Purgify

Simplify. Live simply. It seems to be the trendy new life statement. Some have even incorporated reminders into their home décor by way of vinyl lettering, wooden signs, refrigerator magnets and embroidered throw pillows. While I’m not one to jump on a bandwagon just because it’s rolling by, this little concept strikes a cord with me.

I may be inventing a new word here but I’m a “complicator”. I complicate things that don’t need to be complicated. For example, I’ll decide I need to clean the bathroom. Everything is fine until I get to the tub. I remember how much I hate to clean the bathtub. Then I recall the commercial I saw for that promising new bathroom cleaner. Suddenly, I have to have it. And I can’t just clean with the stuff I usually use because I hate cleaning the tub and what if this new stuff will make it easier? And the tub needs to be cleaned today, it can’t wait until the next time I happen to be in the store and think about it. So, here I am in all my cleaning day beauty and I decide I have to go to the store. It can’t wait until I’m done cleaning the rest of the house because there’s an order to how the house is cleaned. After all I am a “complicator”. So, I get dressed, dress three kids, send them potty, search out shoes, quickly rake some snacks into plastic baggies because breakfast was scheduled for after the bathroom was cleaned. I grab the keys, shoo the kids out the door to the garage, then while they’re getting buckled I hurry and clean off the kitchen counter because it’s the first thing I see when I come back home and I hate it when it’s messy. I shuffle out to the car, buckle the baby then spend 10 minutes fishing the car obsessed cat who tries to stow away at every opportunity out of the van. We start to back out but then I realize I have to bring in the trash can that the garbage man deposited right in my way (because it’s Monday of course and I clean on Monday…the same day garbage goes out). Back in the car we are headed to the store one hour and fifteen minutes after I first approached the bathtub, sponge in hand. Now, I could launch into an additional huge narrative about how the store trip turns into a big fiasco and four stops and $150.00 later I return home three hours and forty five minutes after I first approached the bathtub, sponge in hand. But I won’t. My point is I’m a “complicator”. Seriously, just clean the stinking bathtub.

Since I’m not exactly fond of this not so endearing personality trait I possess, I’ve been exploring this “simplify” idea a little bit. At first I thought it might mix with OCD like oil and water which would be bad for me (though my case is mild), but it’s not true. They mesh quite well. But there’s a trick. I couldn’t subscribe fully to the “simplify by just letting it go” approach. I still want things to be in order and I have a hard time playing when lots of work is staring me down. So for me simplifying means organization and purging! When I am organized it is so much easier to avoid complicating things. However, the more stuff you have the harder it is to organize not only the stuff but your time. Stuff sucks time. Stuff has a way of creeping out of even the most seemingly organized spaces and spilling itself all over your relaxation. I have learned and am still learning the tremendous value of THE PURGE!!! Be gone with the stuff. Stuff that doesn’t earn its keep gets booted. If you spend more time shuffling an item here and there and around and down and over out of the way than you do actually using it, it is not earning its keep. Oh and by the way, sentiment needs to earn its keep too. If the thing doesn’t give you heart flutters every time you look upon it and it doesn’t have a well-defined home, it may not be earning its keep.

Having said that, don’t expect to walk into my home on any given day and find it spotless and completely organized. I’m still working on it. It suffices to say, the more I simplify and the more I purge the less-needed things, the more time I have to play. And who couldn’t use more play time?