SISTER WISDOM

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Simple living won’t just become your standard one day, when you happen to wake up and everything is suddenly infused with great clarity and meaning. The world, our work, people, media, everything around us conspires to add more clutter to our already filled lives. You have to take steps and make changes every day to move away from a cluttered and unfulfilling life toward a simple and meaningful one . The good part is that many changes you can make are very simple, but all will contribute toward your ultimate goal. Try implementing a few of these changes today, or take the next month and make one small change every day.
1. Throw something away. Yes. Into the garbage can. Out of the house. To the dumpster. Stuff is a big part of the complication in our lives, so give yourself permission to get rid of something you no longer need or want or find useful. It may be that old collection of VHS tapes that you know you’ll never watch again, or a pair of shoes that is way too uncomfortable, or a pile of papers to read. Just get rid of it. It’s taking up valuable space in your life and making you feel guilty about not getting to it.
2. Get up at the same time every morning. It doesn’t have to be at some unnaturally early hour, just the same hour every day. You’ll have to be super-consistent while you’re establishing the habit, but once you do your body will automatically wake up at that time. Your mornings will be smoother and you won’t have to go through that snooze-button struggle.
3. Clean out a drawer. Pick that drawer in the kitchen that you always spend five minutes rummaging through to find the garlic press, or the one in the bathroom that seems to eat your floss, or the one in your dresser that refuses to return socks. Dump the whole thing out, throw away or put away (in an appropriate place) anything that you don’t use on a regular basis, then replace the items that should actually be in the drawer. Use a drawer organizer, or small boxes, or anything that will create boundaries for that stuff in there can’t get free again.
4. Give away your old clothes. This doesn’t have to be a big project. Grab a box or garbage bag, go to your closet, and quickly, without stopping to talk yourself out of it, toss in all the clothes you haven’t worn in the last six months (unless they’re seasonal and you store them in there). If you are storing out-of-season clothes in your closet, consider boxing them up and putting them out of sight until the appropriate season. A clean, roomy closet makes getting dressed a much more pleasant activity. Take your now-full bag or box to the car and drop it off at a charity next time you run errands.
5. Clean off your bedside table. You don’t need so much stuff there, and it’s only distracting when you’re trying to relax and go to sleep. A lamp, one or two books (no more!), a paper and pen if you often get inspired at night, and one or two other necessities. I have to have my Burt’s Bees Lip Balm handy. Put the rest of that accumulated stuff away: books go to the bookcase, lotions to the bathroom, jewelry to the jewelry box, papers to the filing cabinet or desk, etc. You might even find that you have room for a vase of flowers. continue reading…

1. Everyday for a week, fill a shopping bag with things you don’t want/need. At the end of the week, take them all to your local thrift store and donate.
2. Set up a basic food schedule for your family, weekly or monthly or however works. You can be as general or as specific as you like: Monday/ Chicken, Tuesday/ Pasta, Wednesday/ Sandwiches/ etc.
3. Carry a “Need to Buy” list with you – in your planner or just a notecard in your purse. On it, have a list of the items you need to buy in the near future – clothing for family, supplies for projects, furniture, decorations, gifts. Then when you see a great deal you’ll know if you should take it home or just take yourself home.
4. Purge your bedroom. Clean off your night tables and keep only a minimum – lamp, one book, one bottle of lotion – your minimum.
5. Empty your laundry basket everyday and sort the clothes into marked baskets in your laundry room. You’ll know as soon as you need to do a wash, or if you have a set laundry day it will go much faster since everything is already sorted. Plus your bedroom or bathroom will look better when the hamper isn’t overflowing.
6. Install wall-hanging magazine racks anywhere you read continue reading…