Minimize the Mess: Stuck in a Rut

My journey to live with less has not been moving along as quickly as I'd like. Items haven't been selling very quickly, so they've piled up. I haven't been donating as often as I should. Perhaps worst of all, too many things have been entering the house.

We haven't exactly been following the "one item in, one item out" rule very well, but it's hard when you live with other people who aren't on the same page as you in this journey. My significant other, and son's father, donates roughly 1 shirt for every 10 he brings in. However I can't force him to do anything, so I'll just focus on myself and what I can change. 

Tips for Breaking out of a Rut:

• Set a timer for 20 minutes everyday, and use that time to declutter. When you've been accumulating things for years like our family has, there will be A LOT to go through; and when there is a lot, the idea of tackling it all can seem extremely overwhelming. Completing even a little each day won't be so overwhelming and you'll still be making progress. 
• Make a game out of it! The Minimalist wrote this inspiring post, called Let's Play a Minimalism Game Together (click here to read it). At the beginning of any month you donate one item on the first, two on the second, and on you go until the end of the month. 

Tips to Keep Things From Piling Up:

• If it doesn't sell in a week, donate it. Obviously this rule doesn't need to apply to everything. For example, if my coffee table didn't sell in a week I wouldn't donate it. 
• Plan a weekly donation trip. Even if it's one box, I feel better getting it out of the house. I really can't stand the way it looks when I have boxes piling up by my front door. 
• One item in, one item out. I've mentioned this rule a few times, because it's pretty important. We haven't been following this rule, and it lead to too much coming in and not enough leaving.

On the Bright Side!

I sold the coffee table finally! It was a great table, but it was a clutter trap (just like every other flat surface in my house). It was also disproportionately big compared to our living space. Without the table, there are no obstacles to walk around and it opens up the room, making it feel much larger. Getting it out of the house, and making an extra $40, was just the kick I needed to get motivated again!

Minimize the Mess: Simplify Easter

During my journey to Minimize the Mess, I've learned that the only way to get rid of clutter, and keep it gone, is to stop bringing things into the house (obviously, you may need to bring some new things in; the point is not to bring useless/unneeded items into the home). Most years we aimed for a full Easter basket, and that meant getting a lot of useless trinkets that get tossed after a while (or just added to the clutter). We're trying to celebrate differently this year, without all of the candy and toys.

What are we doing differently this year?

Ditching the Traditional Easter Basket

I'm the type of person who saves things. I saved gift bags to reuse them. I even saved Trick or Treat buckets and Easter baskets. No wonder my house ended up so cluttered! I ditched all of the baskets along with all of the other "just in case" items, and never looked back. This year we've opted for a beach pail. Since we live in Florida, I'm sure it will get plenty of use all year long!

Other alternatives to Easter baskets, that can be used all year, include bike baskets, tote bags, and decorative baskets (that can be used as small toy boxes).

Avoiding Sweets

• Fruit - I've never been big on candy and sweets, and I prefer for my son not to expect candy at every holidays, so we've always tried to give him fruit instead. Apples, oranges, and bananas fill out a basket nicely, and the best part is that they get eaten and don't add to the clutter! 
• Books - While they do count as "bringing something in," I am a bit more lenient on books. We'll just have to keep practicing our "one in, one out" rule. 
• Something Needed - Something they need doesn't sound like much fun, but I like to "cute it up" by getting something with one of my son's favorite cartoon characters, such as a pair of socks, a washcloth, or a toothbrush. Other items like this include: a flashlight, some flash cards, or pencils and crayons.
• The Fun Item - I like to throw in at least one fun item, so I got some glow sticks this year. I love that they're one use, and then they go in the trash. Sidewalk chalk is another fun items, as well as bubbles. 

