My Minimalism Journey: One Month In

Well, it's been a month. One month since I decided to declutter my home and life, live with less and minimize the junk in my life. And, there is no looking back. Seriously, my life has changed for the better. I will explain more later, but let me just give you a timeline of what has happened this past month.

Week One: MINIMIZE THE CLUTTER IN MY HOUSE!
This was the week my firefighter husband was gone on a fire. Ha! Little did he know I was getting rid of a TON of stuff. I went through every single room in my house, every single shelf, closet, table, under bed, you name it, I minimized!!!! My goal was to live with less. I asked myself a few questions, 1. When was the last time I used this. 2. Will I need this in the near future. 3. Is this making me happy/helping me/needed in my life.

You would be surprised at how much I got rid of. I donated 9-10 garbage sacks, 5 large diaper boxes, and another large amount of toys and things that didn't fit in a box to the local thrift store. I had an employee come and help me, plus my two boys, to get everything out of the car and donated. I also threw out/recycled 8-10 garbage sacks, plus 2 large recycle bins full of stuff. I'm telling you, I thought I didn't have much in my house, but when I started going through it, I realized I had WAY more that I wasn't using and needed to get rid of.

So, the first week was exhausting, especially since my hubby was gone and I had 3 kids around during the whole process with no other help.

When my husband returned from the fire, late one night, he crept into the laundry room to put his gear by the washer and get things for his shower. He came into the bedroom and said, "I'm not sure what you did in that laundry room, but it's so open and roomy. I feel like I can breathe in there."

Success.

He noticed the change also.

And, our laundry room is just that. Every piece of clothing, towels, sheets, blankets, everything stays in our laundry room. I have dressers set up so it's easier for me to do laundry and fold and sort and put away. So, it gets a little messy in there, let's be honest. But, once I got rid of 8 bags of unused clothing it opened up so much more room!

WEEK 2:

After a long week of exhaustion, I gave myself a little break. The house was literally gutted out and things went back to normal. But, I noticed a few changes.

During the first week I cleaned out my kids bedroom. TOYS TOYS TOYS! Toys in their room, toys in their closet, dress up clothes, shoes, papers, old crayons.... stuff EVERYWHERE!!! They are now down to a small 3 drawer wheeled cart and a small toy box. That's it. They have 3 larger fire engines under a bed and a pop up tent another the other bed, but that's it. Not a lot of toys. Our one year old daughter has her cart in the living room for her toys. She uses 2 drawers, the top one is for controllers, remotes, batteries, etc. But, I realized something the second week....

My kids were playing with their toys MORE!
More!
 More!??
HOW!? It didn't make sense. I get rid of 2/3 of their toys and I thought they would complain and whine. No. They played more with the toys they had. There was less to choose from and it was less chaotic. THEY were more at peace in the house. They were content. Happy. Playing. Less clutter, less stuff makes life better. Even for my little ones.

Week 2 was filled with swim lessons, so the mornings were busy and the afternoons were relaxed.

I began going through paperwork that was shoved in multiple drawers. During week one I didn't want to take the time to thoroughly go through it all, so I put it off. Again, I almost filled our recycle cart with unneeded papers. A shredder is a best friend of mine. Why do bills come with 3 pages of unnecessary junk mail? And JUNK MAIL!? UGH! The hardest decision I made was with my kids schoolwork. I decided that anything that wasn't personal... You know... The letter A written  50 times that we feel the need to hold on to... Gone. I threw it away. I kept the handprint pictures and the little thanksgiving "What I'm Thankful For" art and the important ones, but I got rid of the rest. The random workbooks and papers with doodles. Gone. It was hard, but why was I keeping it? I wasn't going to look back on all of it someday... Just the few I kept. I now have them in manilla envelopes on a shelf and they are all labeled the grades that the schoolwork is from.

Week 3 was a week we went grocery shopping. Since my husband works and we have no family around, I take the kids with me while I shop. They have always done this, so there has never really been an issue with the "I want" "Can I have" stuff. But, we tend to buy stuff we don't need. Especially food items. My next big goal for minimalism is food. We waste food. We don't eat it or it sits on a plate uneaten. It's wasteful and takes a toll on our budget. So, I tried to be more aware of what I was buying.

We spent less money at the store, I told myself "No" to many items that we didn't need and it went much smoother. The kids are on the same page with me with buying less, living with less, Less Stuff More Adventures idea. So, it's very helpful to have them with me. We keep each other accountable.

