July 9, 2009
Simple Living Simplified: 10 Things You Can Do Today to Simplify Your Life — A Guest Post
The following is a guest post by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits, (thanks to his uncopywriting policy.) Enjoy!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
Simplifying can sometimes be overwhelming. The amount of stuff you have in your life and the amount of things you have to do can be too big a mountain to tackle.
But you don’t have to simplify it all at once. Do one thing at a time, and take small steps. You’ll get there, and have fun doing it.
In fact, you can do little but important things today to start living the simple life.
I was criticized a few weeks ago when I published the Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life, because many people felt the list was too long. I heard this point, and this post is my response: just the 10 most important things.
And these are not 10 difficult things, but 10 simple things that you can do today. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next month. Today. Choose one and do it today. Tomorrow, choose another.
If you do these 10 things, you’ll have made great strides with little effort.
1. Make a short list. Take out a sheet of paper and fold it into a small square, perhaps 3×5 inches. Or take out an index card. Now make a short list of the 4-5 most important things in your life. What’s most important to you? What do you value most? What 4-5 things do you most want to do in your life? Simplifying starts with these priorities, as you are trying to make room in your life so you have more time for these things.
2. Drop 1 commitment. Think about all the things in your life that you’re committed to doing, and try to find one that you dread doing. Something that takes up time but doesn’t give you much value. Perhaps you’re on a team, or coaching something, or on a board or committee, or whatever. Something that you do each day or week or month that you don’t really want to do. Now take action today to drop that commitment. Call someone, send an email, telling the appropriate person or people that you just don’t have the time. You will feel relief. I’d recommend dropping all commitments that don’t contribute to your short list (from Item #1), but for today, just drop 1 commitment.
3. Purge a drawer. Or a shelf, or a countertop, or a corner of a room. Not an entire room or even an entire closet. Just one small area. You can use that small area as your base of simplicity, and then expand from there. Here’s how to purge: 1) empty everything from the drawer or shelf or corner into a pile. 2) From this pile, pick out only the most important things, the stuff you use and love. 3) Get rid of the rest. Right now. Trash it, or put it in your car to give away or donate. 4) Put the stuff you love and use back, in a neat and orderly manner.
4. Set limits. Read Haiku Productivity for more. Basically, you set limits for things you do regularly: email, RSS posts, tasks, feeds, items in your life, etc. And try to stick with the limits. Today, all you have to do is set limits for a few things in your life. Tomorrow, try to stick with them.
5. Simplify your to-do list. Take a look at your to-do list. If it’s more than 10 items long, you can probably simplify it a bit. Try to find at least a few items that can be eliminated, delegated, automated, outsourced, or ignored. Shorten the list. This is a good habit to do once a week.
6. Free up time. Simplifying your life in general is a way to free up time to do the stuff you want to do. Unfortunately, it can be hard to find time to even think about how to simplify your life. If that’s the case, free up at least 30 minutes a day for thinking about simplifying. Or alternatively, free up a weekend and think about it then. How can you free up 30 minutes a day? Just a few ideas: wake earlier, watch less TV, eat lunch at your desk, take a walk for lunch, disconnect from the Internet, do email only once today, shut off your phones, do 1 less thing each day.
7. Clear your desk. I can personally attest to the amazing feeling that a clean desk can give you. It’s such a simple thing to do, and yet it does so much for you. If your desk is covered with papers and notes and gadgets and office supplies, you might not be able to get this done today. But here are the basic steps: 1) Clear everything off your desk and put it in a pile (either in your inbox or on the floor). 2) Process the pile from top to bottom, one item at a time. Do not defer decisions on any item — deal with them immediately and quickly. 3) For each item, either file it immediately, route it to someone else, trash it, or note it on your to-do list (and put it in an “action” folder). If it’s a gadget or office supply, find a place for it in your desk drawers (or get rid of it). 4) Repeat until your pile is empty and your desk is clear. Be sure to get rid of any knick knacks. Your desk should have your computer, your inbox, perhaps a notepad, and maybe a family photo (but not many). Ahh, a clear desk! 5) From now on, put everything in your inbox, and at least once a day, process it in the same way as above.
