The Great Purge 2013

Over the past few weeks, I have really been inclined to stop talking about how much I dislike cleaning and actually do something about it.  While putting in the time to clean up our home little by little every day came the desire to de-clutter.  The first three days of my new-found cleaning routine, I realized how much clutter I did not want to continue dusting each and every week.  I started purging items from my bedside table and ended up with one whole box of items to donate as well as one plastic bag of trash. 

After being able to see the wood surface of my bedside table and having next to nothing in the drawers, I was motivated to continue de-cluttering throughout the house.  After three days of my husband watching me clean, purge and enjoy my hard work, something in him changed.  His mentality of “more” was morphing into the realization that we have too much!  He realized that he did not enjoy living with the stuff that littered nearly every flat surface of our home.  The best part of this change is that I did not have to say a single word about it: he discovered this himself (which in my mind, leads to long-term change).

The purging process is going to take (a lot of) time and I’m sure it will never really be complete but I love that we are finally moving in the right direction.  After just a couple of weeks, we have been watching our possessions leave our home and it does not bother us one bit.  I am very nostalgic which is one reason we have so much, and that will probably never change, but it is getting better.

My husband brought up a good point: I have my hand in too many pots.  It is time to focus on just one or two activities.  I have always wanted to be able to maintain our home, spend quality time with family, have a huge (productive) garden, love on our (6) fur-babies, raise chickens, grow fruit, compost and keep up with my new-found love of getting lost in books.  Oh, and lets not forget about having to work 42.5 hours a week with a 10 hour commute..  The issue is that I am trying to do too much and I am not doing any of it well!  Case in point: this year’sgarden.

My focus right now is going to be on:

1. Quality time with family
2. Taking care of the fur-babies
3. Maintaining a clean home

That’s it.  Nothing more. These are the three areas of my life that I am focusing on.  The garden is done this year, so I don’t have to worry about that. I have some things to do with the fruit trees, bushes and vines but it is not very time consuming (not to mention I have 2 months to do it in).  Everything else is being put aside for now.  I am even contemplating selling the flock to someone who wants to raise their own chickens.  There are several people in our area selling free-range brown eggs for $2/dozen.  It is much easier to pick up eggs twice a month versus the time to clean the chicken coop, feed them and count heads twice a day to make sure none were taken by a predator!

I am learning that purging leads to simplicity, and that is what we are aiming for in life.

Less stress, more time together and with family, and contentment with our possessions.

Have you been de-cluttering lately?

What tips or suggestions do you have for this newbie?

Correlation: Limiting Clutter and Lower Spending

I finally have my husband on board with de-cluttering our home and acknowledging that we have too much stuff.  It took me organizing my closet and commenting on how much I love how clean and organized everything was to get my husband to join the club.  He started with his closet, purging the majority of his clothes: many of them I had never even seen him wear.  Next, he turned all of his clothes one way.  If he wears an item, he will hang it up the other way so he can see what he does and does not wear.  In other words, hubby is taking this de-cluttering idea further than me! J 

After we purged and organized the contents of our bedroom closets, armoires, storage under the bed, bedside tables and dressers, we moved onto the kitchen.  I woke up one morning, and Todd had all of the contents of our kitchen cupboards on the countertops and dining room table.  We went through every single item, getting rid of those that were expired or items that we would not use.  This took us less than 45 minutes to complete: we took on this task one morning before I left for work!

Confession:  The oldest item we found in the cupboard was a box of cornbread muffin mix in a box.  I have been making my own homemade cornbread for the past several years, so I never had a need to use the boxed product.  The expiration date:  April 2009! 

Now, we are going through our home room by room, little by little, getting rid of the contents we do not use as we go.  I still have a date with the Tupperware/storage container cupboard one of these weekends, but things are coming along.

I have noticed that since we have been working on our home, the natural spender in our family (my husband) has been making fewer trips to Walmart before work in the mornings.  We went out for a date at the end of February and I was astonished that we went to 4 stores and spent only $9.12.  That $9.12 was on items that we needed only.

I am noticing a direct correlation between de-cluttering our home, the amount of stuff we bring into our home, and the amount of money we are spending.  Being the natural saver and the one who is looking to simplify our lives, I am enjoying watching this process unfold.  

Too Much Stuff

"Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions." ~Peace Pilgrim (source)

Over the past several months, I have noticed that we have too much. It is not something I just noticed, it is something that has been nagging at me. Really, how much is enough?

I am tired of always trying to find items around the house and our home feeling cluttered. It is impossible to keep the house clean because we have to tear everything apart to find that one do-dad hubby knows he has but cannot find.