Dying & Hunting Easter  Eggs

I know dying and hunting eggs are usually a given, but we really focus on that aspect of Easter, especially since we're downplaying the Easter basket this year. I also think it's important to focus on the good experiences (fun with friends and family) rather than getting gifts. We always do a prize for the child who gets the most Easter eggs, but maybe this year we'll add a contest for the colored eggs: silliest egg, scariest egg, most colorful, etc.

Tell me about some of your holiday traditions!

Minimize the Mess Part 3

Welcome to the third post in the Minimize the Mess series! Since the last post I've taken two more carloads of things to Goodwill. Now that I've donated about a quarter of our unused and unneeded things, I finally feel ready to start selling some of it! Before purging 25% of the junk, the thought of dealing with eBay, Craigslist, and local buy/sell Facebook groups (as well as having everything just taking up space until it sold) nearly gave me a panic attack! I don't know if you've ever tried to sell things online, but sometimes buyers can just be... well, hostile is the nicest term I can think of.

How/where have I been selling things?

• Resale/Consignment Shops - My first choice when selling things is to take them to local resale shops. My favorite place to sell my son's old clothes, toys, and baby gear (yes, I still have some 5 years later) is a local used children's clothing and toy store. They buy recent styles at a percentage of what they're worth and resell them. I don't get as much as I would selling them online, but it's easier than waiting for someone to come to my house, and change their mind or try to (aggressively) haggle me down. They make an offer, and I accept or don't - it's that simple. 
• Facebook Buy/Sell Groups - I know I didn't make the local buy/sell groups sound like much fun, but it's definitely easier than dealing with eBay. I post pictures with descriptions and prices of the items, and arrange to meet the buyer somewhere locally. However, after a few times of wasting gas because of no-shows, I decided to just have people come to my apartment complex to look at the items. Because it's all local, I don't have to deal with any postage, shipping, or returns and refunds. If they don't like the item after seeing it in person, they just don't buy it. 
• eBay - eBay is my last choice for selling things, because it's tedious. You have to list every detail about the item, there are seller fees, and it's a pain to deal with refunds and returns if the buyer isn't happy. 

How Much have I Made?

Items Sold	$$ Earned
Baby Items & Toys	$96
Clothes	$2
Electronics	$15
Misc. Items	$13
Total	$126

Although we've made more than $100 selling things, my fear that things will be sitting around for a long time until they're sold is coming true! Since the whole point of this is to get rid of things, I've actually started giving things away for free and donating them. Any money we make is really just a bonus.

These piles of things waiting to be sold are about
to turn into things that are getting donated. 

The Decluttering Continues

I mentioned already we've taken 2 more carloads to Goodwill, making 3 in total. My family may not have been completely on board at first, but they've definitely come around now that we're making some money out of it. In fact, here is a picture of my son helping by picking out toys that he doesn't play with anymore!

What a great helper!

Kitchen Items 

I mentioned in Part One of Minimize the Mess that I had donated all but two (per person) of all the plates, cups, and silverware. I've trimmed it down a bit more since then by being rid of all my son's plastic plates and utensils. At five years old, he's already proved that he's responsible enough to eat off of glass plates. You'd be surprised by how much space that has cleared up.

There is still one cabinet that annoys me when I look at it though. The dreaded Tupperware/container cabinet! Those lids are a pain to contain (mind the pun). I'm seriously considering switching to mason jars, since I already have them.

Closets

In the past, our closets have been a place for hiding clutter. Can't find a place for it? Just shove it in the closet. I've actually stumbled across items that I thought were long-lost, or that I'd just completely forgotten about. That got me to thinking: how could I be hanging on to all these things without even remembering what all I had? If everything is important, than is anything really important?

In the process of cleaning out my closet, I found a lot of old baby items and maternity shirts. I remember thinking at the time that I'll need them if I have another baby. Well, 4 years later and still no baby! It wasn't even hard to get rid of these items.

Among the baby things in the closet, I also found some old baby clothes that I'd set aside because I wanted to make a quilt out of them. Again, 4 years have gone by and I'm still no better at sewing than I was when I put these in the closet. I decided to find somebody to make the quilt for me, or just donate or sell the clothes.

