Monday's Simplicity

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Albert Einstein

Little did I know that when I started going through and paring down, that while one area got cleaner, another got messier. Behold my giant recycling pile that gets bigger and bigger! It's in the front stairway so that every time I leave the house, I can grab one thing (or more) and bring in out with me. I admit, the ever growing pile has stressed me out a little. But my goal is to get rid of one thing a day, not to get rid of everything the first week in January. I need to chill.

This week, I thought I would attack the storage area and clean and organize like a pro. Only, when I started, I got completely overwhelmed. My storage space is my catch all. Remember that episode of Friends where Monica opens the closet by the bathroom? That's the storage area. I pulled out a few empty boxes and added them to the pile. Then I decided that this week, I would clean out the baskets under the coffee table instead.

Jan 6: In work, we have plastic utensils in the cafeteria. I keep one set in my cabinet and use them over and over. Most of the time. Every once in a while, I grab another set and bring my first set home to give it a super-duper cleaning instead of the rinse with hand soap and napkins at work. However, I sometimes forget to bring them back in. Over the course of 2 1/2 years, I've built up quite a collection of plastic utensils at home. They're washed, they're clean, they're perfectly usable. So today, I brought the fork collection into work and stuck em in the bin in the cafeteria. I also brought the plastic containers from all the tossed food and recycled those, too.

Jan 7: Today, I brought in the spoons and the cardboard from the kitchen to recycle.

Jan 8: Today, I was planning on bringing in more utensils, but I was sick and didn't go to work. Instead, I did some laundry when I finally got out of bed around 2:30 pm. Laundry day, one load equals one article of clothing to donate. A very unbecoming lavender thermal shirt.

Jan 9: Venturing out of the house into the cold, I brought a few things with me. I had a cute little decorative plant that I picked up around Halloween. I don't think it was meant to survive much past Halloween. I tried to keep it alive, but it's been sitting like a dried up skeleton on the shelf. That plant came along with the composting and got dumped in the side yard.

Jan 10: Brought a few magazines from the coffee table baskets to the gym.

Jan 11: My brother and sister in law were visiting my parents today. I brought one of the books I read last month along and gave it to my sister in law to read. I brought a couple more magazines to the gym, as well.

Jan 12: Back to work today. I brought in the knives as well as the aluminum from the kitchen to the recycling bin. 2 more magazines to the gym.

And so it goes...sometimes in the effort to simplify things get just a bit more complex for the time being. And sometimes to accomplish a goal, you have to put up with a bit of tedium. Ah, yes. By the end of January, my front stairway WILL be clean again!!