SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE (St. James)

SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE: 

100 Ways to Slow Down and Enjoy the Things That Really Matter

Elaine St. James  (Hyperio, 1994)

I am going to take the next week or so to take a look at the book SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE by Elaine St. James.  There are 8 sections filled with suggestions.  I will highlight several ideas in each section that I feel I might realistically need or want to adopt or have already found to be effective!

MONDAY, September 8

One: Household

1.      Leave your shoes at the front door.  I know many cultures practice this concept, which helps maintain a clean house (hence less housekeeping!).  I have noticed guests who slip their shoes off, especially in the winter months, as they arrive. We come in and out the back door….wouldn’t be that hard to do. 

2.      Keep the plants outdoors.  The author discusses all the time we spend on maintaining indoor plants, hard to water in the pot only, fussy to keep up.  I have just a couple, but my mom has so many it takes her an hour a week just to water them!  But, then again, at her age maybe that sort of simplification isn’t necessary!  She enjoys those plants!

3.      Buy in bulk.  A good way to cut costs, but it can be taken to extreme when you don’t keep track of what you have!  We know of one couple living in an RV who bought so much in bulk they couldn’t use their shower because all the paper products were stored there! 

4.      Cut laundering in half.  Washing machines were supposed to cut back on this chore, but instead it seems like our society now wears the clothes for a half day and washes twice as much!  Pants can be worn multiple times!  Maybe even a shirt if you didn’t get all sweaty in it!  We only wash 2 loads a week with an extra load for sheets etc. every 3 weeks or so. 

5.      Use food trays.  An interesting rule some households have….you can take food anywhere as long as it is on a food tray and eaten from the tray.  You can catch a lot of crumbs this way and keep a lot of spills in one spot.  You need trays with an edge to them!

So…where is all this practical advice leading?  I think the concept is that if we free ourselves somewhat from the mundane demands of the ordinary, we will feel more open to contemplate the extraordinary of God and each other.  Seems like a good place to go.

Tuesday, September 9

Two: Lifestyle

1.     Get rid of most ‘toys’.   Toys include excessive recreational equipment that gets used once or twice (stuff that could be shared among friends?), clothes and purses and shoes, etc. etc.  We don’t need all this STUFF and we let it control us.

2.     Turn off the TV.   I should probably change this one to Turn off the Computer for myself!  I can easily have the TV off for days, but my computer??  That’s another story!  One of the suggestions I make to my Stress class is to turn off the technology for a day! 

3.     Don’t answer the phone JUST because it is ringing. This is a tough habit to break!  There is something magical about the phone ringing!  Who is it?  But when it demands our instantaneous time that ring controls us and it shouldn’t.  The cell phone actually is easier than the home phone was….I know messages can be left and I usually can see who is on the other end! 

4.     Gift giving simplified. Why continue to give STUFF that people don’t need?  Last year I found a poster that described the perfect gifts of five hands: handmade, hand-me-down, second-hand, hand-in-hand (time together), helping hands (service).   What a great philosophy!

WEDNESDAY, September 10

Three: Finances

1.     Pay off the mortgage.  What goes along with this?  Don’t buy more house than you need to begin with!  We have been blessed to have paid off a mortgage twice, and now, in early retirement, we have the freedom to leave and travel with clear conscience.  That money allows us to buy gas! 

     Teach your kids fiscal responsibility.  I can’t believe the number of children who either have no idea of their parents expenses OR leave home with a credit card they have never practiced with!  Our boys had checking accounts before high school and a credit card when they turned sixteen.  We had two years of helping them monitor the use of the cards.  Each had to pay late fees once and learned that lesson quickly!  They know how to live on a budget.  They knew their college ‘play money’ was what they earned.  We paid directly to the school.  It was a good system and one that I think has paid off.

THURSDAY, September 11

Four: Your Job

1.      Work where you live and play.  Time spent commuting is often time lost and a stress builder.  We have thoroughly enjoyed the fact that when working we could both walk or bike to work.  Now we’ve retired, we might eventually move somewhere further from town, but the ease of not having a commute or of being tied to picking up kids all the time was liberating for both of us. 