Now I have this, rather than a bag of onesies.
Thanks, Quilts By Donna!

There is plenty more to be decluttered, and who knows if I'll ever really be done. As my journey continues, my perspective on what's really important changes; I'm starting to value experiences over items, and I'm okay with that.

Minimize the Mess Part 2

Since the first Minimize the Mess post, I've been doing a lot more purging and decluttering and it feels great! I took a full carload of stuff to Goodwill yesterday, and as soon as it was gone I felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest.

When I first started this journey, everybody in the family was not completely on board. My 5 year old son was the easiest to convince since his room was so nice and neat after the original purge. I also told him he could keep a percentage of the money from whatever we sold, so I think that helped. My significant other was a little more resistant, but after seeing what's been accomplished he's coming around.

Some of the projects I've been working on since the last post:

Transferring all of the DVDs we own into a CD/DVD  Binder:

Sadly, the DVDs shown are only a fraction of the ones we own. We actually had to buy a special binder that has over 200 slots for CDs/DVDs. The small, black one pictured is now holding my 5 year old son's DVDs. This alone freed up a whole shelf on our bookshelf.

This is all almost all of the cases I threw away.

Creating digital copies of the recipes I use in my cookbooks:

Screenshot of my progress so far.

In my last Minimize the Mess post, I talked about scanning my son's artwork and keeping it digitally, rather than piles of paper sitting around the house. Well, it's the same concept for the cookbooks. I love cooking, so I get a lot of cookbooks as presents. While I greatly appreciate it, and even enjoy some of the recipes I come across, I don't enjoy having to search through 10 different cookbooks to find the recipe I'm looking for. I'm hoping to empty out another shelf on the bookshelf with this project, because I have plans for it after it's empty. I plan on converting these recipes to PDF files so that I can print them out if I wish to. 

Condensing my wardrobe and the laundry in general:

Less clothes = less laundry. Like the dishes in the last Minimalism post, I recently realized I have too many clothes. Do you know how I figured it out? The clean clothes pile became so overwhelming, that I dreaded hanging them up. I'm going by the "60 day rule" on this one, meaning that if I haven't warn it in 60 days it gets donated. We also have too many towels, for some reason. I'd like to get it down to 2 towels per person. 

Transferring the board games into gallon storage bags:

This was perhaps my favorite of the projects I accomplished. I freed up a shelf on the wall, and put a stop to the board game box eyesore! For this project, I simply cut out the cover of the board game and put them in a gallon size storage bags with zip tops, along with the board itself and all of the pieces. Some of the box covers needed to be trimmed down a bit to fit into the bag. All but one of the boards were small enough to fit into the bag, so I'm thinking about just replacing it with a travel-size version.

I was inspired by a pin on Pinterest for this project. Check it out here, if you like.

Decluttering & Purging the Spice Cabinet:

After throwing away what was expired, and giving away the doubles and spices we hadn't used in the last few months, I was left with a better organized and easily accessible spice cabinet. This will probably be something that I do every month.

One item in, one item out

Since we seem to be accumulating so many things without ever getting rid of anything (until recently), I decided to start employing this popular rule in the minimalist community: for every item you bring into the house, one has to leave. For example, if you get a new shirt you have to donate one. This small step should help keep things from getting to cluttered in the future.


This is still an ongoing process, and the apartment is nowhere near how I'd like it to look yet, but every box donated is one step closer!

