Susan Vogt - Living Lightly

Browsing Posts published by Susan Vogt

A Drawer A Day: Wk 2-Bedroom #1+

March 16, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

I’m still in my bedroom because we have two extra dressers that serve as storage for gifts, mementos, and children’s clothes that we still have visions of someday passing on to grandchildren. It’s a little embarrassing to admit that I have two dressers worth of extra stuff and a bedroom big enough to hold them. Alas, that is the reality of a large older home that we’ve lived in for over 30 years. It was with some trepidation, therefore, that I approached the six dresser drawers this week since I knew that they were stuffed with memories. Many items were potential gifts that I had collected, often from foreign countries.

WEEK 2 RESULTS:
1. Give-Aways

11 pieces of baby and children’s clothing (I saved the ones to which I’m most sentimentally attached in case there are future grandchildren who might use them.)
11 T-shirts. Most of them got saved because they came from foreign countries. Thus, even though no one wore them anymore, they were mementos of trips. I decided that it was better for someone to wear them now, than to have them stay in my drawer.
3 little purses. I love having a tiny, across the body, purse for travel that’s just big enough for money, ID, a comb, photos, and a phone. Unfortunately several times I’ve found such a perfect purse forgetting that I already had one. Eventually these do wear out, so I saved three others.
2 mini clocks without batteries
5 packs of sewing machine needles from a sewing machine that broke 2 years ago.
Men’s slippers that I was saving for guests who might need some. No one ever asked. Why not give it to someone who could use it now.
1 of Jim’s sweaters. I cajoled Jim into going through his dresser. He chose two drawers and found one sweater that he was willing to give away.

2. Throw-Aways (These were easy calls this time around.)

Used Boy Scout badges (I suppose I could have contacted a local Boy Scout troop and offered them the badges but they weren’t new looking and I made a ruthless decision that my time was worth more than perfection this time around.)
Miscellaneous obsolete papers.
A broken light that attaches to a book.
4 dead AA batteries (put in with our stash of batteries to be recycled of course)

3. Wait

Pair of long underwear. Maybe next winter will be just as cold as this one.
A light that attaches to a book that isn’t broken – I think. Once I get two fresh AA batteries, I’ll see if it works. If so this should be good for reading in bed or giving away.
Lots of stuff I left in the drawers that I don’t use regularly but I might some day.

4. Keep

Gifts until I find the appropriate person to give them to.
Sewing machine thread, scissors, and other supplies.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED:
1. Extreme Purging Delayed
Even though I’m giving a lot of things away, I still have at least half of the contents that I’m still attached to or keeping for awhile. A true minimalist would probably give everything away (except the sewing machine supplies) but I’m not there yet. I’ve found that sometimes I need time to be ready to let go of sentimental items.

2. Move It
I’ve created a new category called “Move It.” These are things I found that really belong in another place of the house. Most of my Move It items were trinkets that I think might be of interest to visiting children so I moved them to my “Children’s basket” which I keep handy for young people to look through and select a little treasure to take home. I have a small pang of conscience, however, as I wonder if I’m just contributing to another household’s clutter. I justify my action by figuring I’m spreading a little bit of joy to kids who enjoy a new trinket, then maybe they’ll pass it on.

3, Weighing the Perfect Vs Time
In a perfect world some of my Throw-Aways (like the Boy Scout badges) could have been cleaned up and given to a scout troop to reuse. The extra zipper could be used – eventually by someone, somewhere. But sometimes I just made a decision not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The time it would take to refresh the badges, find the scout trip, and hope that some of the scouts were working on the same badges that my son did, wasn’t worth the time and uncertainty.

A Drawer A Day, Beyond Stuff Clothes, Memorabilia

A Drawer A Day: Wk 1-Bedroom #1

March 9, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

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I started my Drawer-A-Day pruning in the logical place – my dresser drawers and night stand.
Here are the stats:

5 days
8 drawers (2 of which I skipped – after emptying these drawers I chose to remove nothing.)

I used the process described on Ash Wednesday – Empty the drawer and divide the contents into 4 piles:

Keep
Give Away
Throw Away
Wait

RESULTS/LEARNINGS:

Easiest things to give away:
- Stockings in good condition. (Thanks to the enlightened female fashion trend that favors bare legs in the summer I seldom wear stockings anymore. I saved a few for when I’m invited to a wedding or the White House.)
- Fingernail and toenail clippers, tweezers. Yes these are helpful gadgets to have but do I really need 6 toenail clippers? I saved two – one for me and one for potential visitors.
- A battery powered tweezer that never worked that efficiently. After all, I did keep two human powered tweezers.
- Mini travel alarm. I love miniaturized things for travel but when I tried to replace the battery to see if it worked, I found that it didn’t run on a battery. Where it got its power is a mystery. It certainly couldn’t run on solar power while stashed in my drawer.
Hardest to give away:
- T-shirts with political or spiritual sayings. These are more like wearable bumper stickers, but is it really worth saving a campaign shirt from a 2012 or 2008 election – even for a novelty party?
- I did save one T-shirt showing the Last Supper with all women apostles. The best day to wear this is Holy Thursday and it was hard to justify a once a year wearing, but maybe I’ll just have to wear it more often.
Throwaways
- Stockings that had seen better days and peds that I would never wear even though they’re in good condition.
Things I kept:
- The two skipped drawers contained 16 winter tops and sweaters that I wear regularly.
Distinguishing Give-Aways from Throw-Aways
- Jim said that probably some of my give-aways should really be throw-aways. This applied to my “good condition” stockings and several slightly used lipsticks. As usual, he’s probably right.
Click to show whole dresser

No Outward Difference.
- My dresser and night stand don’t look any different from the outside but I have a pleasant feeling when I look inside and see space that is no longer crammed.
- Even though I cleared out a fair amount of stuff, I was surprised that I couldn’t actually consolidate items enough to gain an empty drawer. There are still too many items in the “I don’t use or wear this much, but I might want it someday” category. I still have room to grow – or maybe I mean diminish.

