This past week I was away at a meeting so I didn’t have time to go through my remaining desk drawers. I figured I’d focus on my companion Lenten resolution – to listen more mindfully. On the last leg of my flight to Louisiana my ears popped. You know, that uncomfortable feeling that you sometimes […]
Living Lightly
Susan Vogt on living more simply but abundantlyBrowsing Posts tagged Musings
January 1: As we begin a new year, our hearts turn to resolutions but our practical sides often resist – at least after a feeble try at exercising more, eating healthier, becoming more prayerful, etc. In an effort to serve you better and clear my own life of clutter, I keep up with what professional organizers […]
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, […]
Following my mother’s death last spring, I was blessed with inheriting quite a few lovely items. This presented me with a mini dilemma. Here I am trying to prune my home of extra possessions but I want to honor the memory of my mother. By including some of her household items in my decor I […]
Within the category of Too Much Information there are the subcategories of good news, bad news, and irrelevant news. GOOD NEWS: Although you would think that there could never be too much good news, even good news can create mental clutter. For example, how many birthdays, anniversaries, and friends’ awards do you need to acknowledge? […]
It’s Easter. Hurrah, I can spend money freely again. So.… did my Lenten commitment to not spend any money increase my solidarity with the poor? Yes, but imperfectly. It certainly raised my consciousness of my own privilege. Even though I might choose not to spend money on something or to delay an expenditure, I knew […]
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 […]
Not counting donations, during this fourth week I spent $7. It was invisible money because my husband paid for something that included both of us and I didn’t notice – till later. That’s what happened when we went to a local contra dance last Saturday. He paid my admission of $7 and only later did I wonder if […]
Strange things have happened to me during the past 4 days – 2 merchants gave me free service. There was a Home & Garden show at the Cincinnati Convention Center. Jim thought we should go to research replacement windows for our 100 year old house. I agreed and assumed this would be free since the […]
An email came from a friend about contributing household goods to a local refugee resettlement program. Most of the people currently being served are from Nepal. Lita invited our faith community to bring extra household items for the refugees to our next meeting. I thought I wouldn’t have much to contribute since I’ve been limiting […]
THE HAMSTER SYNDROME Do you ever feel like you’re a hamster running a never ending wheel of activity and never quite getting caught up. I do. People ask how I am and I’m tempted to say “Busy.” I’ve been trying to eliminate that answer as an automatic response because I realize that it’s usually just […]
A few days ago our daughter emailed us saying that she was in Liberia. With the Ebola crisis emanating from that region of Africa, our parental worry antenna shot up. She assured us that she was being extremely careful and was super sanitized but Ebola stories have been endemic on the news. Of course that’s why […]
It was a bad day! It started with an unnecessarily long conference call which meant I had to scurry to make my eye doctor appointment. This meant I didn’t have time to recheck my directions, made some wrong turns, and was 16 minutes late. The office informed me that they didn’t honor appointments later than […]
PART 2 (2 years after my Oh, My Aching Back post): Perhaps the hardest thing for me to let go of recently has been the expectation that I would have basic good health for at least another decade. My mother is 90 and I’ve watched her health and memory decline but I figured that was […]
I hate our sweet gum tree. Actually, I don’t hate the tree itself which has beautiful red foliage in the fall, it’s those nasty, spiny, sweet gum balls that fall from the tree and clutter our yard all year round, that I hate. If I had known this before we planted the tree, I would […]
Occasionally the heavens align and other people help me lighten my mood and my stuff. That’s what happened recently when I was in a conversation with a friend, her daughter, and her fiancé. As the wedding day approached the bride and groom said they were trying to plan a tasteful but simple celebration. One step was […]
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 […]
10 THINGS I LEARNED BY CLEANING OUT A-DRAWER-A-DAY For several years I’ve been trying to make room for what’s important by clearing my home and life of clutter. I’ve given away thousands of items big and small. I’ve delved into the realm of intangibles as I tried to discern what memories, relationships, and feelings were […]
This is the last week of Lent and I’m moving to our dining room which has exactly 7 drawers. (I won’t finish all the drawers in our house before Easter, but this will have to do for now because we’re going out of town for Easter. It was a fun room to do because I […]