Minimize the Mess

I've been a bit out of sorts lately. I've been behind on my school work, and on my blog posts! It took me a while to figure out it was ugly house syndrome. Have you ever experienced it? Sometimes an untidy or unorganized home can leave one feeling a bit sluggish, or even depressed. In my case, we have a tiny apartment yet we've accumulated a lot of stuff junk. So much, in fact, that some of it was just sitting in boxes, taking up our living room! What is the point in having so much stuff, if it just becomes an eyesore that doesn't even get used?

min·i·mal·ism

What is minimalism? The basic concept is "less is more!" We live in a consumer-driven society, and many of us (myself included) feel obligated to buy something just because it's cheap or on sale. There is a lot of confusion between needs and wants these days. For example, do we need 20 plates in a three-person family? Does my significant other need that new Nerf gun to add to his already huge collection? Does my son need that new toy he sees in the store? No, no, and no! Those are all wants.

While this journey is still ongoing, it all started when I discovered a minimalist group on Facebook. I was so inspired by everybody's posts and beautiful photos that I immediately began sorting through our "stuff" to determine what was a need and what was a want.

Make a Plan

The first thing I did was take a look at the apartment and determine the "catch-all" areas and problem spots. In my household, these included the kitchen table, the coffee table, and the kitchen counters... basically any flat surface. One of the worst spots in the house, other than those already mentioned, was my 5 year old son's room; therefore his room was the first to get "purged." Goodness, that kid has too many toys. So far it's the only room completely done, so I'll give y'all the breakdown of the plan for his room.

The Plan

• Go through EVERYTHING!
• Determine what needs to be purged. Has it been played with in the last 6 months? Are there multiples of the same item (3 Spiderman action figures, for example)?
• Sort into 4 different categories: Sell, Donate, Trash, and Keep.

• Don't get ahead of yourself and get rid of something you actually need. If there is something you're unsure about, try putting it in a "test box" that is out of sight. If you can make it a predetermined amount of time without using it, then get rid of the item. 
• Don't expect to be done overnight. This is an ongoing journey for us, happening a little bit at a time. 

Purging 

No, I wasn't out on the one night a year that all crime is legal. Purging, in the minimalist community, refers to getting rid of all of the unused, unneeded things, so you can get down to the items you really need, love, and appreciate.

Before the purge, my son's room always looked like it had just been hit by a hurricane. It didn't matter if there were toy boxes, he dumped all of the toys on the floor. To escape the mess, he often dragged toys out into the living room to play with them, and that only lead to more clutter. He still has a lot of toys put up in the closet, but he now has no more than 20 toys in his room. Cleanup time is no problem for him now, as opposed to before. Does "I need help! I can't do it by myself!" sound familiar?

These are the toys purged from my son's room. Now imagine them spread all over the floor.

Other than my son's room, I've also gotten around to the never-ending dishes. After going through all of the plates, silverware, and cups, I've gotten it down to enough for five people. That's more than enough for a family of three, considering we use paper plates and utensils when we have guests and my son has his own kid-friendly dinnerware.

My current project is reducing a stack of my son's artwork (about a foot high) by scanning most of it, and only keeping hard copies of extremely special projects. Now we'll have all of it saved digitally, without the clutter of stacks of paper or a dozen three-ring-binders taking up space! You could save them to your computer or another device, but I saved them to Dropbox (download it here!). IT's a "cloud" type service, meaning I can access them from anywhere.

Screenshot of Dropbox. Click here to download it!

Benefits of Minimalism

• Less stuff = less mess. Let's be honest... there are only so many ways to organize. Do I really want need 10 different boxes of toys taking up space in the closet? Rotating toys works for some families, but not this one. Same with the dishes I mentioned already. The more dishes there are, the more I have to wash. I can say, without a doubt, that cleanup (in the kitchen and my son's room) has been a breeze since.
• Discovering what's really important. How can we truly appreciate what we have, when most of it is just taking up space? Going through everything gave me a chance to judge what was really meaningful, and what was just in the way. Going through artwork especially brought back some valuable memories and allowed me to reminisce about my son's younger days. 
• It honestly just looks nicer. Although our home is not even close to being completely done, I know it will look more open and inviting than it did packed to the gills with stuff.

I will definitely keep y'all updated as this project goes on. I'll remember to take some "before" pictures for the next post as well!