Reset to Zero

All this chatter about minimalism and de-crapifying may be leading you to say, "K.  I did that. All my crap's thrown out.  Livin' in a box.  Now what."  Today we will talk about de-cluttering your brain and resetting to zero.   

I saw a cartoon once with two panels:  one had a mom getting ready for bed.  She set the coffee maker, put the cat out, signed permission slips and placed them tidily in backpacks, laid out her clothes for the morning, took off her make up, and finally fell into bed.   In the other panel, the dad put himself in the bed.  Done.  

I realize the gender bias there, but it does seem to be pretty accurate. And of course, all this takes place AFTER the bedtime kid circus and its many encores. This is just the mom duty call sheet.  Today, I want to ask you to Reset to Zero.

Reset to Zero isn't MY construct.  I read about it on a post from exilelifestyle.com and I loved it.  The basic idea is this:  once a day, or maybe once a week you "reset to zero".  This includes several ideas.  Your email inbox to with NO messages. I know.  You're saying "Wha??  How???" Place them in appropriate folders if you cannot address the issue right now.  Make a category and move that message over.  Boom.  You're at zero.  

Another idea, of which I am very fond, is the nighttime routine to reset to zero.  For me this includes no dishes in the sink.  The dishwasher is set to run overnight, and the clean dishes from today are all in their respective drawers and shelves.   I set out cereal bowls, spoons and boxes for the morning repast.  The coffee maker is loaded, and my cup is waiting for the magical liquid breath of life to be deposited at the press of a button.  

I put away the clean laundry so no annoying wrinkled up balls of cotton and spandex are taunting me.  The dogs are in their crates, and food and water rest in their bowls ready for the morning.  My "mommy desk" is cleared of bills and receipts, and paperwork has a home in the file cabinet, my purse, or kids' backpacks.  

Lastly, I tidy my bathroom counter after my evening's ablutions.  No errant jewelry or moisturizers abound.  Everything in a drawer or its cubby.  I keep my reading glasses and a book next to my bed, phone on the charger (college boy is away so I need constant contact!), and set the alarm.  Reset.  

I don't watch TV after resetting.  Hubby not a huge fan of the TV in the bedroom at all, so I try to keep that off after my nighttime binge of House of Cards.  As the exilelifestyle.com guy says, this is sort of a minimalism one-off.  You don't have to throw anything away or do without to reset to zero, but it is a nice way to close your day and clear your head.   

I highly recommend you give it a whirl.  I realize it takes some pre-planning and effort.  I also realize your housemates may not be totally on board with 9 pm dish-doing.  Your mornings will be calmer and your nights likely more restful, knowing you're reset and cleaned up. Who doesn't want more calm and more rest?

Happy End of February, and let me know how your reset to zero is going! 
I love to hear your comments and stories.  Contact me at cowtownminimalist@gmail.com

Having versus Doing: Just Be There!

Lately, I have been pondering the psychology behind WHY we want to keep stuff.  Why does GETting things seems more desirable than DOing things?  What is hard to let go, give away, and live simply?  There's not a clear cut answer to that query. We all have our own story.  For example, my father-in-law grew up in the Depression, therefore possessions mark a sign of prosperity and abundance, and hellfire we ain't giving that up!  Not even the pool cover that hasn't seen a drop of chlorinated water since 1985. No sir!

For some of us with childhoods where our toy rations were meager, or our clothing elicited sneers and disdain from the popular crowd, the ability to buy what we wanted, even on credit, was a wicked temptress.  A closet full of seasons of outfits gives us a satisfaction soaked  "so there!"  But does that satisfaction last?  No. It does not. 

Because there is always someone who has more or better, and honestly, this is just our PERCEPTION of what is out there. A race we cannot ever win. The participants are innumerable and unidentifiable. Quit the race. Strive for something else to drench you in personal satisfaction. 

What should I strive for, you ask?  In two words -- mindfulness and experience.  Now these very nebulous and seemingly out of reach nouns may have many meanings to you. They differ for each of us.  But let me offer up an example for your consumption. 

This weekend we went to see our college boy in his college town to watch college basketball. The combination of those three college things is a formula for joy. Notice no material items have wandered into the picture. We stayed in my favorite boutique hotel, which I guess has "stuff" in it, but I look at that as more of a museum visit. Admire, maybe take ONE of their high-end brand hand lotions home, and depart. 

We got to witness two great things: one, our boy in a sea of excitement with thousands of other students. Watching a sport he loves to play and is knowledgable about, combined with the collective euphoria of a crowd experiencing a hard fought victory. Second, our alma mater on national television beating a historically awesome basketball powerhouse.  High fiving people you don't know. The deafening chants that cause vocal strain in all 12,000 spectators. I challenge you, if you haven't experience that kind of group fervor and thrill, to find it. Somewhere. 