Since we’re talking about clothes, perhaps this would be a good time to acquaint you with Project 333. This is the invention of Courtney Carver who challenges us to wear only 33 items of clothing for 3 months (one season). You don’t have to count your wedding ring, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear, and workout clothing. I haven’t officially tried it yet but am intrigued to see what I’d be left with after my 16 winter tops.

A question to ponder: What would be your hardest or easiest dresser items to part with?

A Drawer A Day Clothes, Organizing

A Drawer A Day: Ash Wednesday

March 5, 2014 Susan Vogt 1 comment

Some folk take to living lightly easily. They may have been downsizing and simplifying for quite a while. Maybe this is you.

Others, however, feel intimidated by the challenge of letting go of stuff – both clothing and beloved mementos. I often suggest that they start small – perhaps just clean out a drawer. Even if you don’t go any further, at least you have one cleaner drawer.

This prompted me to check out whether I could do this myself and thus was born my plan to prune A Drawer A Day for the next six weeks. As a Lenten practice it’s a way to pay attention to the interior. What’s inside me that could use some pruning – perhaps some attitudes that I’ve hung on to that are no longer serving me well, perhaps some selfishness, perhaps some pride. We’ll see.

The State of my drawers – In taking inventory of the furniture in our house I found:

120 drawers
58 shelves (not counting book shelves)
15 of these shelves partially serve the purpose of drawers because they are in closets.

Following are some rules I’ve set for myself:

Given that I have more than 40 drawers, theoretically I could do more than one drawer a day. I know, however, that some of the drawers in our grown kids’ vacated rooms are empty. I’m starting with just one drawer a day as a base. If I feel motivated some days to do more, fine. We’ll see.
All the organizing books and gurus I’ve read recommend emptying the drawer, closet, storage space first and then gradually put back only the items one intends to keep. I think this makes sense. It not only will force me to decide if each item is worth keeping, it will help me start with a clean drawer.
If I find nothing in the day’s drawer that I am willing to part with, I will go on to the next drawer until I find some thing to give away or throw away.
File cabinets don’t count. (We have eight. These alone could be a project for one full Lent.)
Drawers in Jim’s office don’t count unless they contain common family items that I use too.
Although I’m going drawer by drawer, we have nine rooms in our home and two baths. I’m aiming at approximate a room a week. That’s probably overly ambitious.

I invite you to join me and let me know how you’re doing. Hopefully, we can learn from each other.

A Drawer A Day Faith

365+#68: Rnd 2 -More winter clothes

February 17, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

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There’s not much to say about this post, other than it continues to be very cold in my little area of the world (Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana). The temperatures have hovered around 0 Fahrenheit. Meanwhile I escaped to Lima, Peru for an international meeting. (I know, it really wasn’t fair to be dealing with balmy sunny summer weather while most folk in the northern hemisphere were shoveling out driveways – as my stay-at-home husband was quick to tell me. But, Hey! It was my responsibility! 😕 )

Anyway, I did do at least one positive thing before I left for Peru. I went through my closet again and found even more winter clothes (several warm shirts, some pants, a scarf, gloves, hat, etc.) and took them to a cold shelter. Now that I’ve returned, it’s still cold but I am somewhat comforted by the knowledge that I took the time during my hectic travel preparations to pass on some things that would be of more use to others than myself.

Meanwhile, at least the pipes didn’t freeze and burst again.

Uncategorized Clothes

365+#67: Rnd 2 -Electronics

January 31, 2014 Susan Vogt 1 comment

Many items not pictured because I kept finding stuff

Some items are not pictured because I kept finding more stuff.

Finally, with the kids at home over Christmas I was able to get technical advice on what electronics we were storing were worth keeping and which were so obsolete they should be taken to that recycling center in the sky. A few decisions were easy but there is always the temptation to think that some of these cords and old floppy discs might be useful some day.

The things they OK’d for recycling were:

TV (This one is ready to die.)
2 computer keyboards
2 laptop computers (left over from kid’s college days)
1 desktop computer without a monitor (also left over from college days)
9 used printer cartridges
2 cell phones without chargers
Solar powered/crank radio that is no longer fixable.
1 electric wine opener with chiller. (I have no idea how we got this but it’s been sitting unopened and for over a year. We use an old fashioned cork screw to open wine and the refrigerator to chill it. Sounds like a pretty useless invention to me. (If you gave us this, it’s a duplicate so I’ll pass it on to that fellow who sits on the street corner with a bottle of wine. I’m sure he’d like to keep it chilled. 🙂 )
External DVD writer. This may be useful to someone but not me.
Logitech computer camera (I upgraded.)
Miscellaneous cords that befuddle me and the kids think we have enough similar cords to last longer than the gadgets they go to.
1 unidentified remote.

What I kept:

Monitor
Hub to plug multiple computers into (I can’t imagine using this but one son said I couldn’t give it away.)
Power strip (You can never have too many of these.)
CD Walkman
1 Mouse
A whole bunch of cords and connectors that the kids say are probably important

What I learned:

Call in the kids for advice.
Staples will give you $2 for each used printer cartridge
If you don’t have the charger for older cell phones, they’re not worth saving. Yes, you might find a charger with the right connector on E-Bay or the like, but it’s a hassle.
Although Gazelle recycles many modern electronics and pays you for it, most of my stuff was too old for them. So far Best Buy and Staples have been the best all-purpose place for electronics that I’ve found.
Nobody wants an electric wine opener with chiller.
This stuff mystifies me. Most electronic stuff that I saved is obsolete now.