Week 4 was a short vacation to the beach. Our second little one was turning 5, and he loved the idea of going on an adventure rather than having a party. I LOVED this idea. We didn't have to deal with a ton of presents from a party, we didn't have to buy the goodie bags or the cake and ice cream or the balloons or pinata. We just went to the beach. It was AMAZING! We found a great hotel with a great price and spent two days at the beach. We did go into town to a little toy store where he was able to pick out a toy for his birthday gift. We also took him to an Italian dinner and bought a little cake and candle to celebrate. It was perfect. More memories. Less Stuff.

Within this last week, I decided to start working out again. I used to wake up in the morning and start cleaning. My house was always a mess. There was always clutter. With less stuff, I have less clutter and that means I have more time to do things for myself and for my family. Not just clean and "organize".

When I minimized my stuff I noticed having more time. More energy. More fun. More family time. More adventures.

I know I'm just a month in, but this has literally changed my family's life. It's seriously amazing. It's a  struggle at times, to keep the mindset of less stuff and I recognizing I don't need something when I think I do, but I'm so much happier, so much more content. My anxiety has dropped drastically. My mind is clearer. My husband and I having been reading more books together. We aren't distracted with stuff. I could keep talking more and more about how it has changed us, but I doubt anyone wants to read that.

But, in all, I hope you try this lifestyle. You won't regret it.

Continuing to Minimize! My Dining Room & Our Bedroom

First off, I need to talk randomly for a second.

I thought this process would literally just be getting clutter out of the home and having more room. But, the past few days has been so much more. I completely cleaned and removed SO much stuff from our bedroom today and walking into it every time is so peaceful. It's simple, clean, organized, and fresh. With having half the house in a minimal setting, I feel like I can do so much more during my day. It's like a snow ball effect. At first I was afraid to get rid of things and as time has gone on it's just refreshing to get things completely out of the house and out of our lives.

So, today I was also busy busy busy taking that first step to a minimalist lifestyle. This post is about our dining room and my (And the hubby's) bedroom.

DINING ROOM

My dining room table is NOT a storage space.

This was the SIMPLEST room to complete. I have always had the motto that the dining room table is just for that... Dining. No matter where we lived, our dining room table is used at least 3 times a day for eating. So, nothing is ever on it, except wipes and paper towels (Because I have messy kids...). I just wiped it down and swept around it. Nothing to do in this room. But, I figured I would show it. I love utilizing my dining room as a place to eat, enjoy company, and make memories, not to be a storage space.

Completely clean, ready for a meal to be eaten

MY BEDROOM

Okay, Thank goodness I started in the dining room this morning. Something super easy, no-brainer, and no questions asked. Because once I moved to my bedroom, things changed. It got so much harder to get rid of things.

I started on my bedside table. Seems simple enough. This is supposed to hold my lamp, clock, a few books... but then it started getting water bottles, crayons, bobby pins, nail clippers, legos, coins, a random cord, coloring books, and lots of dust. This thing isn't big.... It's actually really small, but I could stack stuff on that bad boy. It was frustrating at night when I would get into bed because I didn't have anywhere to place anything. I would have to move stuff around, carry stuff to the kitchen, etc. It was NOT a peaceful sanctuary like it should have been.

So, I went for it. Books I have read and will never read again, GONE. My clock that hasn't been plugged in for about a year, GONE. A pickle jar holding odds and ends (bobby pins, change, etc), GONE. All I have on there now is my lamp, a few books I am currently reading and my glasses. Nothing else. I love to drink water at night so I usually have a glass sitting there, which I will remove each morning. Simple. Clean. Organized. So much better. And, I don't miss a single thing I threw away.

Side table, after. I can now enjoy my evening more

I then moved on to my hubby's side table. His actually wasn't as bad as mine. My husband LOVES books. So, that was one thing that I wasn't going to get rid of. There were a few that haven't been read in a long time or that were mine and needed to be gone anyway. He had lots of papers, binders, and random things sitting on it. So, he now has his fan (That he likes to sleep with) on top, and books on the bottom. Simple. Clean. Organized.

Simple. Clean. Organized. Goodbye clutter!