Hubby and I have decided to start purging some of our belongings. Do I really need 6 vases when I don’t believe in purchasing fresh flowers? Yes, I can clip flowers from our flower bed and put in the vase for decoration (I rarely ever do this), but I need just one small and one large vase for that. And please don’t ask me why I have 3 sets of hot rollers and use none of them.

We have 3 baker’s racks…in our living room. One is his from his old house, one is mine from my old house, and one is ours that was given to us by my mom when she moved (it’s gorgeous!). They are situated in our living room because we don’t have enough room in our dining room. I think you can tell which one we will be keeping: the one that we both think is gorgeous. I feel like when we have surfaces without clutter, it gives us permission to purchase and fill said surfaces with possessions.

Over the next several months, I will try to post before and after photos of our purging efforts. We could have one major garage sale (or several) this year with all the “stuff” we want to get rid of.

When you look around, are you happy with the amount of possessions you own? Or do you feel like I do, that it’s all too much

Organizing the Bedroom Closet

At the beginning of the year, I set a goal of finally paring down my closet after talking and thinking about it for months.   I had a closet-full of clothes that I didn’t necessarily like and most of the items didn’t fit properly.  I purchase a lot of my shirts from the thrift store and because I have a big bust, most of the shirts do not fit properly. (Our thrift store does not have dressing rooms.)

This is what my closet and armoire looked like January 28^th:

 

  

 

 

In my armoire, I kept a mish-mash of clothing including shirts that didn’t wrinkle (and even some that did!), jeans that I have been holding onto thinking that one day I would fit into them again, shorts I haven’t worn in over a year (because I don’t do shorts), and the bottom two drawers were pajamas I’ve accumulated over the past several years.  It was pure chaos, as you can tell from the picture.

After just 20 minutes of going through my clothes, this is what my armoire looked like:

 

Do you see that?!?  There are shelves in my armoire! 

The top shelf has a few books and miscellaneous items.  The middle left shelf has my comfy pants (3 pairs of black yoga capri and 1 pair of yoga pants) whereas the middle shelf right has 4 pairs of shorts, capri jeans and 3 pairs of jeans I wear often. I hesitated on purging the shorts.  My reasoning: Todd and I are going on a family trip to Aruba in a month and a half and even though I don’t like wearing shorts, it is warm in Aruba!  At this time, the shorts do not fit, but I am hoping that if I can lose some weight, I will be able to wear shorts on vacation.  If I am not able to, then they will be donated before we leave for vacation at the end of next month.

The bottom shelf is now housing 5 pairs of pants that I wear to work.  I had nothing else to put on this shelf and I am perfectly happy with that! 

 

In the top drawer that held half of my pajama stash now contains all of my patterned short-sleeved shirts (I wear these alone as well as under cardigans in the winter).  I even found two shirts I used to love (and still do) that got lost in the disarray - they are now part of my weekly rotation of work clothes.  The right side of the top drawer now holds my summer pajamas which consist of two pairs of cotton shorts and a spaghetti-strap cotton nightgown. 

 

The bottom drawer will hold two pairs of my favorite pajamas (one was in the wash this week and the other on a drying rack to dry at the time of this photo.)

The items in the closet weren’t difficult to sort through.  I decided that if I hadn’t worn it in the past 6 months, I donated it.  This is what was left (and a whole lot of empty hangers). 

 

 

I ended up getting rid of 8 - 9 pair of shoes.  Most of them were hand-me-downs or garage sale finds for less than $2.  A couple of them were really pretty shoes but I had to stuff paper in the toes so that they’d fit!  All of the shoes that I wear are now housed in a canvas shoe-rack organizer to the right in my closet with my knee-high boots and high-top sneakers on the floor in front.  The best part of the closet is that I can now fit my laundry basket in it again!

I will admit, I was stressed out thinking about going through my closet.  The project took me less than an hour to complete, and I just love that everything in my armoire and closet are items of clothing that I wear, and wear often.  I have even begun switching up my wardrobe because I know exactly what I’ve got!  It is like I just got done clothes shopping…without having to go to the store! 

As with most things I put off, I don’t know why I waited so long to do this.  It is great being able to get dressed in the morning and choose something that fits without the hassle of trying on more than one outfit.

Book Review: It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh

Let me just say that I could have re-written this book in its entirety because of the invaluable knowledge it provided.  The author, Peter Walsh, had me pegged from Page 1 in the book titled It’s All Too Much. I believe this book is for anybody who wants to find a way to look at their belongings a little differently and start to get rid of some of their clutter.

