Simple Money

Introducing my newest book, Simple Money: Achieve Financial Peace and Abundance with Minimalism, available now on Amazon!

Minimalism doesn't mean lack and deprivation.  Minimalism is a tool that helps us find happiness by steering us in the direction of what we truly desire.

Physical clutter can be obvious: that unused treadmill, those stacked up boxes, or the pile of knickknacks, mail, and various remotes on the coffee table.  But financial clutter, such as debt, overspending, and a fuzzy understanding of what we owe and where our money goes can be much less apparent.  When we let go of financial clutter, we create more resources to accomplish the things we really care about.

I'm not a financial planner or investment guru.  I grew up knowing I would have to work and figure out how to pay for the things I needed.  I've budgeted and run the accounts for our household, both when we were underwater on our mortgage and overburdened with credit card debt, and as we have climbed out of that situation to a life of abundance.

Simple Money can help you:

• discover your money beliefs and how they influence your financial decisions
• buy less and demolish debt
• make a budget that lets you meet your needs and find a way to afford your desires
• feel empowered, not poor, as you control your spending
• increase enjoyment and satisfaction without spending much money
• and more!

We work too hard to wonder where all our money went.

Life is better when we use money to achieve our dreams, and Simple Money can help you along the way.

Simple Money is available now on Amazon, in paperback and as an ebook (Amazon's Kindle editions can be read on any phone, tablet, or computer with their free app).

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

30 Day Challenge: One Suitcase

It's an eye-opening experience to have to physically carry everything you own.

When I was in college, I spent two summers traveling all over the western part of the US and Canada, singing with a choral group.  I took the ferry from Seattle to Victoria BC, saw snow falling on hot springs and geysers in Yellowstone Park on July 4, toured the amazing Carlsbad Cavern in New Mexico, and hiked the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Fall in Yosemite, as well as singing concerts in nearly 150 venues.  I lived for ten weeks each time out of a single suitcase (and a garment bag for concert attire).

I learned to love the minimal completeness of packing for travel.  You can be weighed down by multiple pieces of luggage that have to be checked, hauled around, unpacked and repacked, or you can enjoy the agility of a single rolling bag. 

Of course, you have to consider carefully which clothes you'll need, which toiletries and accessories.  You might include a book or a journal; you'll surely bring your phone and charger.  But you have only what you've chosen to take with you.  It's the ultimate in decluttering.

There's something very freeing about living with only a fraction of your possessions.  You have mindfully curated a collection of the things you use and love the most, and in my experience, you still have plenty!

For the month of September, I've decided to metaphorically live out of one suitcase (I'm not considering kitchen items).  My suitcase will hold ten items of clothing, plus underwear, nightwear, and basic toiletries.  It holds my laptop and cords, my current crossword puzzle book, and a zipper bag with my current embroidery project.  I'll also have my purse and its contents (including my phone, on which I have several unread books).

FYI, the ten items of clothing include a pair of black jeans, a pair of dark-wash blue jeans, a black and white dress, comfortable black leather sandals, and six tops.  I've limited my colors to black, white, dark denim, periwinkle blue, mossy green, and rosy orange (a sort of deep coral).  I have one necklace and my wedding ring that I wear every day.

This is what I might take on a long holiday (although I'd probably include some sturdy athletic shoes too).  In fact, when you're not loaded down with the contents of a packed closet and dresser drawers, or a hobby space, an office, and a library, life can feel like a vacation.

Do you want to join me?  Take the challenge and see what you learn from it – what you miss or don't miss, what unexpected events or challenges arise, how fewer clothes impact your laundry situation, if getting dressed every day is easier or not, whether this is crazy or actually doable, etc.

And if ten items in your suitcase just seems too confining, try twelve or sixteen items.  The purpose is to try living with a limit – the actual limit you choose can be different from mine.

As with so many other categories of possessions, most of us wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time.  My bet is that you'll be happier with fewer wardrobe choices than with whatever is cluttering your closet right now, but you won't have a chance to realize that unless you test it out.

Photo by Mantas Hesthaven on Unsplash

Break the Consume/Donate Cycle

My first step to a better financial future was to start paying attention.

I was living and making decisions on autopilot, but one day, as I decluttered my closet for the umpteenth time, my eyes were suddenly opened.

