Sunday column: What could you live without?

I guess I hated those pictures from the England trip more than I thought. I just tore up the living room and office looking for them and all I could find is this postcard of the York Minster, the big historic church in York, where Hollie went to school for a year.

I remember reading an article years ago about ways to simplify your life. The timing of it was pretty ironic, considering that the story was published during the height of our country’s spend-and-splurge mentality.
Most folks weren’t looking for ways to pare down their lives back then like we are now. Open a magazine these days and you’re guaranteed to find at least one article — if not more — on how to do more with less.
The thrust of this particular story was to re-examine the items we fill our homes with and evaluate what we can do without.
Although I didn’t save the article, I do recall two of its suggestions for things to sacrifice: A garlic press and a hair dryer.
At the moment, I own both of these items; yet, their functions in my lives couldn’t be more opposite.
Can I imagine life without a garlic press? Absolutely. In fact, I bet if you paid me $100 I couldn’t put my hands on the garlic press without tearing up every kitchen cabinet and drawer in a wild search. A garlic press just isn’t worth the trouble, especially when you can buy pre-minced garlic at the grocery store. For the $100, though, I’d find the darn thing.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t be willing to go more than a day or two without my hair dryer. It’s been a fixture in my life for as long as I can remember, and its permanent positioning on the bathroom counter attests to its importance.
The best I can figure is that the author of this particular article was a man. Because a woman, no matter how short her hair, would never dream of suggesting that the hair dryer is a luxury item.
Hair dryers and I have a long and storied history. For years as a young girl I had it easy, because Mom or Dad would dry my hair. Then came the period when I was learning to do it myself, which lead to one particularly unfortunate incident.
I was dutifully blowing away, my head flipped over to dry my hair more evenly and to make an attempt at adding volume to my baby fine hair (it never worked). All of a sudden, it felt as if my brother had grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked. Then came the distinct smell of singed hair.
The hair dryer had literally sucked my hair into its chamber. I screamed and had to be rescued by my parents and a pair of scissors.
Thankfully, the damage was virtually undetectable since it happened to the underneath of my hair. Mentally, though, I was scarred. It was back to Mom and Dad blow-drying my hair for a while — with a brand new hair dryer.
In the years since, I’ve had hair dryers cause my house to blow a fuse (that’s what happens when you run the hair dryer, the microwave and the clothes dryer all at once in an old house), send sparks flying and be temperamental about if they would actually turn on when I pressed the button. Still, I can’t imagine life without one.
I have tried, believe it or not, to go hair dryer-free. During a trip to England I discovered I didn’t have an electrical adapter for my hair dryer, and I couldn’t manage to get my hands on a British hair dryer (believe me, I tried). So I went au natural for a few days and still cringe when I see the pictures from that trip.
Yes, my vanity about my hair is not a personality trait I’m proud of. But don’t we all have little hang-ups we can’t quite get over?
Besides, I can still simplify my life and keep my hair dryer. There are plenty of other things that once were necessities that I’ve been able to eliminate from my life. We all just have to find what works for us individually.
While the author of this particular article could live without a garlic press and a hair dryer, what would he do if I suggested forfeiting his gym membership in favor of taking a jog around the neighborhood? Or breaking out the old set of rabbit ears instead of paying for cable each month?
All of us are experimenting with how far we can cut back and how we can still enjoy the simple things in life while forgoing the lavish stuff we used to spend our time and money on.
Spring cleaning is always a good time to weed out the extraneous things that crowd our countertops and closets. And while I may comb through my house with an editor’s eye, we all know there’s one thing that will keep its spot on the bathroom counter.