I will be the first to admit that we have a lot of stuff in our home.  We go to garage sales and flea markets as well as obtain a lot of stuff from our parents.  Over the past year, I have had the feeling that its just too much.  We really don’t need most of what we have and it is just taking up space (and in turn, our time, energy and resources) in our home. 

I believe that this book is a must-read to anyone who is looking to dig their way out of clutter. 

I will leave you with several quotes that resonated with me most throughout the book:  

• "Clutter prevents you from enjoying the most precious, intimate moments in life.  Clutter robs you of far more than the space it occupies – it steals your life!”
• "Does the stuff you own contribute to the lives they were hoping to achieve or is it getting in the way of that vision?"
• "Go through every room. First, identify what you want from the space.  Then, determine if the contents of the space serves that purpose."
• "Does this item enhance the life you want to live?"
• “When you succeed in decluttering it will be because you’ve made good life choices.  And when you’re living by those choices, you’ll experience the joy, the lightness, and the freedom that come with natural order.”
• "Your home is within your control.  It should be the place where you escape all negative forces in the world.  Your home should be the antidote to stress, not the cause."
• "Clearing the clutter in your physical space will go a long way toward clearing the clutter in your mind and your relationships."
• "Clutter stops us from living in the present."
• "Those things we hoard for an imaginary future do little other than limit our possibilities and stunt our growth."

If any of these quotes resonate with you, I suggest picking up the book from the library and reading through it.  It has me motivated to get rid of the clutter in our life! 

Two Ways to Get Enough



Source Credit

I found this picture online and I liked it so much that I printed it out and have it hanging on our refrigerator as a constant reminder.

Though my husband and I are definitely not minimalists by any stretch of the imagination (you should see our home: the joke is that we are maximalists!), I am definitely to a point in my life that I desire less: A lot less.

In the past, we have tried accumulating more and more stuff…and that still didn’t seem like “enough.”  Over the past year, we have desired less and we definitely feel like we have more than enough. 

Book Review: Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy

I am a master procrastinator.  There is no denying it.  I have struggled with this trait for as long as I can remember.

Todd always jokes, “If you were a nation, you’d be procrasti-nation!”  I found this book on the library computer system from another branch and I knew I had to read it!

 

Photo Credit

 

When the book was available at my library to pick up, I immediately noticed how compact it was and I thought, “This is the perfect book for me!”  Why was it the perfect book?  Because for those of us who procrastinate (with some ADD tendencies), we get overwhelmed by large books and procrastinate on reading them!  Can you imagine?  Procrastinating on reading a book on how to train your mind to stop procratinating!

That being said, I dove right in.

I was interested from the very first page.

"If you are like most people today, you are overwhelmed with too much to do and too little time.  As you struggle to get caught up, new tasks and responsibilities just keep rolling in, like the waves of the ocean.  Because of this, you will never be able to do everything you have to do.  You will never be caught up.  You will always be behind in some of your tasks and responsibilities, and probably in many of them."

You may be wondering what frogs have to do with procrastination, but everything in the book revolves around these simple thought processes:

"Mark Twain once said taht if the first thingn you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. 

Your "frog" is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don't do something about it.  It is also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact ony our life and results at the moment."
 

 Rule 1:
If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.

Rule 2:
If you have to eat a live frog at all, it doesnt pay to sit and look at it for very long.

I will be honest that the first 40 pages of this book were the most motivating to me.  The rest o the book was more about what to do in business-type settings to get past the procrastination.  Though it is good to know, the quote about the frog and the rules above are what have been motivating me the most to "eat my frog" every day.

The book goes on the the following 21 steps about how one goes about accomplishing the thought processes above.

 

1. Set the Table
2. Plan Every Day in Advance
3. Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything
4. Consider the Consequences
5. Practice Creative Procrastination
6. Use the ABCDE Method Continually
7. Focus on Key Result Areas
8. Apply the Law of Three
9. Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin
10. Take It One Oil Barrel at a Time
11. Upgrade Your Key Skills
12. Leverage Your Special talents
13. Identify Your Key Constraints
14. Put the PRessure on Yourself
15. Maximize Your Pesronal Powers
16. Motivate Yourself into Action
17. Get Out of the Technological Time Sinks
18. Slice and Dice the Task
19. Create Large Chunks of Time
20. Develop a Sense of Urgency
21. Single Handle Every Task

This book is a must-read for anyone who is looking for motivation on ridding of their procrastination.  At less than 130 pages and a 3 hour read, I know it has changed my life and my tendency to procrastinate!  When I start my day, I know what “frog” I need to eat and try to get accomplished first thing because after that, the rest of the day should be smooth sailing. 