I then moved on to the TV stand (Honestly, a dresser). This holds on one side DVD's, some paper work and cords for different things. It then also held so many different things that I could barely shut the drawers. You know, when you are cleaning and don't want to take the stuff to the trash or you aren't sure what to do with it, so you just shove it in a drawer... Yeah, that stuff. It is now completely organized, and almost empty. Who knew majority of the stuff in there was unneeded JUNK! The other side is our pajamas. I had 2 drawers, one for shirts and one for pants and the hubby has the bottom one for his pajama bottoms. My overflowing drawers are now almost empty because I truly only wore 2-3 of the PJ shirts and about 3 pajama bottoms. No need for 2 drawers. My hubby's drawer is almost empty also because he really only wears a handful of his shorts and the rest were tossed into the donation pile. The top of the dresser holds our TV, a DVD player, our AppleTV and the XBox 360. Clean, clean, clean and nothing that is unneeded.

We have a huge IKEA closet in our room. Stuff falls out of it all the time. We just keep shoving more and more and more stuff into it. I have over 10 sweaters, tons of dresses,  and lots of papers in the drawers. I don't wear 80% of it, making it the reason it's just shoved in there and the hubby's side is the same way. Dress shirts, ties, sweaters, most of them unworn for over a year. I cleaned out and put into the donations 2 diaper sized boxes and 2 garbage sacks full of unused stuff. It's completely gone and out of our lives!

Ready to be boxed up and donated!

I also threw away 3 garbage sacks full of garbage and a huge pile of recycling from the bedroom. I thought my bedroom was semi organized. I would clean it and make the bed every day. I vacuumed twice a week, but everything was just hidden. Now, everything is gone and it's so clean and freeing.

Today was harder than the last couple days. I like to hold on to items. But, once they were gone it's not like I missed them. I felt more calm and at peace. Like a weight being lifted off my shoulders. Not being held down by my stuff anymore. It was an awesome feeling.

I am loving this first step to a minimalist lifestyle. I know I'm just in the beginning stages of it, but it is feeling so good already.

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My Minimalism Journey: The Living Room!

First of all, I should have said this before...

I am not a professional organizer. I am not an interior designer. We don't have lots of money. I am not a good home decorator. I am just a normal mom who wants to clean up my house, minimize the clutter, organize my life, and feel more at peace with my daily life without my STUFF holding me down. 

So, when you see the pictures of my home, it's just a basic home of a family of three little ones. I'm not the one who thinks my photos will EVER be in a magazine. NONE of my furniture is new. It's mostly all hand-me-downs and second hand. We make it work. So, that being said....

I decluttered my living room!

We have a TINY house. Well, it's not super tiny. We all fit. But, with 5 of us living here, the living space seems smaller than it really is. I think after minimizing the clutter in my home, it will make it feel much bigger and the space more useful. 

I started my cleaning with the toy drawers. We have a plastic, rolling 3 drawer cart in our living room that holds toys. The top drawer is for the X-box games and controllers, remotes, batteries, and chargers. This was overflowing with junk. When someone needed batteries, they would open the package and leave it there. Multiple packages and scratched old DVD's that no one watches, and random wrappers that someone shoved in there. Completely cleaned out. The bottom two drawers are for our one-year-old's toys. We made a decision a couple months ago, before fully immersing ourselves into the minimalism journey to have a cart of drawers for each kids toys. Just enough for them to have toys to play with but little enough that my house wasn't consumed by toys. Her two drawers had so many random things in there that toys were sitting next to the cart, not able to fit in. I got rid of about 8 stuffed animals, some musical books that didn't work anymore, baby toys she was too old for and broken toys. I put her doll house and blocks on top. Those are the toys she plays with and whatever doesn't fit in the drawers doesn't stay. She does have her little ride-on toy that is sitting next to it, and she rides that multiple times a day. 

From cluttered to organized!

My little corner of the living room was what I was dreading the most. I do most of my photography work sitting in this little corner next to a table that holds everything I need. But, things just keep getting added. Old, dried up pens, water bottles, opened envelopes, an old laptop I don't use anymore. This TINY table was stacked with CRAP! I cleaned it up, wiped it down and put the essentials on it. Everything else went into the trash. (Except the old laptop that I may need later, that went into the closet). Underneath the table is the diaper basket. Diapers, wipes, creams. Again, as time went on the basket was filled with dried up wipes, binkies, paper, shoes, and I just shoved them aside to get a diaper. No more. Completely cleaned out and organized. Everything else was thrown away. Into the dumpster outside. Never to come back!

Clean and organized side table! Much more functional!