I spent a lot of time organizing my closets and drawers, and regularly donated bags of clothing to charity.  Since that was the case, I couldn't understand why my closet always felt too full.  It must have escaped my notice that I went shopping almost every weekend and on most lunch breaks, just for "entertainment."  I didn't always buy things, but the more you browse, the more you are tempted.

My wardrobe was like a revolving door, yet I wondered why I could never save any money.  Yes, the connection should have been obvious, but I enjoyed all of my new goodies (at least for a while), so it was easy to ignore.  When I finally linked my shopping habit to my empty bank account, I stopped shopping almost overnight.  From then on, I wore and enjoyed the clothing I had, donated the fashion mistakes that were cluttering my closet, and eventually got to the point where I only replaced items as needed.

I didn't feel poor – I felt empowered.

Instead of giving all of my hard-earned money to the mall, I enjoyed the security of a growing savings account, and I loved using and caring for what I had.  It made me appreciate everything so much more.

Eventually I realized that all of the shopping had been partly about boredom, and partly about needing to fit in and be fashionable.  At least some of my self-worth had been involved.  Once I stopped shopping and focused on other things – more satisfying pursuits – my self-worth increased.  You know, the better you feel about yourself, the less you are influenced by whatever other people are doing.  You become more independent.

So constant clothes shopping receded into the background.  But a new challenge waited.

After we bought our first house, I started shopping for home goods.  I constantly had plans for painting, putting up wallpaper, adding a French door, enlarging the patio, or setting a unique holiday table.  We built a shelving unit that covered an entire ten-foot-long wall, and filled it with books and art and knickknacks.  I collected figurines and limited-edition plates, antique quilts and other American folk art.  I bought lots of toys for my children.

I was no longer a clothes-horse, but once again I would regularly declutter things I was tired of.  I'd donate some items, have a yard sale with the rest, make a little money, and go out to buy other stuff, spending even more money in the process.  I was back in the consume/donate cycle.

Then two things happened.  My husband and I had opened individual retirement accounts soon after we were married, and over time we had slowly added money to each account.  I decided I wanted a brick hearth and a wood stove installed in our living room, plus new furniture.  We emptied our IRAs to pay for it, since our credit cards and home equity line of credit were maxed out.

I cannot describe how stupid that was.

We had to pay taxes on the amount we withdrew PLUS a 10% penalty because we were nowhere near retirement age.  Such a waste.

The second thing happened in the mall book store when my eye happened to land on Elaine St. James' book Simplify Your Life.  Two sentences in the Introduction caught my eye:

I decided that if the two of us... had gotten so caught up in the frenetically paced lifestyle and rampant consumerism of [the 1980s], there must be other reasonable people out there who had done the same thing, and who were now looking for practical things they could do to simplify their lives.

Wise men and women in every major culture throughout history have found that the secret to happiness is not in getting more but in wanting less.

"Not in getting more but in wanting less."

I didn't want a fat mortgage, maxed-out credit cards, depleted IRAs, a tax bill, and a long list of home improvements.  I was out of control with my revolving door home, filled with items I would buy, declutter, and sell cheaply only to go out and buy even more.  I had two children under the age of six, and I wanted to home school them.  I wanted more time, more freedom, more creativity, and less worry, hassle, and debt. 

It was a relief, and exciting, to discover a worthwhile goal.

Once again, it was like waking up, and I finally made the connection between my constant shopping and home alteration and our lack of money, free time, and satisfaction.  I had been stupid, but never wanted to get caught in the same mistake again.  I didn't want to be a discontented, insecure person.  I didn't want to envy what other people had, and I didn't want to make my house the center of my life.  We had spent our money as if having some sort of showplace was a priority, and I finally saw how little value that held for me.  There was so much more that was worth our time, money, energy, and talents.

This wasn't a lighthearted time, but we realized that it was possible for us to change.  That did add a ray of hope.  There were many steps along the journey.

Can you relate to this at all?  Have you ever justified a shopping habit by regularly donating used items to charity?  Is there an area in your life that is claiming most of your time, money, and effort even as you're starting to sense it is not going to be fulfilling in the long run?

