, love it, and want you to own and love it too.
"Simple living is a buzzword in our postmodern culture, and concepts like frugality and going green are trendy. They offer smart moves toward a healthier planet and healthier families. But the basic problem beneath these trends is that they feel like they ask so much of us. These ideas ask us to move into a world that feels impossible for everyday families who still want to participate in Little League, and who don't really want to live off the grid."
Then, a few paragraphs later:
"If we can't do all these things [wear all-organic clothing, eat only from your garden, sell the car], where does that leave us? It seems like we need to completely redefine simple living. Let's take some time to define what realistic simple living looks like for you. There's no need to forsake the suburbs for the farm."
Does this author understand where we live, or what?
(Full disclosure: The author is a super-duper nice person and a friend, so I can vouchsafe for her being a genuine person who does indeed understand where we all live. In my case, quite literally!)
After reading this book, I had a much better grasp of what simple living really is, and felt empowered to declutter the things that don't add peace and joy to our home and schedule. Guess what? Your version of simple living will be different than mine. It's not about how crunchy you are. You can still wear mascara and shave your legs. You don't have to abandon your house for a yurt. It's about, as Tsh says, "living holistically within your life's purpose" -- where your choices bear witness to who you really are, and who you want to be.
Want a copy for yourself? Just leave a comment between now and Sunday, April 10, at 11:59 p.m., and tell me this: What's the most cluttered place in your house right now?
I'll start: My bonus room, which is accumulating detritus for our upcoming YARD SALE (inspired by the book). But let me assure you, there are plenty of close seconds around here. See also: Bedroom -- boy.
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43 comments:
My bedroom (which I share w/ my hubby of course), it just seems like everything I don't want the kids getting into or I'm not ready to get rid of gets placed in our bedroom.
This is fun Hannah! I'm excited! :D
The most cluttered place in our home right now is the office. Pretty much anything that we have that we can't reuse, give away, or have the heart to throw away, goes into one of several categorized piles. The piles are so overwhelming, neither Cy or I can get moving to go through those piles and decide what we need to keep and where to put it.
My office desk! Just can't seem to get it under control.
Ack! My desk is overflowing!!! I need to heap stuff aside just so I can work on my laptop :-(
Right now it is my dresser - which is holding everything I come across that I need to take on our next trip in 2 weeks. I have a leaning tower of clothes, gifts and misc random stuff.
The book sounds lovely, pick me pick me!
I can't resist! Our most cluttered part of the "house" is our bedroom, with our bedroom closet running a close second. What is really sad is that we have a storage unit! I'm convinced I no longer need everything in that unit, much less some of the things in our living space. I plan to purchase this book, even if I don't win the draw. Simpler living is something that's appealed to me for quite some time, and I would love to hear more of your thoughts/experiences on this! Sorry for the double-post ... i was logged in under Jim earlier. Am trying to erase that one now!
This one's easy - my office!
Though the bikes are hung on a double-stand, all sorts of cycling accessories are piled up on the floor or against the wall. Next to that pile is an overflowing tub of camping gear and DIY materials. I've got bolts of fabrics piled up in another corner of the room, shored up on the floor by the industrial sewing machine and heavier tools. A test bench power supply and batteries litter another corner of the room.
I think what I need is not a book but a garage :-)
I have to say our bedroom. We have a path to the closet and either side of the bed. It collects all of the misc. things so the rest of the house presents nicely. This book excites me!
I've been wanting to read this! I love Tsh's blog.
The most cluttered place in our house is a tie between our basement and my office. I would cast the tiebreaker vote to my office, though, since it gets a lot of daily use. It is sorely in need of a good re-organizing/tidying but that's the sort of thing I look forward to doing so I'm saving it as a reward for myself once I finish revising my book.
It has to be our garage. We were able to fit two cars when we first moved, but that lasted exactly 6 days. Now we swing between being able to fit one car or spending a Saturday making it possible to fit said car.
Second would be my desk. After cleaning my desk one weekend, I made a note to 'CLEAN DESK' every evening. I finally got rid of the note.
I have to admit, since I got divorced, inherited my grandson (who is now 6) and started working full time nights as an RN, my entire house is a disaster zone. I can barely walk through my bedroom. don't invite anyone over due to the chaos!
Our toyroom. Got hit with the spring cleaning bug and am trying to weed through toys we've outgrown and figure out how we can better organize the things we want to keep. Can't see the carpet. But we're getting there.
I would love to kick my feet up on the couch and read this book and pretend this mess doesn't exist for a few days! :)
I want this! I could win if it was a contest on most cluttered house...maybe. I try to keep the common areas clutter free to give the "impression" that we are oh so neat and tidy, but just PLEASE don't go in the garage where we can't even park our car. Don't go in the office for sure...bills, papers, whatever should be sorted through...and don't open the cabinet desk area that closes up conveniently hiding the myriads of random papers (some of them artwork and worksheets from my preschooler)...and don't look under the bed...and don't...you get the picture. We need HELP! ;)
My closet storage area. It's where I crammed all our clutter when we put our house on the market. Had to borrow a sleeping bag for my daughter's sleepover because I couldn't get far enough into the storage area to get ours. A side bonus, however, is that the rest of the house looks great. Not even thinking about what I will do when moving time comes.
