2014 1/2 done

Hello All,

Welcome to the second 1/2 of 2014. This year has flown by, more so than other years. I am staying committed to working towards living with less. Some of the rules that I now live by which are helping me to do this are:

1) One in, one out NO EXCEPTIONS
2) Only buy what you absolutely love and know you'll use
3) Don't hang on to stuff thinking "maybe someday"

It's definitely true what you hear. The more you do it, the better you get at it. As I keep focusing on purging I find that it gets easier every time. When I circle back on a room or drawer that I had previously purged I find that I can purge more then second time even though I thought I purged all I could first time. So I am keeping on, keeping on. Here's my update for the first 6 months of this year.

If you are taking on your own purging I commend you and encouraging you to keep going! It's rewarding.

Purging Totals
- All items purged have not been replaced they are a true purge
2012 Total- 318
2013 Total- 431
2014 Total- 204 (so far)

-       Miscellaneous/House - 43

-       clothing/accessories- 101

-       Office Supplies/Books- 34

-       Kitchen items- 25

-       Hair/Beauty- 1

-       Tools- 

December Check in

Hello! I'm not great at regular updating lately and really so much has changed in the last 7 months since I posted. I switched jobs and so life has been a bit busy! Well, busy might be an understatement. The good news is that even though I don't update much that I have still been keeping my focus on getting rid of my stuff and learning to live with less.

I will admit though that some days it's easier than others. I really want to live more of a minimalist lifestyle but I will be the first to admit that it is SOOO HARD. New sparkly things at stores, and pretty shiny things in catalogues tempt me all the time. I have learned that it's easier for me to not spend too much time in the mall unless I am there for a very specific reason. I also find that I need to regularly check minimalist blogs and other such things that keep me focused on what I am trying to accomplish so I don't get sucked further into our dominate culture of buy/accumulate/collect. It is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. I also continue to keep a list of the things that I purge so that I am motivated by the list and remind myself of the sense of accomplishment I get from purging those things I no longer need.

So that being said. How have I done this year? With only a few days left to the end of the year I too am curious about how close to my goal I am going to get.....I'm going to add up and update below......drumroll please.......

well adding 84 more things to the list below bringing my total to 432. Not bad- 68 items away from my goal of 500. I wonder how much closer to my goal of 500 I can get by the end of the year.

Total: 431 

-       Miscellaneous/House -96

-       clothing/accessories- 121

-       Office Supplies/Books- 115

-       Kitchen items- 62

-       Hair/Beauty- 36

-       Tools- 2 

Life is Far More Than Stuff

One of my FB friends posted a link this video today....Be Inspired I took some time to watch the video as I sat at my craft table and it hit home.

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. - James 4:14

Life is so momentary and our stuff is so meaningless when we are gone. This video puts that all into perspective- it was the moments and the person that Zach was that will be remembered. I noticed they didn't post any trophies or other personal things that he owned. But there was a lot of talk about the way Zach made people feel and how he invested his time. Those are the things that I want to be remembered for too.

My Grandpa passed away nearly 3 years ago today and it's true- I have one or two of his things hanging around but it's really the man he was that I'll remember not what he owned. We all own so many things and yet these things when we are gone are going to be tossed away or donated. Living with less for me is about a shift in how I approach life. I am learning that I don't need piles of things to have a good life. That my time and effort could be better spent living instead of striving for more things. It's not wrong to have stuff but there is so much freedom in not being tied down by our stuff!!

This year I have challenged myself to rid my house of 500 things as I live out my word of the year- LESS. It's a daily challenge to think in terms of simplicity and reducing what I have to become more fulfilled with those things I do have and letting go of what is holding me back from a life of Freedom.

So since my last post at the end of March I have further reduced the things I own by 76 things! That brings my total to 350! Getting closer and closer to the 500 mark just 150 items to go and 7 more months to go....can I do it?

Total: 350 

-       Miscellaneous/House -85

-       clothing/accessories- 96

-       Office Supplies/Books- 96

-       Kitchen items- 50

-       Hair/Beauty- 21

-       Tools- 2 

The Next Level - Follow Up

If you happened to miss my last blog post you can find it here - I put out the idea of "guilty clutter" and mentioned a great blog I found that helped me identify the next level of work that I needed to do in simplifying my life. It was about time that I got real with naming the types of clutter I keep around.

Guilty clutter is definitely one of the types of clutter. Over the past few week and a half I've had some time to contemplate what guilty clutter I've allowed to control me from their perch on my shelves, in my closet, sitting quietly but heavily in drawers.

This was a difficult journey for me. The loop that played in my head as I grabbed one of these guilty clutter items was "what if the person asks me what I did with this? I can't possibly part with this; there are too many good memories associated with _______" I will admit I picked things up- doilies from my grandma, candle holders from our wedding that I just definitely could not part with at this point in my journey-if ever. But I had set a goal and like all good over achievers I was determined to meet my goal.

In the end I did find 5 things:

• Fancy candle holder (Christmas gift that I've only ever used once) 
• Doily (this one was not from my grandma or great-grandma so I had an easier time parting with it)
• Home Decor Item 
• Bell from our wedding (we have 2 of these hanging around so I decided that I didn't need both and it's not likely that I'm going to loose/break the first one and lament getting rid of the second or at least I am hoping that I won't)
• Necklace (this one was hard to get rid of but it needed to go)

Whew! I know it's just a list of 5 things but I did honestly struggle with these. It's hard getting rid of things that you have some level of guilt getting rid of. And so while this only adds 5 items to my purge total I know the work that went in to getting those 5 additional counts on my list. 

