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Susan Vogt on living more simply but abundantly

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Extra: Boxes & Space – Full vs. Empty

January 12, 2011 1 comment

I’d like to discuss the finer points of getting rid of vs. saving boxes. Recently my husband retired from serving 12 years on the Covington School Board. That meant we could finally turn in 10 large “banker boxes” (equivalent to three file cabinets) of School Board files for shredding then recycling. This left several glorious feet of open space in one of our closets. My first impulse was to put something in the open space, but since I’ve been getting rid of other space hogs in our house, I honestly don’t have any good candidates to take this open space. What a dilemma!

On the other hand, I save boxes. I don’t know if you would call it a hobby or a compulsion but you never know when you’re going to need a box for a present or to mail something. So, I’ve designated a section of our basement for various size boxes (some nested and others collapsible). I also save reusable gift bags, tissue paper, bubble wrap, and a variety of small boxes, tins, old film canisters, and pill containers. These come in handy for containing small objects and doing DIY home organizing. My husband thinks we have enough. My question is can you ever have too many empty boxes or containers as long as they neatly nest into each other?

PS: This photo may look like a mess but I can usually find the size container I want quite quickly.

Extra Fun

Days 302-308: Book criteria – Keeping

January 9, 2011 No comments

Today I took on our biggest bookcase of 439 books. (One whole shelf contained sort of sorted Legos. I wouldn’t dare give those away.) I chose 193 books to give away which are pictured at right. Probably it’s more instructive to discuss what I decided to keep.

  • A few old college text books: I thought this would be an easy purge. I am giving away most of them but saved a few counseling classics and 8 books on sex – all for professional purposes of course.
  • High school yearbooks: I saved all our kids high school year books (even though my mom had discarded mine years ago. “Take THAT, Mom!”)
  • Bibles: You’d think one would be enough but I had 6 (5 were different translations so I’m giving away the duplicate one.) There were also 5 children’s Bibles. I kept 4 since they covered different age ranges and styles. I justify both kinds of Bibles because I sometimes write Bible studies and often give talks to parents about children’s faith development. I also kept some saint books for the same purpose.
  • Baby books: This is probably silly since I’m way past childbearing age but there’s no statute of limitations on grandparenting or visiting kids. I kept the Baby Names book because I sometimes like to know the meaning of names. I know, I know, I could find it online, but this is the first run through.
  • Much loved children’s books: I kept these because I was directed by our daughter to do so. (I probably would have kept them anyway, Heidi.)
  • Creative children’s activities. In addition to the Legos, we have “Gears-Go-Round,” a magnetic game, a rock collection, and a few other things that aren’t books but were kept near the children’s books section. Kids haven’t used them in awhile, but they are quality activities, and you never know…
The Process

Extra: A New Problem…

January 5, 2011 No comments

…dust. One of the unintended side effects of pruning my books is that I now have some empty spaces on the first bookcase. I blew a lot of dust off the books I’m giving away, but now I realize that there was a value to having all the books crammed together – the dust was invisibly embedded on the tops of the books. Now I can see that I may have to dust those luscious spaces between books. Even if I fill the spaces with other more decorative items, it won’t be as thorough a dust hider as the books. Ah, the price of success.

Extra Fun

Days 295-301: Book Criteria – Giving

January 2, 2011 No comments

I’ve procrastinated long enough. It’s now time to tackle the books in our house. I counted 11 bookcases (not counting the 2 in Jim’s office and 3 that primarily have artifacts on them, not books) and 1,339 books at last count. Surely I can find quite a few to give away although it may be painful. The challenge is to decide what criteria to use for what to keep and what to give to friends, the Friends of the Library, or a friendly used book store. First I asked the friends:

  • A young adult quickly answered, “Give them all away, then re-buy any you really want for an e-reader.” I’m not quite ready for going cold turkey like that.
  • Another friend said “Only save books that have information you can’t get online.”
  • Several people commented that many people use what I consider obsolete books for “staging.” It can make a home more saleable or lend status to a coffee table – if you haven’t given it away.
  • One of my own criteria was to get rid of novels that I’ll never read again and college text books. (40 year old texts are of little value to my every day work.)