So, my question to you is, what is your frog?
I know for me, it is housework and getting organized. That is the main reason I got this book: to get motivated and take care of the tasks (or the frogs) that have been piling up on me for years. 

Ribbit! Ribbit!

 

Photo Credit

 

 

*Disclosure:  I was in no way compensated or influenced to write this review.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Purge-A-Palooza: Bedroom

I had purging the bedroom on my to-do list all month, but it wasn’t until February 26^th that I actually did something about it! 

I only got the closet purged in February, which was a daunting task for me.  In the next picture, you will see why it was such a discouraging task for me.

Closet Head-On

Down Below

On the Shelf

More Shelf Shots

I am embarrassed to admit that this was my side of the closet.  In comparison, this is Todd’s side of the closet:

Todd's Side of the Closet

Luckily, it only took about 15 minutes to get everything out of the closet to start my piles of save, purge, and garbage.  The pile of “purge” items grew quickly.  I have noticed that most of my clothes have stains on them.  I am so terribly hard on my clothing, which is why I don’t buy anything that is white or expensive!  I hated to do it, but I got rid of a pair of boots that I absolutely love...not to mention they cost me a pretty penny.  I wore them to a club once and suffered the whole entire time.  So, after 10+ years, I finally let them go after wearing them twice.  It’s so silly, if you think about it.  All they were doing in my closet was collecting dust.  I also got rid of another pair of shoes that I really liked, but they hurt my feet as well.

My Favorite Stiletto Boots

Work Shoes That Always Hurt My Feet!

Within 30 minutes, I was starting to put everything back into my closet.

This is what my closet looks like today.

Where Are All My Clothes?!?

Floor

Shelf

Shoe Holder

I donated a very large trash bag full of shirts, shoes and slippers from the items purged in the closet alone!  I still have to go through an armoire and my night stand.   With all of this extra space in the closet, I may start transferring some of my clothing from the armoire to the closet so I can see what I have.  I found 4 shirts I forgot I owned while cleaning the closet!  I will try to work on my armoire and night stand within the upcoming week and post the results mid-month.

For March, I am going to purge items from the Family Room.  Ugh.  I'm NOT looking forward to this room!

I would not be telling the truth if I said I enjoy doing this; however, I do enjoy the results after the job is complete!

Purge-A-Palooza: Bathroom Results

I cant believe it’s already the end of the month!

This month, our purge-a-palooza ended up more extensive than it could have been due to my husband wanting to redo the bathroom.  I am so proud of him for actually finishing the remodel of the bathroom within two weeks!! It turned out great!  We are enjoying our “new to us” bathroom on a very minimal budget. 

Todd also added quite a bit more storage.  I am finding that we have more storage than we know what to do with, which is fine!  Todd has his cabinet (above the toilet) and I have mine (across from the toilet.) 

My New Storage Space

Todd's New Storage Space

I am learning that I have a really hard time getting rid of “stuff.”  I have a basket of lotions that I don’t use on a daily basis.  I’d like to use them, but I just don’t.  I cant seem to bring myself to get rid of them.  So my new rule is - either use them or they are gone in 1 month!

Another thing I learned is that we have a lot of towels!  Oh my goodness!  So, we separated them.  We now have towels that are used for our showers and for washing the cars or any pet accidents (like when a chicken getsattacked by a moose!)

We have not purged any of the towels.  I would like to cut up some of these towels and start using them in place of paper towels and napkins.

Todd took out the cabinet that was in the closet and bought a metal shelf system for the closet.  It turned out really well, and gives us a lot more usable space in the closet!  One feature that I like the most is the laundry basket in the closet.  We used to always leave a pile of clothes on the bathroom floor when we got into the shower, and it stayed there until it piled up.  Now, we have a nice little cubby for a laundry basket that the clothes magically make their way into before our showers!

I had bought the cute little green and brown baskets on clearance last year at Big Lots to use for Christmas gifts.  I used several of them, and had several left over.  They are great for putting small items in and putting them in the closet!  Also, Todd bought the black baskets from Deal$ for $1/each. They house my curling iron, hair dryer(s) and other items in separate, easy to find compartments!

 These are the renovation pictures.

Sink abd Vanity Before

Countertop and Vanity Before

New Countertop

New Vanity

When we first moved in, Todd made our countertops with tile and wood in the bathroom.  He did a great job, but they were not made to last.  This time, we got real countertops.  This countertop was found at a closeout home improvement store for $26!  I love the color and the look of the new countertop.  The sink, faucet, light fixture and mirror are all the same.  If it’s not broke, why fix it, right?

