I have these little rituals that are generally determined by need. Recently, I noticed that all of my socks had holes – either in the sole or heel. Okay, maybe not “all,” but you get my point. Since I typically wear at least one pair of socks a day, it’s irritating to rifle through a sock drawer to find matching and non-holey socks. I went to the store and bought 22 pairs. Time to throw the others out.
Now, 22 pairs may sound ridiculous and I get it. But here’s why it works for me: I no longer have to rifle through my drawer and I won’t have to buy socks again for 2-3 years. I do the same with other essentials, including things like summer t-shirts, dress pants, etc. Perhaps its an example of over-buying but I think it’s just a combination of urgent need tied to maximal time constraints.
Now that I’m not working so much, I suddenly find myself with time to plan life a little bit. The sock purchase? It’s an example of my old life when I reacted to the stimulus. These days, I’m hoping that the excessive sock purchases, grocery purchases and general other purchases can subside a bit. With more time, the goal will be to notice when socks start to become holey, methodically toss them (or turn them into cleaning rags) and when I’ve tossed a certain number, slowly replace them.
That’s not to say that all of that herky-jerky reaction stuff is completely over. For example, we ran out of olive oil last night – which is somewhat more possible by the fact that we cook with it and use it for our evening salads – but not a sign of a house under control. I am also in desperate need of a recycling station trip as my recycling closet overflows.
Still, it’s not total chaos around here. Yesterday, I was able to sand and seal our Adirondack chairs, getting two coats of seal on the chairs. That’s going to ensure that they are preserved for years. I’ve also “squeezed and freezed” tomatoes as they’ve ripened, already preserving most of a year’s worth of tomato squeezings. That will allow for homemade marinara, chili and ketchup for the year. Today, we will begin the process of getting firewood in but we are not – for once – starting with an empty woodshed. We have at least a month’s worth of firewood already in the shed.
The real goal here? Transition this family as much as we can from reactionary, urgent to-do lists and more to a regulated, calm series of tasks that keep us “just this much” ahead of the game. Today, the garbage/recycling run and grocery shopping gets me caught up again. It’s a start. Tomorrow, my husband is planning on a huge pot of chicken curry lentil soup, that can be divided and frozen into quick meals all fall and winter long. That’s a nice boost to the out-of-panic mode lifestyle. Getting firewood in will help immensely as will tackling my list of small projects designed to methodically address some of those tasks we just never seem to get to.
For the most part, I feel like we do a much better job these days at staying even or just a little behind. It’s not nearly like the old days when we actually celebrated if we got anything done on time. And let’s face it, those were rare occasions.
In future, though, I don’t want to be buying 22 pairs of socks at once. The socks themselves are a symbol of what was wrong before. Nothing got addressed until it was close to being a crisis. Instead, I want our lives to be more like the Adirondack chairs. They needed just a light sanding and to be resealed. Nothing major but if they got done this summer – and before they got put away for winter – they would be safely preserved for next spring when they could be brought out, swept off and put on the deck, easy peasy.
This is the kind of balance and simplicity I look forward to bringing to our lives, but I’m not naïve. It’s going to take some time and I may need months to reliably keep us caught up. But I’m looking forward to the logistical challenge. In the meantime, though, I like my new socks.
The Yuppie Homesteader 