Simplify: Mission One

Even the word simplify appeals to me. I like the way it sounds. My entire body relaxes at the mere thought of simplicity. At the thought of something simple I think cotton sheets on a summer day, light and breezy.  Simplicity is a buzz word right now. You can go into just about any store with home decorations and find things that say, "Simplify".  And, people are buying those up. In my own neighborhood two people have mailboxes that have that word painted onto them with flowers right next to the little red flag. Yet, on trash day the gigantic bins piled high with garbage seem a stark contrast to that very message. And it is here that I wonder if we are truly in a season of simplification in our lives than do we need another sign to hang on the wall that says "simplify"? Isn't that in all actuallity just one more soldier on the Stuff side fighting against us with wasting our energy and time and finances...and for that matter natural resources?  

These past few years as my family has grown and there are more tummies to fill, books to read, adventures to embark on, and well.....laundry to do I have really started to reconsider the word simplify.  And, I do not mean buying a sign and hanging it on my wall. I mean....actually simplifying with a purpose.

One of the questions that Jason and I asked ourselves by candle light on New Years Eve from these questions is this, "What are some of your biggest time wasters?"  The answers to this question for me were all around in the form of a unkempt house that I labor daily trying to upkeep. The funny thing is I hardly ever get to the actual cleaning. Can't tell the last time my floors were mopped or the book case dusted. My time is spent in mere upkeep of STUFF.....the organizing of it, the picking it up off of the floor, the cleaning it, the justifying it, the feeling burdened by it, and all the other its that come with stuff.

It makes me wonder perhaps if I could do so many of those beautiful things my soul craves each day if perhaps the stuff were, well, gone.

Dishes, one of my time wasters.  Spending time in my kitchen is not the problem, it one of my favorite rooms. Baking, cooking, teaching, simply being in the kitchen as bread bakes and the kids spill flour ont the counter and write pictures with their fingers.  The kitchen is home to me. Yet, the time I spend in the kitchen is not mostly laboring over the meals and teaching math to the boys through measurment it is doing all of those dog-gone dishes~ three times and sometimes more each day! My family fills a dishwasher every single day and the dishes are non stop.  I expressed this to Jason, this time waster that consumes my energy and takes time I could be resting, playing, loving, serving, and drowns it in a hundred cups and bowls and endless spoons.

He said, in that every so calm and practical way that a man can say things, "What if we just had one set of dishes for each of us?" My eye brows went up, with hope and wonder.

One Cup
One Bowl
One Plate
One Fork
One Knife
One Spoon
One Coffee Cup
One Placemat

ONE.    Now, that sounds like simplification to me.
Today was our mission number one is reducing the STUFF that wastes the precious resources the God has given. I started with the kids things. For my two children we had 12 bowls, 13 plates, and I lost count of the cups somewhere after we hit the teens. Each child chose thier favorites and in the cabinet that used to house a chaotic selection of dinnerware they now each have ONE little bin with everything they need for all three meals. They carried thier bins to the table and set their own places with actually made such a smoother transition to our meal anyway. They carried thier dirty stuff back in the bins, we washed it immediately in the sink and put it back so it is ready and waiting for breakfast.

Jason and I did the same with cups. We each chose a favorite cup and put the rest away....as in in a box, a taped box, that will hopefully go to Goodwill as soon as we make certain we can do this!
The goal is to reduce our plates, bowls, utensils, etc through the week. The China cabinet already houses a set of hardly used dishes and we will keep those for when friends and family come over. But, the daily maintainance just got a whole lot eaiser and already I feel a little lighter.

Mission One: The Dishes is in progress!

Closets and Drawers watch out, your next. :)