Out Of Chaos

I haven’t been posting on this blog much lately, but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t been busy trying to get our lives simplified.  Work, family, and health issues got in the way of blogging.  Don’t they always? That’s real life for you.

As I start the new year fresh, I hope to chronicle our attempts more often. It really keeps me on track to write about our progress, but I couldn’t begin to explain why that would be. I just know it works to keep me motivated. So, here I go again.

New Year’s Day, at least for me, is typically the day I take down all the Christmas decorations. Believe me, at my age, I’ve collected quite a few. In fact, we have a closet full of holiday “glitz.” I’ve toned it down quite a bit in the last few years, because the kid’s outgrew their delight in the holiday ornaments, but I’ve still got much more than I really want to store all year.

This year, after I had the house decorated in all of it’s holiday glory, I set aside every decoration I didn’t use. I sorted through everything and made some hard decisions. I boxed up every decoration that had sentimental value, but that I didn’t use (such as the Christmas stocking that my husband’s mother knitted him when he was a child). I packaged those away and put them at the back of the closet.

As I looked through the other ornaments, I tried to determine if it was something I loved, or if I was just keeping it because I am a packrat. I was able to take about half of those ornaments and either throw them away or donate them. The rest, I’ve put into a box labeled “Unused.”

As I took down the decorations in each room, I put them in shoe boxes with labels that will tell me next year where I used them. Most of my ornaments are small enough that I can fit them into a shoe box. I used to package the decorations into the Christmas tins I always seem to get, but I’ve decided that round cans don’t stack very well (only took me thirty years to figure that out). Now, I try to use boxes that are similar sizes, so I can maximize my space.

Next year, I’ll be able to put up the decorations much faster, because I won’t have to sort and sift through everything. I’ll just carry the box labeled “Mantel” to the living room and set it up.

If those boxes labeled “Unused” remain so again next year, I promise they are going out the door!

Y’all hold me to that, won’t you?

Tags: simplified life by Shelly Kneupper Tucker
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My husband had grand plans for this classic 1961 Volvo (it looks like a much older model car, doesn’t it?). He bought it in 1996 and began acquiring the parts to re-build the motor, rework the interior, and give it a complete makeover. He dreamed of mint green fenders and a cream color body. It would have rocked! Man, it would have been fun to “do the drag” in that baby.

Unfortunately, the dream didn’t come to fruition. In 1996 his two boys were six and thirteen years old. There were other (more important) things to do; there were other places to spend the time and money it would have taken to restore this car. In the seven years I have known my husband, he has only had the time to work on if once or twice.

As we work at downsizing our lives and simplifying our existence, my husband has come to realize that this dream car is a bit of a nightmare. There is nothing simple about having a classic car! After it is restored (which could take a year or more of commitment), it will need constant maintenance. It must be registered, inspected, licensed, and insured — yet most of the time it would just sit in the driveway! It is not a practical car to drive every day.

In the meantime, it sits in our driveway and the numerous parts to repair it take up an inordinate amount of space in our sheds!

Deciding to get rid of the Volvo was a major hurdle for my husband. He said he felt as if he had “failed,” because he didn’t finish the project.

I’m trying to get him to look at giving up the Volvo as a victory. He no longer even wants to work on greasy machinery in the Texas heat. He shouldn’t bind himself to a dream he had twelve years ago — he’s changed since then. He has other interests now, and I’m proud that he’s able to realize that and set this one free. Maybe the Volvo will come into the hands of someone who has the time to restore it and love it the way it deserves.

This Volvo is a very large example of a problem that we packrats have. We become emotionally involved in those unfinished projects, and have a hard time giving them up. As we grow older, and our interests change, we can’t give up the projects for fear of losing part of our essence.

So, we wallow in the clutter!

I’ve got my share of unfinished projects to “set free,” as well. Mine just aren’t this big!

Tags: Transportation, Uncategorized by Shelly Kneupper Tucker
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This business of de-cluttering is a difficult one. Especially when one is genetically engineered to be a pack rat! I come by my hoarding tendencies honestly: my Momma was a packrat, her momma was a packrat. I don’t know how many generations it goes back.

See? That’s a family picture right there!

Actually, if you follow anyone’s family tree you will eventually get to a group of people who hoard. We are all descended from hunting and gathering tribes. Back then, if you didn’t squirrel away food and supplies, you wouldn’t survive!

These days, there isn’t really any need to stockpile “stuff,” even though I occasionally see on the television and on the internet that some unknow global “disaster” is on the way. I just keep things, because I don’t know how to throw them away!

I keep reading books and articles about de-cluttering and simplifying in the hopes that I’ll get inspiration. There are three “magic questions” that seem to crop up repeatedly. These are questions I’m supposed to ask myself, as I look at one of the items in my vast array of…rubble.

1. “Do I use it regularly?” If the answer to that question is “yes,” then of course I get to keep it. If it’s a seasonal item, I’m supposed to store it somewhere out of the way. If that item is worn out, broken, or past its prime (like the ragged towels in the bathroom), I’m supposed to go ahead and get rid of it.
2. “Do I love it?” I’m supposed to decide if it gives me joy to have it. Give me a break here: I’m a packrat! Just having stuff gives me joy! But, that’s not what the experts want from me. They want me to think about the object. I mean, do I really love that ugly macramé that Aunt La Verta made, or am I just keeping it because I loved Aunt La Verta? There are better ways to remember her (and quite honestly, she probably would be appalled to be remembered for her macramé!). Even if it is something that I use regularly, if I don’t love it, I shouldn’t keep it.
3. “Am I keeping it because it will come in handy someday?” Well, yeah! I mean, someday I might need an oscilloscope! What if one breaks? I need the back-up oscilloscope? [Note: that is a "gentle" jab at my husband. I don't have an oscilloscope. I have the punch bowl that I've never used in thirty years!] Nope. The experts tell me that if I am keeping it for “someday,” that day will never get here. I have to get rid of it, if that is my justification.

I’m beginning to despise those “experts!”

Tags: simplified life by Shelly Kneupper Tucker
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If I were really smart, I could simplify my life tremendously in one fell swoop by drinking water. Then, my recycle bin wouldn’t be filled with soda cans.

That would definitely be good for the environment. According to The Container Recycling Institute, “3% of the world’s electricity goes into making aluminum cans.” The hydroelectric plants that produce those cans ruin habitats, and aluminum smelters release greenhouse gases and toxic emissions.

Heck, just cutting out the sodas we consume at our house might save the planet.
“I never
drink
water because
of the disgusting
things that
fish do in it.”
There are other reasons to make water a drink of choice:

• It would reduce my clutter. I don’t like to empty the recycle bin, and neither does my husband.
• It would be cheaper; those soft drinks are expensive AND I keep a second refrigerator for drinks. I don’t need to have two refrigerators! Think of the energy and space I could save!
• It would be healthy.

Unfortunately, none of those benefits will convince me to give up my sodas or my coffee.

First of all, I’ve tasted the water in Denton and it’s nasty! I’d have to buy bottled water (the plastic bottles would be as harmful to the environment as the aluminum) or have a water filter (which would be one more thing requiring my attention).

Second, I’m trying to simplify my life, but I have no intention of torturing myself. I like sodas and coffee! I’m also probably addicted to them.

Third, I’m with W.C. Fields on this one: “I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it. ”

So, I have an alternative plan. It’s something I should have been doing all along. I’ll buy sodas in liter bottles! That’s better than nothing, and it’s the best I can do.

Tags: Health/Beauty, simplified life by Shelly Kneupper Tucker
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