LIVING SIMPLY OR SIMPLY LIVING?

SIMPLICITY.  IT'S NOT SIMPLY A WORD SO MUCH AS IT IS A ACTUAL WAY OF LIVING.  A LIFESTYLE THAT SATISFIES ONESELF?

IT IS A LIFE CHANGING MOVEMENT TO MORPH FROM HAVING CLUTTER TO HAVING VERY LITTLE TO CLEAN.  I am going to take three steps backwards and re-enter a zone that I once knew and did not fully appreciate at the time.

NOW I AM CHOoSING to simplify.  Loving order, I'm admiring it's ambiance.  We are downsizing for a multitude of reasons.  After turning loose of much, knowing how to create out of little is a true talent.  Developing this skill is something I will have to practice until I get it perfected if at all possible.  

AS I PACK our belongings, it is taking me some time to handle each item.  Noticing that those knick knacks on the top shelves of the floor to ceiling bookshelves are in need of a good dusting, I know I have a MY BAD domestic failure staring me in the face of being less than successful housekeeper.  The world is still turning, but I don't like Mother Nature's dust in my HOME.

I have health issues so I move slower than I use to.  My back aches.  I get weary sooner.  My mind wonders.  I fall asleep.  I want to do other things besides pack boxes.  The excitement isn't there.  Yada yada yada.  Excuses are not hard to come by when you're in my shoes.  Oh, I forgot...I'm barefooted.  

SLOWLY I am making progress packing items from the Living room.  The tall shelves are cleared and dusted.  All that STUFF is boxed up.  

The closet is full of boxed pictures that can be gone through at a  later date while going down MEMORY LANE once again.

Between the COTTAGE surplus and our main house, I have shredded close to a year now, thousands of old papers, checks, receipts.  It has been a laborious job.  IT. IS. FINISHED.  Finished.  Praise the LORD and I don't ever want to be placed in this position again where the paper is taking over my peace of mind.  

I have thinned out our clothing closet and will do another round soon.  Our every day dishes will be boxed soon.  Fancy dishes as well.  Crystal.  Books have been thinned out and I know I will turn loose of more once we're in the COTTAGE.  

OLD magazines pitched.  I guess I should have kept them so I could tear pages out crumbling them up to help with stuffing the moving boxes so items inside stay in place better.  Dolls have been thinned out.  Knicks knacks the same, but I will clearly do some more thinning out come SPRING.  Christmas decor is being thinned out as we speak.  GOSH, who'd have thought I had an addiction for CHRISTMAS DECOR?  Well, I admit, I DO.  I still wonder how this got so out of hand.  Perhaps, I was gasping at straws to bring a childhood memory to surface for some kind of comfort zone to appease me during the HOLIDAYS.  Gotta turn loose and what I do have left needs to be stored neatly and orderly.  I believe I am getting there very slowly.    

So how do I live simply?  Is there a learning curve?  Can someone like me return to a simpler way of living?  Will I have to exercise my creative muscle that resides in my brain to be more productive on less so I cannot make up excuses for being dormant where I should be living in abundance with LESS?  Just how creative should I be?  

Getting back to basics sounds rather nice.  Can I do it?  As I handle all this stuff, I'd rather not.  Lazy am I?  Over tired or over ran with things that just don't matter like they use to?  

Living simply or simply living?  You tell me, which is the better way to live?  Which is the more excellent way?

Living simply,

~d      

EFFICIENCY AND SIMPLICITY IN THE MAKING

WORD FOR THE YEAR:  SIMPLICITY holding hands with efficiency.  This word is my word for the year.  It's what I will be striving for.   S i m p l i c i t y.  Streamlining.  

Inching my way to making LIFE more efficient along with better use of time.

Mail Call this morning was full of bills.  I believe I need to write out all the expected bills having them ready to mail/pay the first week of each month so I am not writing out bills on different days spread throughout the month...instead it will be streamlined to one day.  Makes sense to me.  

Targeting the bill writing to one day instead of many seems better and easier on my older mind that is craving simplicity and ef·fi·cien·cy.  Less concern about did I pay such and such? Have I paid that bill?  The answer will be yes, I did already.  Rest my case.

Starting another donation box by the back door to go to charity this week.  Each week I hope to continue donating and thinning out much.  I did my closet a few weeks ago.  Hubby did some in his.  I purchased different hangers which means I need to switch out the hangers.  During the colder months I can spend some more time on the closets thinning out even more.  

The washing machine is swirling as I type.  I took a break from laundry and now I pay the piper. It piles up so quickly which surprises me having raised a family where now it's just me and my Hunny.  Same with the trash.  Two people do accumulate much waste.  