8. Clear out your email inbox. This has the same psychological effect as a clear desk. Is your email inbox always full of read and unread messages? That’s because you’re delaying decisions on your emails. If you have 50, let’s say, or fewer emails in your inbox, you can process them all today. If you have hundreds, you should put them in a temporary folder and get to them one chunk at a time (do 20 per day or something). Here’s how you process your inbox to empty — including emails already in your inbox, and all future incoming emails: 1) process them top to bottom, one at a time, deciding and disposing of each one immediately. 2) Your choices are to delete, archive, respond immediately (and archive or delete), forward (and archive or delete), or mark it with a star (or something like that) and note it on your to-do list to respond to later (and archive). 3) Process each email like that until the inbox is empty. 4) Each time you check your email, process to empty. Ahh, an empty inbox!
9. Move slower. We rush through the day, from one task to another, from one appointment to another, until we collapse on the couch, exhausted, at the end of the day. Instead, simplify your life by doing less (see Items 1, 4 and 5) and doing them more slowly. Eat slower, drive slower, walk slower, shower slower, work slower. Be more deliberate. Be present. This isn’t something you’re going to master today, but you can start practicing today.
10. Single-task. Instead of multi-tasking, do one thing at a time. Remove all distractions, resist any urge to check email or do some other habitual task like that while you’re doing the task at hand. Stick to that one task, until you’re done. It’ll make a huge difference in both your stress level and your productivity.
July 8, 2009
When “Waste Not” Goes Too Far
The Museum of Modern Art is currently featuring an installation by artist Song Dong who meticulously laid out a lifetime of his mother’s hoarded possessions. These are not meaningful family heirlooms, but are squeezed out toothpaste tubes, worn out shoes and the like.
Apartment Therapy’s website described it as such:
The new installation on the main floor of the Museum of Modern Art is a public viewing of a hoarder’s life-long collection. Chinese artist Song Dong organized and displayed every item from his mother’s home, including numerous television sets, toothpaste tubes, plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, and shoes. Song Dong’s mother accumulated these items over fifty years — it was a common practice during in China when people lived the concept “waste not” (wu jin qi yong). The installation feeds our hoarder-fascination and explores cultural reasons for extreme collecting…
The impression of it all is very striking. This woman obviously had a huge problem letting go of her possessions, and one can only imagine how crowded and limiting her living conditions must have been.
I too adhere to a to a waste not philosophy, but am usually able to let go of possessions that have neither use nor meaning to me. It is part of a creative mindset to see potential in objects that others might see as garbage, and I consciously fight this inclination in myself.
Hoarding, whether it be squeezed out tubes of toothpaste, lamps or old newspaper is a serious problem that goes beyond housekeeping. Filling one’s home with excessive stuff is not only a deterrent to being able to have people over, (which then cuts down on a supportive network) but can also be a health hazard due to everything from tripping to rodentia to toxic molds.
Thank you to Fabulously Broke in the City for the info on the MOMA show.
Resources for hoarders (and those who love them) include:
Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving and Collecting, by David F. Tolin.
It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff, by Peter Walsh.
Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, by Karen Kingston.
Has your life been affected by hoarding? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
July 8, 2009
Ravings for Savings
I am an odd mixture. I feel that the pursuit of money for the sake of becoming rich is an empty goal, yet I’m also bizarrely focused on finding bits of money to stash in my savings account.
But such is the philosophy of any red-blooded Coin-Girl.
What’s my goal with my savings account? Supposedly, it’s to have an emergency/rainy day fund in the style of a Dave Ramsey enthusiast. Really though, I just think it’s cool to have a lot of money in the bank. I was like this as a kid, (I had over $3000 in the bank when I graduated from high school, and those were the days of $1 per hour babysitting) and I’m like this at age 41.