I did also continue with some of the "easy" purging this past week ( I ended up going through all our Christmas supplies- so that helped) and so we are looking fairly good for our yearly total so far! 

Total: 274 

-       Miscellaneous/House -71

-       clothing/accessories- 67

-       Office Supplies/Books- 72

-       Kitchen items- 41

-       Hair/Beauty- 21

-       Tools- 2 

The Next Level

After attacking clutter in my home for the past 14ish months I have really let go of a lot of the big things. You know, those items that stick out like sore thumbs and you know that you're never going to use them or that they no longer serve a purpose in your life. An example of one of those was a beach umbrella I had. I live on the prairie and so we have a distinct lack of beaches and when we do go to a beach it usually involves a plane trip so it was highly unlikely that I was ever going to use the beach umbrella.

So now that those big, obvious items are out of my life and I've committed to seeing 500 objects leave my home this year and I am struggling with "what next".  Don't get me wrong I am still purging on a regular basis but feel that there are other obvious pieces of clutter that I should be seeing that I am not. So I went search the web and visited a few of my now favorite organizing, de-cluttering, and minimalist blogs.

I just happened upon this blog of Laura's and knew I had found my answer. This lady is getting really REAL with clutter and organization in her house. Her blog post titled Letting Go of Guilty Clutter got my attention. I know I have passed up getting rid of some things in my home because someone has given them to me and they may have special meaning. And while I may not agree with getting rid of something super sentimental without asking the individual if they would like it back, the concept of even identifying those things that are guilty clutter is one that I can really get on board with. So this week I am challenging myself to find 5 guilty clutter items that I can part with. This is going to be scary for me but I really wanted to push myself to a new level so here it goes. I'll post next week to let you know how it goes!

And check out my new purge totals so far this year.
Total Items: 202- almost 1/2 way there to my 500 goal 

-       Miscellaneous -22

-       clothing/accessories- 64

-       Office Supplies/Books- 62

-       Kitchen items- 36

-       Hair/Beauty- 16

-       Tools- 2 

2013 is going to be LESS

Every year I pick a word that is going to define the way I live. I’ve been doing this for at least the last 4 years. I cannot remember if it goes back farther than that. As my Grandma would say- I have a good memory but it’s short! J

Last year I chose the word simplify. To say that the word transformed my life would be an understatement. It completely became my thought process and my approach to everything I did. Some of the highlights from last year was cleaning out my closet, starting a meal planning rotation, and purging my home of unwanted things. I was able to happily walk out 318 things from my home last year.

It was a challenge to pick my word for 2013. I wanted it to be something that would continue on the transformational journey of “simplicity” but it had to be something distinct enough that it didn’t live in the shadow of 2012. I thought long and hard about it and this year my word choice is “LESS”.

I have chosen a sub theme for every month. This year is about living with less noise, less clutter, less undone projects, less procrastination, being less committed, etc. I think I am going to enjoy the ride.

I am still going to work on getting rid of things that I no longer need or that no longer define who I am. My challenge to myself for the year is to rid my home of 500 things. And this year I am being strict. Everything that I count as an item cannot be replaced with another item. That means if I buy a shirt, another shirt has to be purged (I have a one in, one out rule) but that purge cannot be counted in my total. It has to be something that is purged that is not replaced with something else.

It will be tough but with last year under my belt I already walk around the house with my inner voice asking “Do you need everything in this ___________(insert drawer, closet, room, here).

So in the spirit of sharing I will continue to post my successes and my failures here on the blog. I hope that you’ll join in with me if you feel inspired to do so and that you’ll cheer me on as I walk this road.

2013 Purge Total: (Yes, I started January 1^st and here’s what I have so far)

154 items

-       Miscellaneous -10

-       clothing/accessories- 49

-       Office Supplies/Books- 61

-       Kitchen items- 25

-       Hair/Beauty- 8

-       Tools- 1 

Pumped and Ready 2013

So even though I haven't been posting much I finished strong in 2012 living out simplicity and what it meant to me. I have managed to purge several spaces in my home and man does it ever feel great! If you missed my first post of 2012 and why I was living "simplicity" this year. You can find it Here

I have been ruthless in what I keep and how long I keep it for. I wasn't perfect though. I found I still sometimes went back to good old faithful retail therapy every now and then and made purchases that just weren't that useful and had to go back to the store......It's going to take some more work to get me truly rethinking how I live and operate day to day. This year at the very least made me more aware of the stuff I was buying and each time I picked something up either in the store or in my own home I would stop to ask myself if it really was something that I needed. It was a freeing year and I definitely feel less attached to the stuff I own at this point.

My last purge total that I posted in June was 162 items that left via donation, sale, recycle, or garbage from my home. I have continued to keep track from that point and have purged an additional 155 items bringing my grand total for 2012 to: 318! That's nearly 1 item per day which make me pretty happy! I am going to see if I can exceed that for 2013.

I am even ending the year and gearing up for a new year by purging 13 items from my closet this morning. Happy 2013!! What better way to end the year than by saying good-bye to stuff and giving one last node to my word of the year for 2012- simplicity! The best part is that it didn't even take me that long I was in and out within 15 mins. A far cry from the hours I've spent at the beginning of the year debating on whether or not to get rid of stuff. If it hasn't been worn and I don't love it, then it goes!

And stay tuned- I'll be sharing my word of the year for 2013 shortly!