2.     Turn a hobby into a job.  So many people don’t LIKE their job.  With jobs hard to find at times, to simply quit and grab a more desirable one isn’t always easy.  But a place to start is something you already enjoy.  I’m using this as my mantra for extra cash during retirement.  (Sorta….I’m NOT a businesswoman: creating is my passion!)  

FRIDAY, September 12

Five: Your Health

1.     Have a fresh fruit or juice fast day once a week.  This has long been a suggestion of dieticians for a cleansing effect for the body.  Smoothies that are JUST fruit are good, as well as a full variety of fruit, both common and more exotic.  Use Fast Day as a chance to try something different!

2.     Make water your drink of choice.  To say this will simplify things would be an understatement.  Eliminate soda beverages if possible.  Concentrate on drinking a couple quarts of JUST water daily.  What a difference this can make!   (I’m preaching to myself here – I MUST drink more water!)

Go take a walk.  Expensive exercise equipment isn’t necessary, gym membership isn’t mandatory.  Simply go outside and take a walk daily.  Even three times a week for a half hour will provide the aerobic exercise necessary for good health.  How simple can it get?

4.     Learn to laugh. Learn yoga.  The book listed these are two separate suggestions, but one part of the Stress Management class I teach is Laughter Yoga.  Yes, a type of yoga that simply involves laughing.  It is actually VERY therapeutic and quite good for us!  There IS something to the old adage that laughter is the best medicine!  It’s scientifically proven!

1.     is actually VERY therapeutic and quite good for us!  There IS something to the old adage that laughter is the best medicine!  It’s scientifically proven!

SATURDAY, September 13

Six: Your Personal Life

This chapter is filled with nearly 20 suggestions, many good ones.  I’ll try to limit my choices to some of the best…in my eyes!

1.     If it’s not working, stop doing it.  Why spend a lifetime butting your head against impossible situations?  Pull out.  Not everything can be solved. 

2.     Stop trying to change people.   We can only control one person – ourselves.  When we feel the need to change another, ask first if we need to change ourselves or our expectations of that person.  Ask for God’s help. 

3.     Take time for solitude, time to do nothing.   Alone time!  Schedule it.  It can be the daily walk time, personal space time, whenever, but it needs to happen.  Also schedule some regular ‘do nothing’ time when there is no guilt for not producing something.  Read a book, watch the clouds, listen to music.  This is an area I can work on….I let my TO DO list control my desires too often. 

4.     Change your expectations. This doesn't mean LOWER the expectations, but sometimes we have to realize that we are putting undo pressure on ourselves by our expectations.  Alter them!  

5.     Get out of dysfunctional relationships.  (See #1 above!)  Obviously this is harder if we are talking long term relationships such as a spouse or family.  But if they are simply friends who rub you the wrong way, it isn’t a friendship worth nurturing!  Off the top of my head, I can’t see where I would personally pursue this suggestion, but it seems sensible to me.  Limit the time you spend with people and activities that bring you down consistently!  

SUNDAY, September 14

Seven: Hard-Core Simplicity

1.     Get rid of heels, make-up, fancy hair-dos.  OK, so I probably don’t need to mention this one personally.  I am simple in this aspect.  But when I think of the time and money some people spend to make themselves look ‘natural’ I am amazed. 

2.     Quit making the bed.  This was my favorite suggestion in the whole book.  The author quotes Aunt Myrna, “If its good enough to get out of, it’s good enough to get into!”  Home decorators have convinced us we need 10 pillows, dust ruffles, coverlets, etc. on a made bed.  How crazy!  What a time waster!  Rick and I have a multipurpose quilt on our bed.  Last one out pulls it up when they get up.  Bed made.  Done.  

END OF THE BOOK! I've simplified the space in my trailer and already returned it to the used book exchange in the RV park office!  A few more 'Simplify Posters':