Simplify Your Life

As a mother of young children I carried a so called "diaper bag." I couldn't bother with a purse, because, in the hustle and bustle of life with twins and their 15-month older brother and then later, when the other three children were added to the entourage, I might "forget" and leave it somewhere. So, I stuffed my comb in the side pocket of the diaper bag, then stuffed in my wallet because I needed my driver's license. It grew from there. When I outgrew the diaper bag I transferred everything to a purse that was at least the size of the replaced diaper bag--after all, I needed all that stuff. It never occurred to me that I could do without it. It was a convenient catch-all that I lugged everywhere (I wonder if that's how luggage got its name).

Somehow, along the way I acquired what is called "tennis elbow." The X-ray technician said, "You play tennis?" "No, but my family all do." I hate all exercise!

Shortly after my painful experience with a shot in the elbow which helped nothing, I heard about a "wallet-ectomy." A doctor had determined a man's back pain had been caused by carrying his wallet in his hip pocket and advised the man to change the wallet to his front pocket. Would this work for my tennis elbow? I couldn't even carry my arm and hand let alone drag along my 20-pound purse. Something had to give and it was the purse.

When I gave this assignment to the Packrats Anonymous classes, I had each class member in turn empty her purse on the table and, as she put each item back in her purse, I had her tell the class what the item was and why she carried it with her everywhere she went. Vicki won, hands down. Not only was hers the largest purse, she had the most unique item: Five Swiss Army pocketknives!

"Five Swiss Army pocketknives?"

"Yes. I have five sons."

I took out my keys. Did I need all these keys? I couldn't even remember what they were for, so I undid the ring and took off all the keys and put them in a margarine tub. I kept only the keys to my car and the door to the house on my key ring. I use a remote control to open the garage door, so no key for that. I use only one entry, so only one key was needed there.

I read the label on lipstick. It contains turtle wax. I decided if I didn't want to eat yucky things, I didn't need to wear lipstick anymore, so the five tubes in the bottom of the purse went out. I never could stand junk all over my face, so cosmetics wasn't my downfall. I didn't have five boys, so I didn't have five Swiss Army pocket knives, thank goodness! But I had other non-essentials. It finally boiled down to the realization that I didn't need a purse at all. When going out I took the key ring which had only the key to the car and the key to the house. If I needed a checkbook I took it. Otherwise, I took nothing. I had a hard time with the driver's license. Finally I put it in a small folder and picked it up when I got my keys.

Are you ready to try another experiment? Pick up your handbag. Put it on your lap. Liberation begins here. Start with your key ring. Only the key to the front door, the key to the car you drive and the key to the front garage door should be on your key ring. All other keys are to be on separate key rings and labeled. Key to side garage door. Key to bicycle. Key to brown suitcase, etc. Keep these keys in a "key" place (on a hook inside a cupboard door, in a "key" drawer).

A small clutch wallet may include only: your driver's license and identification. NO pictures of anyone. You see your kids every day.

Take it only if you are going to use it this trip.

"But my MAKEUP!" Put it on in the boudoir.

"My COMB!" Keep one in the glove box.

Tuck a tissue in your sleeve.

This system requires thinking and advance planning, but I almost never carry a purse anymore, which is quite a step down from the flight bag with the entire household and a spare, that I used to carry.

Downsizing allowed me to realize that a great deal of energy is wasted worrying about doing useless chores and robs us of the ability to accomplish worthwhile goals. Remember the non-op machine? The technician comes out and charges a whopping fee for what he calls troubleshooting. Seventy percent of the time he finds the problem is the machine isn't plugged in! Our problem is that we have a drain of power (clutter) from the main power supply. The technician's expensive diagnosis is that we have a short, causing a burnout. His solution? Find the short and eliminate the drain of energy. When he accomplishes this the main power supply generator is functional again. How can we eliminate the drain from our main power supply? One way is to realize that affluence, or the acquisition of things, is the biggest block to the goal of order. We've been deceived to believe more is better. Check with fashion designers or bonsai gardeners. Beauty and elegance are obtained via simplicity. Our new watchword then is simply this: SIMPLIFY your surroundings. I call this the KISS method: Keep it simple sweetheart