Extreme Decluttering

 A few months back, I did the 30 day Declutter Challenge, where you let go of 1 thing on Day 1, 2 things on Day 2, 3 things on Day 3, etc, etc... and 31 things on Day 31. It adds up to a grand total of 465 things, which is pretty good for a month. At least I think so. I know, from experience, that the first 15 days were easy-peasy... the last 15 days... not so much.

But there are even more extreme declutterers out there. Did you hear about the Danish mom who decluttered 1000 things? Yep, her family now has one plate, one mug and one set of cutlery per person. If guests come over, they have to eat off of paper plates. The eco-warrior in me shudders at the thought of all of those paper plates being tossed away. But maybe she doesn't entertain that often?? We can only hope.

A dreamy minimalist office (where do they keep all their papers???)

Then there's the Canadian mom who got rid of 3500 things, including her children's toys!! They too only have 1 plate, mug, etc per person. More paper plates I guess. Or maybe a BYOPC (Bring Your Own Plate & Cutlery) for guests? Wondering too if maybe these news stories are paid for by the PPP (paper plate people)

Bedroom? Office? Is this our reality? Or just a teenager's reality?

 I thought the 30 day challenge was pretty extreme, but apparently not. Have you heard of the envelope decluttering system? You put 90 slips of paper in an envelope. Written on the slips are the numbers 1 to 30 and 1 to 20 (one number on each slip). The 1 to 20 slips are repeated 3 times. This gives you a grand total of 1095 items. Then you take a slip of paper out of the envelope and declutter that many items. So some days, it could be 1 or 2 or 4 and others could be 25 or 30. It's kind of like the 30 day minimalism challenge... just sort of repeated a few times and spread over a year.

And then there's just the plain version of decluttering 1000 items in year. Do it however you want... 2-3 items a day or 83-84 per month or 250 per quarter.

Now you'd think getting rid of 1000 items in a year would make a big difference. At least it seemed to make a difference for the Danish mom. But then... the Europeans tend to have less total possessions than us North Americans. Remember the Belgian photographer who took a pic of every single item in her home? Just shy of 13,000 items. Declutter 1000 of those items and you've gotten rid of almost 8% of your possessions. Explains why the Europeans are getting rid of extra plates; their possessions are pretty tight as it is!

But for a North American... with an average of 300,000 items... well... 1000 items is 0.3% of the total. A drop in the bucket. To match the Europeans, we'd have to declutter something like 24,000 items to even get close to 8% of our total! We're in no danger of decluttering our extra plates...

Soooo... 1000 items in a year should be easy peasy, right? Do I hear a challenge brewing? I can also imagine my partner's eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Another challenge!!??" Maybe... Starting October 1? Hmmm... maybe...

What Does "Simple Living" Look Like?

All of this talk of "simple living" and "simplifying" has got me in a tizzy. What does it actually look like? Is it even possible? Or is life inherently messy and complicated? Is "simple living" actually a unicorn? Like... it doesn't exist?

There are certain things that certainly "simplify" life... like automatic bill payments and recurring events in calendars. But do they actually contribute to a "simple life"? Probably not... if we really wanted a "simple life"... we would sell everything and travel the world. Although... while that may simplify some aspects of life, it complicates others.

So, what does "simple living" even mean? Perhaps it means that we spend less time on activities that take a lot of energy/time but give low fulfillment. Or we find someone else to do those things. Like mowing the lawn... not a lot of fulfillment in that and it's a hassle... get someone else to do that? Or cleaning the house? Although I do get some fulfillment out of that. When I do it... the trick is just getting me to the point of doing it.

Perhaps "simple living" is just less... less of everything. Less appointments. Less stuff in the calendar. Less work. Less chores. In exchange for more fun?

I used to think that computers would simplify life... hah! And digital cameras? Hah! So much "easier" to send photos and store things but... simple? Nope... not at all. Not when you have 10,000s of thousands of photos cluttering up your hard drive. 

And that is an important distinction... simple does not mean easier. Sometimes the simple life is a hard life. So is it really "simple" living that I want or an "easy" life? And if life is easy... without challenges... does that just atrophy me?

The AI Weighs In on Simple vs. Easy

I thought I would ask the ChatGPT AI the question...

"Making life "simple" means reducing complexity and removing unnecessary complications, while making life "easy" means minimizing effort and avoiding difficulty. While the two concepts are related, they are not the same thing.

Simplicity focuses on removing distractions and reducing the number of choices you have to make, making it easier to prioritize what's important and make decisions. It can help you stay focused on your goals and reduce stress.

Ease, on the other hand, often involves delegating tasks or relying on external resources to handle things for you. It can make life more convenient and comfortable, but it may not necessarily lead to personal growth or a sense of accomplishment."

