As you all know, (those of you that read my blog, anyway) my "word" for this year of 2013, is "SIMPLIFY". 

   I've been trying to implement it, whether it is in small, baby steps like taking a bag or two of things to Goodwill when I go there to buy more stuff (oh, the irony) or choosing to read up on organization tips in a bookstore instead of shopping for more things I don't need at the mall next door....but lately I've been getting inspired to take a bit bigger, bolder steps. 

   Randy took me out on a date the other day, and instead of going to a movie like we had thought maybe we would, we stopped at a charming little cafe, got some coffee and the best vanilla cupcake I've had in a LONG time, and then journeyed on to the nearest bookstore and dove in to our separate stacks of books. It is one of my favorite date activities.

  We used to do that a lot, and then kids came along, and suddenly time that you're paying a babysitter for seemed too precious to "waste" while browsing leisurely through books in a bookstore.  But I've come to realize that time can hardly be better spent than education yourself further on subjects you're passionate about, but never really get the time to dive into.  Like decorating, cleaning, organization, blogging, writing, etc.  Did I just mention cleaning?  I'm hardly passionate about cleaning, but I guess it's something I want to learn more about, and hopefully, while I'm at it, learn to enjoy a little more too. 

   I was so inspired by some of the books I was reading, and couldn't wait to get home after dinner to implement some of what I learned.  Namely, tips from Organized Simplicity.  Wow.  Talk about some challenging stuff! 

   A couple of the things that stuck with me the most from that book: 

1. We as a culture are so stressed.  In a world where we have more options available than ever before, and information and communication and technology and anything we could really ever possibly desire or imagine at our fingertips, it hasn't made us more happy or content, but has actually pushed us in the other direction. 

2.  When you  buy something, do not only consider the price on the tag as the true cost of the item.  But you are also sacrificing the square footage it will be occupying, and the space it is preventing from being used in a different way.  Is that item worth it?  Truly worth what you have to sacrifice?

   And then it just got the ball rolling and couldn't stop thinking about it all.  Like how we always complain that  "We don't have enough time."  Well start thinking about all the time that is consumed by STUFF.  Looking for it online, shopping for it in the store, buying it, working more because of the money we spent on the stuff, moving it from place to place, cleaning it, organizing it, keeping track of it, repairing it, selling it at a garage sale one day...it all makes me want to scratch my eyeballs out after a while.

   And most of it is stuff we don't even need.  I mean, truly, what do you really actually NEED?  The author mentioned the HANDFUL of items her and her husband had in their bathroom.  Handful, people.  How nice would that be on clean-the-bathroom day??!

   But for some, strange reason, in spite of all the stress connected with all this stuff in our lives, we find ourselves loading up our cars with boxes and bags and hauling them home.  There's no room because of the stuff we already have, and we find ourselves taking our new stuff and shoving it into full drawers and messy closets and more boxes and bags, and seriously.....when does it end?

   I am on a mission to simplify.  To de-tox, de-clutter, de-busy my life, one shelf at a time.  And today I tackled our master bathroom.  And it was bliss.  You might think it all a little silly, but for me, it feels like some days my very sanity is teetering on this skinny little ledge, and one more junk drawer or Tupperware with a missing lid will just push it over into the abyss. 

I need this.  I am doing it for me.

   But I am also doing it for my husband, and children, because the less time I spend on all of my stuff, I spend with them.  It's a win-win really.

I wonder what I will tackle tomorrow........