I’m sure the first thing you want to know is how the minimalism journey is coming along. I believe well. Since this is a journey and not a race, small maintained changes today will add up making a significant difference in years to come. While this seems intuitive, I have included a graphic that I hope, will make this point easier to understand. I haven’t played with MS Power Point since I retired so this graphic gave me the opportunity to keep some synaptic connections in my brain active.
This graphic is not drawn to scale but it serves the intended purpose. The circles represent all the things each of us deals with on a daily basis. Think of it as your circles of life. There is a circle for 1 year from now, 5 years from now and 10 years from now. The center of the circles represents today and the angle represents the one thing I wish to change. To keep things simple, let’s say I have 360 things I do routinely in my circle of life (conveniently, it also happens that 360 is the number of degrees in a circle). In other words, I plan to make a 1 degree change. That’s a pretty small change today, but look how it’s magnified (the distance between the lines) at 5 and 10 years. As already mentioned, this is a journey and not a race. Little maintained changes today end up being significant differences in years to come. The “shotgun” approach to change usually fails (many big changes all at once). Good examples of small maintained changes are: putting a little money away for the future adds up over time, losing 2 pounds a week adds up in a years time, and of course, getting rid of a little “stuff” every week is very noticeable after a few months. But the key is not to take your eye off the ultimate goal and maintain the change. This is easier said than done with the hectic lives many of us live. It seems like long term goals have been replaced with things that provide immediate gratification, like shopping. I want it NOW has become the new mantra.
What minimal changes did I make last week you might be wondering? I canceled Netflix after realizing we really weren’t watching it that much. That’s an annual saving of $132. It doesn’t seem like much now but over ten years that saving could buy a couple of 3d printers or more “much needed” yarn.
I also divided my “junk” room into sectors. Instead of tackling the whole room at once, I took one area and worked with it. My system goes like this, I pick up an object, and decide if I really need it or can it be discarded (trash or donation). If I need it, I put it in a categorized container and then I move onto the next item. The category of items being immediately discarded are things that had to do with my old jobs. This includes things like books, papers, knicknacks, etc. Examples of categories of things I am keeping are tools and electronics having to do with my hobbies. According to some past organizational learning, I know I’m not suppose to pick something up more than once, but my idea is to get all my similar things together and then get rid of unnecessary duplication.
Besides “stuff” I am looking at information organization. You would think that being retired there is less to keep up with but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Every day there is a new piece of information we need to find and neither of us remember where we put it. More on this topic in a future post.
I want to leave you this week with something that goes along well with this post. I use to visit the website Zen Habits from time to time and, during one of my morning internet scans this week, I re-acquainted myself with Leo. This link will take you to a list of things that you might want to consider as you ponder this post from your recliner.
Helen says
Thanks for another thought to ponder, Vince. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Vincent Laquidara says
Same to you Helen and thank you for pondering. V
montanaclarks says
Hey Vince–I’ve been giving the “declutter” effort some thought lately and have been reading this book–https://www.amazon.com/Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Decluttering-Organizing/dp/1607747308/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1545574195&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=art+of+decluttering+japanese&psc=1
While I don’t think I will ever talk to my handbag and tell you, “you did such a good job today,'” the author of this book does make some valid points.
Vincent Laquidara says
Thanks for the reference, I will be sure to give it a look, V
Rebecca in SoCal says
It sounded like you had taken a lesson from that book. I haven’t read it, but have seen it referenced many times, and she says to touch each object and make a decision about it. Sounds like what you were doing. Good job!
Jackie K says
When I think of simplification I generally think of it in terms of things. Reading the article you linked to (which has a ton of fantastic resources) I realize that I need to think about where I spend my time as well. Great post!
Tricia says
I definitely like your idea of dividing and conquering our ‘treasures’. I managed to do some organizing this week. One thing that works for me is to put ‘like stuff’ into office supply boxes that I bought at Costco; then, when I have a few spare minutes, I can go through just one box at a time. The boxes are also nice as I can stack them easily in a corner and label them–they look less messy that way. Let’s keep up the journey this week!
