Notes from Sonya's new talk "When More Is Less…"

Okay, this just keeps getting better! My son brought in a flyer from our mailbox and it’s for our community yard sale on May 3! Talk about motivation and a wide-open door from up above!

That’s the one! 😉

Unglued has helped me so much!  In fact, I was telling our eldest daughter (almost 19) about it over the last couple of weeks…just general conversation….she’s not actually in our Bible study with the book.  Last night, she went to spend the night at grandmother’s in order to avoid coming unglued with one of her siblings.  The drive time gave her time to forgive, pray, and reset her attitude.  It was her “count to 10” way of dealing with the situation…maybe extreme, but at least I know she’s already working on this now instead of waiting until her mid 40s to break a bad habit. 

On clutter and simplicity, I’m going back through my Simplicity Bible study notes and plan to go through our whole house.

Shocker!  I’m very concerned about our library situation because of this…I just have not been able to get it off the ground.  It’s almost ready to open, yet the idea of covetousness is sort of red flagging the whole thing.  Those of you with homeschool libraries:  Do you ever wonder if you’re hoarding books more than you are helping others by making them available for circulation….I’m not super stressing over this one because I do think our area needs this library, but the thought has popped into my head more than once….maybe because the rest of the clutter in our life has prevented me from opening so far.

On meals:  I just talked to my mother yesterday about what she would’ve changed about the years my brother and I were at home.  They weren’t stressful for us, but they were exhausting for her…she tried to be the perfect wife and mother, we had foreign exchange students, she led several Bible studies and Sunday School classes, taught VBS, substituted at the public schools, took college classes to finish her AS degree, on top of my father being head elder (meaning head elder’s wife’s duties) and his shift work to boot. 

Her pointer was to change my thoughts on meals and nutrition.  She suggested that I scale way back on menu plans by thinking in terms of dinner as meat and two veggies, possibly fruit for dessert.  Skip casseroles, multi stepped recipes, etc.  Simplifying this one meal of the day will mean s&p, onions, and meat/chicken, whatever veggies we have in the garden or freezer, and less prep time.  I’ve always “covetted” the idea of freezer meals, but never have enough time to pursue it.  I ran with her suggestions and decided that lunches will only be two options:  salad, or leftovers.  Breakfast is a sticky one at our house, so I’m going to have to think this through.  We generally have eggs from our chickens, but we get burnt out if we have them day after day.  FLAG!  Contentment.  Working on this area.

School simplification:  We are working on the “Texas 5” through the summer which will beef up their skills and equip them for our next year’s plans.  Days that are needed for serious gardening/canning will not be stressed over because these are our special hobbies and we all enjoy doing these together, meaning more veggies for simple lunches and dinners.

Next year’s studies:  Not nearly as complicated, but are puruits based on each child’s interests and needs.  Very little guide use this next year, mostly good books and things.  Adding in practice time for the rigorous for 14yos.  A couple of posters on this forum have encouraged me in this area. 

Reading all of your posts hasn’t encouraged me to read Lindsey’s book, yet.  You’ve all shared so many inspirational stories that I need to just get moving instead of reading. 

“There is a great difference between watching a thing and being a part of a thing…”

–Sir Malcolm and the Missing Prince

I’ve been trying to stay away from this forum, but have spent some time on it again over the past couple of days.  Quite honestly, I think that’s due to procrastination and avoiding making decisions.  Simplifying for me does include spending much less time on this forum and our homeschool group’s egroup.  SNIFF!  It frees me to actually do more of the things we want/need to do.  SHOCKING! 

If you need to simplify in the area of co-op decisions, Christie shared some very helpful questions to ask yourself in this thread.

http://simplycharlottemason.comscmforum/topic/charlotte-mason-view-of-tutorial-and-co-ops

I wasn’t shocked by the answers I had to honestly tell myself, but deciding that co-op may be clutter is hard for me at this point.  I’m going to spend lots of time decluttering and streamlining everything else in order to determine whether I can answer the questions more positively instead of negatively by the time we need to make that decision for the next year.

Enough rambling from me.  Blessings on your simplification efforts!

Becca<><

Thank you for sharing the Main Ideas of Sonya’s class. Very helpful!

I am another reader who has purchased The Clutter Trap based on Lindsay’s suggestion. Thanks!

My home looks neat, but yes, we have too much stuff. It’s easy to let that happen when you live with a farmer and creative children. There’s always a use for everything. That is not an exaggeration.

One reason we chose to homeschool is to have a simpler life, to not feel the need to run “the rat race.” I think we do have a simpler life than most, but I definitely see areas we can improve. I agree that stuff gets in the way of keeping our eyes on Jesus.

Regarding meals, I can’t remember who mentioned her mother’s advice, but it is great! I have never been one to like a “schedule,” but I find it relieves me tremendously to have a plan for the week. Especially for lunch, because it seems to slip up quickly. We usually have leftovers as well, but sometimes there’s not enough. We also eat eggs from our chickens for breakfast a lot- it’s quick and easy. One of my children does not like eggs as much, so I try not to serve them every day. I have recently been making some homemade granola and storing it on the counter to eat as you might eat packaged breakfast cereal. I also make pancakes on the weekend with sausage or bacon, so she has that to look forward to. Fruit varies by season, so that offers variety also. Oh dear, I think I may have strayed from the original topic, but I love talking food. I like to eat it even more!

This is so relevant to my life right now. I haven’t read either of the reccommended books, but have been working on clutter for a few weeks now. I feel like the clutter is choking me! Some of it is temporary like all the plants/seedlings camped out in the kitchen awaiting planting (ground is still too cold). But others are hot spots that seem to explode with stuff! I just have small amounts of time to work on it so I get discouraged when I don’t make the headway that I hoped for.

Lindsey and all,  I’m a natural minimalist (I much prefer to have few things around me and have always been this way) but even for those of us where it comes easy to part with items, I find from time to time I look around and think ‘where did all this come from?!’  And I’d say after reading this thread and looking around my house, it’s that time again!  Thanks for the push to dig deeper.  Spring time is perfect for that, isn’t it? 

Lindsey, I was wondering if you recommend the ebook for someone like me, who really doesn’t need convincing for reasons why clutter is bad but who may be just needs a little inspiration to work on it some more.  Will there be anything novel in the ebook to make it worth my money and time reading it, do you think?  (I know it’s not much of either, but still…)

Ladies, I just want to let you know that my blog post for this week, A Good Resolution, is meant to cheer you all on as you pursue simplicity and freedom in your homes. You can do this! Yay!