ramblings on simplicity

Just one of our five cluttered bookcases, and probably the tidiest!

I've been reading more of Down to Earth by Rhonda Hetzel and making plans around here for a simpler way of living. Last week I mentioned Rhonda's book and blog and quite a few people were interested so I thought I would let you know that today she has a very interesting post about running your home along the principles of Permaculture that's well worth a read. 

I've been interested in a simpler way of life for a long time. I want a slow life. I want more time in the fresh air. I want a more organised home, and I want a rhythm to my days, weeks and months. I would like to grow some of our own food. I want like our home to be a comfortable welcoming place for me all the time, for the Young Philosopher and the Prof when they come home from work, and for friends and family when they visit.  I want to make my own greetings cards. I want our home to have artwork painted by the Prof, and decorative and useful items knitted/crocheted/sewn by me. For a long time at odd moments I've scribbled these kind of random thoughts on bits of paper, along with more specific plans and ideas sometimes. Some of them come to fruition, but often they don't.  I've started collecting things together into a folder in a more organised way, and thinking about things in order of priorities. 

I think the key issue for us right now is clutter. I have always had too much stuff and been  slightly fairly a little very untidy, so it's a challenge for me to reverse that trait in myself to start with. Then add my CFS into the mix, along with the Prof moving into my two bedroom house with the contents of his three bedroom house and that equals a lot of stuff, much of it without a permanent home. The shed and loft are full to bursting, as are all the cupboards/drawers etc. Much as parts of the house need redecorating and I would like to landscape the front garden, grow vegetables, do more crafting etc, I am coming to realise that whilst things are in disorder, it makes everything else more difficult, and that conversely the opposite should also be true. Many years ago I read the book Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. In it she says something like, you are connected to every one of your possessions by a single thread. Imagine now the tangled mess of all those threads when you are living in a disorganised way. This idea really stuck in my mind and for me, that really is what it feels like most of the time, when I have so much stuff but equally, I mostly don't know where the item that I want is! 

I think if we can get rid of a lot of stuff, and organise what's left better, everything else will fall into place a little easier. Family meals at the table are easier when the table doesn't have my knitting and a pile of books on it. I need a nice basket to keep my current knitting projects in, and a side table or other place to put my books on. Clutter somehow clutters your mind as well as your house, don't you think? I know I feel like I have space in my head when the house is more tidy and organised. 

So that's the current mission then. Decluttering and organising and not stopping until it's done, just chipping away at it each day and week as I am able to. I will be donating things to the charity shop, taking some to the tip, and possibly using our local Freegle group too if there's anything I think someone might want. A while back I sold some books quite successfully on Amazon, I'd like to do that again and possibly venture into a bit of ebay selling, though that is a more daunting prospect. Any tips? 

I'm also working on a few other things. I've finally got around to sewing in the ends on some dishcloths I made months ago, as my old ones re getting tatty, time to move those on to cleaning rag duty.  I thought it would be a good idea to make some with narrow different coloured stripes, and they are pretty but I don't need to be sewing in twenty ends per cloth! They're ready to use now, anyway. I've been saving containers to keep homemade laundry liquid in, I plan to make a batch very soon. When I've made it in the past, storage was a problem and that put me off but I think I can find some space in the bathroom. Our bathroom is off the kitchen so that's not as inconvenient as it sounds. 

I'd like to get some money together for wallpapering and painting, and we have our eye on new sofas so I have started doing a little part time work for family, some ironing and cleaning, and plan to save the money. If I can make some more from my amazon and ebay adventures, even better. 

So that's what's happening around here. Lots of knitting going on too, I'll write about that tomorrow. 

a little at a time

"My way of doing things is simple. It's not necessary to make impossible efforts when troubled. Put simply, when you are vexed just be vexed and say, 'Yes, and what shall I do?' Just be in suspense about the outcome and move forward a little at a time."
Dr. Morita

There is so much to do in the house and garden, I find the whole thing overwhelming. I have lived here for, um, let's think, getting on for nine years, yes that's right, we moved here a couple of days after the young Philosopher's twelfth birthday. That seems such a long time ago, though on the other hand I can't believe I have lived here this long and so many of the things that needed doing then still need doing now. I had very little money back then, as a home educating single parent priorities were roof over heads, food, and education. Most of the time there wasn't much left after those things were taken care of. We wuz poor but we wuz 'appy.  I threw some paint around a couple of times and that was about it. In 2008 I met my dear Prof, and he came to live here the following year, though in the meantime he had been made redundant so again, love was all around but the money wasn't. He found work in February 2010 but the next things on the agenda were getting engaged and then married, so finances were channelled towards that. A year after the wedding, it's time we really started getting around to making this house into the home we would like to be, but oh, there is so much to be done!

Every room needs redecorating, and I expect that when we pull the paper off the eighty-odd year old walls and ceilngs, (where it isn't hanging off already, that is) much of it will need plastering. The bathroom needs, well a complete new bathroom. The front garden needs a complete overhaul and I don't know where to start, probably with the 80 year old privet hedges that need ripping out. I can't decide whether to do something nice with the garden, or whether to apply to the council for off-street parking, as several nasty things have happened to our car while it has been parked in the street. The back garden needs a new fence, one panel is threatening to fall over altogether, and several others look very sorry for themselves. We need a new gas fire, new carpets - in particular, we still have the carpet from the previous occupant in our living room and on the stairs and it's horrible. We need a new sofa. We don't have enough cupboard space in the (tiny) kitchen, the Prof is going to build some. Same with the bedroom, he intends to build fitted cupboards in there too. The living room is a logistical nightmare. Like the kitchen, it is tiny and has three doors leading off it, furniture placement is really difficult. We also have a LOT of stuff, including five bookcases of books. Major decluttering is in order, though probably not many of the books will go! It's hard to get all this stuff done, the Prof is often exhausted when he gets home, and is studying for his MA in his spare time and then there is my CFS. When we have time at the weekend we just like to get in the car and drive away from it all. 

I said yesterday that I only ever seem to have head space and breathing room when I get away  to the country, be it for a holiday or one of our weekend country drives. That needs to change, I want to feel comfortable and able to breathe here, in our home. I don't want to feel overwhelmed all the time anymore, like the things-to-do are pressing on me from all sides. So. One thing at a time. Decluttering and reorganising, then. I'll start with the living room, do a little every day that I can, depending on other events and my health, and just keep on keeping on, and eventually I'll get there, right? 

unravelling: finding my feet

This week as part of the Unravelling course I have been thinking about my feet.  Not something I do very often, though I do  treat my feet to a home pedicure quite regularly, finishing off with nail polish. I always like to have my nails polished, even in the winter it gives me a lift to have pretty feet, despite the fact that they are usually hidden in socks and boots.  I also use cream on my feet, my current favourite being Mango Body Butter from the Body Shop, and slather it on before bed, or in the mornings if I am going to be wearing socks that day.

Generally, though, I don't give much thought to my feet.  I certainly don't look down very often as I am out and about., so this week I have noticed things I wouldn't normally.  Like the flagstone in the picture which has a quote on it from the library at Thebes, in Ancient Egypt, 'The medicine chest of the soul'. Isn't that lovely? Funny, too that often you don't notice something in real life and it becomes obvious when you look at a photograph. My doorstep (in the bottom pic) has now been painted, thanks to the picture. I  have sorted out my sock drawer, and I have also thrown out all my shoes that were uncomfortable or past their best.

This is all tying in quite well with my ongoing Simplifying project (more on that to follow quite soon...)

Find out more about Susannah Conways's Unravelling e-course.