Yes... that is exactly the question I am pondering... do we really want a life of ease? Or are we looking for a simple life? Because a simple life would get to the point where we don't need to delegate things because we have eliminated the things that complicate life. 

So, perhaps the real question is... what would a simple life look like for us? In our situation. How can we simplify things as much as possible?

How to Make Life Simpler

Now, I know this isn't rocket science but... given the tizzy we are in... or I am in... it bears repeating.

1. Declutter: This is a no-brainer. Get rid of the things that are taking up space in the house (and the hard-drive) that are no longer used. And won't be used in the future.
2. Minimize Commitments: This requires me to identify what are the key things I want to keep in my life and to prioritize them. I think this is where "easy" comes in as well. If I want to spend more time hiking... then maybe it's time to de-prioritize house cleaning and delegate it to a cleaning service.
3. Focus on the Essentials: Similar to the one above... prioritize the things that matter the most to me and avoid getting bogged down in non-essential tasks. There are a lot of things that I do which are "nice to have done" but are they essential? Maybe not.
4. Establish Routines: Yep, routines help avoid decision fatigue and make things go smoothly.
5. Limit Distractions: Like social media and the news sites. Because they do suck up an inordinate amount of time and energy. If I say I don't have enough time for things... and then spend hours watching TV... that doesn't... quite... jive.
6. Automate tasks: Yes... like paying bills and grocery shopping. Although... during the pandemic I would go to Superstore to pick up my online order and end up sitting there for 45 minutes waiting for them to bring it outside. I am not sure that automation always simplifies things!
7. Simplify your finances: This could be helpful - rather than having bank accounts in 3 banks... and multiple credit cards... pull it way back and consolidate all of these. Maybe. I don't like having all eggs in one basket but not sure that 6 credit cards, all with different banks, are really necessary!
8. Get organized: Oh yes... this is a big one. My list of "to scan" papers has been growing larger every week and... tax season is always a stress. If I scanned regularly... tax season wouldn't be so bad. But it's a tedious task and so I put it off... even though it would make my life simpler... it isn't necessarily easy.
9. Prioritize self-care: And this makes sense too - taking the time saved from all of the earlier ideas... I make time for exercise, meditation, and spending time with family and friends. It reduces stress and makes me more able to handle the complexity of life...

All of these seem to have one thing in common... reducing stress. Consolidating things so there is "less" to worry about. "Less" stuff to take up mental energy. So it is for me to look and see... what are the main things that are causing me stress. Because it's going to be different for all of us. And really... I should clear the decks and then start with #9 - Prioritizing Self-Care... because when I neglect that... things start to fall apart quickly.

How to Make Life Easier

When you do a search for this on Google, you find a lot of the same ideas as above... ways to make life easier overlap quite a bit with making life simpler. But there are a few extra ideas...

1. Delegate Tasks: If I have done the above items... and re-evaluated my calendar and my priorities... I might decide that lawn-mowing is not a good use of my time. In which case I could get someone to come and mow the lawn. I am trading money for more time. Is it a worthwhile trade?
2. Stop Procrastination: Ugh. Again?!! Still?? Yep. Because the things that I procrastinate on really complicate my life eventually... and everything becomes harder when it is pushed and pushed and pushed into "tomorrow". Procrastination just makes life harder than it has to be.
3. Plan Ahead: Yep, this is a good one. Do some meal-planning for the coming week. So we aren't standing there 30 minutes before meal-time wondering... "What are we going to eat". There are lots of ways to create efficiencies that make life "easier".
4. Clear Emotional Space: This is one that bogs me down a bit. Forgiving people. Letting go of toxic relationships. Letting go of old grudges. 
5. Grab some Perspective: Compared to most of the world... we have incredibly easy lives. We don't have to carry potable water for miles. We don't have to scrounge for firewood to heat our food. We can communicate easily via email, phone, text. That helps to put things in perspective. And a daily gratitude habit might help as well...

The Nubbin at the Heart of This

Well... I see that I have some work to do. Before I get to the exterior stuff "out there" though... I think it requires me to start with the interior stuff first.

Step 1... get my self-care back on the front burner and stop nudging it to the back burner.

Step 2... clear some emotional space and practice some gratitude.

Step 3... stop procrastinating

I keep thinking that if I make the exterior of my life "simple" and "easy"... then that will reduce my level of stress. Truth is... if I don't handle the interior stuff first... then exterior changes aren't going to make one jot of difference. Less Stress is an inside job...  Sigh...

The Average Canadian Car Sits Idle for 96% of the Year

Nooo... that's not possible, is it??? That the average Canadian car sits idle for 96% of the time? What the heck??