Maybe you have been preoccupied with the wrong things, perhaps in an effort to fit in, or feel worthy, or simply because you're bored.  Maybe you're not sure what you will do if you're no longer filling your life with shopping, social media, an unfulfilling job, or constant busyness.  Maybe you're only just now starting to question whether this is really going to be worth your life energy.

Have you started asking yourself, "Is this all there is?"  Have you been caught in a cycle of consume, donate (or sell), consume some more, purge again, consume, consume, purge a little more... on and on and on?  It's not too late to break that cycle.  Your age and situation don't matter.  No time is a bad time to stop living on autopilot and start making real choices for what really matters to you.

Photo by Nikola Duza on Unsplash

PlS. If you enjoyed this post, watch for my new book Simple Money: Achieve Financial Peace and Abundance with Minimalism, coming soon!

 

MINIMALIST TOOL KIT: A Place for Everything

When our two children were young, we lived in a three-bedroom house of about 1200 square feet.  Compared to the modern American home that is small, but in spite of that my house was usually fairly tidy.  Even if the kids were in the middle of playing one of their epic pretend games, with dolls, stuffed animals, play dishes, dress-up clothes, Lego creations, and lots of homemade props, we could make the house "company ready" in a fairly short time.

Does that sound like an impossible dream?

The secret isn't really secret – everything had a home.  Everything.

I know you've heard this:  "A place for everything and everything in its place."  But what does that mean?  And why should you go to the trouble?

It means I can hand my child any item that belongs to her or is used by the whole family and say, "Put this where it belongs," and she knows exactly where to go.  I can ask her to go get an item, and she can, quickly and without fuss, locate the item and bring it to me.

And that's the reason you should create a home for each thing you own, and why you should develop the habit of putting things where they belong when they're not in use.

"A place for everything" simply makes life easier.

Multiple times every day, it makes tasks a little smoother, a little quicker, and a little more pleasant.  Try to calculate the value of that as it happens over and over and over, and contrast it with the constant low-level irritation of a cluttered, disorganized home where you can never find anything when you need it, or you never realize that you're out of ketchup (or that you have three partially-used bottles) because it has no designated home.

To get to that level of organization, you have to start by letting go of unneeded and unloved items.  Most of us live in houses that are big enough to accommodate the stuff a family needs, but if you have three couches, four sets of dishes, 19 bath towels, and too much of everything else, you might be struggling to find a home for it all.

Your difficulty is understandable – you have too much stuff!  In most cases, items end up "homeless" because there are too many of them.  If your cupboard won't hold all of the family's games, you need to pick out the games that you actually play, and get rid of the ones the kids have outgrown, or that are broken or missing pieces.  Prune the collection until it fits, or if you truly enjoy and use a lot of games, remove something else from the cupboard so the games can live there.

If your bathroom counter is covered with bottles and potions, you probably have too many.  Get rid of the duplicates, the things you tried once and didn't like, and the outdated creams and remedies.  Use the medicine cabinet and vanity drawers to store the things you need and use each day, and keep the counter clear of everything except hand soap.  It's not only more soothing and spa-like, it's far more sanitary.

I hope you're getting the idea that organizing without decluttering won't accomplish your purpose.  My mother's cupboards and drawers were always so full you had to practically empty them out in order to find what you were looking for, even if you knew it was in there somewhere.  Many of us live like that, and think that we have a place for everything.  But we can't actually retrieve anything or put it away again with ease.

A system that is hard to use won't be used.  If your shelves and baskets and closets are packed full, they will quickly become chaotic once more, and your attempts at order and peace will fail.

The answer is not to buy a bigger house.  It's not to run out and buy a closet system or more matching containers.  All of those things are simply camouflage for clutter.  The answer is to put your favorite, most used items in the containers you have, and declutter the lesser-loved items that don't fit.  Let your drawers, cupboards, closets, spice racks, book cases, and shoe bags place limits on what you own.  Let your containers contain (corral and control) your belongings.

You know you've decluttered successfully when everything you own has a home, and can be accessed or put away with a minimum of fuss.

Don't waste another minute looking for your misplaced phone or that bill you need to pay, or shuffling through drawers looking for your favorite yoga pants.  Find a home for these things, and never put them down except where they belong.

In the end, it really comes down to habits.  At first it may be difficult to put craft supplies where they belong, to hang your keys on their designated hook, or to train your children to hang up their backpacks or put away their clean laundry.  It will sometimes seem that it's just easier to do it all yourself, or to give up altogether, but in the long run it won't be.  Trust me.