Yes, reading Dave Ramsey’s writings has plumped up my savings account faster than a Hollywood starlet’s lips. But really, I was just looking for an excuse that it was okay to have a savings account despite some money-pit-of-a-house related debt.
Logically, I should pick up extra shifts at work, as this would be the fastest way to destroy all debt while building substantial savings. But working more than part-time makes me miss my kids too much, and has the added bonus of burning me out on my somewhat high stress job as a labor and delivery nurse.
The way that I’m able to rationalize putting money aside when that action actually defers debt repayment, is to only put found, scrounged and unexpected money into my savings account.
My paycheck goes toward household expenses and anything extra goes straight into savings.
And it’s amazing how this simple mental trick has opened up my mind to finding small bits of money that really add up.
A garage sale kick started the savings, and I’ve subsequently been able to add significantly more by scrounging change from the Coinstar machines, selling some odds and ends in consignment shops and foisting a few items into a neighbor’s garage sale.
It may take me longer than necessary to get all debt paid off this way, but I know I’ve got that something extra put aside for a rainy day.
Do you put money into savings despite having debt? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
July 7, 2009
My Non-Consumer Lifestyle
Sometimes I wonder if there’s any separation between regular Katy and Non-Consumer Katy.
Is there anything I do that is unrelated to my Non-Consumer lifestyle?
My days off are spent cooking from scratch, hanging laundry, finding free or cheap entertainment, playing with my kids, puttering in my garden of free plants and partaking of the fine materials from the library.
Today I:
- Took my 13-year-old son to soccer day camp. I packed his lunch in a non-plastic stainless steel tiffin container.
- Pruned the maple tree in my parking strip, which is so dense and low as to make it hard to pass by on a wet day. The loppers were borrowed from a neighbor.
- Received a thyme start from a neighbor as a thank you for letting her dig up some of my Bishop’s Weed.
- Hung laundry on the line.
- I went to go pick berries with my 11-year-old son on Sauvie’s Island. We were under a time constraint and ended up buying a whole pre-picked flat of raspberries and a half-flat of blueberries. This was expensive at $47, but the time spent picking berries with my son was priceless.
- Stopped at the grocery store for limes, flour, an avocado and strawberries. I brought my own bags and found $2.50 in the Coinstar machine as well as a penny on the ground.
- Tried to fix my vacuum cleaner and borrowed one from the neighbors instead.
- Picked up my son at soccer camp. I also brought home the British coach who we’ll be hosting for the week. Not only do we get a nice chunk off the camp fee, but we get to meet another great person.
- Marinated chicken to barbeque, made two raspberry-blueberry pies from scratch, and popped popcorn on the stovetop.
- Set up an outdoor eating area on the brick patio. Used an old Goodwill tablecloth and my new Crate and Barrel creme damask cloth napkins that I bought brand-new at the Seattle Goodwill for 25 cents apiece. The silver wear was from a stuff swap that I attended a few months back.
- Ate dinner.
- Invited neighbors over for pie as a thank you for feeding the cats and watering the plants while we were in Seattle.
- Gave my neighbor a bundle of scallions as my husband bought more than we can eat.
- Hung a freshly washed throw blanket and my son’s soccer socks on the clothesline.
- Picked up my 11-year-old’s friend for a sleepover.
- Took the British soccer coach on a whirlwind tour of Portland as can only be seen from the interior of a mini-van.
- Watched an episode of the English version of The Office with the soccer coach. This, of course was a library copy.
- Finished up the dinner dishes and cleaned the kitchen floor with a garbage picked mop.
- Wrote my blog.
There was nothing I did simply because it was cheap or sustainable, yet most everything slanted in that direction. I did spend a lot of money on berries, but they’re healthy and we can afford it.
