The List

On the back of my front door there is a dry erase board.  And on that board I write my to-do lists.  Currently, the board says:

My task, tomorrow, is to go through the entire bathroom and kitchen, and purge.  Throw out any expired items or items I am not using.  Organize spices, baking items and canned goods.  Check the baskets of onions to toss out the ones with new growth. Wash and put dishes away.  And if, IF, there is time, clean.

The biggest distraction that I face in life is myself.  I am artistic by nature and can allow that to make me A.D.D. at times.  I can make a goal of cleaning out the pantry, but notice that their is dust on the curtains.  All of the sudden I am taking down every curtain in my house and washing it.  Well, if I'm doing laundry now, I might as well change my bedding and wash that too!  While doing that I notice that my TVs are dusty, so I clean them.  And suddenly every hour of the day has slipped from my grasp and I am left with...a pantry so full that I have jars and boxes on the counter and elsewhere.  Looking in from the outside, not a thing in the house looks different.  Yet I'm exhausted and forced to wait for another weekend to face down the beast.

Not this weekend.  I need to stick to my guns.  And if that means that not one cleaning product is used this weekend...I will live, hopefully.  I love cleaning.  This is a challenge to me.  But it is time.

Let's DO this!

S e l a h

God has created me to be a reflective person.  I enjoy being up on stage in front of masses, yes.  But on my down time, I like to be on my own.  Or in the company of one or two good people.  I thrive when I am able to reflect, write, and rest.

This is the one-month mark of my challenge.  It feels like it's been a long time and somehow like I just began.  Living minimally has already changed me and I have 11 months left in my process.  So what have I learned in the first month?

1.  I never want to define myself in confining terms regarding this.  If (in a year) I find myself living minimalistically, I hope I don't preach it, or pressure people to do it as well.  For as much as I'm learning, I don't think I'd have gotten half of what I have already if this had been pushed on me.  Everyone is on their own journey, and I think we (me included) so often get in the mode of judging others for where they are at.  It is unbelievably unhealthy for us to do this.  I want to stay level-headed in this, and not extreme.

2.  I pause.  My entire life I have been able to spot a deal and grab it.  I'm thrifty.  I collect.  Hold on to.  And recycle.  If someone has something they want to get rid of, I take it.  I don't buy fancy things and you know what?  I don't need them!  A friend gave me her old jacket the other day.  I washed it, tried it on, and it's way too big for me.  My first thought, "Get rid of it".  Donate.  Pass it on.  But it's not staying here!  Perhaps this will be the greatest thing I learn from this - what is actual need.  Just because something is new does not mean I need it.  I find now, when people offer me things, that instead of immediately taking them, I pause.  I pause, think, then respond.  This is key to stopping the overflow of clutter in a home.

3.  Use or toss.  My bathroom is my next task.  If hair products aren't being used then why are they taking up real-estate in my home?  Time for another purge!  An easy start, for any person, is to look at one cabinet, drawer, or closet.  Ask yourself "What do I have multiples of in here?" and from there, start to assess what it is that you actually use.  I laugh as I type this because it's been almost 3 weeks since I moved all of the bathroom products from the floor in my bathroom into my living room to be sorted.  And only one of the items made it back to the bathroom.  That means, potentially, I don't really need ANY of that stuff that's waiting to be sorted!  How crazy is that?

Part of me wonders if I should take vacation days and just empty the house out in one swoop.  The other part of me knows it's a process.  I'm not an extreme person and I never want to be.  I'm not the chick who will do a fad diet or all of the sudden change my entire life to be a marathon runner.  I'm more slow and steady.  My life didn't get to where it is now by something sudden and drastic, so making changes (like these) can take some time.  And I'm fine with that. 

But man, I still wish I could rent a dumpster and just go to town.

Baby You're So Classic

Fifteen days into my challenge and I already find myself thinking differently.

I have a lot of things.  Like, a lot.  Like, an embarrassing amount of things; stuff that has accumulated over my lifetime and I've chosen, for whatever reasons, to hold on to these things.  Whether out of sentimentality or future need, I've logically chosen that they need to remain.  And now I find myself in a small house where I feel claustrophobic.

The problem isn't that my house is small and has no storage.  The problem is my view of what is important to me.  A view that drastically needs changing.

Living minimally doesn't just mean that I cannot buy myself new things all year, it means that I need to begin to evaluate what are necessities and what are just taking up space.  Clothing, for me, has always been a huge one.  For whatever reason I never get rid of clothing items unless I absolutely wear through them.  This is ridiculous in light of the mountain of clothes you can find in several areas of my house.  Is that because I'm a messy person?  No.  It's because my ONE closet, my ONE dresser, and my ONE refabbed-into-a-linen-closet entertainment center are full. 