But when I think about it... for us... it might just be true.

I was doing some rough calculations let's look at yesterday...

• I drove to Starbucks, then to the grocery store, then to the gas station, then home. Total trip length, 20 minutes. 
• In the afternoon, we drove to the drugstore and then to some friends, then home. Total trip length, 40 minutes.

That's an hour of driving... on a day when we did a fair bit of zipping around. Most days, we don't drive that much.

Sooo... let's do the math...

• 1 hour avg driving/day x 365 days = 365 hours (give or take) of driving in a year
• And there are 24 hours in a day multiplied by 365 days in a year = 8760 hours in a year
• Soooo... 365/8760 (# of hours we drive / total hours in a year) = 4.16%
• Which means... our car sits idle for 95.84% of the year. Round up to... 96%

Shit.

***fingers tapping on table top***

Wow. And most Canadians (including us) believe that we can't do without a vehicle. Really.

But what about commuters? Well, let's say people drive 20 hours/week... their car "only" sits idle 90% of the time....

Which makes me wonder... given we use the car for 365 hours/year... what are the hourly costs for the vehicle...

• Insurance - $1000/yr
• Maintenance - $2000/yr
• Gasoline - $2000/yr
• Vehicle Cost - $1000/yr ($10,000 purchase price and we keep it for 10 years)

Let's say $6000 per year... and if we use it for 365 hours... we are paying $16/hour which is cheaper than a taxi but... add in more up front cost (avg Canadian pays $5000/yr for their vehicle), more insurance (avg Canadian pays $1500/yr) and more gas (pickup trucks or SUVs) and more maintenance... and that hourly rate could go up dramatically - more like $30/hour if someone uses it for the average of 380 days/year.

Wouldn't it make more sense to use a Car Share system like Evo or Modo? I have a friend in Winnipeg who, for years, didn't own a car and just used Winnipeg's car share system (Peg Car). It worked very well for her... What about us?

Modo Car Share

So, for Modo, there is a monthly fee of $4 or $5 depending on your level of membership. And then... you get charged for time usage and distance usage.

Soooo... say I wanted to do a 3 hour shopping trip - say 30 km. That includes Starbucks, Superstore, Home Depot, recycling, another grocery store, gas station and going home. A typical Friday shopping/errand day.

So, that would cost $30 for the 3 hours... so $10/hour, plus the monthly fee pro-rated for a daily rate ($0.15/day). 

It seems like a no-brainer. With a car share vehicle... we don't have to worry about maintenance... or new tires... or insurance. Less headaches. But what about gasoline? I checked and, with Modo, you need to make sure the tank is relatively full, but you pay with the gas card in the vehicle. And if the gas card doesn't work, for some reason, you pay for the gas yourself and the submit the gas to get reimbursed. Soooo... no gas costs... although you do still need to visit a gas station.

And they have cars, and pickups and vans available... handy.

The only hiccup is... availability. If we lived in Vancouver... it would be a no-brainer...

Vancouver's Modo Car Share locations

Like say... Kitsilano... a Modo is maybe a 5 min walk...

Modo Car Locations in Kitsilano, Vancouver

But... where we live... (not Vancouver)... all of the Modos are in a cluster downtown. Which is an 8 minute drive or a 45 minute walk. Not exactly convenient. I don't want to pay $20 for a taxi to take me to a Modo spot! Or a 30 minute bus ride.

And in British Columbia, if you live anywhere less than 100,000 people, you are completely out of luck. Vancouver and Victoria are well-served but... beyond that... it's not exactly handy.

Soooo... for those of us living outside the centre of the universe (Vancouver or Victoria)... we are out of luck. But... if Modo ever expanded and there was a Modo car within a 5-10 minute walk... we might ditch our vehicle... I say "might" because I can catastrophize quite easily. "What if there a local disaster and we need to evacuate? We NEED a car then!"

We aren't unique... 84% of Canadians feel they couldn't live without their cars and yet... the average Canadian's car sits idle 96% of the time. It's a paradox... and not easily solved. Especially for those of us who live in smaller, more rural, or less urban communities. Car sharing would have to expand dramatically... or the Google self-driving vehicles...

RideShares (Uber, U-Ride, Lyft)

Because I did look into U-Ride (it's like Uber). And it's not cheap. I am sitting at a Starbucks... it's about 5 km or an 8 minute drive. With U-Ride (on a Saturday morning at 8 am)... that is going to cost $25 one-way. What??

A taxi would only cost $16-18 for the exact same trip!!! I thought RideShares were supposed to be cheaper than taxis???? WTH?

Now imagine an errand run... where I drive to the grocery store with my recycling (loaded into the U-Ride?) get the driver to wait (?) while I do my grocery shopping... then load groceries in car and go to recycling and get driver to wait (?) while I do recycling?? No... not feasible.

