Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify ~ Henry David Thoreau

Simplify...

 : to make simple or simpler: as a : to reduce to basic essentials b : to diminish in scope or complexity :







For over a year, I have been attemping to simplify things in my life and in our house. I mention both things in the same sentence, but they are two very different areas. The house is the more complex of the two!


Two and a half years ago, we bought a new house at Lost Island lake with plans to sell the acreage and move there eventually. We put our acreage up for sale and realized we have a lot of stuff. Just stuff. Nothing really special or super-sentimental. Years and years of having a very large home with a lot of storage space has made it rather easy to keep things instead of throwing them out when they should have been. The "you never know when we might need this" attitude has caught up with us. And now I am paying the price.


Last year brought a giant reduction of stuff when I packed up clothing, books, 300+ record albums and a multitude of appliances like 5 coffee pots (never know when we might need one of the old carafes) and 3 vacuums and 4 popcorn poppers. Along with old comforters, sheets, curtains -- you name it, I probably donated it to Goodwill. Took about 15 trips with a carload each time!


Also made as many trips to the local dump -- only with the truck -- to get rid of stuff. Old suitcases, rolled up carpeting... the list was endless.


Yet there is still so much more to be done. Seriously, it's overwhelming how much clutter can be accumulated. I look at the basement storage room with shelves full of paint cans, spray cans, aquariums, a thousand cords and chargers and other unknown objects.


My solution: rent a dumpster.


My daughter, K, is heading for college on August 26th and as soon as she is out the door, I am going into massive throw-away mode! It must be done.


The other half of my simplify plan is much easier! My life. I am going to spend my time doing the things that are MOST important to me and quit wasting time on all the others. Except cooking. I'd like to start cooking more again and trying new recipes. K has always been such a picky eater so I was limited on what to cook.


I do wish I had thought of the cooking aspect before I donated around 75 cookbooks to Goodwill last year.

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