When I get interviewed, journalists always want to know how much do I save by living a Non-Consumer lifestyle? This question is so hard to answer, because I am unsure who to compare myself to. Should I compare myself to someone who pays full price for camp, rents movies, eats in restaurants, ignores free mops, is afraid to borrow from neighbors and doesn’t compulsively check the Coinstar machine? Or perhaps I should compare myself to an Upper East Side lady who lunches?
Either way, there really can’t be a proper comparison, because the choices of how I live my life are too ingrained to separate. Because Non-Consumer Katy is the same as regular Katy.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
July 5, 2009
Back to School Clothes — Why?
The following is a reprint of a previously published post from last Summer. Enjoy!
-Katy
Is the stress of back-to-school clothes shopping getting to you?
I ask this one question:
Do you buy all your clothes for the year in one fell swoop?
No, of course not. You buy your clothes one piece at a time when you come across something you like.
So why should kids get a whole bunch of brand-new clothes for the first day of school deadline?
It makes no sense.
Americans are expected to spend an average of $231.80 per child for back-to-school clothing and accessories for the 2008 school year. With many spending much, much more.
I buy clothes for my 11 and 13-year-old sons all year long. That way I’m able to pick up great deals at the thrift shops, when I come across them. (I am part of The Compact, and only buy used.) If I were to try and put together an complete wardrobe of clothes at one time, it would be impossible.
Because I’m constantly keeping an eye out for their clothes, I’m able to be very picky and choose only like-new, high quality stuff. For pennies on the dollar.
I don’t think having sons changes the issue, if anything it makes it more difficult. Used boy clothes are often beat to death, plus my 13-year-old has cultivated a very distinct style. (Rocker dude.)
So don’t let Madison Avenue convince you that it’s necessary to blow hundreds of dollars on back-to-school clothes.
Buy all year ’round and you’ll be better off.
Want to add your two cents on the back-to-school clothing issue? Add it in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
July 4, 2009
Hello From Seattle
I am currently on a mini four day vacation in Seattle visiting with my sister and her family. And like life it’s been somewhat imperfect, yet still fun.
We decided we would rent canoes over at the University of Washington, but it turns out we were not the only ones to come up with this fabulous idea. The harried looking canoe-checker-outer woman informed us that it would be at least a two hour wait.
Yeah . . . that wouldn’t probably be a good idea to sit in the hot sun for hours with four progressively cranky kids. So we walked the twenty minutes back to my sister’s house to regroup and come up with a new plan.
My brother-in-law Dmitry has a small sailboat, so we bullied him into taking us out onto Lake Washington despite his insistence that there wasn’t enough wind. And you know what? There wasn’t enough wind.
So we took the boat back into dock and I bought popsicles for a number of cranky people, both large and small.
But the day was not a total bust. We stopped at the Medrona Farmer’s market on the way home and bought a couple pounds of cherries and enjoyed a nice long (shady) walk in the Arboretum.
Dinner was a barbeque of yummy sausages enjoyed with the company of my old college chum Ed.
Tomorrow will hopefully not be so thwarted, but I’m not worried. My sister and I plan on waking early and sneaking out to Goodwill before everyone is up. (The child-free aspect of this journey will greatly increase the enjoyment.)
But no freaking way am I even going to entertain the thought of getting in a boat. That, I believe is cursed.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
July 2, 2009
Greetings From Seattle
Because I’m up in Seattle for a few days, here’s a reprint of a previously published post from last Summer. Enjoy!
P.S. Please feel free to suggest fun Non-Consumer-y things to do in Seattle in the comments section below.
Experience Music Project Building
Okay, maybe Seattle on $0 per day was a tad unrealistic.
Seattle is traffic-ey and expensive. Did I mention the traffic?
I walked Maggie the dog through the arboretum in the morning with my 10-year-old. The highlight was not the oasis of nature amidst the city. No, no, no — the highlight was the cleanly cut-in-half rat. Only part of which was squished. I got to teach my son the word, “bisected.”