Extra Fun Electronics

365+#66: Rnd 2 -Coats

January 16, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

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Giving To Those In Need
In early January most states in the upper half of the USA experienced a polar vortex, i.e., some really cold weather. I had been hanging on to some extra coats that had belonged to our children for when the ones in balmy Singapore or Kenya came home for winter visits. BUT, when the temperature dipped to -5º, I knew it was time to apply my book’s Rule of Thumb #5: If I don’t need it now (or soon), can I give it to someone who does? I thought I had already given away extra coats, but it’s a miracle how these things multiply in my coat closet. (Think multiplication of the loaves and fishes.) I discovered two winter jackets and several lighter jackets that were just hanging out with no one to wear them. (That still didn’t count the one jacket that our Singapore son keeps at home since it’s always about 80º there.) On the way to the airport to pick up said son, I dropped the coats off at our local Cold Shelter. I felt good and virtuous.

Giving To Make Another Happy
While I was going through closets, I also found a nice wool blazer that still fit. The problem was that I had already given away all the skirts that I could have worn it with, designating them as out of style. I decided to give it a final fling and then give it away. As it happened, I mentioned this to a person I was talking with during my farewell wearing and decided to give it to her since she was my size and said she would welcome it. (Talk about the shirt off one’s back.)

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Giving When It’s a Stretch or Hurts
Then there was my favorite jacket… Sure, I felt gratified giving coats to the Cold Shelter and it made me happy to give a blazer to a friend who I knew liked it, BUT, I felt that I was really moving more fully into the realm of detachment from my clothing when I visited my mom over Christmas. I wore one of my favorite jackets. I liked it because it’s professional enough to wear for speaking engagements and versatile enough to wear with blue or black skirts or slacks. Perfect for travel. My mom kept saying how much she liked it and dad kept saying how she never gets herself any new clothes. I had her try it on. It fit well. In a flash of generosity I decided to give it to her. As I was about to leave for our trip back to Kentucky, I checked with dad to let him know I was leaving it intentionally and didn’t just forget it. He stopped me and said, “No, please don’t leave it. Even though she likes it on you, she won’t wear it herself.” I had been feeling very virtuous for being willing to give away a favorite piece of clothing. I’m not sure if the intention to pass it on still “counts” as generosity.

What do you think?

Uncategorized Clothes

365+#65: – Letting Go of Words

December 25, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

Christmas Eve wasn’t a silent night for me but December 3 was. That was the day I chose to keep silent. It wasn’t 100% silence. That wasn’t the goal; but rather to become more conscious of the words I do speak and their impact on others. I wanted to reduce the times that my speech was simply empty time fillers, especially words that at least subconsciously were aimed at self-aggrandizement, like “Yes, I go to Rome once a year, but the meetings are really tedious.” OR “I stayed up til 1:00 am last night writing a newsletter.” (The subtext of this is “Notice how hardworking and selfless I am, sacrificing my sleep for volunteer work.”) Here’s how my mostly silent day worked:

*THE RULES:

Choose a normal day. I confess that I cheated a little on this one. I chose a day that I didn’t have any meetings, talks, or conference calls. This is not normal, but I didn’t want to have to explain my silence or be rude. Since I work at home and my husband is usually the only other person in the house, I didn’t have many temptations. Perhaps I would have learned more if I needed to be more conscious of the times I did speak.
Inform your closest relationships. I told Jim and pinned a note on my sweater saying that I was not talking today
Don’t be rude. I decided that it would be rude not to answer people when they spoke to me. Also, since dinner is a connecting time for Jim and me, it would be rude not to talk during dinner.
When you do need to speak, choose words that are “few and full.”
After you speak journey inward to notice why you chose the words you did.
Choose a friend. No one took me up on my offer (at least no one told me they did) so I went solo.

JUST THE FACTS:

Speaking Interactions: 13. Seven were phone calls. Three were with neighbors. Three were with Jim (including dinner).
Total Time: 44 minutes, 30 seconds. (Dinner conversation accounted for 20 minutes.)
Length: All but our dinner conversation were under 5 minutes.
Purpose: 8 interactions were to convey simple information like, “How do I fill out this time sheet?” “Is it too late for me to register for the dance?” “Is this the recycling truck or just the garbage truck?” One was to make an appointment. Two were to give Advent Calendars to neighbors with kids. One was to tech support. (Most of this was waiting time.)

7 THINGS I LEARNED

It’s hard to keep a focus on silence while around other people. If it were truly a normal day in which I were giving a talk or chatting with friends, I’d probably revert to old habits – such as too much information OR not enough listening, modeling, and focus on the other.
BUT, this is not just about being quiet. It’s about being conscious of when I do speak. Maybe I need to tweak my talking by practicing mindfulness of speech occasionally in short spurts like when I’m in a meeting. By pausing before and after each comment, I might be better at curbing self-serving, complaining, or long-winded speech. I need to focus on the other’s need and not just “listen with my answer running.” Don’t be stingy with compliments and words of honor.
Silence is easier if it is the expected norm. Once I went on a silent retreat at a Trappist Monastery. Silence was not difficult because everyone there has the same purpose. Silence at a play or movie is expected. Silence at a meeting, dinner, or party are not.
Writing a few thoughts out in preparation for speaking helped me get to the point most succinctly and clearly.
Silence gave me time to think before I talked. What does this occasion really ask of me? Is it information that is needed or simply affirmation, consolation, or a helpful action?
Silence gave me time to wonder and marvel at things I might have otherwise missed – the fallen leaves, a spouse who is willing to tolerate my seemingly silly experiments…
Waiting in silence can be productive (or at least be a chance to practice patience). Waiting for tech support gave me time to read emails and possibly solve the problem on my own. (The phone call took 45 minutes. Only 6 of these minutes involved me talking. A lot of it was waiting and pushing numbers on the phone.).