Every goldarn dadgum inch of this crazy, overly-lived-in nut house. Especially after an afternoon of having friends over essentially unsupervised while I did yard work instead of housework. But oh, wait. It always looks like that. Sigh.
The MOST cluttered area is my homeschool corner (and yes, it is rendered mostly useless because of this)!! Wah, wah, WAAAHH! But I still have bins and piles in every nook and cranny that grow like MUSHROOMS in spite of much I've decluttered our tiny home. Sniff....
(Of course, if you would just help me win some TIME I might be able to get more done!)
How fun! :) I love Tsh's blog. It's approachable. The worst area in our house is my closet. At this point I try to keep the more public spaces organized or at least picked up and I shove everything that doesn't have a home in my closet. Everything. It's even digressed to the point that I'm housing pantry overflow. I only open the closet doors when I'm alone in the room for fear of what will jump out and so my husband doesn't have a heart attack at the sight of my mess. We have separate closets. Since a helpful piece of furniture has been nixed I need help.
My desk. Lots of things to do and I don´t get to it.
Thanks for the chance to win.
You know Simple Mom??? How cool. I've learned a lot from her. We are getting ready to move, so a lot of areas in our house are getting cleaned out. We have a yard sale pile going also. Right now, the most cluttered places are the bins and laundry baskets I have full of the "dregs" from thoroughly cleaning up an area or room. I can hardly bring myself to go through them... Maybe this book will help!! =)
This book sounds very inspiring Hannah. I am curious to know how this book helped you!!! Well, without further adieu, our most clutter filled area is the husband's desk :(
I just happened on your blog today and started looking around. I have really been struggling with the definition of "simple living" and how to apply that to my comfortable lifestyle in the suburbs. I desperately want to be a stay at home mother, but trying to figure out how to scale down, when we already feel scaled down, but know that we really could do more, has been difficult!!
Anyway.. my most cluttered room right now is.. my 8 month old's bedroom-particularly his closet... too small clothes, too big clothes, extra blankets, toys... everything is shoved in there!
Beautiful blog.. thank you for sharing your life!
Will's home office. Hands down!
I must admit that our master closet is looking pretty bad these days, too. That one will be my Spring Break project next week.
My bedroom is the most cluttered, unfortunately! Not peaceful, not relaxing.
I'm sure it's probably one of the kids' rooms, but since I refuse to look in there, I can't say with a certainty.
So, from where I'm sitting, it's the kitchen because our fridge decided to quit working last night. That means it's sitting in the floor, waiting to be replaced and hauled away tomorrow and everything that was stuck to it with magnets or sitting on top of it is now piled on my counters.
Right now the msot cluttered place is my kitchen and walk in pantry. It serves as a place for crafts, food, dishes and much more. It's a big mess and I need so much help!
Ugh! By far, my spare room. Ever since my little boy was born 5 months ago, it's become the "dumping ground" for all extras when people randomly show up.
My bedroom. The last place I clean, the first place I dump homeless items.
My sewing room, definitely. And also our living room, the toys, the papers, the stuff that hasn't found a permanent home yet.
Thanks for the opportunity to win!
Uh, yes please! The most cluttered area wos be my brain., or if you want a room in my house it would be my " master" bedroom... where I sleep with my 4 year old, do homeschooling read alouds, blog, and run a small sewing business, and is the absurd last/never cleaned place in my house!!
My dining room table. I know. It's not a room. But in our house, it's a magnet for clutter. In fact, we've been know to shove everything to one end so that we can sit down to dinner!
My closet. I need to do some wardrobe/ dresser cleaning out!
Our office! Grrrr such a catch-all!! Love the looks of that book. Thanks!
Right now I would have to say our home office is the most cluttered. Mainly because it's where we've placed many of the unpacked boxes from our move a couple weeks ago. I would absolutely love to have this book as I unpack and continue to simplify our lives!
The most cluttered place in our house is our basement. Whenever we have friends over or family visit we throw everything that needs to be "sorted" or "put away" down in the basement. I dread going through it all!
I would have to say the most cluttered room is our garage. It's my husband's "man cave" that stores both our vehicles, his many tools, the kids' outdoor toys, and other things. No matter how many times he tries to organize garage, I seem to give him more things from the house to store in it, making more clutter for him. I try so hard to organize the house and keep it clutter-free that the garage gets neglected.
My bedroom! Help! It's a quick dump-all and lacks all things soothing and restful. If you looked up heap'o crap in the dictionary, there would be a picture of my room there!
Garage! Dumping ground royal! Ugh!!
My most cluttered room right now is my family/office room. I have a pile of scrapbook pages and albums to organize and a pile of papers, file organizers waiting for me to classify. ahhhhrrr Thanks for the opportunity to win this book!!!!
I don't even know how to choose one room. After moving across the country last year, I managed to move all of our clutter with us. As a stay-at-home mom of two kids there never seems to be time to go through any of it. I still haven't organized the master closet. Most cabinets are full of junk because I stash so that the house doesn't look cluttered. And don't even get me started on the garage and basement. I am a clutter nightmare! I can't throw things away. I buy too much junk. I need help!
Oh my, the office is definitely the most cluttered right now. The laundry room and kitchen are a close second!
Thank you for this opportunity!
My office nook. It is in a convenient location, but out of direct eye sight, so it becomes a dumping ground for everything that needs action but is being put off for a later time.
Pick a closet. Any closet. Or our kitchen table.
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