Wednesday, July 29, 2015

One of Gretchen Rubin's Secrets of Adulthood is:
 Focus Not on Doing Less, 
or Doing More, 
but on Doing What You Value.  


Which got me thinking, and considering variations:
Focus Not on Buying Less, 
or Buying More, 
but on Buying What You Value.

Or
Focus Not on Working Less, 
or Working More, 
but on Valuing your Work.

Or
Focus Not on Saving Time, 
or Spending more Time, 
but Value the moment you're in.

I assume you are getting the gist.
And that your mind may have started generating 
some Less/More Secrets of its own.

We get to choose where we spend our time, energy and money.
We decide what has value in our lives.
Sometimes we need less of some things
or  more of other things.
Sometimes we have just the right amount.

May your values inform your choices.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Mental clutter

Mental clutter.
Repetitive thoughts, circular arguments, replaying past conversations,
holding on to anger, regret, should haves, could haves, would haves,
worrying about tomorrow, picking at past hurts and disappointments;
you get the idea.

For today, decide which piece of mental clutter you're willing to let go.
Choose one thought, story, memory, continuous sound loop that
no longer supports the life you want to be living.
Just take a breath and let it go.
(And the next time it pops up, let it go again.  And again.)


No matter how many times you revisit the conversation,
no matter how wrong you think they were,
no matter how justified you are in your indignation:
You can't change the past.

But you can control how you let the past color your present.
Do a bit of mental decluttering and see what opens up.....

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Close the circle.

Clutter is often the result of a distraction or a delayed decision.

You will get an item from its home, use it and then spot a
bright shining object, oops
you're distracted and the item never gets put away.
And you've moved onto something else.

Or you buy something,
bring it home, but
haven't decided where it will live
so it gets left out,
causing clutter.

Make a practice of closing the circle.
Get the item.
Use it.
As soon as it is no longer needed
close the circle
by putting it back in its home.

Before you buy and bring something new home
decide what it is going to replace,
and where it will live.
Then when you bring it home,
discard the old one and
close the circle by putting the new one away.

You close the circle when you:
Place the dirty dish into the dishwasher,
Put the folded laundry away.
Shred the mail as you open it.
Hang up your towel.
Drop off the bags of donations.

Close the circle.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Have nothing........

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be   useful, or believe to be beautiful."
                                                                         William Morris

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Alas, no fairies...

Nope.
No fairies to sprinkle magic Make the Clutter Disappear dust.
No witch to wiggle her nose and the counters become clutter free.
No Fairy godmother with a magic wand.

Sometimes you just have to do the work.

Choose the project,
decide on the goal,
make the time,
and then start the process.

If you find yourself denying, delaying,
ambivalent or shoulding on yourself:
Look at why you are even considering the project.
Do you really want a change?
Is it really worth the time and energy?
Do you honestly believe your life will be happier, easier
more alined with your values and beliefs if you
complete the project and alter your situation?

If so, then do the work.
If not, make peace with that choice.

(ps.  It's okay to ask for help......)

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

A little bit happier.

Just a small bit of happiness can make life better.

Instead of waiting for a big change,
a huge Aha moment,
a totally organized house,
your weight to be perfect,
more money in your savings account,
or the garden to be weed free.

Make one small change and let that be enough.

Organize one drawer.
Go for a ten minute walk instead of eating a cookie.
Skip the latte and toss the money into your 
Vacation Fund jar.
Weed the four feet closest to the front door.

Let yourself experience that little flash of joy that comes
when your small actions reflect your bigger values.

Little bites.
First steps.
Small changes.
It all adds up.

Every choice moves you toward 
or away 
from the life you want to be living.


Wednesday, June 17, 2015

THE easiest storage solution.

Store it at the store.

Now that is a brilliant way to simplify your storage needs!

There is a balance between having what you use and need available to you, and not turning your home into a warehouse of items you bought 'on sale', or Justin Case, or because it came in a multi pack.

The best storage 'home' for some things is right on the shelf or the rack at the store.

Let them use their square footage so you don't need to waste any of yours.

Often what you  think you save, in money or time or convenience; you end up paying for in clutter, crammed closets and drawers, or forgotten about stock piles and caches.

The more you have on hand the more money you've spent,
the more storage places you need to create,
the more you need to keep track of,
the more you need to maintain.

Take advantage of the free, unlimited storage the store has available.
Choose less to have more........