*Thanks to Joshua Becker’s blog for the inspiration for this post.

Beyond Stuff Intangibles, Musings

365+#64: Rnd 2 -Luggage

December 14, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

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Sometimes my giveaways have to hunt for a home, so it’s a real blessing when the right home presents itself. That what happened this week when some contra dancing friends announced that they were going on a mission trip to Belize and needed old luggage in which to carry medical supplies. The luggage would be left in Belize.

It continues to amaze me that I have gone through every room and closet of our home at least once and still I find things that I now feel ready to pass on. Why did I originally think I needed

3 large soft-sided bags (I kept back one large one for guests or emergencies.)
3 smaller back packs (Each of us already have a day pack.)

Jim & I each still have one carry on roller board and Jim has a larger one for longer trips.) It’s a satisfying feeling to find a good match for things that I don’t need but will be useful to others.

Question of the week: What baggage are you saving? If you read my traveling light tips, you might not need as much.

Uncategorized Household, Travel

365+#63: – Xmas Gift Giving Criteria

November 30, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

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Since we are about to start the Advent season (which means most of the USA has already begun decorating and buying for Christmas), I plead with you to wait.

Wait because Advent is about waiting, in the dark, for a wonderful person to come, and it’s not Santa Claus.
Wait because we serve too many celebrations before their time and it robs us of the joy of anticipation.
Wait because I just gathered up the Christmas knick knacks that I plan to take to those second hand places that only care about Christmas do dads the month before Christmas. At other times they seem tacky.

For the record, I found 5 more Christmas stockings than we have kids, 5 unused Advent calendars (at least they can pass for unused), 4 knick knacks, a bow, a white elephant, and one Easter pail. Hey, it was mixed in with holiday decorations.

However, getting rid of Christmas decorations that I no longer want is not the main point of this blog. It’s how did I attract so many useless decorations. How do any of us accumulate gifts that are well intended but doomed to be used several times and then banished to a corner to collect dust. As a public service to gift buyers, I’m offering some tips on gifts for people who really don’t need any more stuff, but you still want to show you care.

Think about the person you love and study what brings them joy.
Don’t buy “obligation gifts” unless it would be rude not to. For these people (co-workers, far flung relatives, etc., give them something consumable – ideally made in big batches in your own kitchen. Money works best for people who have low paying jobs like newspaper delivery people and letter carriers. If none of these work, give them the white elephant.
When possible, give experiences rather than material goods. An afternoon of coloring with a pre-schooler, teaching an elementary school student to play jacks, taking a grandchild to the zoo or a teen to a play. Plan a surprise date with your beloved.
Ask yourself Carolyn Hax’s questions. Does the thing I am about to buy

Free up time for someone busy? (Think babysitting, doing a chore, paying for a service)
Show support for someone down? (Think bringing humor, music, or companionship)
Strengthen connections for someone lonely? (Think spending time, calling, or writing)
Provide a pleasant experience to someone who wants for nothing material?

A question for you – What are the top 2 gifts you’ve ever received? What gift-giving tip would you like to pass on?

PS: Oh Yes, and you can always buy them my new book, Blessed By Less: Clearing Your Life of Clutter By Living Lightly. It comes out December 1, 2013. It’ll give them something to think about.

Extra Fun Christmas, Musings

365+#62: Rnd 2 Too much toilet paper

November 15, 2013 Susan Vogt 1 comment

It all started out as a grocery shopping mistake. First mistake was that Jim asked me to do the grocery shopping because he was inundated with work.* Bottom line, it took me quite a bit longer and more grocery mistakes for me to do this task. My biggest mistake was that in a fit of frugality I bought single ply toilet paper. (I calculated the cost per square inch and it seemed like a deal.) Once I started using the toilet paper, I realized why we didn’t usually buy it. But, I had bought 24 rolls so we’d be wiping up for my mistake for awhile. I resigned myself to it since I didn’t want to “waste” it.

Next enters a house guest who stayed with us for a couple months. Trying to be a gracious guest, he sees the kind of toilet paper we had and buys more for the household. I didn’t want to offend him and he was gone before we finished the first mega package, so I decided to give his 8 roll pack to Mary Magdalene House, a respite place for homeless men to shower and do laundry. But toilet paper seemed like such a boring offering, so I scrounged through our linen closets and found 8 towels, 4 extra tooth brushes, and some shampoo from hotel stays to add to my bundle.

A question to ponder: What buying mistakes have you made? Have you found ways to turn your mistakes into a useable gift for others? What do you do with all those hotel shampoos? When’s the last time you laughed at yourself?

*In our more than balanced marriage roles, we had decided about a decade ago that Jim would do most of the grocery shopping since he also did most of the cooking and he knew what he needed. I don’t like to cook and we swapped several jobs to make this a sweet deal for both of us.

