Simplicity Plan - The Beginning!

I am overrun with stuff. I actually have a lot less than many people, but it’s still getting to be just too much. My daughter’s room, when not picked up, is a pig-sty. We have so much stuff that we never use!

My newest endeavor is to change to a simpler style of living. This will be in a series of steps. My usual way to do something new is to jump right in, buy all the “necessary” components. Then I either get distracted or intimidated, and quit.

So…

I am taking this slowly. I have bought only ONE book, which is part of Step Two.

Step One

Clear out house. I am going slowly here too. Instead of decided to clear out my living room, for example, I am clearing out my movie collection. Instead of clearing out my whole kitchen, I cleaned the top of my fridge. Baby steps. But I am getting there! Last night, I cleared off my dresser in my room. Now, when I say “cleared” I don’t simply mean my usual cleaning. I mean picking up each thing and deciding if it’s really needed in my house. So far I have cleared my front closet, my fridge, my movies, my dresser, and part of Kaia’s room. From that, I have gotten rid of 5 bags worth of stuff (taken to Goodwill) and 1 bag of garbage. My next places to do are both bedroom closets, and the patio. Because…I need the patio clean for Step Two….

Step Two

Start a patio garden and grow as many of my own fruits and vegetables as I can. This is what I bought the book for. The Bountiful Container. It has wonderful reviews, and is exactly what I am looking for. It talks about how to grow veggies, fruits, and herbs in containers when you don’t have room for a garden. I want to start with blueberries! Yummy, but SO expensive! Also, tomatoes, and some others. I’m waiting for the book to tell me what might be best to begin with.

Step Three (though taking place kind of at the same time as One and Two)

Begin eating more natural, healthy food. Cut down on preservatives, and artificial additives. Add those home-grown veggies to our daily eating, and eat more of them! Begin experimenting with different foods, finding more meals we all like. Also, involve Kaia more in the food preparation. When we move, and can afford it, I plan on buying all the food (except what I’m growing!) at a natural food store.

Step Four

This is a financial step, one I am already trying to incorporate. I want to get rid of all credit card debt, and never use credit cards again. That’s right, never. I want to start investing again, and saving for when we need a large amount of money, so we don’t need a credit card. This isn’t possible right now, the saving bit at least. We haven’t used a credit card since we moved – wait, that’s wrong, we used dental credit cards. Don’t want to do that anymore either!
Part of this step is changing how we spend money in other ways. When we need new clothes, our first stop will be a second hand store. If they don’t have it, okay, but we will have checked. We will also limit what clothes we buy, cutting out unnecessary shopping. Until we move into a bigger place, nothing else is really needed in our home. We don’t need more furniture (well, we could use a book case, but have no place to put it, so therefore we don’t need it.) We don’t need more movies, or dishes. We don’t need more decorative stuff that fulfills no other purpose. I don’t need anymore makeup. Mike doesn’t need more computer stuff. Notice the “need” bit. Yes, we all three have things we want, but we simply don’t have the space or money for them at this time. So we will wait.

Okay, I think that’s enough for now…this will be a continuing venture for me, so you’ll hear more, probably more than you want!

d.