I decided to tackle the easiest book case first – to get me in training. It had 155 books – many of them novels. I chose 64 to give away. There; that wasn’t so hard. We’ll see what next week brings.

PS to the nosy: Click on the photo to enlarge and see the titles I’m giving away.

Update: Check out Breaking the Sentimental Attachment to Books on Josh Becker’s Becoming Minimalist blog for additional ideas.

The Process

Extra: Uses for Useless Stuff

December 29, 2010 5 comments

As we close out the year I thought it would be fun to survey all the useless stuff I still have hanging around the house. Should I just trash these items or could there really be a use for some of them. It all started when I found a box of 124 floppy discs. On a whim, I googled “What to do with floppy discs?” and found that indeed someone had a list of 10 ways to reuse or recycle floppy discs.

This got me thinking about other things and I came up with 10 relatively useless items that I’ve found uses for:

  1. Dead things:
    *house plants – compost
    *tennis balls – nursing homes use them on the bottom of walkers. Dog owners can throw them for their dogs to chase
    *batteries – I don’t have a clever use for these but I did find out that alkaline batteries
    such as AAA, AA, C, D, and 9 volts can be safely thrown away. Rechargeable ones
    cannot. Radio Shack accepts rechargeable batteries.
    *bike tires – use as ties (like bungee cords) to safely attach things you don’t want to mar
    *cellphones/ipods – Check out Charity Guide
  2. Paper grocery bags – in addition to garbage can liners, I wrap Christmas gifts in them (It has become a quaint family custom.) Now that we usually take cloth bags to the grocery, however, we have to make a special effort to ask for paper at the grocery around Christmas time.
  3. Large glass bottles – recycling is good but we filled a couple with water and put them in the basement for an emergency (You never know when the next tornado will twirl by.)
  4. Diaper pails – modern parents may not even know what these are but since we used cloth diapers but no longer have babies, we have a couple large white plastic wastebaskets.
  5. 10 year old Lectionary of Sunday Mass readings – Since I get a dated new one each year, I was about to throw these old ones out till I remembered that they had optional translations approved by the Canadian bishops in them. I often prefer these translations.
  6. Used toothbrushes – sterilize them in a dishwasher or use them to scrub tiny places
  7. Old political buttons – use as a part of a Halloween costume
  8. Old political signs – use for yard sales
  9. Carpet samples – use with groups of pre-schoolers when you need each child to sit in one place. Tell them they need to keep their body on their own piece of carpet.
  10. Single socks and torn clothes – obviously, this is how one collects rags. But, is there any use for a single shoe, glove, or earing?

Can anyone suggest a creative (and easy) use for the following before I pitch/recycle them:

  1. Cassettes and VCR tapes – I just read that CDs and DVDs may soon be obsolete. That makes the cassettes true dinosaurs. I know you can probably convert them to a more modern medium, but I don’t know that I want to take the time and effort to do it. Still…
  2. Broken “Simon” game – It’s a great game for visiting children who don’t speak English since it’s not language dependent, but it doesn’t work and it’s not just the battery.
  3. Tarnished silver – Relatives handed several silver dishes down to me but frankly, I’m not into cleaning them for once a year use. Taking them to a thrift store doesn’t seem practical unless someone could get some money for them.
  4. Record albums and turn table – If tapes are obsolete, what would you call vinyl records? I like the songs for nostalgia and if I were a geek or wealthy I could convert them into some digital form. But other than using them as a platter or for an art project, any ideas?
  5. Misc. unidentified computer parts – I don’t know enough to know if any of these are important or valuable and don’t want to take the time to learn. The main thing I know, is that I shouldn’t just throw them in the garbage.