Or is the solution to do it all via delivery? Get groceries delivered via Instacart? I guess... in a pinch... But I don't think URide is the solution. Not when it's more expensive than a taxi!

The Future

Don't know what the future holds. But our love affair with cars is going to have to shift at some point. Not sure what the solution is... maybe neighbourhood car sharing? Where neighbours share their vehicles? Several communal neighbourhood vehicles? What might that look like? Because someone who drives to work (8 min) and then has the car sit idle all day and then drives home (8 min) is not an efficient use of a vehicle.

Or is it peer-to-peep (P2P) car sharing... kind of like Airbnb, but for cars (e.g. Turo). Where people can post their cars, available for rent/use, on an app and then someone else can rent them... that is an interesting concept... and still in its infancy. I had a look... and in our city, it's $140/day for a Turo car (as a base rate) and there is no hourly option. But maybe... in the future...

I do think we'll also need to get more strategic in planning our vehicle usage. Using more trip-chains (more on that in another blog)... basically... combining errands into a daisy chain of stops rather than a sequence of one-stop errands from home. Think figure-8 trips as opposed to star-burst trips.

Time will tell... and maybe there is some cool, efficient solution that is still waiting to be born. I certainly hope so....

More Reading

Car123 site - Angus Reid 2019 Survey on Car Use in Canada

Driving.ca Site - Candians Love their Cars, But Hardly Ever Use Them

What's Hanging Around in Your Closet?

What do you do with the plastic hangers when you go clothes shopping? Do you smuggle them home? Leave them in the store?

We used to have some of them in our closets but, honestly, they aren't the best hangers. Flimsy, weird sizes that don't look neat and tidy. Not a great deal. Although... some of them do have that flocking on them that prevents your clothes from slipping off. And the ones with the clips are kind of cool for skirts and stuff.

I think these were more popular for pilfering back in the day when wire hangers ruled. Single wire hangers are NOT good for clothes long-term so... back in the day... if we could smuggle one of these plastic store hangers home... that was a bonus!

But apparently over 100,000,000 of these flimsy plastic hangers get tossed away every year, in the UK. If we look at the USA... that number balloons to over 8 BILLION hangers (wood, plastic, metal) that are tossed every single year. That's a lot of hangers. And a LOT of plastic.

While these hangers aren't "single-use" plastic... they still aren't built to last. Although... I have to say... I am impressed with thrift stores that manage to get a LOT of mileage out of these hangers!

Mismatched Thrift Hangers

Then you have the plastic hangers that you can buy in a store. You know the ones... they come in an array of fetching colours and shapes.

They are OK. I just wish all of the manufacturers could stick with one shape and style! Our clothes closet has a lot of these and they are a real mish-mash. And somehow... I have this idea that matching hangers are better. But are they?

Because I can't remember the last time we bought new plastic hangers. If ours break or we need more... we just go down to the local thrift store and get a 8 or 10 for $1. Why would we ever buy new!?? And so... we live with mismatched hangers.

Innovative?

Now... we get to the crux of this... I was in Superstore the other day and I saw this sign at the check-out.

Whoooooaaaa... switching from plastic hangers to wooden hangers! Now that is cool! And apparently... the customers think so too! They are asking if they can take the wooden hangers home because they look so cool. And honestly... that is what Superstore thinks too. This is what their press release said in 2021 when they introduced this out east...

"Overall, we feel the look is more elegant and classy,” says Joe Fresh manager Gina Singh. “I believe it makes the product look a lot more appealing.”

So it's really a marketing ploy... but it makes them look good too because it has an environmental aspect. I am going to guess that the environmental impact of plastic hangers vs. wooden hangers hinges on one key factor... how long do they last.  It's the same with grocery bags... we think paper bags are better than plastic bags and that canvas reusable grocery bags are better than the ones made out of tarp-like material. But it all boils down to... how many uses do you get out of them??

Recyclable Hangers?

Another question is... are plastic hangers actually recyclable? They short answer is not easily and it depends. Many hangers are made out of multiple materials - different types of plastic, maybe a bit of metal for the hanger bit and... that flocking! So whether or not hangers are recyclable depends on the type of hanger and the jurisdiction. Our city just recently started accepting hangers in curbside recycling, so that's a definite bonus but... I wonder what happens to them.

In many jurisdictions, however, hangers end up in the trash unless you reuse them. Soooo... it really makes one think about pilfering those store hangers! Are they really going to work in your closet?

Wooden Hangers

Now, when I think of wooden hangers... I think of those sturdy ones that have been around for every it seems. Before thin wire hangers... there were wooden hangers. 

