New Year, New Start!

This upcoming year starts on a Monday!  How much of a clean slate is that?  Most of us won't be working that day, unless you're retail, hospitality, first responder, or hospital based...  Ok, many of us will be working.

Thank you to all of you who forego the NYE debauchery to be at work and take care of the rest of us.

Whether you're working or dancing in the streets, the new year offers a new start and a clean slate on which to write your minimalist manifesto.  It may be short, like I am going to go through my closet and send a bag off for donation.  It may be quite long, having collected a list of recommendations from various websites, blogs, and texts.

Wherever YOU want it to begin, it should begin there.  Minimalism is far from one size fits all.  I think it's great that a new year begins after Christmas, since most of us have a haul of extra stuff in our homes and likely decorations to organize and store for another year.  But not everyone wants to spend the week between Christmas and New Year's purging and/or relocating to a tiny house (although I have two friends doing EXACTLY that over the holidays).

We spend a lot of tsk-tsk time snarking at our fellow man and their New Year's resolutions.  The gym is packed, we're all trying to eat right after a month of gluttony, and everyone vows to call their mom more often.  So we don't all keep those new resolves.  So we decide that gym is smelly and boring by Martin Luther King Day.  So what?  At least we started somewhere.  Don't beat yourself up (or anyone else, for that matter) if your resolutions need tweaking in February.

Maybe if we can be a little vague, we can make some goals and keep them.  Most years (not every year because then if I missed one, I'd feel all crappy and let down), I make a list of goals for the new year. Not resolutions really, because resolutions focus on shit I am NOT doing right, and that's a super downer.  In July, I try to do a re-eval and see if I am meeting any goals or if I need to modify.  Then in December, I try to find the notebook I wrote them down in, look for a new page, and start again.  Self-improvement should not be so negative.  Can you imagine of your employer spent your annual review discussing all the things you should improve on in the coming year and didn't talk about goals met and successes?

Here are some minimalist pro-tips for a Monday in January that happens to be the first day of the year:

• Eat more simply.  You probably ate and drank a bunch of crap in November and December and that's in the past now.  Be conscious of the fuel you put in your tank, and be kind to your body so it will hang around until you're ninety. 
• This also means exercise.  Don't set some unattainable goal of four times a week at the gym, and then feel like crap because you only went twice.  Go walk in your neighborhood wearing the new scarf Grandma made you.  Practice some mindfulness while you burn a calorie or two.  Try a yoga class.  
• Decide on a personal growth goal.  This maybe ending a shitty relationship.  It may be graduate school. It may be horseback riding (me the overachiever is trying all three of these things this year and if I only accomplish one, still yay me!).
• Minimize somewhere.  Anywhere.  Use The Minimalists' 20/20 rule to rid your home of excess stuff that you might need "just-in-case".  If it can be replaced for < 20 dollars within 20 minutes of your home, it can go.  I'm not trying to encourage you to spend carelessly here, just saying you probably won't need that item and can replace if necessary.  

And that's plenty of tips for next Monday!  Enjoy the New Year and its blessings, friends.  Celebrate with people you like, and toast to your 2017 successes, because they are there.  Find them and relish them.  Happy New Year!

Yes, Virginia, Minimalists Still Celebrate Christmas

I am often asked out here in minimalist land if we still pull out all the stops and celebrate Christmas?  Do we have lots of decor and gift buying?  The answer to those queries is: well, sorta.

Many who know me or who kindly read my blog know my question/answer determiner is "does it add value to my life?"  I can tell you 200 Santa figurines, regardless of how valuable or who might have given them to me, do not add value to my holiday life.  It's just a mound of clutter to be displayed after Thanksgiving and boxed up at the new year.  

I have collected Hallmark ornaments for >20 years.  In recent years, Hallmark has produced way more each season than they did when I started.  Now, I buy only one a year, the NFL football guy.  I was a bit tardy in picking up Cam Newton, the 2017 pick, at the Hallmark store this year.  Multiple reprimands came from my children when they couldn't find this year's guy in the tree.  

Each one of the football great ornaments adds value to our lives.  My husband and boys comment on their post NFL successes, that Michael Vick still doesn't get to hang on our tree, and how Hallmark only picked Michael Oher because of the movie "The Blind Side", one of their mother's favorites.   

Last year I took the plunge and THREW AWAY each ornament's respective box.  "They won't hold their value!" they said.  "How will you know what you have?" they cried.  When I say "they", I mean my friends and readers who were aghast I would defile a collection by tossing the boxes in which they came.  THIS year, we put the ornaments on the tree in half the time, which indeed added value to my life.  My sports loving guys know who each player is, so no need to keep identifying boxes.  

I was made aware last year that some friends actually have fewer Christmas decoration boxes than I, so I made it a mini-mission to decreased the swell by one each year for the next few years. It's never a competition, but I realized I must walk the walk better if I continue to espouse minimalism. 

With regard to gifts, sure, we exchange.  I received a gift from a dear friend this year right before we broke for the holidays.  It was a book she had read and knew I would love, so she got me a copy.  Often, when people receive a gift and are unprepared with a reciprocating gift, the first thing they exclaim is "but I don't have anything for you!!"  I wonder how that makes the gift-giver feel?  Hey, I found this perfect thing for you but now you have made it uncomfortable by making the situation about equal exchange and not this perfect thing?!

