As our journey continues living "like" 1942 our priorities have shifted. We have just passed our first week of our third month.
When I look at our current year in today's time and what others are doing and what we are doing there is a distinct difference.
Many of our routines and the way we do things have changed such as sleeping, eating and budget to name a few.
We went through the purging of clutter, then we went through more purging and now we are purging once more because there are so many things, small things mostly now, that just do not fit in with our lifestyle and have no purpose.
BUT, we need different things that have more importance.
We have realize how wrong our choices have been living the modern time. Our large overstuffed furniture, our plastic poor quality leaching who knows what items in our house that we really did not need. It is just "stuff" and even though we have never been horders we did not realize how many things were "put away" until we started pulling everything out of closets, drawers, cabinets and containers. It has felt like a constant pulling out things and sorting.
I set a goal that we would not have anything stored under a bed nor in plastic containers inside our house. If there is something that needs to be kept it goes in our small storage room inside our carport and that is another purge and sort thing to do. We want to fit into our space and why we keep going back over things. I am so thankful that Charles has the same goals because it would be difficult if he did not.
Somehow we fell into the trap of believing we needed these things in our house when we could have purchased more practical household items.
We made poor choices in the clothes that we bought, many that are uncomfortable because we were not careful and patient with our choices. Trying to save a buck sometimes ends up costing. Now we are more careful what clothing we purchase and put more importance of how to clean each item. Dark and colored clothes "Need" to be washed in cold water because hot or warm water makes the dyes fade. Whenever you see color in the wash water that is dye leaving your nice clothes so the settings on your washer do matter.
So now we have different priorities and that is for our items in our home to be functional and non toxic as possible, have space around the furnishings in our home so their is airflow and access to clean around and under it.
Several years ago we made the mistake of purchasing a few pieces of furniture that was too big for our living room. We have replaced some of that furniture with more practical vintage furniture and both of us have said many times lately, "oh this feels so much better". We both love the look of the older furnishings because there is so much more character.
We don't have to live like 1942 or any era to end clutter in our homes but sometimes we need something to nudge and motivate us to declutter and it is all about priorities.
The shifting of priorities is the time laundry is done because it needs to get out to the clothesline early because we live in a high humidity area. There is always going to be laundry so might as well just get it done. Laundry has to be a priority because it completely affects the household if it is not.
Ironing has a high priority in our home because Charles wears dress shirts to work. It has to be done.
More important things to do..
Airing the house daily if possible
Planning meals and preparation * high priority
Trying to keep the workload down by keeping things put away*
"Everything" in the house has a place to reside. *
Growing food in the garden even if it is a small amount**
Since the decluttering is going well I am now trying to use things for what their original purpose was such as this Martha Washington Sewing Cabinet. I have used it for many things but now my goal is to organize my sewing items even more and make proper use of this cabinet.
As we continue our 1942 journey I realize we actually live more like the preceding years because the adults living in 1942 were born in the 1800's to 1921 so they were of the generation that had skills passed down to them. Many families cooked the same meals that came well before 1942. This has led us to much more research further back in time. This is quite an interesting journey and Charles and I keep learning new things. I hope you are enjoying following along and I know some of you are actually making your own changes. :)
Grandma Donna