But they weren't cheap... and in our family, growing up, my Mom would use them for coats and maybe for her fancy dresses. But for us kids... we had thin metal hangers.

In terms of length of use... wooden hangers win, hands down. I read one Reddit comment where someone had had their wooden hangers for 65 years. I doubt that can be said about any plastic hangers!

Sooo... wooden hangers are better, yes? Well... yes and no. I don't think Superstore is using vintage hangers from the 1950s. They are getting new wooden hangers... which means somewhere, some tree was cut down to make a hanger. And, although it's hard to see on the Superstore photograph... they look kind of thin and... I just wonder how long they will last. Probably not 65 years.

I was reading another blog that mentioned some companies are making hangers out of recycled paperboard. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Which is good... but it does take energy to turn paper into a hanger.

Gramma's Hangers

I should mention at this point that... we didn't keep using metal hangers. Somewhere in the 1970s, my Mom discovered braided macramé hangers.

You know... you take too balls of wool, two identical metal hangers from the dry cleaners and... you make a sturdy, eco-friendly hanger that clothes won't slide off of. Win-win-win. Even more of a win when you could get the hangers for FREE from the local dry cleaners. 

My Mom was nothing if not frugal and thrifty. And so, of a winter's evening, my Mom, my sister and I would sit and weave macramé clothes hangers. Tidy ones... not the ones with yarn pom-poms and bits of yarn dangling artfully. These are basic, unfrilly hangers. And they work the best. Free. Clothes don't slide off, they last forever, or close to it. Some of mine are pushing 50 years old. And if you take care of them... there is no rust from the metal inside.

My sister gifted me a bunch of these for Christmas a few years ago. Eco-conscious and we'll get lots of use out of them!

Conclusion

Sooo... kudos to Superstore for switching away from plastic hangers but I'm not sure that their motives are purely environmental and altruistic. Hangers made from new wood... nope. Not buying it. They might have done better in saying... "we will be reusing plastic hangers for as long as they last... and we don't care about mismatched hangers". But... that's not very fashionable.

It's the same with some fashion, design and minimalism blogs. Buy cool new wooden hangers that all look the same and... ooohhhh... so pretty... so chic... so... yeah, no.

We'll keep using Gramma's hangers... we'll keep using our mismatched thrift store hangers. We aren't fashionistas... and we will try and get as much mileage out of the hangers as we possibly can. It's not much... but it makes a small difference.

Thermal Food Labels Leach Chemicals into Fish, Meat, Cheese and Produce

 A few years ago, I wrote a blog about toxic store receipts - the ones that are printed on thermal paper and have Bisphenol A (BPA) in them. Our local grocery store had transitioned away from all phenols, which is amazing! Because BPA is an endocrine disruptor and can cause all sorts of health issues for those who handle receipts - think store staff, bookkeepers and home owners who do monthly finances and reconcile their receipts against their credit card statements.

We first heard about BPA several years ago because it used to be in plastic water bottles. Big brouhaha happened over that and now we all drink out of metal water bottles. Well... apparently, “there's more BPA in a single thermal paper receipt than the total amount that would leach out from a polycarbonate water bottle used for many years" (see 2014 Consumer Reports).

While many stores are transitioning away from BPA in their thermal paper, they are now using BPS (Bisphenol S) which is equally as toxic as BPA. Sigh.

But wait... it's not just water bottles and thermal paper receipts we need to be concerned about! Now... there is the possibility that it is leaching into our fresh produce, meat, fish and cheese. 

Thermal Food Labels

Yep. Those labels. You know the ones - they are every single meat package and have the price and cooking instructions on them. They are thermal printed and contain BPS and other BPA-like chemicals. Then there's the cheese price labels... and the fish price labels... and the veggie price labels if you get a package with more than one veg.

But... but... they are wrapped in plastic film! How can chemicals leach through plastic film??? Don't ask me... I'm not a chemical engineer... but apparently it can happen. Maybe the chemical film changes it's chemical composition where it's in contact with the thermal label?

Ultimately, we've just traded in one toxic chemical for another. Bugger. And it makes me wonder about my local grocery store which has "BPA-free" printed on the back of their receipts. Are they really free of toxic chemicals or did they just trade in BPA for BPS? I've reached out to them and we'll see what they say.

As for the cheese, meat and fish labels... well... you can do several things:

• bag produce yourself rather than buying those pre-package packs wrapped on top of a Styrofoam tray 
• shop for meat at the butcher or fish counter
• bring your own container or aluminum foil and ask them to use that for packaging instead.
• or ask to have the label placed under the Styrofoam tray instead of on top
• ask your grocery store if their labels are "phenol-free" (not just BPA free)

Europe is way ahead of us on this and if they can do it... so can we!