I confess.  I hoard clothes.  It is so difficult for me to get rid of something that I know I will use again - even if it's just for a dress up party, or an 80s bowling celebration, or an ugly sweater contest.  I'm not kidding you, I save items for dress up even.  And I'm not talking cocktail parties dress-up, I'm talking poodle skirt or 1920s speak-easy parties!

This needs to change.

Gone are the days of timelessly classic homemade clothing...

What I wouldn't give to have those times back.

Jackie Kennedy....*swoon*.  Why can't I just be classic?  Why must I live a life of comfort and sweatshirts when I dream of being timeless?

Day 15 and I've realized this: I am not a girl who is meant to have 9000 outfits.  I want to be the girl with timeless, high-quality, pieces!  I am thrifty and cheap by nature.  I'll buy someone else a $100 bag that they love and I'll use a $7 one from the county fair.  There is nothing wrong with my hippie style, but I'm learning that paying more for quality is actually "okay".  I have to remind myself of this fact.  It is "okay".

I may end the year out with very little in the clothing department of my life.  And I think I'll be thrilled about it.  I'm learning that styles I have always loved, ones rocked by the likes of Zooey Deschanel, are ones that last forever. And are worth the investment.

I need to find the weight I long to be at, and then spend the money needed to by timeless items that are of high-quality and will last for years, and be settled in it!

Can you imagine having only a few pairs of pants, a skirt or two, a dress, a few nice tops and cardigans and that's it? 

Good Lord, I think I have like 25 skirts at the moment!  What the heck, man!?

Tonight I'm going to count how many pairs of shoes that I own.  I think I may have a heart attack in the process.  And then, I will donate at least half of them.

Let's DO this!

The Rules

While everyone else plans their New Years Resolutions I, typically, roll my eyes.  I've never been one to jump on bandwagons.  In fact, I'm quite the contrary, I often find myself jumping *off* of them.  I'm the girl who thinks things are cool when they aren't.  And if they become cool, well, then I don't usually like them anymore.  Basically, I make no sense to most people.

Resolutions are great for the people who stick to them.  For me, I feel like they are often just a set-up for failure.  I fail enough on my own so I don't feel the added need for setting up another thing to fail at is really a good idea for myself.  I already know I'm human!

Late last Monday night I found myself standing in the brand new office that my dear friend had built in her house.  The radiance of her smile was contagious as she unveiled her hard work to me.  She'd sanded the floors and patched and painted the walls.  Her husband had built the desk, chair and couch and was preparing to assemble some shelving while pictures were strewn about waiting to be placed in their frames.  Other than these items the room was bare.  Fresh white walls and bare exposed wooden floorboards.  I fell in love.

I felt my heart move.  I felt the still small voice inside of me beckoning me to reassess my own way of life.  My friend had spent a long time, prior to this night, living simplistically.  Going months without shopping for "things" for herself.  And finally, after all of that, the joy on her face just to have a small workspace to call her own, with just a few new items, was like Christmas.  She was content and so blessed.

I want that.  I need that.  And I knew that God wanted to teach me through it.

Often times I dismiss what I know to be a prompting to do something in life.  This year has been a time of growing up in that way - choosing to listen to those nudges.  As a result, I made a plan.  One year.  No new "stuff".  Sounds romantic doesn't it?  No.  No it doesn't.  It sounds terrifying.   But sometimes it's good to do something that terrifies you.

My rules

1. No new cloths, accessories or shoes, unless their is a genuine need that cannot be filled (borrowed etc.) elsewhere.

2. No new dvds, movies, workout videos, or games. Renting or borrowing is the way to go.

3. No paid activities.  Road trips and gas station snacks are one things, but no "gift shop" items allowed.  No concert tickets, museum trips, craft fairs, etc. Saturday matinee movies are pretty much it.

4. No new cosmetics. Use up what you have and then go without. Necessities.

5. No new home/garden wares.  Required objects will be sourced locally and always second-hand or through trades with friends etc.

6. Projects: If I want to do a project that is for myself, I must source my materials second-hand, barter, borrow or salvage.

7. Exceptions: Item's for my friend's wedding this Summer (that I'm in), my work vacation (if I take it this year), house repairs (i.e. patching and painting my bedroom walls) and Sunday School craft supplies.

There you have it.  My year, as of December 21, 2014. Which still makes it fair to say that this is not a resolution for New Years.

Wish me luck.  I'm really going to need it!