Extra Fun Household, Humor, Silliness

365+#61: Rnd 2 -Misc. Parents

November 1, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

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For those who read last week’s blog and wondered what miscellaneous “adult stuff” I would be giving away, I’m afraid it’s rather boring – but boring with a lesson. Now that I’ve gotten rid of the kids, here are some miscellaneous parent contributions:

2 homemade pew banners from our kid’s First Communions. Now really, by definition you can’t have more than one “First Communion” per child and we don’t know any parish kids that have the last name “Vogt.” Still, it’s hard to give away homemade religious mementos.
2 table cloths. Even if we put a cloth on every table on our block, we don’t need all the ones we have.
Incense stick holder. The last time I used incense for a liturgical service, it started a coughing fit for one woman. Comfort trumps atmosphere.
Weed trimmer line. The weed trimmer that this line fits died. This is an easy call.
Pinking shears. I already have one that’s better. I guess I inherited this extra one. Even someone who does a lot of sewing only needs one.
All-purpose flashlight/tool kit. This seemed like such a handy thing to keep in the car for emergencies until we remembered that flashlight batteries die when left in a corner of the trunk waiting for an emergency. Besides, we don’t know which tools to use for what. You never know when a miscellaneous bug or snake is going to need squishing but I think a foot or rock would probably do the trick.
A travel alarm was a good idea – before cell phones.
Tissue case – Yes, it’s pretty but really, how elegant does one have to be when reaching for something with which to blow your nose.
Ashtray made out of a shell. We never smoked and know few people who do. I suppose it could be a candy or whatnot dish, but I hardly have any whatnots around anymore either.
Empty clothes hangers. This is a good sign that I’m reducing my overall pool of clothes that need hanging. Maybe a Second Hand store can use them.

The point here is not all the random stuff that I found. Surely your stuff will be your unique miscellaneous collection. Ponder the relative insignificance of whatever you uncover. Yes, maybe it can be used in a craft project someday – but will you really know where to find it if that day comes?

A question for you: So what relatively useless stuff do you have around your home? It can be a hassle to decide where to take each thing as you notice it. Collect stuff for awhile in a box and then periodically purge.

Days 365+ Memorabilia, Organizing

365+#60: Rnd 2 -Misc. Kids

October 21, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

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True, there are no miscellaneous kids hanging around our home any more and we wouldn’t give them away if they were. The kids we have launched into the world have left some things, however, that we finally feel free to give away. I’ve been collecting these odds and ends for the last several months as I would wander through what used to be called “the kids’ rooms.” Now they are guest rooms. Some of this stuff is just junk, but some of it requires finding a new home. I’m finding that one of the tricks to ongoing pruning is to put stuff in a corner box as I collect it. Then, every few months make a trip to Goodwill or wherever. Does anybody want any drumsticks?

In fairness to the kids, my next blog will contain miscellaneous adult stuff. See what Jim and I have hung on to for way too long.

A Question for you: Are there any remnants from your child’s life that are just tucked away and not worth keeping for posterity? Search around.

Days 365+ Other's Stuff, Toys

365+#59: – Beyond the Bucket

September 29, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

I have a couple international trips coming up to countries that I’ve never visited – England and Peru. This got me thinking about Stonehenge and Machu Picchu. I didn’t seek these destinations in order to complete a bucket list. (One trip is for an international meeting and the other is to meet our son who we haven’t seen in person in 10 months.) But this got me thinking about bucket lists and how I keep hearing people talk about sites they want to see before they die. Of course photos usually follow on Facebook to validate their accomplishments.

This is not bad. In fact Jim and I love to travel, meet new people, and experience different cultures. In fact we’ve been to 49 of the 50 States and at least 25 foreign countries. Many of these trips have been to visit our children who each spent time doing volunteer work after college – often in interesting, if not exotic places. (When I’d tell friends that our daughter was in Peace Corps in Mali, and they responded with “How wonderful!” I knew that they probably thought I had said Bali or Maui. :-?) These have always been enriching experiences (except when our car breaks down in the USA or we get sick in India or Africa). Still it got me to thinking about what I want to accomplish before I die.

Stonehenge

Machu Picchu

Should I spend a little extra money, since I’ll be in the country anyway, to go to Stonehenge or Machu Picchu? It would be an experience of communing with history and hopefully understanding ancient cultures and how people lived. It might give me some spiritual insights about life and people. I don’t know yet, whether I will see these places. What I have decided, however, is that if I go, it won’t be to check it off my bucket list. As I disciplined myself to think more deeply about buckets, here’s what I came up with:

7 Items Worth Having on a Bucket List:

Have I made a positive difference in at least one person’s life?
Have I helped someone get an education who might not otherwise be able to?
Have I brought some beauty into someone’s life?
Have I loved my family well?
Have I helped another person live better?
Have I been a good neighbor? (and we all know that our “neighborhood” is the world. This probably extends to being involved in political solutions for the common good.)
Have I loved selflessly and humbly”

In other words, it’s not important what I see or where I go, but have I made a difference. #7 is the most difficult, I think. I’m still working on it.

A question for you – What’s one bucket list action you still want to do? What items might you let go of?

Extra Fun Musings, Travel

365+#58: Rnd 2 -Backsliding on Books

September 15, 2013 Susan Vogt 1 comment

Can you ever have too many inspirational books? Yes! Recently I was very proud of myself book-wise. I found 3 fine inspirational books from which I had consumed enough relevant inspiration that I was willing to part with them. I felt even better about finding a good home for them – a local coffee shop that has a small library of meditative type books. I contributed my books. It’s especially satisfying to find just the right home for things I want to give away. I felt virtuous.

But last weekend I was visiting my publisher (Loyola Press) in Chicago and they gave me a gift bag of 8 books. “Here, we’d like you to have copies of the other books that are coming out in the same season as your Blessed by Less book.” How kind and generous. They all look like good reads, but now I have a net gain of 5 books not counting several that have been on my nightstand waiting for attention for too long.

Hmmmm. I’m remembering my own advice about pruning my books in my blog entries starting with Days 295-301 Book Criteria. To summarize,

I gave away:

Obsolete text books (that’s almost all of them)
Novels (since once I knew the story, I wouldn’t be re-reading them)
Most information that I could now pretty easily get online

I kept:

Children’s books for reading to visiting kids
Feference books that I preferred to have hard copies of for, well, reference
Prayer and Inspirational books that I might need for comfort
Books I use in my work
Foreign phrase/dictionary/guide books
Miscellaneous books that I just didn’t want to part with
Photo albums

I’m sure I could have been more ruthless with the books but that was my first round of pruning. I figured that after awhile I would probably go back and find more that I really didn’t need especially with more and more being available online.

