I'm trying to be simple.

No, not simple minded.  Simple.  As in living simply.

I don't want to have clothes spilling out of my closet.  I don't want to have a shoe rack that's full.  I don't want to have gadgets for this and that and the other.  I don't want to have a tub full of cleaning products.  I don't want to have 'stuff', period.

I want to have a few things that I like, that work well and that serve their purpose.  I want to get rid off the fluff, rid of the bits and pieces and this and that's and all the extras that come with living in modern society.

It's hard to be simple.  Actually, it's not hard BEING simple, it's hard getting there.  Everywhere you look, there are advertsiments telling you that you NEED this, that you MUST have this or that or the other, that this will make your life so much easier, that this will make you look so much younger, thinner or healthier, that this thing is bigger and better and faster than the one you have and that if you don't get it you'll be left behind; you'll be a societal reject if you don't buy what they're selling.

There are even adverts for things that claim to make your life simpler.  Yep, instead of getting rid of stuff to simplify, they want you to get MORE stuff.  Sometimes the stuff you get CAN make your life simpler because you can get rid of three or four things and replace them with ONE thing, but...some of the stuff they try to sell you under the banner heading of 'simplicity' is unreal.  Some of these companies advertising dudes are stretching the limits of reality with their claims.  Either that or they have a different version od simplicity than I do.

It's hard to get a simple life.  It's hard to get rid of stuff.  I know that once I do I'll feel better, but man, it's tough.  I'm still in the mind-set that we have no money and that I have to get stuff whilst it's on sale because we won't be able to get it later.  We're not rich, but we're better off now than we were back then.  I like to sale-shop, yes.....but I don't HAVE to.  Ridding myself of that way of thinking is hard.  I don't want to let go.  I don't want to give things away or sell them.  I'll get rid of them and then panic because we have no stuff and then I'll go buy MORE stuff....and so the cycle repeats.  Rid, panic, buy.  Again and again.

So, I guess the real challenge isn't getting rid of stuff, it's NOT getting more stuff.  It's getting myself out of that way of thinking, and just as importantly, setting safeguards so that I won't fall prey to media and societal pressure and go buy buy buy again.  THAT'S the solution.  THAT'S what my goal should be.  Not just to rid myself of stuff, but to break the cycle.

That's going to be hard.  But I guess if I want it enough, I'll do it. 

And I do want it.  I want to be simple, to live simply.  I honestly believe that your life and house should be a reflection of your mental state.  My house right now is clean, but untidy.  I feel like I have to battle stuff everyday, I have to corral it and get it in its place before I can get down to the cleaning.  I'm starting to detest that, which is a motivating factor.

The question now is, which comes first?  Do I get rid of stuff to clear my mind, or do I clear my mind and then get rid of the stuff?

Hmm.  That's quite the conumdrum.