Useless  items I don’t own and never intend to own, i.e. Susan’s pet peeves.

  1. Extra deep mattresses – This seems to be the rage in hotels and people upgrading their home mattress. Not only is the extra depth not necessary for comfort, it forces one to buy new sheets, spreads, mattress covers, etc. If that were not bad enough, it is also very inconvenient. For short people (like me) it means I can’t sit on the bed to put my shoes on or take them off. (My feet can’t reach the floor. ) I’m guessing that the marketing angle is to project the image that such beds are more plush or that they conjure up notions of historic high beds. It’s a blatant example of planned obsolescence  and unfortunately people are falling for it.
  2. More than 3 pillows on a double bed. This is related to #1 above and again seems to be mostly to project a luxurious image. When I’m at a hotel or visiting I simply have to put all these extra pillows on the floor. I’m being generous with 3 pillows. If you have two people in a bed, only 2 pillows seem necessary.
  3. Diaper Genie – I saw this totally unecessary item given at a baby shower. I guess the idea is that it compacts disposable diapers into little  pellets. Why one can’t just put it in the garbage directly is a mystery to me. I think it’s a farce inflicted on new parents who don’t know any better.
  4. There are many other items that I don’t have time to list now because I’m on vacation and trying not to muddle my mind with annoying trivia.

PS: Speaking of “useless stuff,” perhaps you, might be interested in the story behind the stuff we have as told in The Story of Stuff. On a lighter, albeit a little risque side is George Carlin’s classic monologue on Stuff. Well, as you can see and hear, this end of the year blog collects a lot of stuff in one place.

The Process ,

Days 288-294: Finding Good Homes

December 26, 2010 No comments

Some weeks I give away a lot of things; some weeks only seven small items. The most satisfying times, however, are when I can find just the right person or place to give an item to. This past week I was happy to give our son’s trumpet from marching band back to the school for another student to use.

I also noticed that there were several religiously oriented children’s books on a table in the back of our church. I guess the idea is to help keep children engaged if they get bored. I found four books to add to the collection.

We had drawn a Secret Santa tag from our parish Giving Tree that requested a hat, gloves, toy, and some books for a 3rd grade boy. I bought several new things but added some gently used books from our collection. I’ll probably end up giving a lot of books to the “Friends of the Library” next month when I tackle pruning our book cases, and that will be fine. But! This felt so much better to have an individual to give the books to. (Sorry, no photo for these books. I sent them before I could take a photo.)

The Process

Extra: Letting Go Of Intangibles

December 22, 2010 1 comment

Stuff-nothingAs I continue to look around my home and consider what more to part with, I often feel some pride in cleaning things out or virtue in passing stuff on to those in need. As I dig more deeply into this process, however, I realize that a bigger challenge is to let go of bad habits, pride, and emotional stuff that keeps me focused on myself or feeling self-righteous. This is the more spiritual side of letting go.

Following are some things I’m struggling to let go of:

  1. Being right, my opinions (Spouses are helpful for tempering the notion that my way is the right way, but still, the discipline of trying to see a debate from the other side is an exercise in the “spirit of poverty.”)
  2. Judgments, criticisms, complaining about others (Sometimes I read or listen to programs by commentators that I strongly disagree with. I thought it would be an exercise in trying to understand other’s opinions. Actually, I just got angrier. I decided it’s not healthy for me to listen to inflammatory rhetoric. It just feeds my urge to criticize and feel hopeless. Better to focus on doing something positive.)
  3. Control, wanting things MY way and quickly (I experienced this with my upcoming book and wanting to micro-manage the layout, title, etc. I’m also big on saving time which sometimes means controlling the pace at which others work.)

Yet, there are some intangibles that I should hold on to:

  1. Complimenting others on their talents and developing my own talents
  2. Smiling at strangers, keeping secrets (unless someone is is danger)
  3. Generous Tipping (This is hard for me since I’m such a tightwad. I have to make a special effort to remember that waiters/waitresses are usually paid low wages.)
Beyond Stuff

Days 281-287:Where’s the pizza cutter?

