The Year of Living Minimally - Week Fifteen

But what about all the mental clutter???This week, I took a break from hauling stuff out of our house. After a month of doing just that at my father-in-law's, I needed a respite from dealing with what now seems like not-so-much here. Still, I have places to tackle in the upcoming weeks (the garage, my office area, the extra room upstairs that has become a repository for everything).But this week I also needed to clear up and organize all the mental stuff that's accumulated on my virtual plate. I have a hard time saying 'no' to requests. I enjoy editing and proofreading, especially now that my book is finished and going through its own proofing - plus it pays well. I've offered to host Rhode Island authors on this blog during the month of November, as I have for the past couple of years. The dates are filled, and I've asked the authors to write their own posts - all I have to do is upload the post (after proofing!) and add links and photos. But each blog post takes time to get it right. And the authors, well, some of them submit early, and some of them don't realize how much it helps me. I've decided that, after two notifications, I will not chase anyone down. I'm happy to feature them, but I'm not going to stress out if they don't submit a blog post to me. Then there's all the paperwork involved with the death of someone. I handle this stuff better than my husband, so I'm making calls, writing letters, filling out forms, following up. There's money involved (getting and paying), so it's important to follow through.I've unsubscribed to countless mailing lists (sorry if you were one of the ones I chopped) - I don't have time for all of them, and/or I was never reading them anyway. For the blogs I follow, I've set delivery of the posts to Saturday morning, when I have an hour in the morning to peruse them.  I've stopped following many of the news channel posts on social media - it's depressing, even if I agree with the writer! I skim the headlines and read what I want, but if I feel that bad news is intruding into my life, it's time to rethink those subscriptions. The nightly news? First 5-10 minutes only, then my husband and I watch a movie or a documentary on Netflix, usually about food or travel. Then there are the people who thrive on negativity, are heartless in their opinions, or just enjoy stirring the pot. They're not for me.I'm walking toward simplicity. Cleaning up the other clutter is a big step in that direction.