On Simplicity

As I said in my previous post, I've been thinking a lot about simplicity over the last couple of months. I think living a simple life has great potential for helping to improve my situation. I've been so overwhelmed with stuff and things to do lately that I've had to cut back drastically so I don't end up running myself into the ground.... again. It's more about making the right choices, and listening to what my body is telling me, than just cutting back on everything altogether.        

In my mind, the first thing I have to tackle is my environment. That includes my flat, my stuff, my clothes. A calm and peaceful environment makes for a calm and peaceful mind, right?

 

As yet, I haven't made any real progress towards a simpler life. I still see clutter everywhere I go, and I don't know how to get rid of it. I've been reading and gobbling up 3 writers on simplicity recently, and am inspired by their efforts. Leo Babauta from zenhabits  gears his writing towards productivity in daily life, but so much of it applies to life in general. The Power of Less is an awesome book. Kelly, who I've been reading for a while now, has just started a mission of doing one small thing every day for a year to simplify and reduce her consumption. On her new blog, the year of less, she posts tasks that she is completing towards consuming less on a daily basis. The latest edition to my reading list "be more with less"  is a wonderful source of inspiration. 

Through Kelly's blog I stumbled upon this website, project 333 which is by the same author as "be more with less", but focuses exclusively on clothing and fashion. I got motivated to try it, but first of all I counted the items of clothing I have. The number came to approximately 140 items. Holy moly. And yet I find myself complaining that I have nothing to wear. Sound familiar?

So off I went when I had a day off, and started building my wardrobe on the idea that I would live with 33 items of clothing for 3 months. I haven't reached that target yet, but I cut it down to about 40-50 items, not incl shoes, outerwear and accessories. I packed up the rest in a suitcase so it's out of the way. The website explains the approach in detail. The amazing thing is, I actually found clothes that I like, but never wear because I always go for the most familiar clothes. Ironically, I now feel like I have more options with less stuff! Brilliant.

LIke I said, the first thing I want to focus on is the visual clutter around me. At the moment, it's everywhere. So, one path towards simplicity is getting rid of the excess.  I will be posting on the topic a bit from now on, because it is important to me, and most of all, I enjoy the feeling I get from it.

I realised with the clothing project that I really need concrete tasks to do, with limits and boundaries. Otherwise, I get totally overwhelmed, racing from one room to another, bits here and bits there, and never accomplish anything. This way, I will write about it and have a list of projects on this blog that I can tick off as I go along.

Here is the list of areas that I need to work on so far:

1.  Books

2.  Stationery

3.  Paperwork 

4.  Clothes - attempt 33 items including outerwear and accessories

5.  Craft materials

6.  Tools and electricals

7.  Decorative items

8.  Bookcase in the study

9.  Crates on the floor of study 

Note that I haven't yet placed limits on these, and I believe that is important. To illustrate, say that I count my books and I have 30.  If I put the goal as "reducing the amount of books", I could in theory just get rid of one book, and that would be my goal completed (and believe me, I find it easy to come up with those excuses). But that doesn't help the overall goal of having less stuff.  On the other hand, if I say "I will get rid of 5 non-fiction and 10 fiction books" then that makes the goal very concrete, and I will know for sure when I have achieved it.  If it still feels like I have too many, then I can decide on a lower limit. 

By the way, I'm not trying to get rid of everything, and don't suggest anyone does. Or even to let go of stuff that is important, just for the sake of the mission. I want to get to a place where I have less visual clutter, less disturbance, and less frustration when things end up on the floor. I want to make it easier to pick things up, and know exactly where they go. 

Once I take inventory, I will update the list with the goals, and then I will be able to cross them off the list once I've achieved them.  

A little reminder, to myself: 

 

 

Until next time!

 

-Linda