Tis terribly cold outside with the sun shinning bright in the light blue skies.  I'll be doing some laundry today.  Back to it.  HOLIDAY time was wonderful, but I wasn't doing laundry and it did pile up. 

During the outbreak of Co V id, our washer and dryer were still in the COTTAGE.  We were living in the Main House where the utility hook-ups are in the basement.  For the time being I wanted to leave the washer/dryer over at the COTTAGE.  Quick trips to the Laundromat made for an easy outing.  Then Co V id broke out and I didn't want to go to the Mat.  We purchased a miniature washer that hooks up to the Kitchen sink.  I'd wash clothing and hang them up to air dry on hangers.  Towels and undies were dried over at the Cottage.  This worked just fine, but two years later I am ready to leisurely have the use of both machines in the COTTAGE without all the drama.  I'd prefer to not climb up and down the stairs using the machines in the basement here.  I'm leaning toward having the utilities on the same floor with no steps to climb. RETIREMENT COTTAGE comes to mind.  60 is not the NEW 40.  60 is 60.  Bluntly speaking. 40 never was the NEW 20.  

This month we will continue gutting the COTTAGE's bathroom.  I'll wash the shelves in the Pantry while my Hunny guts the bathroom.  Then a fresh coat of paint will freshen up the Pantry.  Helping Hubby when needed.  Hopefully the Bathroom and the closet will be completed by the end of February.  

So as I slowly downsize our things I am having adequate time to say good-bye to this lovely old house and downsize into a COTTAGE.  We shall see how it goes.  I may be climbing the walls once we get into the small COTTAGE.  The adjustment period will take some time unless I have a huge change of heart and settle down right away.  Interesting time of LIFE.  To be alive is a huge blessing.  Given the chance to downsize is a LIFE LESSON in the making.  

I believe I will continue watching you tube videos on how to declutter, downsize, eat on $30 a week, continue researching about health issues, vitamins/mineral readings, etc.  My Jack LaLanne videos are waiting for me to watch.  I need to pencil this in and get with it.

LIL MISS IN THE OLD ROCK HOUSE DRAWING
One of my favorite pictures I took while providing Childcare from a few years ago.

TODAY  TWO OF MY GRANDCHILDREN HAVE BIRTHDAYS.  January 3rd.  May they each have a blessed one.  The NEW YEAR begins, two birthdays and then Epiphany on January 6th. The Grands received their birthday cards and gifts from me.  

The Christmas trees will remain up and lit until after Epiphany.  Snowmen will come out of hiding after I get the Christmas decor put away.  I may place some snowmen at the base of the smaller Christmas tree.  hum...will give that some thought.  If not that, then I'll place them around the fireplace. 

The Christmas Tree we used to display the HALLMARK TRAINS and HOUSES only has twinkle lights on it now and a red star.  I'm calling it my EPIPHANY TREE.  Slowly I will remove the ornaments on the other tree during this week.  Then the trees will be naked except for lights and tree toppers.  Eventually the trees will be removed from the room.  By the end of January I suspect.

I plan on making some fudge during the month since I didn't make any during the HOLIDAYS. Chocolate for sure.  A nibble here and a nibble there.  Very little thank you.

This morning I skipped Breakfast and had a mint instead.
Lunch was Pacific's Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup with some Ritz Crackers.  Sipping Iced Tea.  Time for a HOT GREEN TEA.
Maybe munch on some nuts.
Not sure about Supper...best have lots of vegetables and small amount of fruit.  Very little meat.

Which reminds me to clean the fridge out.

  

Always somethin' to do.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR and may the year be a blessed one,
~d👵     

Monday:  Joining the fun over at https://familycorner.blogspot.com/2022/01/happy-homemaker-monday-01032022.html

WEATHER:  So cold and staying cold throughout the week.  Today the high will be 46 degrees with a low around 27.  

FEELING THIS MORNING:  Good and getting stuff done.

BREAKFAST PLATE:  A peppermint patty that I made for Christmas.  Not nutritious, but feeds my emotional health.

READING PILE:  Old decorating magazines that I am thinning out.

ON THE TELEVISION:  PBS's Around the World in 80 Days also Paramount's 1883.

MENU THIS WEEK:  Salads, salads, salads.  Less meat, dairy, grains, sugar, added chemicals.

CAMERA:  Remodeling.

LOOKING AROUND THE HOUSE:  Christmas boxes.

TO DO LIST:  Clean out the fridge.
Write Thank yous, put Christmas decor away, laundry by the bundle, donate more things to charity, rest and watch Jack LaLanne videos, hopefully get some primer on the Dining room walls.

FUN TO SHARE:  Life is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're going to get.

TODAY's DEVOTIONAL: Proverbs 3.