Once you've put everything in its place, you'll be able to live more peacefully and enjoy your home more.  You'll have more time to do activities you value instead of feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by your house.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Work Less

It's not just the current and seemingly insurmountable political divide in America – human beings are really prone to extremes.  In education, for example, the pendulum swings all the way from rote or programmed learning on one side (boring, but easily facilitated by computers) to discovery-style, discussion-based, hands-on learning on the other (which leads to deeper thinking, but may leave students light on concrete facts).  In another circumstance, we have hoarders on one side and location-independent, live-out-of-one-backpack proponents on the other.

The challenge is always to find a compromise which takes the best of both approaches (as in education), or a happy medium that meets the needs of the majority of people (as with minimalism, which seeks to meet essential needs and a few strongly-desired wants without excess). 

When it comes to work, I think most of us fall into one of two extremes:

• We work way too hard, with little boundary between work life and everything else, and never feel that we've accomplished enough;

• We procrastinate and are prone to distraction, and feel guilty about how little we get done.

Either way, we're dissatisfied with the results, and feel stressed and depleted by work.

I'd like to propose a solution to both groups of people:

Work less.

What would that entail?

• Do fewer things, and be more mindful and committed to those things.
• Recognize your victories.
• Rest, recreate, and connect more.

Now I know that not everyone falls into one of these two extremes, and that not everyone can change the number of hours they work.  But now that so many of us are working from home, I think this concept is useful.

The "Work Too Hard" Group

This is the group I tend to fall into.  I try to get everything done, and I hate leaving anything unfinished.  When I work, I work very long hours with very few breaks, because I'm trying to get it ALL done.  Of course, at some point exhaustion takes over, and the quality of my work slips, and I'm forced to stop.  But I feel like I haven't done enough.  I often feel like that, even when an objective observer would say I've made a ton of headway, or that they can't believe how much work I've churned out.

So working less doesn't seem to fit my MO, even though I recognize that I sometimes work too hard and rest too little, and that my work sometimes takes over the rest of my life.

Working less would mean reducing the number of projects I undertake, which means I need to focus on higher priority tasks.

So if I could work for only two hours today, how would I spend my time?  And what would I do with the rest of the things on my to-do list?

When I ask myself these questions, my priorities become clearer, and I might figure out that some of my jobs can be done more efficiently, done by someone else, or are unnecessary and can be eliminated.

Then I could focus on the one or two things I need and want to pay attention to.  At the end of the two hours, I could feel pleased and victorious, because I accomplished important things.

The "Procrastinate Too Much" Group

I've noticed that many people tend to fall into this group.  They seem to be prone to distraction, and can spend a lot of time on rather mindless pastimes, even when there are more important jobs that need to be done.  Of course, as a workaholic, it's easy for me to judge people who fit this profile, yet I also realize that this group feels a lot of guilt about the time they waste.  Maybe they feel that the "work less" philosophy shouldn't apply to them, because they think they don't work enough as it is.

Guilt can be a time-waster too, and can actually keep you from accessing your abilities in order to do your best work.  Guilt won't make this situation better, so let's toss that and try to start fresh.

With that clean slate, what should someone who tends to procrastinate do with his day?  What would give him a feeling of victory and accomplishment?

If you fit into this group, "work less" means working fewer hours, but with more focus.  Rather than avoiding tasks and wasting time, cut back on the number of hours you work, and be fully committed during that time.

A concept called Parkinson's Law (after the British historian who wrote about it) states that "Work expands to fill the time which is available for its completion."  In other words, the more time we allow for a task, the longer it will take to complete it, even if it could have been finished in a shorter time.  Students and building contractors often exhibit this behavior, but it can be a problem for anyone.

So you don't want a deadline for a task that is too generous or too open-ended.  Ask the same question that the "work too hard" group asks:  If you were to work only two hours today, how would you spend that time?  Which tasks are most important to accomplish?

Once you've determined those jobs, set aside the time, block all distractions, and pour your attention and energy into the work.  If it helps, work in 25 minute chunks, with a five minute break (to make a cup of tea, perhaps, or to take a quick walk or do some stretching).  This gives you a chance to recommit and refocus several times during your work period.

