one day down, 89 to go

Today is actually day one of my 90-day simplification project. It was 2 weeks ago that I wrote my initial post promising myself to finish to up all in-progress projects and meet some outstanding obligations. Well, I have done that. I’ve have gotten everything that needed immediate attention off my plate and lived up to all of my outstanding promises. See, no procrastination! Wow, this getting things done stuff really works(:

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been reading two wonderful books that I think will help me simplify my daily life and manage my time better. 30 Days to a Simpler Life is such fun because it essentially gives you a homework assignment to complete each day. It doesn’t make the whole organization thing seem overwhelming.

In deference to the authors, I don’t want to give too much away here about their specific suggestions; after all, these ladies came up with this stuff, not me. But I would like to share with you from time to time the things I try from these books and other resources that work for me. And maybe I will even gain a little wisdom myself and come up with my own strategies that I can share. I can’t promise they will be earth-shattering breakthroughs, probably more like “duh!” moments, but I promise to share nonetheless.

Ooo…I have one! I tried this a couple of months ago and it’s really working: get rid of your big-ass purse and all of the crap in it.

I was carrying a purse and a tote bag full of crap back and forth to work every day. Some days—no, make that most days—I didn’t even access, let alone use anything, in the tote bag. It was like some weird kind of security bag that I schlepped around.

So, I got rid of the tote all together and treated myself to a nice handbag with just a few pockets and dividers to keep things organized and handy. Then I went through my existing purse and purged it of everything only adding back the essentials:

*wallet (which I pared down, too—more on that in a bit);
*keys (bought a cute new keychain and got rid of all the extra keys, keeping only one’s I need to get in and out of the house and turn the car on);
*a small, but cute notepad to write things down on that I can transfer to my planner later (so I don’t have to carry that everywhere);
* a pen;
*my sunglasses in their case;
*a tampon; and
*ONE tube of lipstick and liner (these thin babies need liner).

That’s it! And truly, that is all I really need when I am out.

Okay, about that wallet. My mother-in-law gave me this cute thing for Christmas and it has replaced my regular wallet. LOVE IT!

All I have in it is my drivers’ license, my ATM card and the card-key I need to get in and out of my garage at work. I don’t carry any of that other crap anymore—no credit card (shouldn’t be using it anyway), no medical cards (they can look it up using my ID), and all of those membership cards (Ulta, FamousFootwear, supermarket)? Trashed. They can look you up, too.

For my change, I use a cute little handmade coin purse like this one I found on Etsy.

Try it. It is so freeing.