Great Article on how to simplify

I just read a great article on how to simplify life and I thought I would share it.

Simplify your life by Eliminating these 7 Problems

I think it's given me some items to ponder and see about implementing.  I am really on the bandwagon of the less stuff the less responsibility.

A Mish Mash of stuff

I haven't been posting so much lately.  It's been a bit of a whirlwind here.  Lots of things on the go and little time to sit, contemplate and write.

As to the busy.  We've been having a number of medical appointments with our Munchkin so that's been taking up a bunch of our time.  We are also in the middle of a renovation (bathroom) so I've been working being out of the house as much as possible with Munchkin for the renos to get done without him there.  And just general seeing people and running errands.  It all seems to take so much more time with a small person.

So on to the getting rid of stuff.  I forgot to take a picture of my porch full of stuff that went last week.  It was beautiful.  Sadly it doesn't look like it in the house.  Mind you, a truckload of renovation garbage went this week too and the back porch doesn't look like anything was taken.  Funny that.  Stuff just seems to sprawl to all available space.

I haven't really been getting rid of a lot of stuff because of the busy.  But I did return a bunch of borrowed baby items to a friend who had been very gracious and lent them to me.  That made me feel good on two fronts.

1.  the stuff left the house
2.  I got the person the stuff back in good condition and nothing bad happened to it.

Another reason, is I'm working on getting the house back in some semblance of order/cleanliness after destruction. It's a lot of work, but I'm working on getting rid of some stuff while I do it.

Getting closer

I'm getting quite excited.  This Thursday, I'm having a lot of the stuff I've been purging picked up by a local charity.   Right now there are bags and boxes of stuff all over the house just waiting to go.  Having all of the stuff actually gone is going to make me feel more accomplished about the purging I've been doing.

Yay!  Let's just hope they show up this time.  Last time the other charity didn't.  I have high hopes though.  I'll see about taking a picture of it before the pile goes and posting it.

It's very interesting though.  I'm told that sometimes if stuff sits around in bags waiting to go, you are tempted to take it out and keep it.  I haven't been feeling that, which is good.  I think my desire to be rid of stuff is greater than my desire to keep some of it.

I've got more purging to do, but it seems to be going well.  Yay less stuff.

Walk of Hope

Today is the day that my Munchkin and I are doing the Walk of Hope (Fundraising for ovarian cancer research)  for the first time.  I'm a bit nervous about it actually.  I've never really been the type to participate in these sorts of things.  I've always been a bit of a loner and not really into big "group" activities.  Probably part of the whole tormented goth thing, but hey.  Also, probably the fact I didn't used to be into exercise and the like either didn't help much.

I also have mixed feelings about these large events.  I always wonder how much money they are actually raising vs how the event costs.  I do hope the registration fee does cover it.

I think part of the nervous is going to do a big group activity where I know no one.  I'm sure it will be fine and we'll have a good time.  I do have my built in conversation piece that will be hanging off of me.  The bike ride for the Ride for the Heart has been fun the past couple of years, but I was doing it as part of a corporate team and therefore knew a bunch of people.

But I'm doing it.  I felt it was important to do something towards fundraising since I had that damn ovarian  cancer in 2010.  And maybe it's making me feel a little more involved than just throwing some money at it.  I'm not sure why as I'm not actually doing anything to cure the cancer or research.  I'm just going on a walk.

The only bad thing is I did a dumb baby toe stubbing yesterday that still hurst so I'll be wearing the Tevas instead of my running shoes.  Ah well.

It will be interesting to meet some of the other survivors too I'm sure.  I know many many people went through far worse than I did.  I mean hey, I've got Munchkin now.

More stuff gone

Well, I should clarify this..... a lot of this stuff has been put aside to go away.  The nice people form the Cystic Fibrosis association are coming by next week to do a charitable donation pickup and hopefully sometime next week the construction pile of garbage will go away too.

I did get rid of a couple of knives, a bathroom caddy from the old bathroom and a bottle dishrack.

And I suppose I shouldn't really call what I'm doing hoarding in the tags.  It's really purging.  I'm not actually a hoarder, i just feel crushed by a bunch of my stuff.

Knitting!!!!

My little Munchkin is actually taking naps that last a little while and don't require me to hold him the entire time so I tend to have a little time to do things now.  So I'm being a little selfish and have started to knit something for me!  I haven't knit anything for me in years.  I'm making this wrap/poncho.  I'm not using the yarn they suggest, which is too bad.  I'm hoping the that what I'm using will work out well.

I'm not terribly impressed with my needles though.  I'm using some bamboo circular ones and they are catching on the wool.  :(

Working on Stuff

I didn't do too much in the way of getting ride of things over the past few days.  Mostly because I was at the cottage and it's kind of hard to work on purging things whilst away.

I was pretty pleased though, we only came home with one extra thing from my parents cottage.  Usually on a visit we end up coming home with more stuff (we also give them stuff too)  This item was also prearranged and it isn't really adding to the household.  We're swapping out a rocking chair.  We had been  given a previously loved glider by a friend through a friend.  However, it didn't work out with our little Munchkin so we haven't been using it.  But when we were up at the cottage, he seemed to love being rocked in an old school rocking chair.  So my parents were able to pull out of nowhere an old rocking chair that is currently sitting in our kitchen.  It's waiting to go for a wash tomorrow.  If it all works out, it will get painted too as it's in pretty rough shape finish wise.    

Today I did work on getting rid of some items.  I got rid of (well they went into the piles going places):

About 15 onesies etc... that don't fit Munchkin anymore.

A couple of keychains

A curtain rod from the bathroom that is being renovated

A big pile of socks.  It was just time for them to go.  

I think a bunch of this stuff can go towards the getting rid of two things a day that I missed while I was away.