Life in Quarantine

Things have been quiet here on the blog during the pandemic.  Primarily, I guess because things were just grey.  Nothing exciting or innovative to write about.  Everyone at home, TP in the garage stacked to the rafters, and Amazon coming by a few (hundred) times a week.  

As we sweat into the 5th month of mask-wearing and hand sanitizing, I had a few observations.  

I have read in multiple places that thrift stores, Goodwill, and shelters are being inundated with cast-offs as people are purging their closets and garages.  Although, at Cowtown Minimalist we heartily endorse eliminating the clutter, dumping a bunch of bags of your unwanted crap at the backdoor of Goodwill (when they are on skeleton crews due to Covid) is probably not the most responsible thing we can do.   They don't have the staff to sort, price and set all the stuff retrieved from their back porch.  

I suggest you do your quarantine best to garage sale or offer up for free some of your stuff you have outgrown or outloved.   Check out Facebook marketplace or Craigslist and make a dollar and donate the dollar instead.  And when you're done, consider your current wardrobe or kitchen gadget inventory before buying more stuff.  It doesn't go away when you donate it; it just finds a home in another closet (or junkyard).  

With more free time than the spring and summer usually affords us, we found ourselves tidying and repairing things here on the ranch.  Stuff that had been broken or piled up unused became an afternoon activity.  Some string lights that had been out on our dock had fallen down aand hadn't been used in a few summers,  so I cleaned them, replaced the broken bulbs (after finding replacements in a random box in the garage! Score!), and repurposed on our patio.  Amazon brought me a repair kit for our kayaks that hadn't seen water in awhile, and I fixed all the riggings to make seaworthy again.  

Our lives are fairly busy on the regular, but with cancellation after cancellation, we had way more time at home.  I started thinking that our house had become like a storage locker.  A place to keep stuff we needed to use for our lives outside of the house.  Like sports equipment, clothes, and luggage.  A charming 4BR 4BA storage locker.  

We have been trying to actually appreciate the home life we have.  Sitting outside on the patio more, trying out some new cocktail recipes, and using the damn pool that took me 10 years to save for.  With both kids moving out, we had to sort through stuff they wouldn't need in adult lives and organize the house for the empty nest concept.  Plus, the Mayor is working at home for who knows how long, so after my office was commandeered by the Saginaw outpost of his company, I had to relocate to the former bedroom of Boy #1.    

I am sure that all of us have learned many things during our lives in the time of a pandemic.  People are jerks when they are asked/told to wear masks.  People do not know how the constitution works, although they feel compelled to cite passages on social media.  White privilege is real.   I can't stand the way my WFH office mate talks loudly on zoom.  Toilet paper is a limited resource.  Alcohol in Texas can safely be sold to-go, and we all have lived to tell about it.   Lack of travel makes me insufferably cranky.  

I am excited to hear stories of minimizing from friends and readers.  Appreciate whatever homestead you have, and keep it livable.  Now we have all been asked to STAY there more than we usually do, look at it with fresh eyes.  Make it an uncluttered haven.  

And wear your mask without complaints!