Resolutions: Purposeful Simplicity

Warning: If you didn't already think I was nuts, this may turn the tide of your opinion in that direction.

2008 being over, my ban on resolutions has expired and I'm ready to try again. But instead of giving you a list of things I want to do (the ubiquitous lose some weight, spend more time with my kids, get organized, save some money kind of list) I want to try something a little different.

Each month, God willing, I'm going to tell you about a modern convenience I'm trying to live without for the month. I also have a few that I'm going to attempt the entire year without.

It's not that I see these things as bad or as sinful or evil or something. It's really just to see what happens if I don't have them, what it's like without them, the alternate solutions I find, and to be reminded of how propped up and easy our life is in 2009. It's to commemorate a simpler era when all these things we take for granted didn't exist in such abundance or even at all. And maybe along the way we'll create a new habit that will stick and we're not willing to part with--being one step closer to that life of purposeful simplicity I crave.

Now I won't be giving up some of the things you might think a modern girl would choose. I won't give up my cell because I don't have a land line to back me up. I won't be giving up a second car because I already have. I won't be giving up parts of my modern beauty routine because I've already stripped that to the bare essentials that are actually bare essentials (except for one shocking item--well, shocking for me that is). I won't be giving up TV or radio because that's been removed from my life too. I won't be giving up any cafe mocha's because I don't drink them. I won't give up electricity because, well, you remember the wind storm last fall, right? And if I can help it, I'll never, ever exchange my washer and dryer for hand washing and line drying. I'm a bit crazy, not mad.

The things I'll be focusing on are small tasks that we do everyday on auto pilot and don't even give them much thought anymore. My choices are inspired by what might have been happening in my Grandma's 1940s kitchen (granted I wasn't there to see it so I'll be guessing to some extent from what I remember as a child in her home and what Mom tells me). Here, in my accommodating and serviceable suburban home I have the safety and comfort to try these things one at a time; all of them at once would be too overwhelming and would be certain to tailspin the family into crisis mode, no doubt. Maybe some of them will stick and we'll build the next item on top. Maybe some of them aren't worth it and we'll run back to the old way of doing things the first chance we get. Who can tell?

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The first item I'll be giving up is the dishwasher. This choice is inspired not only by my Grandma's kitchen, but by my mother who functioned until the mid 90's without one. I used to think that it was my father's frugal money handling that made the choice for her. But I think I've discovered her secret. Perhaps it was a purposeful choice. She told me one time that we could spend the entire evening together after school, each doing our own thing, she asking the usual parental questions ("what happened in school today?") and me answering according to the typical adolescent script ("nothing") but when we stood side by side together washing, drying and putting away the dishes I opened up and talked freely. Maybe it was something she remembered from her days standing beside Grandma at the kitchen sink putting up the dishes after meals, maybe it was just my dad being practical with their money, in either case it was so.

So get out the drying rack and the dish towels girls. Let's wash some dishes.