My last post was about giving away useful stuff (coats, curtains, rugs…) but I also found at least 6 kinds of hidden things that were pretty frivolous. Nerf Guns: Several years ago one of our children bought each family member a Nerf gun as a gag gift for Christmas (since we had a reputation for […]
Living Lightly
Susan Vogt on living more simply but abundantlyBrowsing Posts tagged Humor
Before you canonize me as St. Minimalista for bringing only 3 new items into our home and getting rid of 71, I must clarify that 56 of the outgoing items were pens and pencils and 13 more were duplicates or older socks. Here’s how it broke down: THE MAIN EVENT: 1 new pair of shoes […]
December 31: As the year comes to a close, it seems like a natural time to give away the things I’ve been collecting in my “Giveaway Bin.” The month of December, however, has also been a busy time for me. (What a surprise 😉 ) So, I did what any committed but lazy declutterer would […]
Traditionally the time leading up to Christmas is a time of shopping. It is also the time that my own nuclear family again faces the question of how we are going to celebrate the holidays and what will we do about gift giving. In the past we have ranged from buying a gift for everyone, […]
Did I spend any money that did not comply with my Lenten resolution (only food, housing, and gas) during the last two weeks? I’m not sure. $5 – Fish Fry: I justified this as both simple food (which is allowed) and a donation since it supports an inner city school $10 – Donation: Since construction prevented […]
I recently returned from a trip to visit our daughter in Nairobi, Kenya. International travel like this always prompts reflections on life and how we humans are alike and different, I’d like to share 2 things I learned – one humorous and one humbling. Humor: Our daughter, Jim, and I went on a walking safari […]
12 Pet Peeves and What I’m Doing About Them Before I get back into continuing Round 2 of pruning more household items, I’m ready to let go of some intangible stuff – Pet Peeves. Over a year ago I blogged about my pet peeves including: 1. Radio interviewees who end with “Thank you” instead of […]
It all started out as a grocery shopping mistake. First mistake was that Jim asked me to do the grocery shopping because he was inundated with work.* Bottom line, it took me quite a bit longer and more grocery mistakes for me to do this task. My biggest mistake was that in a fit of […]
I’ve finished my “news fast” – week without newspapers, e-news, radio*, or TV (well, not no news but only indirect news gained from other’s comments). When I reconnected with the world I learned that I missed the birth of the royal baby, that Edward Snowden was still holed up in the Moscow airport, and that […]
mirror, zen
Some people should take more risks, some less – that would be some of our children. Generally I’m a risk averse person. I’m cautious and long ago decided that if I’m going to die a tragic death, it should be for a cause. Thus, being shot while in a civil rights protest or because I […]
…For my bumper stickers. Now usually I am proud that we have finally been able to downsize to one car. I know that the single factor that can make the most difference in energy conservation for most people is to reduce auto emissions by driving less. The fact that both Jim & I work out […]
To balance my last blog about giving our car away (and deciding whether ecology trumps saving money), I thought I’d turn to chocolate. One of our sons gave me a delightful Christmas gift of a box of chocolates delivered once a month. Unfortunately, the third and final installment came right as Lent was starting […]
As the months roll on, I’ve gotten quite a few messages on this blog, through e-mail, and in person that others have caught the “giving away” bug. They might have caught it from me or it might have just been the right time in their life to let go of more stuff. If I have […]
…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 […]
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 […]
…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 […]
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 […]
Since it’s Halloween, I’m taking a break from giving away my kids regular clothes and rummaged through our old “costume box” to see if I really needed to save all the stuff for a grandchild who doesn’t live in town or for gag costumes for special events. I decided the ghost costume made out of […]
I don’t know which is worse – a pacifist family playing Paintball or buying clothes for one time use. Before you judge me too harshly, here’s what happened. Our family was on our first family vacation with young adults plus spouse, grandchild, and girlfriend. Everyone got to choose one activity they’d really like to do […]