The point of this is not to make yourself feel rushed, or to do shoddy work because you truly haven't allotted enough time.  Setting this artificial two-hour deadline is just a way to let you home in on your most crucial assignments.  When you work fewer but more focused hours, you accomplish more and do higher-quality work because you're bringing all of your talent and attention to bear.

For both groups, working fewer hours not only lets you accomplish valuable work, but leaves you with more time for true rest and recreation, and for meaningful connection with others.  That's a victory for everyone.

Photo by Deniz Altindas on Unsplash

Make Time for Low Tech

I just spent nine hours in front of my computer.  Again.  I took only three short breaks, and spent maybe ten minutes outside.  I even ate lunch at my desk.

I know this isn't healthy, but still it happens much too often.  Maybe it does for you too.  And now we're getting our kids ready for distance learning, which will require them to spend hours a day in front of a computer.

Before school starts and life gets busier, let's take some time to live with less technology.

Technology has always been touted as progress, the revolution that will change the world.  And I certainly use technology.  I don't publish this blog on parchment, after all, and I'm not keeping cool in this August heat by means of a servant wielding a palm branch.

But as we keep breaking boundaries and changing the way things work, sometimes we lose sight of the fact that some of the best (and healthiest) solutions are low tech.

I'm going to use what I think is an urban myth to illustrate, because it really does make my point.  (That's an awful pun too, as you'll see.  My apologies.)

It was the 1960s, and NASA was having trouble coming up with a reliable replacement for the pen.  You see, in space, with no gravity and no air pressure, pens don't work very well, which is bad news for astronauts who need to keep a log or do some calculations.  Millions of dollars went into research to develop a zero-gravity pen.

The Russians, faced with the same problem in their space program, used a pencil.

What's the lesson?  Sometimes the best solution is the easy one.  Sometimes we complicate the problem by looking for a new, high tech solution.  Sometimes, when we're busy using our smart phones to look up yet another piece of trivia, we forget to pay attention and think.  We tend to fall for the newfangled, designed-for-a-problem-we-didn't-really-have gadget, instead of simply using the tools that have worked in the past and still work just fine.

I'm reminded of people my age or older who swear they can't get by without their _______ (fill in the blank with your favorite piece of modern technology), even though they lived the majority of their lives perfectly well in the pre-smart phone, pre-Internet world.  How did we ever manage to live productive, independent adult lives in the olden days?

Our kids are growing up even more shackled to the latest-and-supposedly-greatest tech than we are, and it might be good to take a step back to a less mechanized way of life before we hook everyone up to a virtual classroom for distance learning this fall.

I'm thankful for many modern technologies, but there are always consequences to our desire for ever more speed and convenience.  Those consequences too often include uncounted tons of plastic waste and toxic electronic waste.  They include dissatisfaction with last year's technology and the constant pursuit of the next big thing.  They include a skewed work/home balance and an unhealthy tendency to substitute virtual activity for physical activity in the real world.  And they include a lot less connection and intimacy with our families, friends, neighbors, and communities.

Let's take a little vacation from modernity.

Low Tech Activities

1.  Go camping.

Okay, maybe it's too late to plan a camping trip before school starts.  You can still do some of the wonderful things you would do while camping, such as:

• cook and/or eat outside
• take a hike
• listen to the birds and the wind in the trees
• watch a sunset
• stargaze (use binoculars if you have them)

2.  Use human power.

Before machines pervaded our lives, most of us were in better shape physically.  You don't need a gym to:

• leave the car in the garage and walk or bike where you need to go
• take the stairs
• wash your car with a bucket of suds and some elbow grease
• pull some weeds and sweep your garage, patio, and sidewalks
• forgo appliances that chop vegetables, shred cheese, or mix batter

3.  Play without electricity.

Want entertainment?  Turn off computer and video games and put away your smart phone while you:

• break out the board games and jigsaw puzzles
• bring out paper and crayons and scissors and glue
• get creative with the millions of pieces of Lego in your child's room
• knit, crochet, draw, or paint
• read a book

4.  Reduce waste and emissions.

Our parents and grandparents learned to be comfortable and meet their needs without a lot of technologies we take for granted.  Try these lower-tech replacements:

