skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This is straight from Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography!
Words of Wisdom!
Thirteen Names of Virtues:
1. Temeperence.
Eat not to Dulness,
Drink not to Elevation.
2. Silence
Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.
3. Order.
Let all your Things have their Places. Let each Part of your Business have its Time.
4. Resolution.
Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
5. Frugality.
Make no Expence but to do good to others or yourself: i.e. Waste nothing.
6. Industry.
Lose no time. Be always employ'd in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary Actions.
7. Sincerity.
Use no hurtful Deceit.
Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice.
Wrong none, by doing Injuries or omitting the Benefits that are your Duty.
9. Moderation.
Avoid Extreams. Forbear resenting Injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness
Tolerate no Uncleanness in Body, Cloaths or Habitation.
11. Tranquility
Be not disturbed at Triflles, or at Accidents common or unavoidable.
12. Chastity.
Rarely use Venery* but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dulness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another's Peace or Reputation.
13.
Humility.
Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
He writes as follows:
"My Intention being to acquire the Habitude of all these Virtues, I judg'd it would be well not to distract my Attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time, and when I should be Master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on till I should have gone thro' the thirteen."
"I us'd also sometimes a little Prayer which I took from Thomson's Poems. viz
Father of Light and Life, thou Good supreme,
O teach me what is good, teach me thy self!
Save me from Folly, Vanity and Vice,
From every low Pursuit, and fill my Soul
With Knowledge, conscious Peace, and Virtue pure,
Sacred, substantial, neverfading bliss!"
Great advice for me! I am always trying to master too many things at once and it does NOT work!
I think I will try to listen to Ben's advice!
Thanks, Ben!
*Yes, it means what you think it does! I looked it up in the dictionary just to make sure!
So, now that I'm de-cluttering, and having so much fun doing it, I decided I need a capsule wardrobe.
A wardrobe of a few basic pieces of clothing to mix and match for a variety of daily outfits.
I have always loved the idea of this and even came close to accomplishing it quite a few years ago
but somehow I kept accumulating more clothing without getting rid of any!
Leads to clutter that constantly needs organizing!
And staring at a closet full of clothes on Sunday mornings trying to figure out what to wear is NOT fun!
I am SO tired of that!
I got rid of more than 40 pieces of clothing!
I know, it is so ridiculous!
And I still have to go through footwear, coats and accessories!
Honestly, it is SO exciting to see the clutter LEAVE!
You HAVE to try it!
The basic capsule wardrobe consists of basic pieces in neutral colors that suit you;
navy, black, brown, gray or shades of white (cream, ivory, tan etc).
I'm going with black, brown and ivory.
I took everything out of my closet and piled them on my bed.
Then, I took my favorite pieces and tried to come up with as many outfits as possible.
It was amazing how many different looks I got from a few pieces!
I added different shoes, bags, scarves, etc, to make the outfits more exciting.
It is so much easier to pick out what to wear now!
I even used the camera on my phone to snap a few outfits in case I get brain fog!
Love it!
Here are a few examples of a basic capsule wardrobe:
The first one is from www.nicolelsinclair.com
and the second is from www.simple-ways-to.com
I hope it simplifies your life a bit like it did mine!
Have fun!
P.S. I am working on the kids clothing now in the same way!
OK, so we're doing Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and it got me thinking of all the 'stuff' we are always buying and accumulating. Dave calls it a case of 'stuffitits!"
WHY?
Why do we need so much of everything?
It just clutters our home and causes stress!
I recently read an article that stated that over 80% of the world's people live on less than $10 a day and here we are spending money like crazy on stuff that we don't need! (By the way, that means most of us are considerably RICH compared to most of the world!)
So, I continue to ask myself, WHY?
Where are we going with this?
What's the sense of it all?
Frankly, I think I would be so much happier if I didn't have to organize, store, clean and keep track of SO MUCH STUFF!!
I know I would have a whole lot more time for more enjoyable things, that's for sure!
My plan is to get rid of stuff and re-train our whole family's thought process from 'more' to 'enough'!
We have EVERYTHING and more!
We are rich in every way!
We have SO much to be thankful for!
Yet, we are always looking for 'more'.
Hmmm. It's not right. I no longer want to live in the state of 'wanting'.
I want to live in a state of 'contentment'.
I want to 'lay up my treasures in heaven', instead of piling them up on the floor and in the closets and stuffed in bags and boxes and shelves!
I am excited!
I will be getting a clean house,
and a less cluttered mind,
and a contented heart!
Hooray for CONTENTMENT!
Who's with me?
Anyone?
"...and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." He. 13.5