Arrrgh! And now here I am adding to my book collection instead of subtracting from it. Well, I suppose there are worse vices.

I’m wondering – What kind of books are hardest for you to let go of? What’s easiest? Has the internet or digital books helped? How?

Days 365+ Books

365+#57: Rnd 2 -Too Many Seeds

September 1, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

To prove some seeds grew

I’m leaping from my bedroom – where I mostly look for clothes to give away – to the garden. (Well, not actually “leaping.” I took the stairs.) With the end of the gardening season I was motivated to clean out the small closet in which I kept garden supplies. During Round 1 I had gotten rid of toxic garden chemicals, broken tools, obsolete light bulbs, and work gloves with holes in them. Still, Jim complained that some of my home-made deer repellent was smelling up the closet and it was hard to find space for the broom and mop.

So, I started to dig in and see what was left that could be discarded. The process of taking everything out of the closet and only putting back what I really wanted/needed proved to be cathartic and satisfying. I didn’t end up getting rid of many items but I did have a surprise – SEEDS.

To be discarded

Seeds: I found 52 seed packets; some dating back to 1989 (24 years ago!) Some were empty. I probably just saved them for the directions. But plenty still had seeds in them. In my foolish frugal days I may have thought I’d save seeds for the next year to see if they would still grow – and promptly forgot about them the next year. Apparently, I’m a slow learner since I must have repeated this a number of years. At least now I feel very safe in throwing them all away.

Plant Food: I also found some plant food and dust for roses (I haven’t had any serious roses for about 5 years). I’ll offer this to my neighbors who have roses. I also had Miracid which I used to acidify the soil for the blueberries I transplanted from Michigan about 30 years ago. The blueberries lasted about 5 years. Apparently they need more than acid soil. The Home Orchard Spray will go the way of our dying apple tree.

Deer Repellent: I decided to save most of the deer-repellent since it’s hard to make but I made sure the containers were more secure.

Fungicides: I also found 5 bottles of different kinds of fungicide. I will dispose (responsibly of course) of 4 of these once I find out from my local county extension service if any of these will help me fix a soil fungus problem I suspect I have from squash borers or some other disease that’s been crinkling up my squash and tomato plants.

Ahhh, sometimes it’s hard to be kind to Mother Nature.

Two Things to Ponder –

Gardening and growing some of your own food certainly sounds uplifting, healthy, and virtuous. BUT, it also comes with moral dilemmas like whether or how much to use chemicals? What to do with leftover produce, or worse, leftover insecticides? How do you deal with critters like squirrels, deer, woodchucks, rabbits, etc.? Share your successes and challenges.
Where are the places in your home that may be hiding long forgotten supplies that you don’t need anymore. I’m curious.

Days 365+ Household

365+#56: Rnd 2 -Photo of Nothing?

August 15, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

Total give aways
Click to enlarge

A magazine, Alive, asked to do an article about my year of giving away and wanted to do a photo. Unfortunately it’s hard to take a photo of what’s no longer in our home. I wondered if we would need to “stage” it to suggest the kinds of things that I gave away but no longer had. Since I had a month to consider this, I put a hold on things I would have normally passed on to others and saved them for the photo. Voila! I was surprised at how many additional things I had collected, just waiting to be given away. The night before the photo I did a new sweep of my clothes closet and hung those items in our basement and added these to the other items I had collected.

This has taught me several things:

I’ve become accustomed to putting stuff in a corner just waiting to collect enough to warrant a give away trip. A habit like this does not end in a year.
Even after two sweeps through my clothes closet, there were still clothes that were not painful to give away. In fact, I can already see that given a little more grieving time, there are even more items that it would not hurt me to lose. If this is true for a person like me who is not particularly a slave to fashion (trust me my daughter will attest to that :-?) then there are a lot more clothes waiting for someone to wear them.
It is a bit embarrassing that I still have so many things to give away. I’m far from done, but sometimes it takes time to be willing to part with clothing I like but hardly ever wear.
It helps that I work at home and the kids are sprung. The active parenting phase of life requires saving a bit more stuff.

Just the clothes

I’ll comment on the other things I collected for this photo in future blog entries but for this week I’ll just focus on the clothes:

2 dresses
1 suit
1 skirt
2 pairs of slacks
2 blouses
4 jackets
1 white beach cover up that I thought I could wear at a resort of if I ever went on a cruise. Seeing as I’ve never been on a cruise and don’t intend to go on one, it was only fulfilling a fantasy hanging in my closet.

Question: Are you in the stage of life of accumulating clothes for work or in a position where “professional attire” is no longer important? How much of a difference does it make in what clothing you buy and what you keep in your closet?

The Process Clothes

365+#55: – Taming My News Diet

July 31, 2013 Susan Vogt 2 comments

I’ve finished my “news fast” – week without newspapers, e-news, radio*, or TV (well, not no news but only indirect news gained from other’s comments). When I reconnected with the world I learned that I missed the birth of the royal baby, that Edward Snowden was still holed up in the Moscow airport, and that there was still unrest in Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the US Congress was still stalemated on almost every issue.