Vincent Laquidara says
Stackable boxes are a great idea Tricia. I use them to maximize my floor space when shelving is not available. Just make sure you label them because, after awhile, all boxes tend to look alike. Thanks for sharing, V
Elle says
Minimizing and decluttering are most definitely a long term journey. I don’t recall which book from all my reading in the early 2000s but this principle has stuck with me: 1. Is it useful to me? 2. Do I love it? If those are no, out it goes. After nearly 2 decades, we have far less ‘stuff’ in our home with empty spaces. And it’s still a work in progress. Yea you for beginning the journey.
Linda in NE says
The near-by thrift store has gotten a couple visits from me this past Fall to donate. This last visit I even made it out of there without buying anything! The first trip saw me buying a framed picture for my bathroom, but the next trip saw me donating the picture that had been in there before. Kind of evened out on that trip. 🙂 I’m always amazed at how things just mount up around the house. The basement is making me seriously claustrophobic.
Rebecca in SoCal says
You mentioned organizing information…I have been realizing what a “collector” of digital “things” I have become. I have more bookmarks than I am likely to return to, more pictures than I look at, more recipes clipped…etc. It may not be physical clutter, but it’s “there.”
The Internet has made it SO easy to accumulate “information,” hasn’t it?
Vincent Laquidara says
I am in the same boat Rebecca. Bookmarks are everywhere and sometimes I can’t find things I bookmarked yesterday. I have been thinking at using Tiddlywiki5 and mindmaps to help get things organized. It’s on my to do list for 2019. V
cassews says
Ohhh the bookmarks !!! YES !! I have many of them on the internet, we are in the processing of also decluttering much stuff. Well I should say I am .. Hahahahahahaha ….. I recently gave one of the local clubs a bunch of my platters, holiday plates etc… for their buffets, dinners etc.. I have to start on my material for sewing stash to bring it down which requires some sewing. My yarn stash is down to manageble meaning 1 tub with a lid !!!
I just need him to start on his duplicate and triplicate tools that he has in the garage to make room.
Then we are both starting on my hobby on rockhounding and his hobby of gold panning : getting machines set up and ready to use. So we have to clean out the Swear room aka the sewing room and make it 3 different areas: sewing, rockhounding, and gold panning. I should have most of my stuff put up although I do have 5 sewing machines and 1 serger. One of the machines is for jeans/leather, one for quilting, two for sewing and one for when the granddaughters come over. Then my serger which gets used quite a bit. All but the one for the grands get used rather often.
I want to find one of those picture sticks for the cell phone so I can down load pictures easily from our rockhounding/gold panning trips…
Thanks for your thoughts!!!
Vincent Laquidara says
Cassews I would have a hard time giving up rocks and gold panning too. Since many of my rocks are outside they are out of sight out of mind for the moment. And besides they are still in nature so to speak. V
Susan says
I have realized that I have way more things on my computer than I will ever actually use – patterns downloaded, for instance. I was thinking about doing a wholesale trashing, because the thought of looking at all of them is overwhelming. LOL If I haven’t used it yet, I won’t miss it! I used to do that with fabric all the time. 5 years was my limit to hold on to it, but now I know I have projects unfinished that are older than that! This was an interesting look at organization. I think Ben Franklin would have liked your graph.
Diane Russell says
I too have been decluttering here and there.After 40 odd years in the same house, crap multiplies. Some of the stuff one just has to shake their heads over.
I hope you have a nice Christmas. I wish you were not alone, but sometimes that is the best.
Nelle Coursey says
Ah the best laid plans of people. And stuff happens to mess it up. You never know what will come tomorrow, but it is a good thing you are going through the things and discarding some. Take all you don’t want to Good Samaritan and they will make use of it. They do sell a lot of stuff at their store. What you think is junk may sell there. Check with them and see. Good luck with all your plans.
SusanB says
My Netflix strategy is to subscribe for 1 or 2 months, catch up on everything that interests me, then unsubscribe. About 1.5 years ago, I canceled DirecTV and replaced it with Amazon Prime and occasional months of Netflix or Hulu. Much cheaper.
Edna says
Vince, Thank-you fro sharing these ponderings and the graph. I’m planning some dietary changes and exercise and this is just the kind of encouragement I needed today.