It may not be a sporting event. It may be at a Broadway show where the ovation at the end brings unforseen emotion. It may be a graduation ceremony where the struggles to finish evaporate as the success washes in like a roaring tide. Regardless of setting, it is an experience. It is a feeling. You won't forget it. You'll recount the story to yourself and others again and again; the story always gets better with age anyway. And that story takes up no space. Except in your heart and mind, and that space is infinite. 

That day, reveling in victory and the smug happiness that we were THERE, made mindfulness a clearer picture to me. I didn't worry about facebook, what anyone else was doing (other than making sure college boy's girlfriend knew where he was sitting in the crowd to catch him on TV), or what would happen next week at work. All that was going on was right now: a great game, my family close by, and a memory bank deposit. Clothing, our car brand, or the size of our house were all immaterial. How freeing. 

This week, plan to make a memory bank deposit. And pack up your bags for 40 Bags in 40 Days. How is that progressing for you?  Remember, a drawer counts!  One cabinet where you eliminate the 50 plastic storage containers with/without lids is a success!  I guarantee you that a storage container will never give you comraderie, euphoria or mindfulness. Ever. 

Happy experiences to you this week!  Embrace the joy, not the crap. 

40 Bags in 40 Days Year 2!

Welcome back to the season of decluttering and paring down!  Here at Cowtown Minimalist, we pay homage to whitehouseblackshutters.com's 40 Bags in 40 Days decrapifying challenge.  It starts in alignment with the Christian lenten season, but by all means, I am open to anyone's faith or lack thereof to embrace this challenge.  The universe cares not where your faith lies, nor do I.  We want you to be at peace and organized.  

There is no need to feel burdened or pressured, worried about getting an ACTUAL bag done each day.  For me, I started slow, with a drawer.  The one in the bathroom.  With 10 lipsticks I don't wear and a few little lotion bottles I lifted from our Ritz-Carlton stay.   I pulled everything out, wiped down the inside, tossed the dried up or junky stuff, and proudly looked at my organized clean drawer.   Tomorrow, I will find another. 

The great thing abut 40 bags in 40 days is you CAN start small. By Easter, you may be hiring a dump truck to come and haul off your garage.  I will applaud you either way.  It is all a journey.  The website above even has a little chart you can download and write down each day's decluttering.  Maybe give yourself a gold star?  

Good luck, and I will be checking in with you along the way.  I have been incorporating a new philosophy described as "Reset to Zero" which I will chat more about soon.  Happy DeCrapifying!

Does Your Clutter Have a Theme?

Hell yes, mine does.   And after wandering the aisles at Hobby Lobby, I had an epiphany.  My crap is too themed.  I quickly pondered WWJD... which, of course, is What Would Joanna Do?  No disrespect meant to Jesus' decorating prowess, but I was referring to my muse, Joanna Gaines from HGTV's "Fixer Upper".  I realized that Joanna would NEVER push themes so hard!  Rooms need to flow!  Me?  No flow.  

My master bath had a "Hollywood" theme, replete with a picture of a girlfriend and me at the Hollywood sign in California.  Jump to the study, which is decorated in our alma mater's colors and knick knacks, and the walls are adorned with our sheepskins.  On to the kids' rooms, which of COURSE have themes.  Which they have outgrown.  Mine even have murals which cover an entire wall.  

Onward to the guest bath.  Cowboy.  Pictures, Hubby's first pair of boots, and a few frames with the kids in their hats and western get-ups.  In my defense, we do live on a ranch, so I felt obliged to at least have some ranch-y decor somewhere.  Even though it's in the bathroom. But I digress.  

My laundry room has a theme.  And it is NOT, in fact, laundry!  Hobby Lobby and its ilk has lots of cute laundry themed clutter, but I don't own it.  This is the room relegated to my vintage trailer theme.  I am a huge vintage glamper fan, and I have lots of pictures and little trailer decor scattered about my 8x8 foot washing haven.  

And I call myself a minimalist. Oops.  I think my membership card is about to be shredded and neatly disposed of.  

Back I went to channeling Joanna.  I have never seen theme-a-thon in the works in her fixer uppers.  She doesn't seem to ever have pictures sitting around except on the walls.  I have almost NO walls, so that's not a viable option for me.  But you should consider that. Minimally.   

I did some careful tossing, picture frame removal, and theme decamping (pun intended). I dismantled the entire Hollywood themed master bath, and I closeted some of the knick knacks I had purchased over the years JUST because "this would look cute in my (random room location)".  I am doing the eye roll at myself right now.  

I tend to "closet" things before I toss/donate for about a month.  If they hadn't crossed my mind or called out to me from the closet, they have to go.  Into the Goodwill pile, then to the trunk of my car to find their new home.  

I hope my True Confessions of my theme hoarding will help you see that your local decor store's siren song of bumble bee kitchen decor should be ignored.   Even when you have that 40% off coupon.  Resist your clutter themes!