SOME THINGS I LEARNED:

It was an easy week: Since I was at a conference for most of one week and hosting our 4-year-old granddaughter the next, this probably wasn’t a true test. I had very little discretionary time during which I would normally read the paper or listen to news. Instead I tried to address issues like how to strengthen marriages, reform our Church, and persuade a 4-year-old that broccoli was tasty and that too many s’mores were not.
What I didn’t miss: Perhaps this was a slow news week but there did not seem to be any late breaking, earth shattering news that I missed. The troubles of the world continued without me knowing the “latest.” Another random week might have been very different – but then someone would have probably alerted me to pay attention.
What I missed was the news analysis that I usually get from NPR, the NYT, and Charlie Rose.
E-mail: I didn’t miss the interminable email “news” flashes (usually political) asking me to support this cause or that and peppered with requests to support a worthy cause with a donation. By the time the week was over, the urgent Senate vote or “Walk for ??” had passed and it was too late. This gave me a guilt free pass to delete a bunch of emails even though I agreed with the cause.
Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter: Although I have a limited connection with these social media, I do occasionally pick up helpful information like links to short inspirational articles or YouTube videos. I also appreciate seeing photos of our kids’ latest exploits or clever remarks. I don’t know if I missed anything important here since it was probably buried by birthday wishes, changing FB profile pictures, and other’s vacation photos. A lot of people wanted to link to, endorse, tweet, or friend me. I’ll never know about those who don’t. It doesn’t impact my life much.
The Weather: Although I don’t have any control over the weather, knowing generally what it will be like, helped us plan when to do the campout with our granddaughter or what kind of clothes to take on my trip. I think checking the weather is a worthy use of news.
Habits: I typically listen to radio news when dressing or in the car. I read the newspaper while eating breakfast or waiting for appointments. I listen to a bit of Charlie Rose at bedtime. When I returned from my conference, I found myself ready to automatically resume some of those habits. It took some self-discipline to continue the “fast.” I wondered what I was missing, but then the urge passed and I realized I was still alive and hadn’t suffered unduly, and indeed got a little more sleep.
Silence: By not turning on the radio or TV, I had a little more silence. This was good. I needed it as a respite from the barrage of “Why do insects bite us? Why can’t I have another story? Why do I have to go to bed?” questions. It was hard enough to find a quiet time for prayer and reflection when traveling or when arranging my schedule around someone else’s needs. These snippets of silence became a refreshing prayer time for me.
What I’ll keep: I think I’ll keep most of the media I interact with since I learn about important developments in my work, the world, and family. I already limit my FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn time to a few minutes a day.
What I’m not sure of or have decided to change:

Gmail has just changed its format again (aarrgh!) but this time it’s a help. It now separates out Social and Promotional emails from my primary ones. I think this will help me pay attention to what’s important for work and separate all those solicitations and pleas to contact Congress or give money. (The only problem is that it counts my weekly Marriage Moments and Parenting Pointers as “Social” so I have to go looking for them.)
I’ve dropped one national newspaper and plan to drop two magazines that I rarely have time for.
I will stop obsessing about how few Twitter followers I have. Most of what I want to say or know can’t be said in 140 characters anyway. Some of the links are helpful though.
I’m still not sure about whether or not to get a Smart Phone. I don’t know if that would simplify my communication/info needs or just make me more of a slave to knowing more and knowing it more quickly.
I’m not sure about whether to keep scanning several news digests that I get online. The advantage is that they collect a lot of news on issues that concern me, but it takes time even to scan these.
I will try to have more humor in my life by watching my favorite comedy show and seeing the irony in knowing the latest but not knowing it’s relative importance.
Once I know a news event, I will limit how closely I follow all the developing side stories. I don’t really need to know about Anthony Weiner or Eliot Spitzer’s latest dalliance, only that I wouldn’t vote for either.
I’ll pray first thing in the morning rather than waiting till I have some time. The “time” seems to slip slide away before I realize it. Whoops, better do that right now.

*Disclosure: I did listen to NPR while on a long drive – to keep me awake of course. 😕

How have you tamed the news and TMI in your life? Pass on your best strategies here.

Beyond Stuff Humor, Intangibles, Musings, Time

365+#54: – I Know Too Much

July 15, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

We get 3 daily newspapers (Cincinnati Enquirer, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal), at least 7 magazines, and I’m an NPR junkie. This doesn’t include countless email messages from causes I support. You’d think this would make me an informed citizen. Lately, it has mostly made me discouraged and depressed about the state of life on earth. I know too much!

First there are the global natural disasters (floods, hurricanes, drought, tsunamis, tornados). These are bad but there’s nothing I can do about them. Working on environmental issues to reduce global warming might help some but it’s all very long range and usually far away.
Then there are all the international human-made disasters (conflicts in Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Brazil, the Congos…, building collapses in Bangladesh, human trafficking, curable illnesses that aren’t cured for lack of money or government resistance, terrorism, corruption, economic collapse…) I can be disturbed but most of these are still far away and beyond my ability to help.
Closer to home there is the political dysfunction within the US government. Both parties have strong principles and a desire to win the next election. This means compromise is a dirty word since it might allow the party in power to make progress and thus it will be harder to defeat them in the next election. Addressing all the life issues including abortion, poverty, overuse of fossil fuels, immigration reform, gun control, decent health care and education for all, elimination of the death penalty, racism, violence, prejudice, and all the other isms are at a standstill. It makes me tired just starting this list. I’m involved in some of these issues but they take political pressure from a critical mass of people and a fair amount of money to make a dent in the problems. I have limited time and money, so I choose a few to give my energy to. Watch FrontLines’ Two American Families by Bill Moyer to get even more informed/depressed.
There’s the even closer problems in my own community and family – ailing friends and schools, relatives who need help, worthy causes that need funding and attention . Here, gathered with my faith community and friends I can potentially make a difference, but it takes time.
Then there’s everything to do with faith and the Church. For all the good that religious institutions do (my own Catholic Church in particular) I also see the underside of scandal, hypocrisy, and fear of losing control.

