Saturday, November 4, 2017

Living Simply

I tend to be a do-er. Like I get an idea in my head, and then I try to go whole hog for it. I think I've always been that way. And I sometimes have a hard time looking at things objectively. This is where Charlie is so, so good for me. He has a way of looking at things differently. Like when I wanted to buy a pumping bag for work when I was breastfeeding Teddy. He just said, "Kristen. You just created a problem you didn't have so that you could buy this bag. It's not like you commute far. It's not like you have to bring a pump to and from work every day. What you're doing is working. Buy the bag if you want, but don't pretend its because it's going to make your life easier." He was right. I didn't need the bag. It would not have made life easier, except for perhaps it would have looked nice sitting on my desk.

So the last year as lead me from committing to simplifying my kids lives to minimalizing mine, to trying to reduce the amount of waste we create and plastic we use as a family. I've posted about this last one recently. I still think that we use a lot of plastic. Too much plastic. And in North Platte, though we do have recycling available to us, it's pretty limited (#1 and #2 plastic, aluminum cans, paper, cardboard). No glass, no #4 or #5 plastic. And when you go to the grocery store and try to buy yogurt or cottage cheese, it almost always comes in a #4 or #5 plastic container. And of course you can keep those and clean them out and use them again, but how many of those does a person need? And eventually they end up in a landfill, even if you use them until they can't be used anymore, right?

So I went back to making my own yogurt. I tried to make my own cottage cheese, which was delicious when fresh but not so much a few days later (won't do that again). And the last few times I went to the grocery store, I went to the deli counter instead of buying the deli meat in the plastic containers.

But, you know that scene from Zootopia where they're at the DMV and it is being run my sloths? That is the deli counter at every grocery store in North Platte. You can easily double your time at the grocery store by going to the deli counter. So I try to buy lots more than we need a freeze it, but it's still kind of a pain. With small kids time is important.

And last night, Charlie had had enough. He had to go to the grocery store yesterday, and I asked him to get pretzels in a plastic container that could be recycled and go to the deli counter. Which he did, but he was not that happy when he got home. Because the deli counter is infuriating, lol. And he said that me spending my free time making yogurt and standing at the deli counter does not make us happier, and it does not simplify our lives.

And I got to thinking about it, and he's right. I work full time, I try to be present for my kids, and I try to do stuff around the home that I like to do, like make my own bread or sew a baby bib for my baby. But I am not a housewife and we are not farmers. I don't have time to be making yogurt at all hours of the night, or concocting a way to make pretzels at home so we don't have to buy them in a plastic bag.

I use cloth diapers, I make our own bread, I usually make our own yogurt, sometimes I make baby wipes, I actually do recycle, I bring my own utensils, I bring my own coffee cup, I bring a cloth napkin to work.

It is enough. Do what you can. Then let it go. You can't do it all... That is the true lesson in simplifying your life.