The new vanity was made out of blank cabinets and slid right into place.  It is not your typical vanity, but let me tell you, it was a lot less expensive!  Todd stained the wood to the color that we like and it worked out well!  We recycled the knobs from our old vanity, and added a neat little trash container we found at IKEA while we were out of town mid-month.  It saves a lot of space by being on the back of the door.  You cant beat the price either, at $3.99!

I didn’t take a picture of the inside of our bathtub – it was gross. The cheap surround we originally installed had turned colors and was just flat out unappealing.  The new tub surround is gorgeous, and I’m glad Todd talked me into the sliding glass doors.  I think it has helped open the bathroom up!

Before New Tub Surround and Doors

New Doors and Tub Surround

I was not expecting a new medicine cabinet, but Todd was set on it when he was going out to buy the new supplies for our bathroom. I’m glad he did. I like the look of the oak cabinets and they have much more usable space in them than the original cabinets!

Medicine Cabinet Before

After

Originally, the budget was set at $1,000 to redo the bathroom.  That number was quickly revised to $1,500 when Todd decided he wanted to get a new tub surround ($300) and put in sliding glass doors ($300.)  That being said, he was under budget by over $200.  This bathroom remodel should last us a very, very long time.  We tried to keep things as neutral as possible so that when we want a “change” in the future, we can just change out towels with brighter colors and put up new pictures or shower curtain.

So, there you have it!  This post was much longer than I expected, but my handy hubby did an awesome job, and I had to show it off.    We purged quite a bit, but I didnt docuemnt it.  Next month, I will. I promise.

How did your purge go this month?

Next month, we are onto the Master Bedroom.  I am not looking forward to this purge.  There is so much to go through, it seems that it will be a daunting task.  But, we must move forward!  Onto the Master Bedroom!!! 

Purge-A-Palooza 2012: Bathroom (Before)

I mentioned on Sunday that I am going to be doing a Purge-A-Palooza this year around our home.  Each month, I will be working on getting rid of unwanted items and organizing the area.

In January, I am working on our bathroom.  The bathroom has alot of stuff in it (that shouldnt be in the bathroom!)  I have lotions and beauty products from over 5 years ago residing in the bathroom that I have had a hard time parting with in the past.  Now, they just get in the way and are collecting dust.  So, I am going to see what I can do about it in January!

I am a bit embarassed to show you what lies behind closed doors in our bathroom, but here goes!

Bathroom Closet (Top)

Bathroom Closet (Bottom)

Medicine Cabinet (minus 10 bottles of vitamins I found last month that had been expired!)

After talking to my husband about my plans for this year and the Purge-A-Palooza, we decided that we are going to re-do the bathroom.  We bought our house in February 2007 with a personal loan for the purchase price of the house at a really high interest rate.  Todd worked really hard to get the house into a presentable condition so that we could secure a home equity line of credit to pay off the personal loan as well put in a new septic that was required by the County in which we reside.  When doing rennovations on our home, we were trying to do things as quickly and as inexpensively as possible.  Because of this, things are starting to fall apart and we have agreed that it's time to re-do things right this time.

We have big plans for the bathroom, and I am excited about this rennovation!  I am hoping that it can be complete in the month of January so that I can show the before/after pictures!

This is what the bathroom looks like right now:

Looking into bathroom

Looking to the left when coming through door

Sink & Countertop
(minus one lightbulb that just burnt out)

Very old vanity that has been repained and the drawer wont close

So, there you have it.  That is our bathroom.

If you would like to link up for the Purge-A-Palooza, please feel free to do so below.
Happy purging and organizing!

Purge-A-Palooza 2012

purge/pərj/

verb.  cleanse - purify - clean - clear - refine – scour

In 2012, I vow to have a cleaner, less cluttered home!  The thought of going through every room with all of our “stuff” is daunting, but this year, I am going to do it.  The only way I will be able to tackle this is room by room, drawer by drawer and closet by closet. 

Every month in the year of 2012, I will focus on one room and work on cleaning out the clutter.  I am calling this Purge-A-Palooza 2012 in hopes that by January 2013, our home will have less “stuff” and will be easier to maintain.

At the end of each month, I will provide pictures of the before and after of each room as well as a linky tool that will be available if you would like to show us your progress!

This will be the schedule by month:

January: Bathroom(s)

February: Master Bedroom

March: Family Room

April: Kitchen

May: Dining Room

June: Bedroom #2 / Spare Bedroom

July: Bedroom #3 / Office / Misc. Room

August: Laundry Room

September: Living Room

October: Hall Closet / Pantry

November: Room of your choice

December: Basement / Garage / Shed

Would you care to join me on this journey of less?


This post is linked up with the Week-Long Blog Hop over at Homemaker by Choice.