• use an electric fan rather than air conditioning
• hang clothes to dry
• ditch paper towels and napkins; buy or make reusable alternatives
• quit bottled water and soda and drink sun tea instead
• take advantage of daylight by sleeping and rising earlier

5.  Make connections low tech.

Sure, telephones have been around for a long time, but with party lines and expensive long-distance costs, our ancestors did not spend hours on the phone every day.  Instead:

• remove alerts, and check your email and phone messages only two or three times per day
• ban phones at mealtime and share a conversation
• meet your neighbors (you can still practice social distancing)
• hand write a letter
• snuggle with your pet, partner, or child (or all of them at once)

I promise that a few days spent in a lifestyle that was normal 40 or 50 years ago won't be the hardship you might imagine.  In fact, I think you'll find it quite refreshing.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Get Ready for At-Home Learning

I was a homeschooling parent.

My older child turned 5 in 1994; my younger child was 16 (and ready to go to the local community college) in 2007.  During those 13 years, my kids did not go to school.

They didn't have computers either, until we got our first desktop in 2001.

We lived in three different houses during that time.  The largest was just over 1200 square feet, but for four years we lived in a two-bedroom home of about 800 square feet.

Both of my children have earned college degrees with honors.

And yet I never spent a ton of money on school.

If you have children beginning distance learning this fall, you've probably seen a lot of social media images of the ideal "home classroom" situation.  These usually involve a separate "school room," a desk, and organizational items such as a large white board and a lot of cute, matching storage containers.

If you're starting to panic that you don't have a spare room for your home school, and you don't have a dedicated desk for your 6-year-old, don't.  You don't need a conventional classroom setup or even a dedicated room.  You can set up distance learning in the dining area or living room.  Just focus on the basics:  a clean, flat surface, comfortable seating, good lighting, minimal distractions, and a space to store school materials.

6 Tips for At-Home Learning

1.  Find a flat writing surface where your child can sit comfortably.

This can be one end of the kitchen table or counter, if your child doesn't have a desk.  Completely clear the surface and commit it to school needs during the day.  It's best to have a chair that offers back support.  If your child is so young that his legs dangle when he sits, set up a footstool or even a box so that he can rest his feet. 

Just as your child may move from class to class at school, you could arrange different study spots in your home.  While she may need to sit in front of her laptop for online class meetings and lectures, she could sit on a pillow at the coffee table to do math homework or to study a history text.

2.  Provide ample light and a power source.

Eye strain can occur if you try to focus on a computer screen for too long in a dimly lit area.  If you can put the table or desk near a window, that would be ideal.  Natural light is both physically and mentally healthy.  However, good overhead lighting or a reading lamp will also promote vision hygiene.

Access to a power outlet is also important, but avoid having to stretch a cord across the floor where it might be a tripping hazard.  As you do for your phones, create a spot where laptops can be charged every evening so they are fully charged for morning school.  They can be plugged in again during lunchtime, if necessary, in order to avoid a stretched cord.

3.  Maintain a rhythm to your days.

Just as you would if your child were going to school, get up and eat breakfast at the same time each day.  Plan regular breaks during the time your child doesn't need to be online, and encourage him to be outside during those breaks, perhaps taking a short walk in the neighborhood (while practicing social distancing).  Have him learn to prepare and clean up his own lunch.  

Set a time for school to be over, and help your child learn to clean up and put away his school materials.  Use containers you already have for your child's distance learning essentials.  Pens, pencils, markers, rulers, scissors, etc. can go into a shoebox.  Binders and paper are cheap right now, but don't overbuy.  One binder with dividers and paper may work for each child, as most of their work is going to be submitted online.

4.  Remove distractions.

Make sure toys are put away before bedtime so they are not in evidence while your child is trying to concentrate on learning the next day.  In fact, he may find it easier to "go to school" in the kitchen or living room and then "go home" to his bedroom and his toys or hobbies.

Turn off the TV and radio.  In fact, they are probably distracting you too.  Many studies show that we actually concentrate and learn best in silence.  If you have more than one child who is distance learning, get each a pair of headphones so they can listen to their online lessons (or TED talks for kids, or a virtual museum tour) without distracting each other.

Now is the time to declutter for a calmer, more focused learning environment.  The whole family is home, so make it a family affair!  