Fortunately my personal life is pretty stable, but it would only take a family crisis, an illness, an accident, a loss of income, to have my family life trump the 5 above areas on my worry list.

So what to do? Wallow in worry and feeling overwhelmed? That’s not helping anybody. Here are my
5 WAYS TO STAY SANE & BALANCED WHEN I KNOW TOO MUCH:
(The first 4 are the usual suspects. #5 is my personal response to “knowing too much.”

Take care of my own physical and emotional well-being so I can live to help another.

Daily walk/exercise (Thank you, Jim, for reminding me and sometimes accompanying me.),
Decent nutrition (I still allow myself a few treats like half a Klondike bar for dessert.)
Laugh more (I watch the Colbert Report for humor and relaxation.)
Gratitude (I write down at least one thing/person that I am grateful for each day.)
Others do yoga, swim, exercise, etc.

Ground myself in a spiritual base to keep balanced and have perspective. Morning prayer and a life-giving faith community have been essential parts of this. When I get mad at the Church, I remind myself that WE are the Church and we’re trying to live as Jesus showed us.
Recreate enough. Contra dancing, watching my garden grow, and playing cards with Jim at night are my current preferred forms of recreation. Connecting with our kids, near and far flung, always brings me joy. Friends are an antidote to depression. We can vent to each other and support each other.
Keep my work and volunteer commitments manageable. Assuming that most of us work enough, perhaps too much, the challenge for our culture’s multi-tasking, over achieving lifestyle is to achieve a family/work/personal life balance. (See To Do Lists in my previous post.) One friend just gave me a gag gift saying “Stop me before I volunteer again.” I’m about to resign from one long term commitment.
Limit the amount of news I consume. This will be a new endeavor for me, and a hard one. I’m going to experiment with consuming less news – at least repetitive news. I will be traveling for almost a week soon and will conclude with a visit our granddaughter visiting for a week. I think this might be a good time to try a “news fast.” My plan is to not read the paper or email news stories for a week. I’ll only listen to NPR when driving by myself in the car (to keep me company and awake). At the end of the week, I will check in with a news hound and find out if I missed anything that a quick summary couldn’t provide. I will be watching for negative withdrawal signs or increased personal calm. We’ll see what happens. If you try this too, let me know what you’ve learned.

Beyond Stuff Faith, Intangibles, Musings, Time

365+#53: – To Do Lists

July 1, 2013 Susan Vogt 1 comment

I still have plenty of things to give away in our home but I’m feeling more burdened by my “To Do List” than my stuff these days. So this blog is focused on TIME. How we use it and how we can be a slave to it like the proverbial wheel running hamster.

I go to bed wondering how I’m going to keep all my commitments by their deadlines. I find myself thinking, I’ll feel freer, happier, less stressed once I finish this project, those emails, that report. I thought things would slow down once I finished my upcoming book (Blessed by Less). It hasn’t. Stuff just got pushed to later.

Theoretically I know the answer lies in prioritizing, delegating, and being humble enough to remember that I don’t have to save the world. Still, I like to think of myself as responsible. I pray and that helps me remember that my worth does not depend on how much I accomplish. But still…God rested. I must too.

I think of refugees, people who have debilitating diseases, people who experience disasters like fires or floods. They are forced to focus on what’s really important. Besides they probably have lost their To Do List in their disaster – unless of course it’s backed up in the cloud somewhere. 😕

Please share with me and other recovering work-aholics how you let go of too heavy a list of tasks or being over-responsible.

PS: I do feel a little better now that I’ve crossed “Do semi-monthly blog” off my list of things to do. Hope you’re smiling.

Beyond Stuff Intangibles, Organizing, Time

365+#52: – Ethics of Donating

June 16, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

Continuing my June 1 blog’s issue about how to donate rather elegant/expensive clothing, I now turn to the opposite extreme – what about donating rather substandard items? It’s virtuous to clear out the stuff that’s cluttering our home and simplify our material possessions. This helps us find things more easily, makes for a cleaner environment, and provides other people with stuff they need but you no longer need. BUT, are there ethics for handing down used clothing. Is it fair to give someone else worn jeans that aren’t good enough for me? Earth 911 can give you some guidance.

Sometimes, however, my hand-me downs are not what another person needs most. They might need training, an education, food – stuff that I can’t just pass on to Goodwill. Sometimes money can do the most good and do it most efficiently. But everybody’s got their hand out. How do we make decisions about donating our money to causes that will do the most good. To make a plan that will help you make these decisions check out my friend, Gene Gardner’s, outline for Donating With Confidence.

Micah sorting his money

But what about our kids? They usually don’t have enough money saved to really make a difference. Read an inspirational story about what one of our God children, Micah, decided to do to save the world when he was six. You’re never too young.

The Process Money

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A Drawer A Day: Wk 2-Bedroom #1+

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A Drawer A Day: Ash Wednesday

365+#68: Rnd 2 -More winter clothes

365+#67: Rnd 2 -Electronics

365+#66: Rnd 2 -Coats

365+#65: – Letting Go of Words

365+#64: Rnd 2 -Luggage

365+#63: – Xmas Gift Giving Criteria

365+#62: Rnd 2 Too much toilet paper

365+#61: Rnd 2 -Misc. Parents

365+#60: Rnd 2 -Misc. Kids

365+#59: – Beyond the Bucket

365+#58: Rnd 2 -Backsliding on Books

365+#57: Rnd 2 -Too Many Seeds

365+#56: Rnd 2 -Photo of Nothing?

365+#55: – Taming My News Diet

365+#54: – I Know Too Much

365+#53: – To Do Lists

365+#52: – Ethics of Donating

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