Friends In Low Places, With Bonus Science Trivia!
The Simple Year
by Tracy Dunne-Derrell
3y ago
Alternate title: Why I’ll Never Go Outside Barefoot Again I’ve been meaning to post something for weeks now. I even have some posts in progress, but watching the news and seeing so much suffering- the fires, the hurricanes, the Covid-19 cases and deaths, unemployment numbers- made me feel bad about coming here and rattling on about decluttering and how I’m tricking myself into eating more vegetables. It breaks my heart seeing so many people suffering and knowing better days may not arrive for a while. Not writing doesn’t change anything, but it does make me feel badly because I committed to do ..read more
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Mental Storage & Organization
The Simple Year
by Tracy Dunne-Derrell
3y ago
Like lots of people, I’m a list maker. In the past, a basic to-do list worked well enough, whether I put it in a structured planner or on the back of an envelope. And I’m sure I have a lot of company in my admission that I usually struggle to be organized. Even though covid-19 put lots of things on hold or cancelled them altogether, But not everything was cancelled. I finished a copyediting certificate program in early March, the week before the virus began closing schools. So I was looking for work, helping Emma adjust to distance learning, and trying to figure out how to minimize our grocery ..read more
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Food Stuff
The Simple Year
by Tracy Dunne-Derrell
3y ago
Alternate Title: I Bought a F***ing Vegan Cookbook During my last project, I admitted to myself that I didn’t like cooking. Occasionally, I’d start a streak, inspired by a memorable restaurant meal or a good new recipe. Those streaks were fleeting. So planning meals I’d then have to cook was a dreaded task. For many of us, planning meals and cooking for our families isn’t going to make our hearts sing. But it’s necessary, because homemade meals tend to be healthier and less expensive than restaurant meals. So even though my efforts haven’t been a smashing success, I keep trying because it’s im ..read more
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More Stuff: A Trilogy
The Simple Year
by Tracy Dunne-Derrell
3y ago
I think my biggest takeaway from my 2015 project was that having an organized life and home is a process. Getting excess stuff out of the house was definitely a big priority. Over the course of my year, I donated 42 boxes and 35 bags, along with a few random pieces of small furniture. Of everything I did that year, I think I was proudest of that accomplishment. Moving forward, I knew I’d have to be mindful of stuff creep. My house, like many others probably, got filled slowly as items trickled in. But I hadn’t anticipated a deluge. Or three. In no particular order: Girl Scout books, supplies ..read more
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Extra Help…or Extra Credit?
The Simple Year
by Tracy Dunne-Derrell
3y ago
Hi! This is Tracy and I’m dropping in for a little while, because blogging here has been a great way for me to focus on a goal. In 2015 I was the fourth person to take over The Simple Year blog.I’d left a long teaching career a few years before, but still had an educator’s brain, so I used an educator’s approach to try and streamline my life and my home. I classified the chaos and got started. Over the next year, I documented my successes, my failures, and took photos of the many boxes and bags I donated.  When I handed the blog over to Trisha and her zero waste project, I’d made some not ..read more
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What I learned during No Plastic September
The Simple Year
by Trisha Walker
4y ago
Hello Simple Year friends! This is Trisha — my Simple Year project was a zero waste year, which you can find under the Year 5 tab above. Alex still appears to be MIA, but we are holding out hope that she will pick back up … eventually. Once upon a time, like in 2016, I was ON IT on the zero waste front. And I’m still pretty on it as far as all that goes. I take my reusable bags to the grocery store, my Klean Kanteen travel mug continues to serve my coffee needs (that thing is 7 years old!) and I’m not interested in keeping up with the Joneses so I don’t require new stuff all the time. I like m ..read more
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BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag)
The Simple Year
by Kerry
4y ago
Hi All- Kerry Here from The Simple Year 1.  We seem to have misplaced this year’s blogger (actually we sort of know where she is, but she hasn’t been available to post, we hope to hear more about her project later).  In the meantime, I hope you will indulge me and some of the other past writers as we post here about our ongoing simple living.  BIG NEWS IN ALASKA This week our municipality of Anchorage, Alaska has banned plastic grocery bags. They have been talking about it a year or more and even extended the deadline for compliance a few months so that area businesses with warehouses of bags ..read more
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Not at all flushed
The Simple Year
by Alexandra Tomczyk
5y ago
So much of our money regularly (and literally) goes down the drain, that I’m surprised many of us simply go with the flow of the convenience. And most importantly, although the label may say ‘flushable’, many of the sanitary items we use and chuck down the u-bend, are not at all biodegradable. One particular item keeps resurfacing in the news as a big sewage blockage culprit: the wet wipe. The arch-nemesis of sewer workers and the environment alike. Many companies claim that their wet wipes have been tested and are safe to flush. They make this claim based on the degradation of the wipes, dur ..read more
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What I have learned from moving out and moving in
The Simple Year
by Alexandra Tomczyk
5y ago
My last six months have been a flurry of packing, boxing, storing, moving, unpacking and buying. Three weeks ago I moved into an unfurnished flat, with my possessions consisting of: Clothes (including a sizable occasion dress and coat collection) Books Potted plants Korean rice cooker, big enough to cook for ten people (a gift which moved with me but I would like to part with soon) Some kitchen bits and bobs (such as a big bottle of washing up liquid, refilled in a zero waste store; and an extensive herb and spice collection, but no plates, forks or glasses) Much like Kerry in Simple Year One ..read more
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