Further Reading

CBC article on BPS in Thermal Food Labels - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/bps-food-labels-1.6792373

Staying in Place and Living Simpler Lives

We really desire a simpler life, a life with less stress, less responsibility and more fun. We think that would happen if we sold the house with all of its garden and house maintenance. Which would also mean no Airbnb and all of the headaches that go with that. No house & no Airbnb = Simple/Stressfree living! But does it?

A few weeks back, I shared a post that I had written in March 2023, when we were convinced that selling the house and moving into a condo would solve all of our problems. Well... we haven't sold the house! We quickly learned that condos are expensive and not always without headaches. So many of the ones we looked at, in our price range, were being raced with special assessments for things like building envelope repairs. Not so simple... not so dreamy.

So we backtracked and recalculated... if moving out of the house was not the solution and not an option... Could we live simpler but stay at the house?

Because, while I might blame the house, there is a deeper truth. I do contract work and essentially trade my time doing that for money. And I save us money by doing the yard work and home maintenance. Maybe it is time to actually take some of that contract work money and spend it on things like house cleaning and yard maintenance? To save me the time of doing that... and have more time to walk and hike and travel?

So, we sat down and brainstormed things that would make our life "simpler" and/or "easier". And then we played it out over the summer to see how it went...

1. Airbnb Summer - Ease up on the Airbnb - instead of allowing 1 night stays... make it 3 night minimum stays from May-Aug and don't fill the intervening nights, unless we want to. We don't need to go full-bore and earn the max $$$. Not if it almost kills us!
   Results: We did that over the summer and other than one spate of five back-to-back 1-night stays... we did OK. We even accepted a month-long booking from mid-July to mid-August to give ourselves a break. and it was nice.
   
   
2. Airbnb Winter - Only accept bookings longer than 14 days for Sept-April - less turnover, less cleaning.
   Results: We are doing OK with this! A one month stay from late Aug to late Sept and then a 48 day booking from Oct 1 to mid-November. Yes, we aren't earning as much as we would if we did shorter bookings but... it's not all about money. We are still making our minimum average for those months and that is pure gold.
   
   
3. Airbnb Cleaning - hire cleaners - less headache or more headache?
   Results: Well, we hired a cleaner for upstairs, for our space and... so far, the cleaner is not hitting the quality of cleanliness we would need for the Airbnb. Maybe in the future...
   
   
4. Airbnb Blocking - block it and take the time/days that we want
   Results: We did this too over the summer. If we wanted a break... we just blocked the nights. Less $$ but less stress and more life balance. If we needed an extra day for cleaning, we often blocked a night after a reservation.
   
   
5. Go Off-Platform - advertise on Kijiji or FB Marketplace and get an off-platform rental instead of giving Airbnb $$$ in service fees
   Results: We haven't tried this yet...
   
   
6. Convert to LTR - Turn the suite into a full-on long-term rental with a tenant - less money but less work?
   Results: We haven't tried this either. It would certainly take a big load of work off of us (Airbnb is NOT passive income) but... we are doing OK right now with the Airbnb.
   
   
7. Scale back my contract work hours - There were some weeks where I was doing a half-time job instead of a very part-time job! And that, combined with cleaning the Airbnb was leaving me exhausted.
   Results: So I talked to my contract guy and we have scaled it back to what I had initially committed to... and it's been working so far!
   
   
8. Yard - get someone to help with projects and lawn mowing - costs money but less work
   Results: We did this! And it was nice notto have to do the heavy lifting on some of these! Not sure about regular lawn maintenance though...
   
   
9. Our Cleaning - given all of our Airbnb cleaning... I am too pooped at the end of the day to clean our own place, so... get a cleaner, for us.
   Results: We did this! And it does make a difference. Now, the quality isn't up to my standards but... I am learning to be OK with "clean enough".
   
   
10. Interior Painting - get someone to paint bedrooms rather than me
    Results: We did this!! And it was soooo nice not to have to paint!
    
    
11. Garden Irrigation - my partner spends a LOT of time watering our veggie beds in the summer... a drip irrigation system would make a big difference. It costs $$$$ but... haven't we earned it?
    Results: We did this!! And it makes a huge difference!
    
    
12. Downsizing - could we downsize at home? Could we simplify our life, our hobbies, our commitments? Could we take back our spare room? Could we use the Airbnb as guest accommodation? In order to give us back our space?
    Results: We did get rid of the bed in the spare room! And then put in a murphy bed with storage on either side. Win-win! We get space back and we get storage. Still working on decluttering!

There's a rule of thumb for an overwhelming to-do list...