“You know honey, Like Darth Maul in ‘Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.’ “
These are the memories a child brings into adulthood.
The dog duly walked, we drove off to The Experience Music Project, which we have a membership to. Street parking was easily found, which saved us $2.
I really liked the Science Fiction Museum area. (I am an enormous Sci-Fi geek!) However, I’m not a huge rock music fan, so the main part of the museum was lost on me. I explained to my husband that it would be like him going to a quilting museum, (not that I quilt). I think he understood.
Luckily, I’d brought a library book from home, so I found a comfy bench and made myself at home. There was one other person doing the same thing — he looked to be in his 80’s. We bonded.
My 12-year-old bought a Nirvana stretchy wrist band, and my 10-year old made one of those flattened souvenir pennies. I’ve decided the smooshed penny thing is the ideal Non-Consumer keepsake. There is no packaging, shipping, or environmental impact from the process. It’s hand-cranked, and doesn’t even require electricity! And at 51 cents, it’s steal!
We were now hungry and on the bad side of cranky at this point, and decided to find a nice locally owned restaurant. The boys declined the granola bars I’d stashed in my purse.
So we drove, and drove, and drove. We somehow ended up on I-5 South, which sent my husband into fits. The language used has no place in my family-friendly blog, so I’ll let you just use your imagination.
When we did see places that looked good, there was not even a slight chance of a parking spot. We probably drove for an hour-and-a-half (no exaggerating here) before settling on a somewhat corporate yuppy pizza place.
I hate spending a bunch of money eating out unless it’s something special. This place was not special. Expensive, yes.
I had my husband drop me and the 12-year-old at the Montlake library on the way back. We stocked up on graphic novels, (for him) and chick-lit (for me, I am on vacation after all!). Plus we pulled a few decent DVD’s from the shelf.
Tomorrow will be better. I really want to go to Goodwill, I’m crossing my fingers that we can score some Mariner’s T-shirts there for the boys.
Whatever we do, I see that the only way to have this vacation under fiscal control is to plan ahead.
The rat was free though. It will probably be what my son remembers most from this trip.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
P.S. I found $2.02 in change the evening before, but none today. Coin-Girl was not happy.
P.P.S. Have any frugal Seattle tips? Please let me know in the comments section below.
July 1, 2009
Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old (or Borrowed) Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile!
Summer is a time of travel. Your journey might be to far flung locales, or as close as a weekend at the beach. Either way, you’re going to need to fill a suitcase with the necessaries of life.
My family has had a few high stress travel events that streamlined our packing routine. Mostly, it was a two week trip to Japan in 2007 which my husband Dale, and then 11-year-old son went on. The packing list was very specific and everything (including host family gifts) had to fit into a standard 29″ rolling suitcase. We didn’t actually own any rolling suitcases, (29″ or otherwise) and I was unsuccessful at scoring one from a thrift store.
So, did I shell out the cash for a somewhat poor quality suitcase that would fit within our stretched budget?
No way! I found suitcases to borrow instead.
I have since scored a high end Sampsonite brand rolling suitcase in a thrift store for only $6. (I checked, and to buy it new would have been $150+.)
What’s the lesson here?
If there’s something you need and aren’t able to find an acceptable used version of, then perhaps you should look to borrow one. (It goes without saying that keeping good care of it is a priority, and that you should look for an opportunity to do a favor for the lender.) Putting off this purchase saved us over $140 had we bought a high end suitcase, and saved us from spending $40 on a poor quality one.
We now have enough nice luggage for most travel situations, but that doesn’t mean we don’t borrow a few things here and there. My ten-year-old wants his own rolling suitcase, but there’s no hurry on that. I’ll just keep an eye out.
Do you feel comfortable borrowing from others, or does it make you feel uneasy? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
July 1, 2009
Where Did All The Old Televisions Go?