I have two other side tables that have cupboards in them. I would love to eventually get rid of them. I don't use the cupboards (I cleaned them completely out and found Christmas catalogs in them) and they are old and falling apart. But, again, we don't have the money for it, and they are functional, so here they sit. Cleaned out, wiped down and nothing in them. Clutter... GONE! 

I vacuumed, swept and mopped the floors. Within minutes the kids had toys on the floor, but it's called a living room for a reason. However, having the extra clutter cleared out of the room, made it feel less overwhelming when they had toys out. 

Living room, DONE!

Again, I am NOT a professional at this. My house isn't Better Homes and Gardens material. I don't know how to "Stage" a house to make it look trendy. Just a mom with 3 littles with a basic, ordinary house, trying to make things calmer, more peaceful, and less CLUTTERED! 

I'm really enjoying this journey. I thought it would be much harder than it actually is. These rooms have been the easier ones, but I'm excited to keep going.

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My Journey To Minimalism: Decluttering my entry closet

Decluttering my entry and entry closet. Doesn't sound too hard right? Not much there to organize, so I thought.

Our front closet is where majority of ours shoes go. I try to "Organize" it every few months but it always seems that it is overflowing with shoes, hats, coats, and random items all year long. So, to minimize, I followed a few things:

1. We need 3 pairs of shoes: Sandals, Tennis shoes and dress shoes.

This obviously will change throughout the year when weather changes, and with 5 of us in our family I added some wiggle room. I have winter boots for all of us that are pushed to the back. We obviously wouldn't be wearing those in the next 3 months, but we WILL be using them in the winter, and we don't have the money to buy new ones. One reason to do this was to save money, and that wouldn't be a money saver. But, 3 pairs of shoes, Sandals, tennis shoes, and dress shoes.

My husband LOVES shoes. He has a (Small) collection of shoes. This is one area where there is NO wiggle room for him. And, seriously, he wears all his shoes on a weekly basis. He loves tennis shoes and has about 8-10 pairs... and wears them all. So, his shoes are off limits. But, I did clean out some old ones of his that haven't been worn in about a year.

3 pairs of shoes per person sounds like nothing, but that's at least 15 pairs of shoes in that small closet. With a family of 5, that adds up. It may not look super organized, but it is definitely minimizing our clutter.

Before decluttering the shoes!

2. Each person only needs 1 hat (Except my husband, he has 2)

The next step was to clean off the coat rack (Which is minimal in July) and the shelf above. How did we accumulate so many hats? I narrowed it down to one hat per child, because they only have one they like anyway, and put the rest in a donation box. On the top of the closet was also soccer shin guards (Which will be used in the fall, and we have a tiny house so there is no where else to store them), work gloves, and seasonal door decorations (I have one small door decoration for each season and store them there...again, small house, not a lot of storage). Coats that don't fit any of us were added to the donation box and I kept the two umbrellas because those are used on a daily basis when the kids go to school in the winter. We now have room for each of our coats to hang in a few months and place to put our hats when we come inside.

Coat rack and shelf before

I always think of myself as an organized person, but I realized I was just moving my clutter from one place to another, making it look nice in pretty stacks and cute boxes and I was accumulating more every day. I kept having to tell myself not to put things back because "Someone may need this, someday" or "We were given this from so-and-so" or "I got a really good deal on this!". No. If it's not being used, I'm getting rid of it. There is no reason we need 10 hats in the closet when there are only 5 of us. Especially when majority of them didn't fit. It feels good to not "Organize" the clutter but to actually get rid of the clutter. I don't think I will miss a single article that I got rid of.

After

Obviously, with 3 kids and 2 adults in the house, it's not going to look completely "Minimalistic". There is still lots of stuff in a tight space. But, getting down to a third of what was shoved in there, feels so good. I can now just grab my shoes and go.


ENTRY WAY

The entry way in our house is connected to the front closet. The entry never really gets too cluttered, BUT we do have a chest on the floor that I shove stuff in and on. I completely cleaned it out. I left a couple photo albums and picture frames that I don't have a place for right now, but other than that, it's completely cleaned out. The top is cleaned off and the only thing is envelopes that need to go out the next time I leave the house. This area will be used for keys, purses, and things that need to be grabbed before we head out of the house.

Completely clean and rid of clutter

This first step was a pretty easy one. Getting rid of shoes and hats and items we haven't used in the last year was pretty simple. My box of donations is full and my trash can is overflowing with clutter. Things are leaving my house and not coming back. Minimizing the clutter just in these two places has made me feel calmer already.