1. Automate
2. Eliminate
3. Delegate
4. Postpone

We experimented this summer with all of those. We automated the watering of the veggie beds. Everything is on a timer and it works amazing! We eliminated (more or less) one-night bookings as they caused us a lot of stress and exhausted us. We delegated several tasks like cleaning our space and some yard work and painting. We also postponed some projects and tasks.

I realize that it has been a struggle for me to (a) acknowledge that I can't do everything, (b) be open to the idea of spending money and (c) be open to the idea of getting help. I've been a Saver my whole life and it takes a bit to turn into a Spender. But burning myself out trying to do it all myself is not a solution either! So trading our money for some sanity and breathing space seems like a fair trade at this point!

How Many Objects Do We Own?

Did you hear about the Belgian photographer who decided to photograph every item in her home? Yep, turns out Barbara Iweins has 12,795 items in her home. And that includes everything... every little single piece of Playmobile to every single fork and every single tweezer or blister pack of pills or screw or nail.

That seems like an awful lot of stuff. And yet... when I look at that number, I think... "Heck, I probably have at least that many nails and screws... just in nails and screws!" I'm a bit concerned that we would blow that number out of the water!

Some of the many items that Barbara Iweins catalogued in her home

What Barbara also learned was... only 1% of those objects are actually important (128 objects). The rest of it... she could get rid of easily. Now that number... I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around. I mean, yes, I could easily get rid of every screw and nail and thing-a-ma-jig as they are not sentimental in the last. And not really "important"... until I need one. Which I often do. 

When I first read the 1% statement... I read it is they only "need" 1% of the things. But that's not the case... it's only that 1% of the things are "important". And many of those things are sentimental to Barbara and her children, like a Dahlia preserved in a jar of formalin.

And so I think... if we had to pack and move and could only keep the things that were "important" to us... what would we pack? Knowing that we could always get more nails and screws somewhere else. I think we could come in under, or at the 128 item limit. Maybe.

North American Reality

But then... I had a bit of a wake-up call... You see... this was a Belgian woman living in a typical European home. She was appalled at the 12,795 things that she owned... and that took her 4 years to photograph.

Guess what... the average American home contains around 300,000 things. Yep... that is almost 25 TIMES as much as our Belgian friend. The average American home has the contents of 25 Belgian homes in it.

On the bright side, that means I should be able to keep 300 items of importance to me but... that's not the point of this...

300,000 things. How is that even possible? Although... with my stash of screws and nails and thing-a-ma-bobs... I do see how we might.. maybe... come close to that. For sure if we counted every single puzzle piece as a separate item! And let's not even get into paperclips. We have the space in our large North American homes so it's easy to buy in bulk and stock up on paperclips and staples and sticky notes and nails and screws.

I had this vague idea that... "oooh... maybe I should photograph everything that we own!"... Yeah. No. I mean, Barbara is a photographer and everything she took a photo of was very nicely staged, which must have taken a fair bit of time. I wouldn't do that but... it's a very different thing to photograph 300,000 objects. Nope. Not doing it. And besides... that's the average American home... what if we have more!?

So you will NOT be reading a blog a year or two (or 10) hence when I produce 300,000 photographs of our possessions. Not doing it. It would be too scary.

Could we get by with less things? Undoubtedly. We have gone through decluttering purges every once in a while and it is always (a) amazing how much we can let go of and (b) amazing how much stuff we still have! Sometimes ignorance is, really, bliss.

More Reading

Barbara Iweins site - Where you can see her Katalog of items

Time to Sell and Simplify?

 We've lived in our current house for 10 years. That is the longest that I have lived in any place, other than at home when I was a kid and teen. Our house has a basement suite that we've been renting out on Airbnb. And we have a large yard (8200 sq ft) which requires a lot of maintenance. With a partner that has a chronic health condition, a lot of the work for the yard, house maintenance and the Airbnb falls on me. While my partner and I had both hoped that the health condition might improve... it would appear (7 years into it) that that is not the case. I'm not getting any younger and I am tired. Tired of the yard maintenance. Tired of the never-ending house maintenance. Tired of everything that we put into the Airbnb.

And so... a few days ago (Feb 28, 2023)... we began to seriously consider selling the house. We could sell it and then buy a condo, for easy, simple living. No Airbnb. No yard. No roof maintenance. No gutters. No perimeter drain. Somewhere in walking distance of stores and coffee shops and hiking trails.

We scrolled through the Realtor.ca app and identified a few top contenders. We messaged our realtor and said... we are ready to pull the trigger. Her response "Cool! So you have decided life is too short and want low maintenance, inexpensive, easy living and time to travel?" YES!! That!! Exactly!

So, tomorrow we are going to look at some places.

