Listen to Jesus and do what he says!
Probably the best plan I have ever heard…thanks preacherman!
(a pure minimalist point of view, of course!)…it works though!
Good Advice
Category Archives: Minimalist
Dirty…Dirty…Dirty
Nothing cures a lazy Monday like an episode of Hoarders. Don’t say you have never seen it or even lingered a while enduring the shock and awe of it all. Like a train wreck exploding and stacked up like cord wood, the impossible reality of these poor peoples homes, causes me to ask the question….How did it get this bad and why in H- E- double Hockey sticks are they allowing anyone to film it?
What Dirty little secrets do we all have….laying in wait, that we keep hidden from EVERYONE!!!
How many drawers do you have to open up until you see chaos? Which closet is stacked so high and tight that the very thought of opening can cause a cringe? Guilty, Guilty, Guilty! The good news to me is I know most of us have these issues, hopefully not in the grand scale of these hoarder people but in a small way we all have junk.
Nearly a month ago I went through my ever busting-out closet and thought I had really done well. This was the time,……. even purses and shoes; even that black pair of slip on clog-like ones that I pull out every year for which I hate. I let them all go…joyfully! After several (meaning more than three–lots more!) black garbage bags (to hide the evidence) taken to the Goodwill drop off station, I swear if it doesn’t appear to still be too full. I have a date with that room and this time I will keep no alliances…I will never fit into those clothes again and if I do its time to be out of the ’90’s!
I actually used to pride myself for keeping a short stash of junk. My sister-in-law would praise me for not having storage rooms full of stuff still boxed up from previous moves. I hate that! I can not stand to have all that stuff not being used or just there. My husband knew when I had a cleaning binge hit me…things came up missing and I am still searching for a set of NASCAR Tickets that he lost. Notice I put all blame on him! I just know I didn’t lose them…..to be honest I think my gut tells me I may have disposed of them on a clean sweep moment. Not that I will ever cop to that for sure..since we have no real evidence.
Before anyone accuses me of being a clean freak….far far far from that. I am momentarily a clean freak. But these television shows give me cause to become one. Given the right timing I can see this happening………”but for the grace of GOD go I!”
I don’t think I am a hoarder so much, I am more of a lazy follow through-er……(they all say that!!!) But I will continue to try. As long as my need to streamline is greater than my slow response mode I will survive.
I think it all breaks down to HOPE. Hope for better, Hope for one’s life led free from the frustration from it all. I can never get so bummed I just stop….give up.
So I wonder? Anyone else out there with dirty drawers..(dresser drawers NOT britches!..I am southern but, T.M.I) Anyone who has more than one junk drawer? Anyone that keeps too much craft stuff because on the next rainy day you are going to do all those cute crafts you see on Pinterest? Too many house magazines piled up? So much stuff it makes dusting the worst job ever?
Let me know I am not alone…help a sister out here! I have issues I know, but I vow to continue one day at a time to get it right.
My heart goes out to the ones who can’t help themselves and shame on me for my dirty, dirty little secrets………. hidden!
Reuse, Recycle, Remove?
I am a frustrated minimalist. Anyone who knows me would probably laugh at that statement…makes me laugh saying it. The key word is frustrated! In my mind I want to live without so much baggage….all this stuff that needs picking up and put away, stuff that needs cleaned, dusted and repaired…..stuff that fills my head with bothersome chatter.
The flip side is that I tend to love some stuff. I would rather hold a book in my hand, the glossy magazine with house beautiful stuff than the cute little NOOK that my husband bought for me. Sweet as it was, cool as it is, it just isn’t the same. I can’t smell it or should I say it doesn’t smell as good, nothing like the smell of a new book or magazine only comparable to the new car smell. And while I am on smells, another piece of stuff…new box of Crayola crayons that I must periodically buy just because…oh the smell, mmmmmm!
I also love dishes, one thing that I share with my mother-in-law. She has some great ones and I always understand her reason for buying more. I like to pick up eclectic ones, old ones, hipster styles as well as old-fashioned. I can’t ever decide on one certain kind, they are all so beautiful works of art. A beautifully set table is a stellar first impression. I love to see a pretty table set, like buying cut flowers just to enjoy, a waste of money maybe but it is worth it.
I also have a stash of keepsakes, baby quilts and first outfits, school papers, drawings and pictures. All put away for safe keeping only to be looked at during one of those days when rearranging is done…my cleaning out binge hits and I run across the treasures. Is all this stuff useless baggage or treasures? I say treasures and even though it is baggage it is important stuff. It is my memories.
The stuff that is problematic is the daily stuff…mail, dirty clothes, dirty dishes…clean dishes still in the dishwasher yet not put away, the three pair of shoes I keep tripping over, plastic glasses left all over the house by the people who shall remain nameless…grrrr! All the little silly stuff that seems to grow overnight, try as I might to keep things picked up and in order it seems to grow as fast as mushrooms…sprouting up before you know it.
Then I have the hidden stuff in my heart, the hurts and fears; disappointments and discouragements; loss of family and lost friendships…..the stuff I hold against people and the stuff I never said but should have. If I am ever successful in the life of a minimalist I hope it begins with my heart. Some days it gets overwhelming to weed through it all and make sense of the day. Life is so short and if I could wish one thing it would be to be really clear with my decisions to what is in the keep pile and what goes in the discard file.
Reuse, Recycle, Remove?
preacherswifeintheknow 