On to the next room: The living room. Eek! This one may be a little harder. Stay tuned.

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My Journey To A Minimalist Lifestyle

Minimalism. What is it? Why have I chosen to take this step? Will it help my life?

We shall see.

What is the definition of Minimalism: Living without clutter. Living with the essentials and getting rid of the extra unneeded items around you. Getting rid of things in your life that are holding you down and not letting you reach your full potential.

Sounds super "Hippie", right? I never thought of myself as someone who would jump on a bandwagon for anything, but I feel like this is more than just getting rid of some unwanted shoes, it's literally freeing up so much clutter in my life, that I don't need, and actually doing things with my family, going on adventures, saving money, realizing what's important in life and finding happiness with less stuff around me.

How did I get here?

Why do I have so much stuff in the first place?

I think, for me, there are three reasons why I have so much stuff. Throughout the years I just accumulate stuff and the amount that was entering the house was matching what was leaving. More and more and more stuff came into my life and not much was leaving. The three reason I think I hold on to stuff is this:

1. Sentimental value. I don't want to get rid of it. Someone gave it to me or it reminds me of some memory. Or, I bought it (Clothing) and someday I may perhaps wear it or need it, even though I haven't needed it in the past 5 years.

2. Guilt. When someone gives me a gift, I feel like I have to hold on to it, even if I can't use it, it's not my style, or it's just something that would get shoved to the back of the closet. And, that's just what happens. I feel too guilty to throw it away, donate it, or re-gift it, that I hold onto an item that means nothing to me and just takes up space.

3. Laziness. Let's be honest. This is a big one. I don't want to take the time or energy to actually go through everything, load it in my car and donate it. I will get it in a box. The box will sit in a corner for a year and the unwanted items will go NO WHERE!

I'm feeling held down by stuff. With three kids, I am constantly cleaning and rearranging. And, partly that is because we have way too much stuff. Toys that aren't played with, movies we will never watch, books that will never be read, blankets that are shoved in a closet, appliances that go unused for years. I'm overwhelmed by STUFF! And, I'm ready for change.

So, this is my journey. I'm going from clutter to minimalism.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not moving my family into a tiny house or only having 2 pairs of underwear, but I'm getting down to the basics. The things we need to live. My kids don't need ALL those toys. I don't need ALL those clothes. I'm freeing myself from all this clutter and stuff and giving myself and my family more freedom for adventures and experiences rather than spending time, money and energy on stuff.

Keep up with my journey, if you would like. It may be a bumpy one, but I think in the end, I will be a calmer, less anxious, freed-from-clutter person!

To learn more about minimalism, check out this website.
http://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/
I watched their documentary on Netflix and was ready for change. Obviously, not to the extreme of some of these people, but enough to free me from clutter.  

Organize Your Entry Closet In 10 Minutes!

Does your entryway closet get completely overran with shoes and coats? Organize it in less than 10 minutes.

Our closet by our front door always has mountains of shoes, some coats thrown in there, flip flops from 2 seasons ago, soccer cleats that haven't been worn in months... And, I get so frustrated kicking them in to shut the door.

Here is a way to get that entryway closet clean and organized in less than 10 minutes.

1. Take ALL shoes and coats out of the closet
2. Organize the shoes. A) Shoes that need to be thrown away. Have flip flops from last summer that will never be worn again? Or shoes with a hole in them? Toss them! B) Shoes to donate. With growing kids our closet gets overwhelmed with shoes that don't fit, but are still in pretty good condition. My husband and I have shoes we just don't wear anymore, but are still wearable. Get a box and donate those! C) Out-of-season shoes. There is no reason why we should kick around sandals in the winter and rain boots in the summer. Put out-of-season shoes in bedroom closets and get them out of the way. D) Shoes worn regularly. KEEP THESE in the closet. The easiest way for my family to keep track of shoes in a durable canvas basket since my kids toss them in there anyway. It's just somewhere to aim.
3. Organize coats. Again, just like the shoes. Toss, Donate, Out-of-season and regular wear. Get those coats on hangers and organized.
4. Sweep and mop floor. So.... Much.... Dirt! Get that room clean!
5. Put the shoes in the basket and neatly in the closet.
6. TA-DA!

Super easy. Get everything organized for less stress when having to leave somewhere so no one is yelling that they can't find shoes or they have to throw every shoe out of the closet to find what they are looking for. Organized closet. Less stress for mom!


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