Now that I stay at home with my son, I answer to no one but myself. This is a pretty simple time in my life and I know it won’t last long. I decided to take advantage of it by making the goal to simplify my life even more this year.So here’s what I’ve let go of recently…
Self Imposed Schedules – I miss work. I miss the scheduled meetings (gasp) and I miss project deadlines. The grass is always greener, right? But the truth is, it’s kind of nice not having any deadlines right now. I threw out the silly little chart I’d made that said I should scrub toilets on Tuesdays and meal plan on Sundays. Now, I just strive to keep on top of things as best I can and I let go of the rest.
Control/Unrealistic Expectations – I admit it. I’m a bit of a control freak. Having an unpredictable kiddo in the house who didn’t give one iota about my timeline cured me of that right quick. I still struggle to let go of control but man do I breath better when I do.
Physical Clutter – Tanya has already done this but I’m now also in the process or selling, donating, or giving away all of my books. I realized that I don’t need to own books to love them. I give my library a lot of love and it works perfectly for me. Plus it saves me a ton of money. In addition to books, I’m going through my house and getting rid of all the extra crap I don’t need. It feels good.
Digital Clutter – This is a big one. My laptop has hung on for nearly ten years. That’s a lot of random files I’ve got floating around on there. I recently went through everything and started deleting. (Thankfully I am in the habit of regular backups). I purged emails, images, documents, even things like font files I don’t actually use. And then I moved on to my phone and our external hard drive. It’s slowly becoming a manageable amount of digital stuffs again as opposed to a total cluster.
Like I said, I tend to over complicate things at times (and get a little long-winded). I am my own worst enemy and lately it’s felt good to take a fresh approach to simplifying.
What have you let go of lately?
// Comments //
Tina Culbertson
Oh my, digital clutter takes the longest to clean up and i recently did that with an old laptop.
Yes, the library is my friend and I save money checking books out- both the physical books as well as digital for my Kindle. I love reading on the Kindle or Kindle app. Giving away books was hard for me at first but I realize that other people can now enjoy them. Some I gave to friends, some I brought in to work and left on a break room table (free to a good home).
I have a game I play sometimes called Let’s Pretend We’re Moving. When tackling a closet I pull things out and make a decision as it’s in my hands. File it, toss it, donate it….it can be fun.
Sarah's Book Shelves
Digital clutter – that’s definitely something I could stand to get rid of. Maybe I’ll start with my old blog images.