Actually Making Life Simpler

I really liked sharing what actually makes my life more simple. I feel like with all these DIYs, homemade foods and avoiding toxic chemicals in store-bought products, one can get rather lost in the jumble and forget we are trying to make our lives LESS complicated.
Part of the reason I became overwhelmed and spread out too thin when I first started this journey is because I was trying to replace every formerly store-bought item individually. I was asking myself the wrong questions, which shows how thoroughly saturated in consumerism I had become. 

 If we want to ”get back to basics," or simplify our lives; I feel the key to success that seemingly everyone forgot to mention, is to first ask each of ourselves the right questions.

"What are my actual needs?"
"What modern convenience items am I giving up that previously filled these needs?"
and, "What are the rudimentary bases of these needs?"

I would ask myself, ”Okay, now how do I clean my toilet?" Instead I should have asked, "Okay, now what can I use to clean my home?" Despite the claims of every cleaning commercial ever, soap is soap and if it cleans one thing, it can clean another if used properly.  It was a  huge turning point for me when I learned that women used to use a bar of soap to clean their house too to bottom, wash their bodies, wash the dishes, wash their clothes, wash their hands etc. Obviously more than one bar, but the same soap. Then companies started offering  soap flakes, so people wouldn't have to shave soap with a knife to dissolve into their dish water, laundry washing water, or bucket of water they were using to clean the house with.  From there, eventually came the many other cleaners one by one that are sold for each individual cleaning job. What a racket!
So may I suggest, instead of looking up recipes to replace window cleaner, toilet cleaner, shower cleaner, grout, tile, stainless steel, dust, vegetable etc. etc. Start by looking up how baking soda works to clean, how soap works to clean, how vinegar cleans, how Hydrogen Peroxide works to clean and then you will be able to formulate your own cleaners as the actual need  presents itself... or cleaner. (One Size Fits All.) Instead of having ten thousand different cleaners under your kitchen sink (homemade or store bought.)

This manner of thinking works on a myriad of subjects. Instead of asking how to make lotion, lip balm, hand cream, moisturizer maybe we should ask, "how do I moisturize now?" Do you really need to moisturize your lips with something different than your hands and face? How would it be if I used Shea Butter to moisturize my legs, hands, lips, and face? I have found I like Argan oil for my face and hair, and a mixture of apricot oil and Shea Butter for everything else. There is no need to try out every butter and oil and moisturizing thing found By mankind either. Information about the defining properties of each item can be found and studied in the web! So you have dry or oily skin? Don't know? Try something that moderates skins moisture.

By looking at ingredients instead of products I'm used to using, I am able to use the same items for multiple uses and therefore keep fewer products, spend less money and make life simpler.

What about food!? Yes, this is a big one, I wish I had stopped trying to eat all the super foods and just stick to what I like. Chances are, you already eat/like some super foods and none of them individually or collectively are going to keep you from ever getting sick again. I didn't need to buy those expensive tiger nuts that ended up in the garbage bin, or the dried mulberries, or the nasty algae powder, or the quinoa. I must  have spent hundreds of dollars on "superfoods" I made myself eat or threw in the garbage after it expired. There are plenty of super foods to eat without breaking the bank. None of them helped me loose weight or get any healthier. Instead of having a pantry full of every variety of legume, seed, nut and berry, just get what you like and know how to eat. Only vegans can justify all that plant matter from exotic places because they don't get to put real butter on their food to make it taste delicious and help them absorb the nutrients.

When it comes to replacing store bought treats, don't try to replace them with homemade counterparts. The truth is no homemade Oreo is ever really going to taste like an Oreo. What I have realized when I am craving an Oreo, not even an Oreo  satisfies that craving. What I really want is something crunchy and chocolatey to dip in milk. I have a chocolate spritzer cookie recipe I like to make and it fills that need deliciously. The point is, you will kill yourself trying to produce these things at home that are made in factories with specific equipment. But there is no need to completely fold, there are plenty of delicious things you can make at home that usually turn out much more delicious than anything that ever came in a package. Want a twinky? Try making a sponge cake with real whipped creme frosting and fresh berries. How about hot chocolate, warm milk on the stovetop and throw in a few chocolate chips and stir until melted and reaches the strength you like. Remember, prepackaged foods were created to replace homemade foods so big corporations could make big bucks and we could eat rich fattening foods more often with less effort. Nothing prepackaged has ever been original, as far as I have seen, it all came from someone's secret home recipe and altered to stay "fresh" for months.

Now, I make a couple cleaners about every three months, I make lotion once a year, my house is cleaner than ever and I feel much better and more at ease in my home. Mindfulness is not stressful as I once thought; it really is about simplicity, and needn't be complicated with pop culture  perceptions and expectations.