December 19, 2010 2 comments

It all started because I couldn’t find the pizza cutter. As I searched kitchen drawers I found that I had to practically empty each one to make sure the pizza cutter was not hidden under other stuff. This prompted me to realize I had a lot of unnecessary items like extra pot holders and dish towels. Utilitarian as these items are, they aren’t too glamorous or photogenic. With the holidays coming up (plus I discovered a new place to give things to — our parish’s “department store” for low income neighborhood people), I decided to examine my kitchen and storage room for other useful items.

I had been holding on to some glasses and dishes for our adult children as they set up their own households. Remarkably they are somehow managing without these supplies. I decided to save a few things in case those living out of the country resettle here. I’m passing the rest on to people who can use it now. All in all, I counted 30 items including dishes, vases, a pie plate, candle holders, trays, Corelle ware, a jello mold, salt shaker, large knife and fork, and a couple Christmas knick knacks. I know this is more than one item a day, but hey! who’s counting. 😕

PS: Click on the photo to get a closer view.

Days 41-365

Extra: Trophies

December 15, 2010 No comments

I don’t’ think it’s fair to count our kids’ elementary and high school trophies and plaques as things to give away since they are of no use to anyone else. Still, I counted 22 trophies and 30 award plaques stored in a cedar chest that could be put to better use. (Trophies take up a lot of space and what good are they if you aren’t displaying them. Yet to display them seems egotistical– after all they’re not Oscars or Heisman trophies.) I was surprised to find not only our kids’ trophies but also several from Jim’s and my youth. Wait, it gets better. I even found one trophy that Jim’s long deceased parents won in a “Grandparents Golf Tournament.” Being somewhat sentimental, I’m not quite ready to get rid of ALL the trophies so I aimed for half and only kept the most prestigious. I ended up with 10 trophies and 2 plaques.

Now there is the bigger problem. Who do I give these to? I called our kids’ high school and they never called back. I called a couple trophy stores and they said they had no use for them. One store said that sometimes the YMCA or a Scout troop could repurpose them. I thought of putting them in my catch all basket for visiting kids to pick a treat from – but they’re way too big and cumbersome. I’ve taken the photo for posterity. Anybody know who to give these to? I’d hate to just pitch them.
PS: I just found some websites that have suggestions for what to do with old trophies:

How to Dispose of 8 odd, seemingly difficult to recycle items  See #8
http://ask.metafilter.com/11134/What-to-do-with-your-old-childhood-trophies
How to Get Rid of Old Trophies

Beyond Stuff, The Process ,

Days 274-280: It’s Embarrassing

December 12, 2010 1 comment

I counted 29 coats/jackets in our house. It’s December. It’s cold (10-20 degrees F). It’s embarrassing to think that a household of two people have 29 coats when some people are on the streets shivering. Some might call it sinful. I was planning to give away miscellaneous items this week but coats seem more urgent. I remembered St. Basil’s words,
“The coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to the person who needs it.”
What am I doing with all these extra coats! First, I have to decide what is extra. To the purist I suppose anything more than one is extra. Christ challenges us to even give the one I have to someone in need. I’m not a purist, nor yet a saint, so my first step is to figure out criteria for what to keep. Here’s what I came up with:

  • 1 warm winter coat
  • 1 warm winter jacket
  • 1 raincoat with a removable liner that is warm but not enough for really cold days
  • 1 Spring/Fall jacket
  • 1 work/garden jacket
  • 1 windbreaker

I think having coats for different seasons and degrees of formality is justifiable. My husband also went through his coats with the same criteria so we now have 6 coats/jackets for each of us (plus one pretty suede coat that I hardly ever wear but it goes with a suit I have). That leaves 16 coats. Many of them belong to our far flung kids who might come home from an equatorial zone at Christmas and need a coat. OK, I’ll save several for such circumstances. That left 12 coats/jackets to give away – some mine, some Jim’s, some donated by our kids. Don’t call me St. Basil, but,  Ahhh… I feel a little better now. It’s a start.