Now... this might all seem ass-backwards. Shouldn't we be selling the house before we look for something? Or at least know what we can sell our house for? Probably! I'm sure our realtor will have all of that ready for us tomorrow.

But in the meantime... in the last few days since Feb 28, I trotted down to the liquor store and came back with armfuls of liquor boxes. We have decided to send a message to the universe... We are ready to sell! So we have started by packing up nic-nacs and tchotchkes... all of the extras that clutter up the surfaces. We've packed up "extra" stuff... craft projects and supplies. We have packed up a bunch of books as we look to reduce the amount of furniture in some rooms.

We are looking at paint touch-ups. We had new door, window and floor trim installed a year ago (2 years ago?) and the brad-nail holes were spackled and sanded but need to be painted. The spare bedroom has a gazillion nail/thumbtack holes in the walls and needs a full paint job. Some closets had the rods taken out and extra plywood shelves put in for all of the craft stuff. So... clear out the stuff... take out the shelves... patch and paint the closets and... pack it full of boxes.

We may get a storage locker in March... we'll see how it goes. We need to hear back from our realtor...

And... yes... this might all be a lot of work for nothing. At the very least, we might be doing The Minimalists big declutter event... pack everything you own into boxes and, as you need things, open up a box and pull out that item. Maybe... after living without all of these "extras", we will decide that we like the open and clear house! Maybe we will be more inclined to let-go of things? Maybe.

And we have legitimately been decluttering as we pack up all of this stuff. The thought of schlepping it around to yet another living space is just too much. "I haven't used this in 20 years... it's time for it to go."

There is a freedom in all of this. And a fear as well! I hate moving. I hate the whole process. I hate the upheaval. I am scare of moving to somewhere new. I have had 10 years to put down roots in this house and a part of me just likes the old and familiar. But the other part of me wants less. Less house. Less responsibility. Less work. Less stress. Less complexity. I want more. More time. More free time. More walks. More simplicity.

Letting go of the old can be hard. It is warm and comfortable and familiar. Even if it is a lot of work. 

Sooo... as I write this on 3 March, 2023... I'm not sure what the future holds. This post is scheduled to come out in early September... that is a full 6 months away. Will next week's post have exciting news about a house sale and new condo? Or will we have reversed direction? Or maybe it will simply be an update on our progress... not sure... stay tuned!

Through the Worst of the Sugar Detox Symptoms?

 The first three days of the sugar detox were the worst...

• foggy thinking
• tired/fatigued
• overheating at night
• moodiness
• emotional
• lack of motivation
• overwhelmed
• irritable and reactionary
• headache
• dizzy/lightheaded

But, as the first rays of Day 4 break over the horizon, I think I might be through the worst of it. I'm sitting in Starbucks and while I looked longingly at the chocolate brownies in the display case... I reminded myself of what I'd just endured and... I passed.

The struggle of the last few days is too fresh in my mind right now to even consider munching on a sugar-filled treat. I just wish that I could remember the struggle 2 months from now. The truth is, I seem to have short-term memory for this sort of stuff. Once something is more than a month in the past, the sharp edges tend to blur and I think... "It wasn't that bad." But it was. It is.

And so I thought I would document this... if not for posterity... then at least for me. So that I can remember how bad it was. I honestly feel like something is seriously wrong with me when I am going through the first days of the detox. I feel sooooo very unlike myself that I think I have lost my mojo... lost my brain power. It's not a pleasant feeling. I remind myself that this too shall pass but honestly... when I'm in the middle of it, I really doubt that!

These last few days, I have been trying different things to combat the sugar detox doldrums. I've been adding in some regular snacks - things like an apple with some almond butter, or an orange with some nuts. Sometimes I'll have a hard-boiled egg. I'm also going grocery shopping today, so going to get some hummus to snack on - along with some carrots, celery sticks, cukes or peppers. That mix of complex carbs and protein is so important. Giving my body food that will release energy slowly, over time, rather than an immediate gratification hit of refined sugars or even simple sugars like fructose without the protein.

I've read elsewhere that it's a good idea to keep a food diary for a while... I'm not sure that I'm up for that right now. I've got enough stuff on my plate at this point. But maybe once the worst of the sugar doldrums are done with... then I can look at that.

I know that the coming days/week are going to be hard. I might be through the worst of the sugar withdrawal symptoms but... the cravings are still there, and will come on hard and heavy in the coming weeks. If I can just remember these detox symptoms... I'm hoping to weather the storm.

It's funny... because before I stopped drinking Coke for good back in 2009, I had tried kicking the habit many times. Suffering through intense headaches for days afterwards. But, inevitably, I would start drinking it again. This time... I'm hoping that I can stay the course and finally choose my health over my cravings.