• Deal with dirty dishes and food prep items after each meal so counters are clear.
• Remove magnets and papers from the refrigerator door and create a family bulletin board with current items only.
• Pick up toys, clothes, hobby supplies and other items that might clutter the living room and put them away. 

5.  Introduce variety.

Just as your child might sometimes sit at the coffee table instead of her regular school area, she could copy a list of spelling words, brainstorm essay ideas, or simply read a book under a tree in your yard (an old-fashioned clipboard could provide a firm writing surface).  If it's stormy or too hot to take a break outside, stream a yoga lesson for kids (there are tons on YouTube), or play some favorite music and have a dance party.

6.  Supply as many books as you can.

In the Internet Age, communication skills are more important than ever.  Reading is the key to increasing all of those skills; it's the stepping stone to success in school and any career.  Just as with anything else, the more you read, the better a reader you become.  So if you're going to spend any money on school supplies, spend it on books your kids will enjoy reading just for fun.

Your child's teachers are working very hard to make distance learning as worthwhile and productive as possible.  With a little planning and very little money, you'll be able to set up a learning space that will work great for your child.

P. S.  If you enjoyed this post, you might like my book about children and reading, The Magic of Words, available in paperback and as an e-book on Amazon.

Photo by Jessica Lewis on Unsplash

Our Unused Items Are Not Harmless

Many of us live in homes that hold far too much.  

We find it hard to declutter unless and until something forces us to do so.  As long as we have the room to stockpile all of our extraneous belongings, we will.  Our drawers, counters, closets, basements, garages, spare rooms, and rented storage spaces become full.

What's the harm in that?

Another way we stockpile is with collections.  We buy one item we like, and then another (because we're convinced that a single item looks too bare and lonely), and then someone gives us another.  Now we're officially a collector, whether of world globes, graniteware coffee pots, Marvel action figures, vintage cameras, old wooden cutting boards, or something else (I used to collect patchwork quilts).  It becomes a hobby, and we spend tons of time and money hunting for the perfect item to add to what we already have.

It reminds me of a squirrel putting away nuts for the winter, though at least the squirrel will eventually eat the nuts.  Collectors just add to their stash, and try to figure out ways to store and display what they own.  Some people invest even more money in large lighted display cases and curio cabinets, lovingly arrange the items in their collection, and then never really look at them again.  The collection is a conversation piece for visitors, I suppose, but as an enhancement to daily life I don't think it qualifies.

And how many collectibles have been touted as valuable "investments," only to go out of fashion or become commonplace after a decade or two?  Hummel figurines, anyone?  Norman Rockwell plates?  Limited edition Barbies?  Thomas Kinkade paintings?  Like Grandma's silver tea service, these items now sell for very little, if you can sell them at all, even though the original investment might have been hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

But it's only money, right?  It's not that big a deal.

Unneeded items, those in storage and those that are part of a collection, are inert.  Think about it.  Items that are used move from one place to another.  Dishes or cookware are used, become dirty, get washed, and are returned to the cupboard.  Clothing and linens are used, dirtied, laundered, folded or hung, and returned to the closet.  These items flow through our homes; they possess energy which enables us to do the things we need for every day life.

Possessions that stay in one place for a long time are lifeless.

Does your home contain shelves, drawers, closets, maybe even entire rooms where nothing comes or goes?  This is the meaning of clutter – something that simply takes up space, that lies dormant.  When clutter fills your home, you have no room to spare for new plans and ideas, new experiences or pastimes that might contribute to your best life.  All that staleness and stagnation needs to be cleared away.

Experts in feng shui, the ancient Chinese philosophy, say that clutter brings confusion and drains your energy, whether or not it's in plain view.  You don't have to believe in feng shui to agree that crowded items leave no room for growth.  It's a bit like a beautiful house plant that becomes sickly and stunted because it's root bound.  In this case, if the roots are not untangled, or even cut, and the plant isn't given room to grow, it will eventually choke itself to death.

Our lives are meant to be living, growing things.

We are meant to think, explore, learn, and become the mature, wise, valuable people we were created to be.  We are not meant to confine ourselves to the pursuit of useless stuff.

Worse than the crowded, inefficient, depressing ugliness of clutter is the way it robs us and our homes of vital, creative, happy energy.

