Organizing The Christmas Clutter

January 1, 2009

I haven’t been posting on this topic 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 [...]

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Battling Carpet Stains

September 11, 2008

A smart person who really wanted a simple life, would not have light colored carpet. She especially wouldn’t have that cream colored carpet if she has five cats in the house! In fact, she would not have those darned cats! I didn’t tell you that I was a smart person…did I? I can’t get rid [...]

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Trying To Get The Groove Back

August 8, 2008

A one-time cleanup won’t solve the problem–any more than a crash diet will cure lifelong bad eating habits. ~ Peg Tyre Inertia sets in. It happens when the dog days of summer arrive. When the temperature soars above the century mark, and you can fry an egg on the pavement, there is no working in [...]

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Walkable Neighborhoods

July 5, 2008

It’s amazing to me that so many of us spend years trying to get to that home in the “Burbs.” We are conditioned to want that lovely, huge house on a tree shaded lot with an expanse of St. Augustine grass in front. It’s the American Dream! Yet living in the suburbs is so impractical. [...]

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The Three “Magic” Questions

July 3, 2008

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 [...]

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Isn’t It Fun To Have Houseplants?

July 1, 2008

Especially when they look a little risqué, as this one does. It reminds me of a painting by Rubens, and I’m just “cheeky” enough to enjoy it. See the resemblance? Now, as much as I enjoy houseplants, they do not contribute to a simplified lifestyle. I’m having to re-think my strategy. In truth, most of [...]

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Simplify The Bathroom: Part Two

June 30, 2008

I told y’all I had begun the process of getting my bathroom organized. Once I had tossed all the unused and excess items that don’t belong in my bathroom, everything had to go back on the shelves! On my first attempt, I put things back where they had been. Then, I realized I wasn’t making [...]

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Simplify The Bathroom: Part One

June 29, 2008

I thought that cleaning, de-cluttering, and organizing the bathroom would be the easiest “beginner task.” After all, it’s the smallest room in the house, isn’t it? That may be so, but it’s also the busiest and most crowded room of the house. It’s not as easy to simplify as it might seem. First of all, [...]

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Water

June 27, 2008

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 [...]

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A Change Of Attitude

June 26, 2008

Difficult, difficult, difficult…    Easy, easy, easy… Neither difficult nor easy.           -Zen Buddhism As I work at sorting clutter, I occasionally feel as if I’m floundering. We have so much that is just junk, and I don’t always know what to do with it. I get overwhelmed. I was ready to just give up at about [...]

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Keeping The Memories

June 25, 2008

My brother was overjoyed when I called him earlier this week and asked, “Do you want these old 45s that belonged to Mom?” His voice was filled with wonder and awe, “You still have them? Yes, I want them.” We talked about some of the records that came from the store my mother had back [...]

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Does Anyone Need A Truckload of Pens?

June 24, 2008

Do you think I have enough pencils and pens? Usually these containers are stowed in strategic places throughout the house. I have them by my bed, in several parts of my office, by the sofa, in the kitchen, and at my favorite chair. You never know when you might need to write something down, and [...]

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Buried Under Paper

June 23, 2008

I could get buried under all the paper at this house! I could get lost for weeks and miss a meal or something -wouldn’t that be a crying shame? Everything else gets lost around here, that’s a fact. I lose my keys, my glasses, the calculator, the checkbook. A frantic search usually proves that I’ve [...]

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Finding New Homes For The Books

June 21, 2008

After you have gone through the painful process of culling books from your shelves, you need to get them out of the house! If you don’t, you will begin looking at them and pining for them. You will pick up one book, and decide, “Oh, I really can’t part with that one.” Then, another and [...]

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Garage Sale Time

June 20, 2008

We are going to have a garage sale in August. I know full well that we won’t make enough money to justify the time, but we will get to turn a little bit of our trash into cash. Anything that is really worth money we will try to sell on E-Bay first. However, as we [...]

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Give Someone Else A Chance To Love Those Heirlooms

June 18, 2008

Organizing gurus say that we only use 20% of the items we own. The other 80% is stuff that we keep “just in case” we might need it someday. I freely admit that I have a lot of that “just in case” stuff. The only problem, is that it is buried beneath the other debris [...]

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Just Call Me “Pandora”

June 17, 2008

Many years ago, I read a tip in one of my books about organization. It told me what to do when I have trouble deciding to get rid of certain items while de-cluttering the house. The suggestion was to put the items in a box, tape the box shut, and mark a date six months [...]

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Gift Giving Simplified, Or Not!

June 15, 2008

For years I have kept a drawer in my house that we have called “The Mathom Drawer.” If you have read J.R.R. Tolkien’s series of fantasy novels, you might know about “mathoms.” According to Tolkien, “Anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom. Their dwellings [...]

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A Timer Keeps Me Moving

June 13, 2008

At least fifteen years ago, I bought a book called Simplify Your Life, by Elaine St. James. It was cutting edge at the time; it was written back when people were still caught up in the mindset that more is better. I’ve figured out that more stuff is stressful! Bite off a little chunk each [...]

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You’ve Got Mail. Junk Mail, of Course

June 10, 2008

You brought the mail in today, and I know what you found. Your mail looks exactly like mine. You had Bills Catalogs filled with brightly colored and totally unnecessary plastic objects Magazines you will never take the time to read And, an armload of other junk mail There are credit card offers, coupons for things [...]

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