The Process

Extra: Losing Patience

December 8, 2010 No comments

In my never ending effort to save money, I discovered that our family was probably paying more than we needed for our cell phone. After consulting the internet and various young adults – who are the experts in this realm – I decided to go with a different cell phone provider. Over a year I would save significant money plus upgrade to a phone that had a camera. Wow! (I hoped this might also serve my other compulsion of trying to “pack small” so I would not have to take a phone AND a separate camera when traveling.)

The upshot of all this is that I spent over 8 hours getting this phone thing done spread over two weeks. It consisted of 6 hours online with sales or tech support, four disconnections, numerous automated messages, at least an hour of being on hold, deciphering foreign accents in crowded call centers, and two trips to a local store for additional tech support. I wasn’t even getting a “smart phone.” That would have stretched my learning curve even more. I still don’t understand how to get e-mail on this phone. I may be able to do a text message in an emergency if it doesn’t require me to do it fast.

All this is teaching me patience. I tried my hardest not to blow up at the various tech support people who kept transferring me back and forth which of course meant more time on hold with very raucous music. I kept reminding myself that these employees were only doing their job, needed an income like all of us, and weren’t personally responsible for a convoluted system. I finally started apologizing to the call center personnel ahead of time, telling them that if I sounded irritated and impatient it was because I had been disconnected and transferred many times and still did not have answers to my questions. They were always polite and sympathetic. I’m sure they are trained to be that way. Maybe I need to take their training so I don’t give away my patience.
PS:  For those who care, I found a depiction of Job (above).  Yes, Advent is about waiting; but perhaps there should be training and limits on this virtue?

Beyond Stuff

Days 267-273: Boy Toys

December 5, 2010 No comments

Last week it was girlie stuff, this week it’s boy toys. I know this all sounds like I’m a prehistoric parent who gender-typed the toys we gave our children. Actually, it was just the opposite. We offered both genders all kinds of toys, but still they gravitated toward more traditional choices. Regardless, our oldest son who collected most of the Star Wars items in this photo gave permission to give them away – after checking whether he could get any significant money on E-Bay for the Verbot Robot :-?. A younger son was into making his own puppets. They’re very creative but not worth saving for posterity. The science lab kit was a hard call. It’s harder for me to give away things that might help a grandchild become super intelligent. The rocket was part of a rocket kit that Brian was into for awhile. I think I gave away the smaller rockets to a neighborhood boy during last spring’s “Free Yard Sale” but now I don’t know who it was. Alas, another child will have to enjoy this parachuting rocket. Do kids do this kind of play anymore or is it all technology based?
PS: Click on the photo to enlarge.

Days 41-365

Extra: Tis the Season for…

December 1, 2010 No comments

…charitable fundraising. With the Christmas spirit rising and the tax write-off deadline looming, generous and astute people are considering making monetary donations to charitable causes. If you’ve ever given to anything (and I hope you have) the downside of that gift is that we are both on mailing lists for worthy causes. The worthy causes (some of whom I personally solicit for) have learned that people are more likely to make a donation right before January 1. So we get mail. I don’t begrudge needy people and good causes their just donations, but I do know that our personal pot of money is only so deep. Over the years we have developed several criteria for giving money away:

  1. Tithe, meaning give 10% of our income away (church support, charities, causes, political candidates, etc. They all count. (This frees us from the pesky question of “Are we giving enough or too much?”
  2. Give priority to causes we are personally involved with.
  3. Give priority to causes that are local, that not everybody may know about, and small enough that our little donation can make a difference, i.e., leave the big diseases and global causes to those who have deeper pockets and aren’t aware of the more specialized projects we are committed to.
  4. Give to walks, runs, rides, etc. when someone we have a personal relationship with, asks.
  5. Give to any child who is selling something door to door. Been there, done that.
  6. When in doubt check  Charity Navigator. This organization evaluates the health and ratio of proceeds actually going to the needy
    for over 5,400 of America’s largest charities.

