Being thorough is fine, but I was talking about Thoreau

It has been exactly 6 months since my last real post. A lot has happened during that time.


Most recently Linds and I have started to embrace the ideas of minimalists. We are not planning on moving into the woods and living with the wildlife, so no need to worry. I look around the house and see all of the “stuff” and think “Why do I need this?”. I can admit that many purchases I have made over the years have not been out of need or function, but simply out of the desire to impress myself or others. When I started to take stock of a lot of this “stuff”, I was surprised at the emotion that is attached to some of these things. Why should getting rid of a movie, a game, or whatever be so hard? Too often we attach value to something because it reminds us of a good memory. I have wonderful memories and pictures of the trip Linds and I went on to Europe after high school. But why does that make me hold on to a half used bottle of cologne from France (that does not smell that good anyway)? I am learning and accepting that the value added to my life is not the stuff but the experiences.

The plan is to reduce the clutter down to the “stuff” that we use, value, and/or serves a purpose. The second and more challenging part will be to keep the “stuff” to a minimum.

I am hoping that with the house simplified, the other parts of our lives will be easier to manage. It always seems to be easier to stick to a budget, a workout/training plan, or a meal plan when you come home and it is clean and neat.

This weekend will be a yard sale, trip to the dump and goodwill, and then hopefully some re-focusing on the budget, training, and cooking plans.

With focus being the goal, I think that ……………..Oh look a squirrel!