Day 48: Wash Your Dish (Lessons in Mindfulness)

Sometimes I feel like my life is spent rushing from one task to another, never really able to complete anything.   My life is so often dictated by the next emergency, the next urgent request, the next appointment we're running late for.  And I'm tired. 

It's been a busy week.  And I can't even really do a "Yay, it's Friday" happy dance because there is an even busier week on the horizon. 

But part of this lesson we're trying to learn, this life we're trying to live, this radical simplicity we claim to be growing towards is intentionality.  It's about doing things on purpose, with purpose. It's about serving with joy instead of running around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to cross as much as humanly possible off today's to-do list.

As I contemplated this I remembered posts I'd read, like this one and this one.  Wash your bowl.   I can do that.

So today's task isn't some grand project.  I'm not emptying out any cupboards or packing stuff up for the thrift store. I'm not swearing off my dishwasher for good.  I'm just washing my bowl.  I'm mindfully completing one task before moving on to the next.  I'm clearing my sink and my counter because physical clutter is distracting and exhausting, and then I'm moving on to the next task with that same mindfulness, intentionality, and thankfulness for this hectic, busy, beautiful life I've been given!  

Have a fabulous weekend.  And Happy Friday!

New here? Welcome!  We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Day 47: Reducing Energy Use While We Sleep!

The Task: To put our stereo, internet, and router on a power bar with a switch so that we can just turn it off at the end of the day or when we are not home!

The Why:  Our hope is that by finding many little ways to reduce our electricity usage we will eventually see a small decrease in our overall consumption and our electric bill.

But it's also the principle of the matter. Why are we drawing energy for 8 hours at night for things that aren't being used?  And why do we use energy to run a wireless internet even when we are away from the house for the entire day?

There are extra benefits to this simple switch too.  The surge protector will protect our electronics in a power outage, which is especially convincing for us because our stereo is down to only one speaker after a recent momentary power outage blew the right speaker and left it smoking and emitting a putrid burnt rubber smell!

The Verdict:  Flicking the switch takes about two seconds.  It was easy enough to do while locking the doors and turning out the lights on our way to bed last night.  And even if we never see any decrease in our electricity bill (I'm not holding my breath for that, this is a very small change!)  it is a step towards being more intentional about the resources we use, which is a big part of what this year of less is all about.

We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Day 45: Completing (and abandoning!) Projects

The Task:  To collect all of the projects I have on the go and either complete them, make some progress on them, or abandon them along with all of their accompanying craft clutter.

The Why:  I have a confession to make:  I like to plan for and shop for a project more than I like to actually work on a project.  My craft closet was stuffed to the brim with the makings of some great (and some not-so-great!) craft projects than never came to fruition.

Plus I occasionally put off mending a torn piece of clothing for so long that by the time I finally do mend it, it no longer fits the child it belonged to when I first said "oh, no big deal, mommy can just sew that...."

When we think of clutter we often think of knick-knacks and useless kitchen gadgets, but to me the absolute worst type of clutter is to-do list clutter.  Projects that hang over my head undone stress me out and make me want to avoid working on projects at all!

The How:  I unloaded the craft closet into my laundry room (I wish I'd thought to take a picture.  It looked like the craft store went binge drinking with your grandmothers fabric stash and together they threw up all over my laundry room.)  Then I went through each item and decided which projects I would complete and which ones should be abandoned.

I spent a couple hours today working on the projects I decided to keep and was able to mend a stack of clothing and make some real progress on a couple sewing projects I am excited about.

And I have a mostly full tote of craft supplies to give away.

 The Verdict:  I feel so liberated! All of those projects I had planned for and shopped for and then lost interest in are no longer hanging over my head!  The only half done projects left in my craft stash are ones I am super excited about.

By completing some projects and abandoning others I was able to move most of my craft stuff to just the top shelf of the craft closet, making room to use it as an organized homeschool closet as well!  Woohoo!

And it is so nice to be caught up on all the clothes mending.  In fact, I just might like this feeling enough that next time I say "mommy can just sew that button back on..." I will actually do it, like,um, that day!

We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Day 44: Restaurant-less Date Night

This weekend we had dinner on the patio of the cutest little bistro around.  Our own home.

 We put the kids down to bed, and by some miraculous act of God, they all went straight to sleep.

A candle in a mason jar, a flower from the yard, our best linens and dishes, and Serena Ryder on the stereo.  Sounds like date night to me.

We sat and talked and laughed together in the candlelight for hours until the mosquito chased us inside.

A simple, quiet, delightful evening on the porch.  A fabulous restaurant-less date night. 

We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Day 42: Eat Your Pantry Month

Today is the first day of September, and that means the first day of September's Eat Your Pantry Challenge! 

 The Task:  To eat all the stuff that is in our pantry.  (With the exception of almond, vanilla and coconut extracts, meringue powder, salt and corn starch...we don't have to finish those things!) We will be endeavoring to eat the beans that have been there for a year, the chickpeas and split peas of unknown vintage, pastas, barley, and specialty flours.  Whether we like it or not, we are going to muster up the creativity and courage and turn them into dinner.

The Why: We are spoiled.  I am guilty of standing with the pantry door open and exclaiming that there is nothing to eat for dinner.  And what I really mean is that there is nothing that I want to eat.  Or that I failed to plan ahead enough to make something great from scratch.

Even though the shelf life of some of these dry pantry items is supposedly as long as 6-8 years, at the rate we're eating them (which is pretty much not at all) they seriously run the risk of going bad in our pantry.  So we are going to do what we should have done from the beginning: be thankful for a pantry full of (mostly) nutritious food instead of wishing we had something more delectable. 

The How:  You can create whatever ground rules you want for your own Pantry challenge.  You could plan to eat from your pantry 3 nights a week, or to make a soup from scratch every weekend using what you can from your pantry and freezer.

For us, I've moved all of the pantry items so that there is one big empty shelf in my pantry.  This is where any new things will  go: a bag of flour I need to get, some fresh potatoes, that sort of thing.  The rest of the shelves are the ones we need to eat up.  And eat them we will!

There is no rule against buying new things. We will need to buy fresh veggies and dairy products and meats to go with our pantry adventures, we just need to make a point to eat what is in the pantry.  And to be grateful for it.

So, what inspired pantry meal is kicking off this challenge in our household?  Black bean soup? Enchiladas? Split pea and brown rice burgers?  Errr....Um....well, actually we are grilling beef burgers with friends today!  But I had to do something to commemorate the first day of eat your pantry month, so I'm simmering some chickpeas (and then roasting some garlic, YUM!) so that I can make some homemade hummus to go on the burgers.

Are you joining us?  What are your rules to help you eat your pantry this month? 

P.S.  If you know of any recipes containing beans that are so yummy that even this avid bean-hater will like them, please leave a link in the comments below! And don't forget to get the button to share on your own blog if you're following along!  Thanks!

New here?  We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!