For additional ideas check my website enrichment exercise: Donating With Confidence

Beyond Stuff, Extra Fun

Days 260-266: Girlie Stuff

November 28, 2010 No comments

Our grown daughter finally went through her stuff and gave me permission to give away most of her dolls.  I thought she’d balk at parting with the Barbies but she said that was OK. Even though I’m not fond of the Barbie image, I did decide to keep a few that still had their hair – for  visiting little girls of course. There are 3 very lovely dolls. I’ll try to find a good home for them. There were 8 troll dolls which have colorful hair and 10 naked dolls except for some shoes. One had lost her arms. Some of these aren’t worth even giving away. But then there is a stuffed monkey (actually that one’s mine), a Kentucky Derby style hat, and a majorette baton. (I’m not sure she ever knew how to twirl it. It may have been more a fantasy than a reality.) Anyway, since we only have one daughter, all this was like a trip down memory lane. Many of the doll clothes were rather tattered (that’s why there are so many naked dolls. 😕 ) I think it’s time to move these dolls on to other girls with big imaginations.

Days 41-365

Extra: Simplifying Christmas

November 24, 2010 No comments

Although I try to reserve the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas as an Advent time of preparation and waiting, I know the rest of the world considers this the “Christmas shopping season.” I will spare you my rant about over-consuming at Christmas since you can read my spiritual and practical philosophy on the Advent/Christmas season on my website. Since “Black Friday” is this Friday, however, following are my best tips for keeping the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas sane.

  1. Be counter-cultural: Don’t be a slave to the culture, advertisers, or expectations of others.
  2. Gift giving: Generosity is a virtue. BUT, do not confuse buying gifts with a measure of your love. Reduce the # of gifts by drawing names and minimizing obligation gifts. Reduce the cost by setting a dollar limit and giving services or other creative ideas.
  3. Cleaning: Reduce the need to clean by using low lighting. Besides candles are compatible with an Advent ambiance.
  4. Cooking: Baking is nice as a substitute for store bought gifts, but not a measure of your holiness. Only do it if you truly enjoy it.
  5. Decorations: Cultivate elegance not clutter by decorating simply and gradually. Consider “Christmas physics” –  what goes up must come down.
  6. Cards: If you enjoy writing a family letter, fine. If it’s just a burdensome obligation, you are hereby released. A family update letter doesn’t have to be at Christmas. Email counts.
  7. Prayer & Service: Both will keep you more balanced and happy than buying more.

PS: Last Sunday’s roll-away bed has been claimed by the Covington Cold Shelter. Hurray!

PPS: Want a “Green Christmas?” Consider these ideas in US Catholic.

Extra Fun

Days 253-259: Nobody Wants My…

November 21, 2010 1 comment

…beds. I’m trying to give away a roll-away bed plus a mattress from a long ago discarded sofa-bed. I put them up on FreeCycle and got two interested takers but so far my “takers” are no-shows. I’m even throwing in 11 sheets and 4 pillowcases to streamline my linen closet. I know these mattresses don’t have bedbugs but maybe that’s what people are nervous about. This is the reason I can’t just give them to St. Vincent DePaul or Goodwill. Sometimes the hardest part of giving things away is finding a taker. I suppose the sheets will find a good home since people can disinfect sheets by washing them, but now I’ve got a roll-away bed sitting next to the front door just waiting for someone who is fearless or desperately sleepy.

