EASIER

I recently did something that every financial advisor usually tells you not to do, but have zero regrets about it because it allowed me to pay off all of our bad debt. Our finances were a leaking boat. One of us just kept on rowing while the other had the job of bailing out the water. Rowing and bailing. Rowing and bailing. Never really getting anywhere but not sinking. Well, I decided that I was tired of rowing and bailing and upgraded our boat so that neither one of us needs to row or bail. We are now in the process of adjusting to being debt free and putting money that would normally be spent on a card payment into savings. We have new rules for spending and doing a better job at taking advantage of ‘cash back’ deals. It has made things in life a little easier.

Since then, I’ve been thinking of ways to make life easier. I had Michael sign us for a glass recycling pickup service. Regular recycling does not take glass, but there are Ripple Glass bins placed in various locations around the city where you can take your recycling. I had a bin for glass, but instead of taking it in when it filled up, we would start putting glass into empty chicken feed bags. Three chicken feed bags later and a full bin, Michael would finally lug it all to recycling, which was always an ordeal. When they finally started a pickup service for glass in our area, I was like SIGN US UP I WILL PAY YOU ALL THE MONEY! Twice a month we set a reasonable amount of glass out on the curb and someone comes and takes it away and it feels like a gift. It is just one less thing, one less hassle and it is the reason why as I pushed our cart down the aisle in Costco, I paused at the home appliance section and asked “Can I get a Roomba?”

Asking for the Roomba was a big deal for me. I will probably never have a cleaning service come into this house or pay to have someone mow the yard because I am stubborn. As long as I am physically capable of doing these things, I will always just do them, but I have noticed that in the past year, I am always sweeping and vacuuming. ALWAYS. A chore that was something I did twice a week turned into an every other day chore and then an everyday chore. Maybe it’s because I spend more time on the floor because of my exercise classes or maybe it is because we are just filthy animals, but it just feels like the floor is always dirty. So when I saw that display of Roombas at Costco, I didn’t see a display of robot vacuums. I saw a life raft. At first Michael said ‘no’ but after doing a few minutes of research, he agreed and put one into our cart. During the rest of our time in the store, I could not stop petting the box and laughing with joy and this reaction tells me that I had become way too stressed about the cleanliness of our floors.

When Chris and Traci built their new house, Traci’s Chris talked about the design concept of that house. His intent was to make a home that did not require extensive maintenance. Everything from the concrete floors to the self cleaning kitty litter box was meticulously planned for less work and more relaxation at home. Truly, his ideas for their home was/is, a concept that I feel is worthy of its own TED Talk and something I have been striving for. I try to do a chore every evening so that I am not spending my Sundays scrubbing the house. Except I still feel like I spend part of Sunday scrubbing some part of the house. I think part of me believes I am undeserving of ease. In fact, as we watched Rosie (that’s what we call the Roomba) maneuver around the living room, I said “I don’t know what my purpose is now that I no longer have to sweep and vacuum every day.” Like my self worth is tied to being able to do those tasks.

It actually runs a little deeper than my self worth. It is a belief of mine that whatever is easy in life will be taken from me as soon as I let my guard down. This is why I refuse to let Michael just take over the bills. This is why I pushed for a chicken enclosure that I could clean and refill the water for the chickens without help. As soon as I get comfortable in not having to do things for myself, everything will fall apart and I will have to retrain myself to do stuff all over again. Somewhere in time, I learned that life was just meant to be hard work all the time and there were consequences to having anything easy. You for sure never ever let anyone else know that your life is easier either because that is bragadocious and in some circles of people the hardships of life is a competitive sport. You had to walk to school today? Well, I had to walk to school in a blizzard without shoes. It has taken this many years to just barely be comfortable making some things in my life easier for myself. It is a daily practice for me to allow ease in my life because easiness comes with time for stillness. Easiness also comes with time for the pursuit of things I love to do, activities that feed my soul. It is a daily practice to tell myself that I am worthy of having parts of my life be easy.

This doesn’t mean I’m tossing out my broom and vacuum. It just means I am only using them in emergency situations.