Big Changes

I am discovering a major truth. When you make big changes in the area where you live, it makes big changes in how you live. Shocking, right?

So much in the past month has changed here! I am, of course, not done. I don't know that I ever will be "finished" on this path. I have made some serious strides, though. After suffering through a lot of frustration while working on my bedroom, I finally sent my kids to spend the day at my best friends house. My husband, Carl, and I were able to accomplish our goals within about five hours.

The shameful mess at the beginning. 

I have no idea how it ever got so bad. I am not, by nature, a dirty person. I've never been naturally immaculate, but I am... tidy. The piles of projects and boxes from storage were confined to our room, away from crazy toddler paws, and it just... grew. It's like you start with a small mess, and it builds on itself. If you never make any progress and things are continually added to it, it eventually becomes impossible to do anything with it. Then what's already there hinders progress, because piles are blocking where other piles would be "put away". Eventually it just.... implodes. This room is the reason I decided to start researching minimalism. I've been so busy with it, it's also the reason that I haven't updated in a month. It was time well spent.


We started by moving it all out of the bedroom and into the living room.

Carl preps the wall with a safety bracket and slides the new bookshelf into place.

Next we loaded up the shelves so that all the books wouldn't be in the way. I've moved them around a little since then, rearranging and editing. I ended up moving the yellow magazine holders into the dining room (I'll show you in a moment.) and I've put some more craft supplies up top.

Next we moved all the furniture back in, in our new arrangement. I even took the small (mostly unused) dresser from the boys' room and slipped it in. Even though there are still some boxes and piles to go through, and TWO more pieces of furniture, the room still feels more spacious. I don't know if it's the layout, or the fact that the piles are cut down to 1/3 what they used to be, but I'm digging it.

LOOK!! CARPET!! 

*gasp*

There's still a few bins that I need to go through, mostly decor and linens, and there's now a pile of boxes in the corner. I still haven't had a chance to completely go through my closet, though I've finished going through everything (of clothes) that was in storage. That's the bad news. 

The good news is that our apartment building is having a yard sale in two weeks, everything in the boxes in the corner is marked to be sold, and I have a garbage bag stuffed full of 99% of the clothes that were in storage, ready to be sold! My goal is to have gone through EVERYTHING by the yard sale! 

One major undertaking that I've accomplished, but you can't really tell from photos, is cleaning out the filing cabinet. I collected ALL the piles of paperwork from around the house, (the top of the computer desk in the living room is now clear!!) dumped out the files, and went to town. 

I had thought that I would need to invest in a taller cabinet, one that had four drawers. After going through everything, it all fit into one drawer! It's amazing how much crap was shoved in there. Now that there is more space in there, I'm planning on getting all of the photos and momentos from the "precious things" bin in storage. That way they'll be accessible and I can start working on putting together baby books and memory albums. I'm saving these things for that purpose, I should probably actually do it!

*****

Our bedroom isn't the only place that has changed. I've been revisiting the kitchen and dining areas. Tweaking where things go, realizing that I don't use things, (A giant wok?? I forgot I even HAD that!) placing them aside for the yard sale, and slowly finding homes for things that used to live out on the counter.

The results?

Check out those counter tops!!

 

Whenever I go into the kitchen, I just want to trail my hands along the empty spaces. 

It's like it's just BEGGING to have food prepared on it! 

Cooking is so much more enjoyable when you're not working in the middle of a mess.

The container on the washer with the white powder? My own homemade laundry soap!

I don't love where the booster seat trays have ended up, on top of the microwave, but it's certainly tidier than the old solution: sitting on the counter top or dirty in the sink! I'm sure a better solution will occur to me sooner or later. (Eventually my youngest will just grow out of using them, I guess!)


The top of the fridge is clean and clutter free. I've managed to train myself to not just toss stuff up there when I'm not sure where it should go.

The old dish rack is chillin' in the corner. My Mom loves me and gave me a portable dishwasher for Christmas, so the rack hasn't seen much action. I'll still bust it out occasionally, when there's a large stock pot or something that I don't want to eat up space in a load of dishes. The turquoise bin is where we stash our bread. Then we have my thrift-store finds, a 70's chic glass fruit bowl, and a cutesy-utsey mushroom cookie jar. (Which is currently empty. Sadness.)

I've also taken the time to clean up the top of the pantries. 

You may remember the hot mess they were from my early entry Operation: Pantry.

Having these supplies tidied and streamlined has not

only made it easier on the eye, but it's so much easier to use! 

The binder has loose paper for free-coloring and practicing shapes. Behind the coloring supplies are poster boards, held tidy with a chip clip. All of the crayons and chalk are contained and easy to find, as are the coloring books and home making magazines.

The smaller vases are tucked back behind the smaller cook books, and everything is organized and clean. I've even tucked a notepad up there, which I've started using to jot down meal and recipe ideas.

Last, we have the shelves in the kitchen and dining room.

The shelf in the kitchen is where I've allowed myself to display a few kitschy, cluttery things. I still feel like it's too much, so I'm sure I'll be editing and switching things out. 

 

The artwork that's up there is inherited, so I don't necessarily LOVE it, but it's working for me. I'd rather have something I sort-of like, at this stage, than no art. I look forward to the day when I can walk into my home and only see things that I LOVE.

Here is the shelf in the dining room! It used to be absolutely covered in junk, and I'd constantly find myself dumping mail up there. Keeping it clean means that there's somewhere for Carl to put his wallet and sunglasses when he gets home each day from work.

