It was Day 3 of our two-week adventure to Hawaii. As a family, we love active vacations making the islands an ideal location. That said, sometimes my son hits a wall and just cannot keep up. Our morning activity included snorkeling at Hanauma Bay where the sharp coral scratched his leg and nearly scared him off forever. I realized that we had crashed into that proverbial wall as I led him back to the beach and tossed the gear aside. I wish I could tell you that I'm really good at recognizing these moments. That I am calm and compassionate. Or that I plan for them and always schedule rest days and early bedtimes. I do not and I am human. :) Thank goodness for grace! Like many moms, I make mistakes and sometimes don't even realize it until we're reduced to tears. My son was excited, overstimulated and jet lagged. We filled every hour of those first three days. After the crash, he and I sat on the beach, snuggled and slowed down. The beauty of the bay encircled us with …
Please Note We Are Not an Overlook Family
Experiences, not stuff. How many times have I uttered this phrase?! It even affects the way I approach aspects of travel like overlooks and photos. Here's what I wrote last year about limiting picture taking: ...a weight lifted when I decided to not take so many photos. I recalled another trip when I had to download, organize, edit and save 1,352 photos from just two weeks of travel. With this memory (nightmare) in mind, I suddenly looked forward to scaling back and enjoying the ride. Roadtrip If you’re new to Simply Enough, our family of three traveled the US in Spring 2017. We homeschooled my son, took time off of work, worked from the road and simply made it work. Life is too short to spend it buying a bunch of stuff. I’ll choose #experiencesnotstuff every time. I know. You have 100 reasons why you could never do this. I beg of you to consider it. Don’t just write it off. Curious how we did it? Read more here. Traveling from Utah to Sedona, Arizona, we stopped at the …
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How to Up Your Game on Recycling
I was chatting with a friend and mentioned that I decline straws in restaurants to keep them out of the trash and often the ocean. But as the discussion continued, we realized how uncertain we were about what items are Trash vs Recycle. What can you recycle? Years ago, I read that placing non-recyclable items in the recycle bin actually does more harm than good. I just couldn’t remember why. So, it inspired this research to up-my-game around recycling. It turns out that plastic bags jam the sorting machine and most pizza boxes are not recyclable. Good to know! Plastic Bags Traditional plastic grocery bags are best recycled at your local grocery store. Plastic bags, when placed in our recycling bin pose a threat to littering your neighborhood and can be a problem for our recycling facilities. Pizza Boxes The grease from a used pizza box prevents it from being recyclable. It can be disposed of with other solid waste. If your pizza box doesn't have any grease on it, …
How to Bring Back the Lost Art of Borrowing from your Neighbor
A sharing economy means to focus on the sharing of underutilized assets, monetized or not, in ways that improve efficiency, sustainability and community. This renewed term describes companies like Lyft and AirBNB. It also defines one of my favorite organizations, The Buy Nothing Project. Giving someone a lift or sharing a spare room are not new concepts, but less common than years past. When I was growing up, a family friend stayed with us. He lived a few hours away, but worked in our town periodically. He had a key to our house and arrived at any hour. No phone call needed. It was our version of the sharing economy to offer the spare bedroom. The further down this living-simply-journey I go, the more I long for times like this. Days when we borrowed a cup of sugar from our neighbor instead of running to the store. Now, it’s rare to find people who know their neighbors well enough to even ask. Stopping to chat by the mailbox is a rarity, not the norm. Cars pull out of garages …
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Decluttering Challenge – Day 31 – Sentimental
We did it! Day 31 of the Simply Enough New Year's Decluttering Challenge is Sentimental Stuff. If you've completed even a portion of the challenges, then a lot of stuff has left your house! Congrats! And you're building new habits for managing clutter in your home. We tackled the kitchen, bathroom, kids art, storage, clothes, shoes, photos and so much more. Many of you have told me that you plan to revisit the challenges. They will be available on the website for several months. I'd love to hear about your progress. Send me an update or a picture. I saved this particular challenge for last because it's one of the hardest areas to downsize and declutter. If you're still working through other spaces, keep going and come back to Sentimental Stuff later. I field questions all the time about sentimental items. "What should I do with Grandma's China?" Memories of loved ones are not tied to the items they left behind. However, we still have trouble letting go. To …
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Decluttering Challenge – Day 29 – Crafts
I had several requests for the topic of Crafts and Craft Rooms. One reader even ask that I NOT suggest California Closets or other expensive storage designs. No problem! If you haven’t read my story, below is an excerpt or you can read the rest HERE. We installed cabinets that neatly hid my clutter. Many of these same cabinets are now empty. I purchased furniture and fixtures that I’d rather donate than dust. In this former life of acquiring stuff, my weekends were spent purchasing, organizing and cleaning. I am now ruthless in my efforts to donate and sell unnecessary items. I’ve learned that the clutter does not add value but in reality it detracts from the life I want to lead. Reading my story, you know that adding more storage is never the answer. That said, crafts create a lot of clutter. So, how do we get a handle on them? In the past, I enjoyed many different crafts including: Sewing Stamping Card Making Jewelry Making …
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