order I put the plastic container back with my sewing supplies.

I found the container and found my letter. Now you could say I was still organized. I filed the plastic container with my sewing supplies since I forgot I had pared down my sewing supplies. Lesson to be learned: You might be able to pare down your stuff but it is the stuff in your brain that pared down long before your stuff got pared down.

Mystery solved.

Where Are My Clothes?

This morning I opened my drawer to decide what to wear to my lovely, sometimes stressful job. Is it going to be a dirty day fixing computers or one where all I have to contend with are viruses and no dust bunnies inside the computer if I have to pull out hardware?

I did wash this weekend. Where were my clothes? My selection was limited! That is what paring down did to me. It limited my selection. It makes selection easy but I have this “I just wore this last week” syndrome right now.

I know I did the right thing when I look at my nicely arranged closet that has plenty of room for more. It gives me a feeling of organization. I don’t have to sort through clothes to find my wardrobe for the day. I usually chose the same thing anyway but it is a mind thing.

My mind is telling me “Where are my clothes? I want more.” Well I looked at my checkbook this morning, I tested the feeling and I know I am right where I need to be. So my tip for the day is ignore your mind and go with your gut. Follow your feelings.

Don’t Give Up We all Know It’s Not Easy.

Life always seem to get in the way and make our lives get more complicated. I was gone most of last week and my strategy went out the window. There were no mini cleaning moments.

Weekend came, I looked at my walls and realized they were still winter. It was time for winter to come down and spring to pop it’s head at my house. However I was tired of work and no matter how much fun I told myself it would be, preparing for spring was work.

At that point I wanted to throw everything out. Why do we spend hours decorating for the seasons? The seasons are going to change whether we change our walls or not. Would it not be simpler to find something we really like and stick with it. Would it not be simpler to decorate our walls that would encompass all seasons except Christmas? Would it not be more satisfying to make our lives easier and make our rooms peaceful so we can enjoy life with our families and friends and not be stuck with chores. Why do we decorate?

I did put up Easter but after Easter I am going to re-evaluate the decorations that came out of my basement. Perhaps they will leave my home for a new home.

I did hit the toy porch and weeded out the toys that my grandkids have outgrown. More bags for good will. Good bye Winnie The Pooh. Good Bye Scooby Doo. I will miss you!

Being Lazy

I have been lazy the last couple of weeks. I have had a hard time getting motivated since I took my week off from work to pare down more. After all the closets got cleaned I zoned out.

I should give myself a little more credit as I sold 16 items on Ebay last week so the pile of Ebay stuff is smaller. That was the goal and I am a little more cash flush because of it. I could get hooked on Ebay.

Selling on Ebay is easy. Sometimes you meet nice people and sometimes you get caught up in the drama of your buyers lives such as the person that had to retract her bid because of a divorce. A desparate woman was she. I wondered if Ebay was part of the cause of her divorce.

I could addicted to Ebay but fortunately or unfortunatly, depending on how you looke at it I have a full time job that keeps me away from those lovely addictions. I haven’t farmed in weeks. Alas my crops are dead.

Don’t do as I do, do as I say. Remember a drawer, a pile, or a little mound a day will keep your clutter away.