Well, now that I have overloaded you with photos, I'll be on my merry little way. I have a lot to accomplish in the next two weeks, before the yard sale. I need to go through the rest of my clothes and my bathroom. There's a few more areas that I considered sharing photos of with you (the game closet, the linen closet) but I'll save those for another day. I need to start updating more frequently so that it doesn't all pile up like this! (Funny, how it's not that different from keeping a home clean!) 

I hope you are inspired to minimize and streamline your own living space. If I can make such strides toward a tidier and more enjoyable existence, then I guarantee that anybody can.

Baby Steps

Hello friends! I'm still here, slowly chipping away at the mountain. I have decided to challenge myself to a one-a-day accomplishment. I'm going to throw away or donate at least one thing every day!

It's not as daunting as it sounds. My one thing a day could be a stack of junk mail, old left-overs in the fridge, an expired and forgotten tube of mascara hiding under the sink, you get the idea.

I am not limiting myself to one thing every day, if I get on a roll then I'll just go with it, but I want to keep myself thinking along a stream-lined path on a daily basis.

Here's what I have been up to this past week (plus).



I have resumed my ongoing battle with my closet. I've managed to clean out a few shelves, I've pulled the bins fabric from the top, and cleared out some of the hangers. I'm not there yet, but I'm getting closer. A lot of these clothes that are left are still ones that I don't wear. Although they are the right "size", they don't fit right. I was wearing "Junior" styles when I was last this small. I've had two kids since then, I've got woman curves!

The problem is that if I just get rid of everything, there won't be anything left. I'm slowly trying to replace and upgrade my wardrobe. One good thing in, one less desirable thing out.  (The interesting blue and white pattern you see is a hand-me-down wrap dress from my grandmother. I'm still trying to decide whether I love it or not. Maybe I'll take a photo of me in it and let you decide!)

My little boys have also been "helping". I have a few boxes filled with things to donate, so I let sit them on the bed and go through those while I work.

William, my one year old, likes to lay in the clothes. Gregory, my two year old, thinks it's funny to try them on.


The day I took these photos I had just put a bunch of books into the box. The majority of them were the "obvious" donation books. (Cheap romance and YA fiction.) A lot of them have photos of horses, which excited Gregory. I love how he just cuddled in and started "reading", looking for the photos at the top of each chapter.

Things I found and kicked to the curb....

An old sewing machine that no longer works, lurking in the back of my closet under some shoes.

An expired and unneeded car seat. This photo was after I'd cut the straps. (To prevent unwitting dumpster divers from endangering their children with a car seat that is expired, which means the plastic has become brittle and dangerous in the event of an accident.)

WHAT is this, hiding under my desk??

Frickin' Baby Walker!??
This belongs to my dad. My baby hasn't used it in over six months, maybe more.
WHYYY is it still hiding out in my bedroom??
This needs to be returned. Pronto.

I'm hoping to start updating more often, especially with my One-A-Day efforts. I also have a reader-requested post in the works, about small kitchen appliances, so stay tuned for that!

Procrastination, Thy Name is Me.

I have been struggling here. I had have grand plans, but I can't seem to buckle down and accomplish them. I think I'm just overwhelmed. No big surprise, right? The entire point of becoming a minimalist is to live a simpler life. When I look around, though, and see the complicated mess we live in, I freeze up.

I've seriously spent the past week+ avoiding the issue. I tried a few times to work on things in my bedroom, but as a SAHM to two toddler boys, I soon found myself giving up, shoving everything into a lump in the corner, and pretending it wasn't there. My bedroom has actually gotten WORSE since I started trying to declutter. I go in there, and feel like crying, I'm so overwhelmed. This morning I found myself daydreaming about some kind of fire or flood... that is NOT healthy thinking. I would just trash everything and start over, but as much as there is a lot of crap stuff in there, there's also a lot of nice, important things there.

Here... I'll show you what I'm talking about. This is just a peek of my bedroom, through the door...

I'm seriously so close to not sharing this, I'm really embarrassed. Maybe I'll be able to shame myself into getting it all finished, if for no other reason than that that I need to redeem myself.

Like I said before, it has gotten worse since I started trying to get things cleaned out. The dresser is covered in all the books that used to be in storage or on our second bookshelf (the repurposed DVD rack.) We were going to order a second, matching bookshelf ($25 @ Walmart.com!) so that our needs would be met... but they are out of stock! There is one that matches it in the boys' bedroom, so I'm considering stealing it and getting a different style for their room. I guess we'll see if it comes back into stock in the next couple days. I don't want to wait any longer.

The hope chest is now empty! It used to contain all of my "this is too precious to toss, but I can't justify having it out" stuff. You know... precious baby shoes, moments from our wedding, my graduation cap, love letters, things of that nature. I managed to whittle it down to just the things that would make me cry should they be lost, and put them into a rubbermaid container. I marked it <3PRECIOUS THINGS<3 and lovingly booted it all to storage. The bin is only half full, so there's plenty of space for me to squirrel away future items.

I'm planning on putting our sheets and blankets (currently stacked against one wall, yikes!) into the chest. Hopefully that will open up some space so that I'm not quite so overwhelmed at the thought of working in there.

As much as I'd like to go through my clothes RIGHT NOW, it's just not realistic. I'd have to have a whole day, and tackle the entire room. In my life, that's not happening. I guess I'll just have to keep chipping at it, one pile at a time.