April 5: Simplifying Your Home

Well, this morning brought clouds and gray...rain forecast most of the rest of the week but not today.  On the upside the forsythia bushes are adding color to the back yard and yellow is such a happy one.  No robins yet but I expect them any day.  

News on the war front in Ukraine is terrible.  We need to stop arguing about defensive and offensive armaments and give both to Ukraine.  The war crimes against Ukrainian citizens are unspeakable and I look forward to the day when Russia's leaders will be charged and found guilty.

Are you familiar with Get Set Up.  It's a place that offers all sorts of classes.  I have enjoyed classes in color pencil drawing, drawing and painting.  My favorite is the Monday morning Zentangle class.  Below are two of my drawings using the different zentangles that I have learned...

I find drawing using zentangles is very relaxing and sort of meditative.  I have several notebooks full of these drawings.   If you have never tried it, look up zentangles on the internet, grab a pencil or pen and some paper and try it out.  Remember, there are no mistakes in these drawings, only 'happy accidents' as Bob Ross used to say.

On to Simplifying Your Home...did you take the time to check out the rooms in your home?  Make any notes about what you liked and what you could improve?  If you did, now is the time to make a plan of action.

One suggestion to start the process is to grab a box and fill it with things you would like to get rid of either by time or amounts.  Say, spend fifteen minutes finding fifteen things to donate or dispose of.  That actually works because you are getting rid of the easiest choices.  For instance, that knick knack that you thought was so great but just doesn't fit anywhere in your home.

Once that initial sweep is done, though, you need to create a plan to continue that fits your schedule.  You could go room by room, limiting the time you spend so you are not overwhelmed.  This does not have to get done in a day or even a week.  As a matter of fact, editing your possessions is probably a life long adventure.  

Maybe taking a room a week and spend an hour a day going through everything in the room including closets and drawers.  Some rooms may need longer, others shorter.  And remember simplifying means both organizing those things that you keep but also getting rid of those things you no longer use nor need nor add any beauty to your space.

So today, make that initial sweep of your home and then create a plan to continue.  Tomorrow we will discuss how to handle those things which are hard to get rid of but which you not longer need nor want.

Talk with you tomorrow...