Thinking Vs. Doing

Today was a good ‘thinking’ day. If I was grading myself, I’d get an A-.

It was not a good ‘doing’ day. After work I did a whole lot of nothing. My neighbor was interested in seeing some fabric that was stored in the attic, so I went in to find it, planning to return and declutter some more later on. But it was oppressively hot, so I didn’t go back.

Instead of choosing an alternate activity, I didn’t do anything. So I get a D, for degenerate, displeasing, dreadful. All afternoon I felt guilty because I didn’t do anything productive, but it wasn’t a motivational type of guilt. I scheduled a donation pickup for tomorrow, and I have a good amount of stuff ready to go, but after I post this I may try and add a few more things.

A dent, however small, has been made.

A dent, however small, has been made.

So here are today’s deep thoughts:

My first Project 333-related epiphany: I’m not allowing myself to ever buy clothing again unless I try it on. Even though I didn’t come across many things to donate, most of the things I chose to give away were clothes I bought without trying on. Even though everything fit, it didn’t necessarily look good. A total waste of money. I buy a lot of clothes online and very rarely try things on.

Keeping stuff for my kid: There are quite a few books which I bought for Emma before she was born, thinking they would be books we’d read together, making them special to her. And for the most part, she doesn’t care about those books. We have the memories of sharing them, but over the years other books have become special to her. Yesterday we did some work in her room and I let her sort through her books (again) and I’m finally ready to let go of the books she doesn’t want to keep. It’s been an interesting experience to see which books became her favorites.

Clothesline Snags: The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of drying clothes outside when the weather permits. But I don’t know where I’m going to put it. Our yard is small and shady. We’re about to fence in a good sized section of the yard for the dogs, and that area would also be the best place because it gets good sun, but if something falls off the line it may end up in dog mess. I’m sure a solution is out there, I just need to find it.

New storage: I love our new storage piece. I began storing Emma’s art supplies in one of the drawers, and put some books on the shelves. You can see where she’s added some touches and of course no new furniture can come in without almost immediately attracting a pile of papers. Chalk paint is my new favorite thing, so I’m going to paint this soon.

sec2

So for the rest of the week I need to do more and think less. I am list-less at the moment, which is never a good thing. There are so many things to do and not writing them down really decreases the likelihood that they will get done. I need to list Emma’s toy kitchen for sale (at her suggestion) and putting lots of stuff on Freecycle. Those will be first on the list.


9 Responses to Thinking Vs. Doing

  1. One epiphany that came to my mind the other day is that, ironically, even though people think that if there are two people in the household working outside the home, it makes sense that they can afford to buy more stuff. When, in reality, if both parties are working outside the home, they should be buying less stuff, because neither one is home long enough to keep dealing with the stuff.

    Here’s another idea that might help. I know you are an avid reader, as am I. You could make it a rule that for every hour you put into reading, you put at least 15 minutes (that same day), into purging more of your possessions. The reading kind of becomes your reward for the work. And the purging should come before the reward of the reading, or, and we all know it usually works this way, the purging won’t happen that day.

    As far as paperwork, when it comes into our home, it is dealt with immediately. The flyers and junk mail and looked through, over top of the dry garbage can. As one is gone through, it is deposited straight into the garbage. And all horizontal surfaces must remain bare. Bare can be beautiful, lol!

    And, on a final note, keep a list! It can be very dangerous for some people not to keep a list, lol!

    • Lists are definitely my friend! Great ideas, thanks! I definitely do better when I have some kind of little reward, like reading for a little while even though it makes me feel a little like a toddler! Now that I am working again, I find I am starting to spend more because we have the money- but I am glad I realized it so I can stop!

  2. Regarrding line drying, here in Thailand, where I currently live, people have a super solution: they hang stuff directly on hangers,then hang the hangers on racks. The racks come with wheels so you can easily move them under the sun or under a roof, if it starts raining. Once the clothes are dry, people just directly take the clothes in the hangers and put them in their closets. Soooo simple! I’ve never owned a dryer, and never felt the need for one (except maybe during rainy season when things take longer to dry).

  3. I use a drying rack from Ikea for line drying my clothes. It folds down to be easily stored away and I can use it to dry outside or inside (in the winter/rain/trying to avoid pollen falling on my clothes). Maybe this is an option for you!

    • Thanks, that is a great idea! It might be a good option for me because I could put it on our deck where we get sun. I looked on their website and they don’t ship the one I want but there is an Ikea near my mom so I’ll get there one of these days!

  4. I was quite surprised to find that the books I had bought before my baby was born were so much harder to pass on than ones bought after he was born. So much hope and live was poured into those books!
    But I did manage to pass them on.

    As for paper piles, I started decorating with rocks and shells and funny looking sticks. You can’t lay papers on top of a neat arrangement of pebbles. 🙂

    • That’s a fun idea! I really need to have my husband put the mail in one specific place as he’s usually the one who brings in the mail. Then I need to recycle it immediately.

      I am slowly managing to let go of the books too, it’s definitely a process!

Tell me, tell me...