When television went all digital did you take it as an opportunity to buy a new plasma screen TV and scrap your old one? I for one am seeing a lot of curbside televisions sporting free signs, yet there don’t seem to be many takers.
Where are all the old TV’s going?
Take Back My TV.com writes that:
Currently, about 85% of the old electronics that we dispose of in the US end up in our landfills each year. But TVs and other electronics don’t belong in our landfills, even if it is still legal in many states to trash old TVs. The toxics in TVs can leach into and contaminate groundwater and surface streams. Plus, there are many metals and other materials in these products which should be recycled, not trashed.
The Electronics Take Back Coalition was featured in a NY Times article yesterday that addressed the crisis of dealing with the obscene numbers of unwanted electronics.
I write on a 2005 Macintosh laptop which looks like a wheelbarrow when compared to the current models. But here’s a little secret . . . it works just fine. And you know something else? The older televisions only needed digital converter boxes to be able to work, and the government provided two $40 vouchers for anyone who asked for one. Our converter boxes cost $5o (minus the $40, bringing the cost down to $10 apiece ) and work great! We now get multiple channels, (mostly crap) and perfect reception.
So go ahead and enjoy the video above, and click on the link at the end to sign a petition to get the television companies to offer recycling programs.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
June 29, 2009
Striving for a Plastic-Free Life
Joining The Compact in 2007 changed my life in a number of ways. I not only began to rethink my purchasing habits, but I also became increasingly aware of the environmental ramifications of my life.
One of the big changes I’ve made in my life is to try and minimize plastic usage for myself and my family. I haven’t gotten rid of all my Rubbermaid and Tupperware yet, but I’ve been nabbing Pyrex storage containers in thrift stores and it’s starting to make a dent.
I’m lucky because I live in an area where I can recycle most plastics. I can put out #2, #5 and anything with a neck in with my weekly garbage pickup. I can also haul all other plastics to a local grocery store which sends it to be made into plastic lumber for decking. It is somewhat horrifying to see how quickly my plastics recycling bins fill up though.
The real solution is to not be using so much plastic in the first place.
Plastic is nasty to manufacture and nasty to recycle. And the shipping of the raw materials around the world is not exactly cute and pretty.
And storing our food in plastic is suspect, health wise.
Changes I have made so far:
- I bring reusable shopping bags with me always. This includes a string bag in my purse which takes up minimal room and is ready at a moment’s notice.
- I bring reusable produce bags for lettuce, tomatoes, etc. (I bought a four-pack at The Dollar Tree store in the automotive section!)
- I bought a stainless steel Tiffin lunch container for my son to use for his school lunches. I have yet to buy a second one for my younger son as they are pricey and he is spacey and loses stuff left and right.
- We use stainless steel water bottles. As much as I covet the trendy Sigg bottles, we make do with the no-name versions I’ve been able to glean from area Goodwill thrift shops.
- In the rare instance that I am in a restaurant, I decline a straw. This may seem like it’s hardly worth it, but I’m kind of the Queen of every little bit counts.
- I always choose the glass leftover containers before pulling out the plastic.
Changes I want to make:
- I want to freecyle all the plastic containers and switch over 100% to glass. Because this would involve an initial significant financial outlay, I have yet to make this leap.
- I want to buy or make reusable fabric sandwich wraps for all of our work/school lunches. Not owning a working sewing machine is a barrier, although my mother is an accomplished seamstress, so I could enlist her help.
- I’m keeping an eye out for a glass juice container, as I hate the plastic ones that we currently use.
- I want to remember to bring a reusable container when buying deli food. (We buy pastrami, smoked turkey and fabulous sausages from a local delicatessen.)
Plastics are killing our wildlife, destroying the oceans and will last beyond our life span countless times over.
Want to know more about how plastics are affecting us and affecting our planet? Make sure to check out Fake Plastic Fish, Beth Terry’s fabulous blog that is all about plastic, all the time.
Are you working to minimize your plastic consumption? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