The Process

Extra: Losing a Job/Gaining Space

November 17, 2010 No comments

I recently lost a job. This is good! It was a volunteer position that I had held for six years and my term was up. Many people who read this blog are probably like me in that not only do you have paid employment, but also you are generous volunteers. (I now only have 5 volunteer jobs left. That’s the blessing and curse of being a freelancer with flexible time.) In addition to reclaiming some time in my life, turning over this volunteer leadership position to the next person also meant I freed up some space – file folder space and mental space. To commemorate transferring responsibility to the new head, I decided to send Jo Ann the plaque that was given to me when I assumed the job.
One thing I’ve discovered this year is that choosing what to give away is sometimes the easy part. Distribution and packaging what I’m giving away often takes more time and effort than the decision.

Extra Fun

Days 246-252: Dresses & a Suit

November 14, 2010 No comments

A contradance friend recently announced a dress swap. This is not an unusual event in the contradance world. Women bring swirly dresses that they are tired of and swap them for someone else’s. The dresses are not usually the kind you’d wear for work so it’s more for fun than practicality. My friend added a twist, however, by saying that if anyone had business attire, she would donate these dresses or suits to a local organization called “Dress for Success” which offers free outfits to women seeking employment who cannot afford professional clothes for interviews or the office. I wasn’t going to be in town for the dress swap but that didn’t matter since I’m now in “giving away mode” not “trading mode.” I picked out 4 dresses and debated for awhile whether to donate a three piece business suit I had. I could still wear it, but it was a little snug. Since I primarily work at home, I no longer need many business suits. I decided it was time to give someone else a leg up on success rather than wait to lose a few pounds myself.

The Process

Extra: Just for Fun!

November 10, 2010 No comments

As I’ve been talking to people about giving stuff away, they’ve been giving me some interesting leads on other similar efforts. You’ve probably already heard about the book, The Power of Half and how the Salwen family decided to downsize their lifestyle by half including selling the family house to move into a home half the price. I am inspired by this but am not ready to take such an extreme step. I thought you might be interested, however, in other ways that people are simplifying their lives. Some are creative, some are fun, some are just plain weird. For example, have you heard about:

  1. No Impact Man Colin Beavan began the No Impact Project in November 2006. He committed to live for a year making no appreciable impact on the environment. Of course he wrote a book on his experience and now there’s also a movie about it.
  2. 100 Possessions A guy named Dave seems to have started this challenge by pruning his total possessions to 100 items. Read about it also in the New York Times.
  3. 6 Items or less The goal is to refine your wardrobe to wear no more than six pieces of clothing for a month (not including underwear). It’s a challenge to mix and match items so as not to bore your co-workers or yourself. I don’t think getting rid of your other clothes is necessary. It’s more of a fashion challenge than a simple lifestyle movement.
  4. The Great American Apparel Diet involves not buying any clothes for one year.
  5. 10 pieces of furniture – I couldn’t find a website for this one but a friend sent me information about a person who was trying to reduce the pieces of furniture in her home to 10 pieces.
  6. Tech fast for a day/week/Lent – this is not an original idea but one I’ve promoted in which a person/family decides to not use any technology (computer, cell phone, TV, radio, video games…) for a given period of time.
  7. Energy fast – This is a variation of the tech fast but involves not using anything that takes electricity for a given period of time. It’s like camping but indoors with candles. It can be nostalgic or romantic for an evening or a day, but after that it gets hard and perhaps unrealistic for many.

Some people voluntarily are choosing to simplify their lives and possessions. Some don’t have a choice.

Extra Fun

Days 239-245: Below the Waist

November 7, 2010 No comments

“Below the Waist” may be a provocative title, but laying out mostly earth tone pants makes for a pretty boring photo. I did include a couple boxer shorts to bring this week’s give aways to 14. This concludes, for now, my six week stint of giving away our adult sons’ clothes left at home. (Our daughter’s turn will come and be more colorful.) Although I’m pleased to give the shirts and pants of the past six weeks to people who can use them, now, I have this sinking feeling that dieters often have. Maybe, I should hang on to some of these items in case one of the sons loses a little weight and can wear some of the pants again. Have you ever kept items that didn’t fit because you had dreams of being a certain size again? Of course it is still nice to have the extra space.

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