The Hughes Zoo

The Hughes Zoo have decided that, rather than new year's resolutions, we're going to set a theme for the whole year. The inaugural theme for 2010 is "simplification".

The idea is that rather than set a specific goal, you set a theme which guides your decisions throughout the year. You can apply the theme to any and every part of your life. I picked up the concept from someone on Twitter, and I'm quite keen to give it a go.

Anyone who knows us knows that we've already make some big choices to simplify over the years. Primarily, we live in a much smaller house than we can afford which makes us much less constrained by our mortgage. We're also not exactly in the most desirable suburb, but we're walking distance to my work, the gym, the shopping centre, daycare, the lake and a heap of parks. Ange and I both work part time to spend more time with the boys, which only works because of the relatively small mortgage and no other debt.

But despite all that 'simpleness' there's still a lot of pointless clutter in our lives. The garage is overflowing with stuff we mostly never use, as are our cupboards and wardrobes. But it's not just the physical detritus that's a problem. We take day to day life as it comes a little too much, making us too reactionary. Simple doesn't just happen: it has to be planned. Not that we need to plan everything, but a little bit of forethought could make our lives a lot easier.

This weekend we've already started - Ange has been busy in the garden clearing and cleaning up and we've both been de-cluttering the house. It's going to be interesting to see how this continues through the year.