I opened the book, had heard of it and knew I would love it as well, tried to accept graciously and commended my friend for her excellent choice!  It was a wonderful way to receive because the gift was selected without obligation.  It's my favorite way to be gifted.  

My kids are big now, and both said to me they didn't really need anything for Christmas, but they are human and consumers, so came up with a few desires.   I still enjoy watching them open gifts and know that they are happy with their hobbies or their wardrobes.  But clamoring on Black Friday for the toy of the year?  Glad that is done and over.  

The last two years we took a family trip leaving Christmas Day.  The kids don't care about a big meal, and Hubby would rather board a plane than worry about mashed potatoes.  Travel is easy on Christmas Day and we are still full of Christmas spirit, thanking all the folks at the airport for working so we can travel!  

Here are my minimalist pro-tips for a happy and meaningful holiday:

• Don't stress over traditions.  Yes, I know you ALWAYS go ice skating at that same place, but this year, Junior has the flu and nobody wants to leave the house when the weather's bad. So skip it.  Christmas will still come.  
• Big meals are overrated.  Order some Chinese take out, or have everyone bring appetizer and call it a night.  It's about the people, not perfection.
• We're adults.  Don't force us into spending into debt to buy gifts for a zillion people on the list.  Nieces and nephews don't need more volume just because they are under 13.   Maybe offer up some cash to contribute to a pricier big gift your brother couldn't afford for his kid this year.  Or don't.  Because Christmas will still come! 
• Ignore everyone's resplendent tree pics on Insta that are overflowing with packages.  They aren't better parents than you.  You're good who and what you are.  Ask your kids what they got for Christmas last year.  Can they recall more than one thing?  Nope.  And they got a lot.  

Enjoy the holiday for what it is and what is has meant to you in your life.  Make a few goals for the new year, but reflect in what you did this year that was great. Don't rush to the store on December 26 to buy more stuff you thought you wanted, or storage boxes for the ever present excess in your home.   Just enjoy the lights and the season.  It's free and needs no storage. 

Merry Christmas, Minimalist friends!
 

Living with a Little Less than I Planned

Happy holiday season, Minimalist friends!  I hope you were thankful during your November gatherings and are continuing to revel in the giving season.  We experienced an irritating black mark on our otherwise merry December this week...

On the weekend, we stopped to visit the MIL at her assisted living home before an evening out.  I placed (stupidly, I realize) my purse under the seat of Hubby's truck, and we visited for an hour.  Upon returning to the car, we found the driver's side window smashed and my purse gone.  Of course, with credit cards, ID, and the cash that was atypically in my wallet!  For some reason, the smash-and-grabbers missed Hubby's phone and wallet in the console, but did abscond with my stuff.  My phone was fortunately with me.

We were angry and violated, and trudged home in defeat to cancel credit cards and clean out glass.  The thieves had only had a chance to hit Redbox to steal some movies, so at least they didn't get a holiday spree on Chase bank and me.  I made a list of companies to call and auto-pays to change, all the while bitter someone had done something so mean, obviously NOT what they were taught in Sunday school.

The stolen purse was one that Hubby had bought me in Vegas with winnings from a guys' trip.  Not irreplaceable, but expensive and bought with love.

After I stewed overnight, I realized my thought process wasn't super minimalist.  Yes, inconvenience thrust upon me by a thief was a pisser.  Yes, I had to go get a new wallet since I don't keep lots of spares in the house.  But should I let this derail my holiday spirit?  Was I putting too much stock in the physical objects of a car window and a Burberry cross-body bag?  Perhaps.

Then, karma gave me a call.

A few months ago, my son and his friends found an ID somewhere at a bar in College Town USA.  I saw it on the table at their house and asked whose it was, and they said "oh we found it, I don't know her". I said you HAVE to return it; she is probably really upset to have lost it!

Driving home that same day from his house, I dropped MY driver's license at a gas station 70 miles from home. When I realized it the next day, I phoned the popular gas station/roadside stop and just inquired if MAYBE someone found it?  And you know what?  Someone had and turned it in.  They mailed it back to me, and I told my son to immediately mail back the ID they had found.

He didn't.  He brought it home to me, so I could mail it back and complete the circle.  I did.

Back to the Christmas theft here.  Two days after we cancelled cards and mourned some cash, I got a call on the home voice mail (still have a land line!).  It was an employee at a vet clinic 8 miles from the theft location who had found my driver's license in a parking lot and looked up my number to call.  If I wanted it back, it was at their front desk!

What??  I had been at work, so hadn't had the pleasure of a DMV visit yet, and that was on my to-do list for the very next day!  I was also happy no one was using my ID at various stores opening credit accounts.  I also received a Facebook message from the employee saying "You don't know me, but I found your ID and you can come get it!"

So I did.  I packed up a little Christmas basket for this young single dad who had taken moments out of his life to give me a hand.  I dropped it off at the vet clinic, happily picked up my license, and wished the whole office a great day.  

People are good.  Stuff doesn't matter (although identification sorta matters).  Merry Christmas.