If you're buried in clutter, don't despair.  You really can dig yourself out from under.

7 Easy, Tried-and-True Decluttering Methods

1.  The One-a-Day

Remove one unneeded or unloved item every day.

2.  The Ten Minute Tidy-Up

With three bags (trash, donate, put away/make a home), tackle one area for ten minutes.  Do it again tomorrow and the next day.

3.  The All Clear

Completely clear the floor in one room, or the top of a counter, table, or dresser.  Trash, donate, put away, or make a home as appropriate.

4.  The Combination

Make decluttering part of your daily routine by combining it with a regular task.  For example, as you put away freshly laundered towels, remove frayed and stained towels.  As your child puts toys away or gets ready for bed, remove outgrown, damaged, and rarely-used toys and clothing.  As you put away the groceries, toss outdated items and the seven jelly jars with only one teaspoon of jam in them.  Wipe the shelves before you restock.

5.  The Worst First

Instead of handling a small area, tackle the area that feels the worst.  Get the tough stuff out of the way and you'll feel invigorated!  Ask a friend for help and declutter fearlessly.  Who knows?  You may feel so energized you won't want to stop.

6.  The Paper Chase

Pick a convenient time each day, say as soon as you walk in the door from work.  Deal with mail (recycle, shred, file, or pay as needed), organize school papers, update the family calendar and discard notices.

7.  The Before and After

Use your camera to build decluttering inspiration.  Take pictures, and watch the chaos become order.  If you ever feel discouraged, revisit the photos and remember how far you've come.

 

Photo by Amador Loureiro on Unsplash

Minimalism is Full of Possibilities

The style icon Coco Chanel famously advised, "Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off."  While removing a scarf or a bracelet won't leave you underdressed, it does make room for other accessories to shine.

This sounds a little like the Japanese aesthetic of "Ma."  Ma is a concept that celebrates emptiness or negative space.  It's found in Japanese architecture, interior décor, and garden design as well as music, flower arranging, and poetry.

In a home where there are too many things, there is no place for the eye to rest, and nothing is highlighted.  Think of a 19th century Victorian interior suffocating in heavy furniture, tasseled drapes, marble busts, travel souvenirs, dark paintings, macabre hair art, doilies, ferns in every corner, and patterned everything.

I get a headache just thinking about it.

Unfortunately, some of us live with a decorating "style" that is rather Victorian, even if it involves brighter colors, plenty of ready-to-assemble furniture, and a lot more plastic.  Some studies say that the average American home contains 300,000 items, from sofas to salad forks.  Consumers in the US, a country with just over 3% of the world's children, buy 40% of the world's toys.  And storage facilities are the fastest-growing segment of the commercial real estate industry.

Can we embrace the idea of Ma?  Can we apply Chanel's advice to our homes and our schedules?

• Remove (and donate or sell) one piece of furniture that you don't really use and that just fills an empty corner, like a chair, a desk, or a table.

• Remove one collection so that another one can shine.

• Remove duplicates – kitchen utensils, an extra set of dishes, extraneous sheets and towels – whatever reiterates the items you actually need and use.

• Remove "just in case" items such as the computer or phone you replaced, the tool you bought and used once, or your seventh flashlight.

• Remove one time commitment – the committee that's become more of a chore than an exciting challenge, or that recurring social activity you don't really look forward to any more.

• Remove one time waster, such as a game, an app, or a social media platform.

"Ma is the emptiness full of possibilities," according to the Japanese lifestyle site Wawaza.  When your home or your schedule is chaotic, you have no extra space or vitality for something new, or for the unexpected.  Creating Ma can make you feel energized yet calm, the way taking a quiet tea break in a busy day can leave you feeling recharged and ready for what comes next.

In the US and other affluent countries, we pride ourselves on being "crazy busy," with no Ma in between tasks.  We cram our homes, our closets, even our dinner plates with more and more, until everything loses value.  Think of how the first bite of a rich delicious food is so wonderful, but if you keep eating and eating you eventually feel sick and full of regret.

With simple actions, like owning fewer things or leaving space between each activity and appointment, there's room to focus on and appreciate what's left.  We increase the Ma, leave room for possibilities, and make everything more precious.

What can you remove today?  Try it – Coco says you should.

Photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash