Day #30 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 30 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Woo HOO! I made it!

Challenge 30 - Ask your friends for their best simplifying tips

Here's what I came up with for starters...

1. All things in moderation - One of the easiest ways to become overwhelmed is to allow too much.

• Too much dessert makes the kids bounce off the walls and me gain weight


• Say no to the entire collection - Whether it's kids toys, movies, fishing gear, or kitchen items, take just the one or two that you really love and will use and walk away from the rest.


• Too many outside commitments for any one of us makes for a grumpy stressed out mom.

2. Don't wait for the "perfect time" or it will never happen.

• Large blocks of time don't come around often. Better a few minutes here and there done decently than waiting for "perfect" to never come. Done is better than perfect in the long run.


• Keep a running list of things that need done, so you can quickly select something to work on when you have a few minutes.

3. Focus

• Prioritize your time - Family is more important than cleaning. There are seasons of life for everything. Enjoy each one as it comes.


• Stay on task - Do not stop putting silverware away to clean the drawer. Write it down and come back to it or neither task will get done.

Day #29 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 29 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life.

Challenge 29 - Find out what works

Closet
Love and Wear clothes exclusively OK
Closet organized MOSTLY (Right now it's temporarily the stash for birthday presents, which makes it a bit messy)
Accessories managed OK (I don't have many to worry about)
Stockings OK (I actually don't think I own any
Belts OK
Scarves None
Shoes OK
Jewelry OK

Clothing Systems
Dry-cleaning system OK (We don't dry clean at all.)
Laundry system FAIR (Some weeks go great. Others are so-so. It should even back out when I can finally pack away the last winter clothes.)
Out of season system FAIR (We're in the middle of changing seasons so it's a bit of a mess for the moment.)
Recycling System OK (I have boxes for consignment items and start a new bag for Goodwill whenever necessary.)

Linen closet FAIR (Ours doubles as a game closet, so sometimes it looks great and other times...)

Kitchen
Counters cleared MOSTLY
Storage organized OK
Love and Use items exclusively OK (Except the china, but that will change when the kids get a little older.)
Meal Planning System OK
Grocery Shopping System OK
Entertaining Menus and Setup Help OK (When we do entertain, it's not that hard to pull things together.)

Home Office
Mail Handling FAIR (I don't always deal with the mail immediately.)
Desktop Papers FAIR (Same as above)
Office Supplies OK
Bill-Paying System OK
Filing System OK
Current OK
Important Documents OK
Estate planning NOT DONE
Tax records OK
Home improvement records OK
Insurances MOSTLY (Eventually need to add term life insurance for me)
Archives OK
Stationery and stamps OK (As long as the kid's stay out of the stamps.)
Ticket system OK (Not really needed here.)
Gift wrapping OK
Photos FAIR (The printed ones are in one place. The computer ones are edited and back up. Now I just have to start doing something with them.)
Subscriptions OK
Travel files and planning OK (Not needed.)

Kids
Kids' rooms FAIR (Technically that should be a range of poor to excellent depending on the day)
Closet FAIR (Technically that should be a range of poor to excellent depending on the day)
Desk OK (Not present)
Storage OK
Kids' papers and mementos OK (Each has one under the bed box for their items. It's just a matter of making sure it gets there.)
Babysitter information current NO (We don't have any.)

House Maintenance
Supplies organized OK (This is DH's domain. Generally he knows where thing are.)
Daily Routine FAIR (It's a matter of energy. Some days are better than others.)
Weekly Routine FAIR (see above)
Seasonal Routine FAIR (see above)

Garage OK (We don't technically have one, but if I considered the shed then POOR)

General
House sitter information current OK (Never use)
Recycling system for useless stuff OK

Day #28 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 28 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life.



Challenge 28 - Get Physical and set up an exercise schedule

I don't have a long-term exercise schedule at the moment. DH generally leaves at 5:30 for work, so exercising before he leaves would mean being out the door at 4:30 in the dark. I've thought about exercising in the mornings using DVDs, but honestly the youngest has yet to adjust to daily savings time so I can get to bed at a decent hour. I think I finally got him to sleep at 10 pm last night. If I wait to exercise in the evenings when DH is home, then I'm cutting into our family time. For now, I've settled on the very unscheduled take each day as it comes and see what opportunity presents itself. This week DH is off, so as long as the weather's nice I can head out after lunch. Next week, we'll wait and see.

Day #27 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 27 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 27 - Make Landscaping Easier For the secon day in a row, I'm going to have to postpone this challenge. It has rained so much this month that our yard is MUD. We did plant some lettuce and cabbage in the garden a few weeks back. Maybe I can count that instead.

Day #26 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 26 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 26 - Pare Down Your Garage OK, I know I could do the basement or the shed instead, but...I think I'll just check this one off by saying we don't have a garage and save the others for summer projects.

Day #25 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 25 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 25 - Organize Your Photos Today, round up all of your photos and put them in one place. That's all you have to do. Make a commitment to buy some photo boxes in the near future. With these boxes, you will be able to sort your photos. Read on for details. (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 156) My printed photos are all in one place although they are not organized. I decided to take the afternoon to work on my digital photos. I actually have a system for them, but sometimes DH downloads off the camera and does his own thing. Anyway I set up all the folders, shuffled around photos that needed it, and then went through the whole kit and caboodle taking care of red eye. Once I finished editing the photos I made sure that all of the ones on the hard drive had been copied to our flash back up and all the ones on the flash drive had been backed up to the hard drive. Can you tell I lost several months of photos the other year? Anyway now they are all organized, edited, backed up, and ready to be made into photo albums when I get the chance. YEAH!!

Day #24 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 24 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 24 - Create hassle-free holidays Make a list of the holidays you celebrate annually. Besides each entry, write down what each holiday means to you. For example, Thanksgiving may mean organizing a big potluck dinner for friends who don't have anyplace else to go. Next, make another list of holidays with columns entitled "Joyful Activities" and "Stressful Activities." Fill in the blanks. For example, a joyful Christmas activity might be "Sending cards," whereas a stressful activity might be "Finding perfect gifts for household help." Once the list is made, vow to maximize joy and minimize stress. (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 152) I'm actually not a big holiday person. All the commercialization (despite my best attempts to ignore it) just gets on my nerves. We really try to keep things very simple. Here's what I came up with: Holidays we celebrate

1. New Year's - Day off (Rest after putting away all of the Christmas decorations and new presents)


2. Valentine's Day - Time with loved ones (Playing games together, doing a fun project together, writing a list of things we like about one another, etc. and I try to cook DH a nice dinner and get the kids to bed early.)


3. Easter - Celebrate the Resurrection (Going to church, small gifts for the kids, an Easter egg hunt, read a passion week story, a nice dinner)


4. Memorial Day - Remembering those who sacrificed everything (Read a story and have a cookout)


5. Fourth of July - Be thankful for the freedoms others have gifted us (Read a story, have a cookout, watch fireworks)


6. Halloween - Kids fun (Buy a bag of candy, take kids to church for fun Halloween alternative)


7. Thanksgiving - Thanking God (Thanksgiving story, list/discuss what we're thankful for, cook a big dinner, do something fun together)


8. Christmas - Celebrating Christ's birth (decorate house & tree, mail Christmas cards to friends and family, find/buy or make/wrap presents, advent wreath and readings, lots of yummy food, put baby Jesus in the manger and read the Christmas story)

Really the most stressful thing on the list is probably taking care of the Christmas presents. It's not hard to come up with ideas for us to give (except to DH's parents), but having to make lists of ideas for extended family becomes a balance of what gifts would they be willingly to give vs. what would the kid's like vs. what do we need or have room for. Just the thought of all that stuff gives me a headache, but I have yet to convince anyone else to simplify.

Day #23 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 23 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 23 - Tackle your gift giving supplies My wrapping paper and other supplies are fairly organized. I have one box of wrapping paper. (I have close to 12 rolls in it, so I won't need to buy any for a while.) I have one large bag that holds all of my gift bags. I went through this a few months ago when I was looking for a bag and cut out the one's I didn't want. I have one box of boxes that I purged from just after Christmas, and one bag of ribbons and bows. I'm actually feeling pretty good about my gift giving supplies, so I'll just pat myself on the back today and work on some general housework instead.

Day #22 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 22 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 22 - Keep Track of Your Valuables The idea is to keep a binder with the information with a photo, the receipt, and any appraisals. We don't honestly have any art, jewelry, silverware, etc. Certainly nothing that requires an appraisal (except the house itself). I do need to make a video for the house insurance, but I didn't really have time to work on it over the weekend. I opted to work on clothing instead. This weekend, I unpacked spring and summer clothes for my 10yo and 2yo and washed it. My 12 yo and I pulled out almost all of her winter clothes, sorted them into pile to pack away for DD2 or sell in the next consignment sale. The child had 6 pairs of winter pajamas in her drawer, and I found 2 more in the clean laundry!! I think the reason she ended up with so many is that half of them were size 10/12 and the rest were 12. I probably just told my mom that she needed size 12 and forgot to tell her that the pjs all still fit. (She does a lot of consignment shopping for me.) Then I went downstairs and found the size 10-12 boxes in disarray. I dumped out the spring/summer box and sorted into piles of size 10, size 10-12, and size 12. I eliminated some extra shorts, shirts, and pjs and repacked that box. I came back upstairs and went through the summer dresses in the closet, pulled out the 10s to add to the box, packed them away, and sealed the box. (Some of the 12s she can still wear for now.) I dumped out and sorted the fall/winter box as well, but I need to collect the rest of the clothes for the clean laundry before I can purge some items from there. Hopefully, I'll get to them on Monday afternoon.

Day #21 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 21 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 21 - Organized for traveling This one's easy peasy for me. We basically travel once a year as a family to the beach. I have lists for what we take each year in a notebook in my desk. The catalog for the beach houses is on the coffee table. That's it. We don't fly. - No frequent flyer miles to keep up with. We take the dog with us. - No housesitters or pet care needed. The kids come with us. - No medical release forms needed for caregivers. We don't have extra money for other trips. - No travel brochures, maps, etc.

Day #20 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

Its day 20 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 20 - Be Mindful by focusing fully on one task at a time Yeah!! Another easy check off! This is actually something that I already try to do (in so much as its possible with 4 kids running around). I read an article several years ago about multitasking that basically said the most successful CEOs do not multitask. Instead they give their complete focus to one task at a time. Of course, CEOs don't have toddlers running around their offices. While I was focusing on cleaning up the kitchen yesterday afternoon, my 2yo was redecorating the living room tornado style. It's amazing how much mess he can make in 15 minutes. A better strategy for moms of toddlers: Focus on one task for 5 minutes, then pause for 30 seconds to check on the toddler. Repeat until task is complete.

Day #19 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day #19 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 19 - Run Fewer Errands Today, create a box for errands. You can use a great-looking basket, plastic tub, or shopping bag. Whatever works. Keep it by the door and fill it with film to be developed, shoes to be repaired, purchases to be returned, and papers to be taken to the copy center. On errand day, take the box in the car. When you come home, it will be empty. What a feeling! (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 123) OR for serious simplifiers only... Run errands just one day a week. Designate a particular day and write it on your calendar. Obviously, some errands are urgent and cannot wait for Errand Day. Learn to discern the difference between urgent and non-urgent errands. To run fewer errands, look for the underlying reasons behind your errands. Then eliminate the reasons! (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 130) While I find the errand box idea intriguing, I have decided that I don't need it. I generally do one of 2 things with items that need to go out on errand with me. Letters, bills, etc. for the post office go into the outside pocket of the diaper bag. Anything else that I want to take with me, I take on outside and put on the front seat of the van. I've tried setting items on the lamp table beside the front door; but honestly with four kids in the house, there is no guarantee that any item laid down and left unattended will still be found in that location upon return. It's just easier to take it on out. As for running errands once a week, we try to run the bulk of our errands on Saturday. If we run out of time, then we can make one or two stops on the way home from church on Sunday. The two main reasons that I run into town during the week are to pick up library books (which I can solve by placing books on hold earlier in the week than I currently do) and to pick up items that I forgot to write on my list (which I can solve by not waiting until Saturday morning to make my list). There now, that was easy. Now to see about those library holds...

Day #18 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 18 of 30 days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 18 - Go for Financial Freedom To achieve financial freedom, first figure out what you have and then manage it well. Today, collect your documents that are associated with large assets---documents for your car, house, investments, and so on---and put them in one filing cabinet called Assets. For your house: file your deed, purchase contract, closing papers, title policy, and insurance papers. For your investments: file confirmations, year-end statements, and tax reporting forms. For cars: file ownership papers, registration documents, and insurance papers. (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 116) I already have a working file system though it is set up differently from the suggestion. The auto file includes folders for ownership & registration and a second for maintenance for each vehicle. The insurance file holds folders for auto, home, and medical. The house paperwork has its own file. Taxes have a folder in my desk where I stick papers that I will need for federal and state income tax returns. So I did the following instead: 1. I decided to look through my to be filed folder and pull out any bank statements that are not filed. These I sorted in order and placed in the appropriate folder. 2. Then I set up a new assets file in Excel and updated the amounts for January and February. This is my overall picture for DH, so he can see what we have where and whether its going up or down. That was all I had time for yesterday, but at least I got a little bit more done.

Day #17 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 17 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 17 - Organize your computer stuff (think manuals, CDs, etc.) I didn't really need to do a lot of organizing here. I went through all of the manuals last year when our old computer crashed and the new computer was bought. A lot of my older software didn't work with Windows 7 and was given away. I haven't had the funds to really buy a lot of additional software, so the drawer still looks nice and neat. So I decided to do a spin off of the idea and organize my email account. When I started, there were over 500 emails in the account. When I finished, their were less than 200. My last step is to create 4 folders in the account and sort the remaining emails: 1. Accounts - This is for all of the emails and passwords for internet sites that I have signed up for like Upromise, my grocery store, blogger, etc. 2. Kids - These are bits of information to share with the kids when they are older like the meaning of a flag draped coffin, the privilege of freedom, some space stuff, etc. 3. Uplifting - For some of my favorite forwarded emails from my mom that I deem worth reading more than once 4. Pictures - For all of those pictures sent from my family usually of my niece and nephew. I also have folders for recipes and orders (emails relating to internet transactions). I made the folders, but I haven't had time to sort emails out of my inbox, so I'll try to just do a few each day as I get a chance.

Day 16 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 16 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 16 - Organize your desktop and surrounding surfaces

I didn't get in a full hour on this project, but I made a ton of progress. School items were returned to their spots. A small pile of papers went to the burn box while a much larger pile went in the recycle bin. I haven't completely finished clearing it off, but I am now able to push the keyboard back and have a surface to write on again. I'll post pictures this weekend after I finish working on it.

The desk drawers are actually in really good shape. I just straightened them the other week when we worked on drawers. I do need to take my to be filed folders downstairs to the filing cabinet still. Hopefully this weekend.

Day #15 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 15 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 15 - Organize Your Keys I don't have any loose keys laying around, so I decided to check the keys on my keychain. The van key, front door key, and church keys required no checking because I use them fairly often. That leaves 5 more keys. As it turns out, one works the deadbolt on the upstairs back door. One works the doorknob of one of the basement doors. (Apparently I have no keys for the two downstairs deadbolts or the second doorknob.) One works for the shed. That leaves me two unidentified keys. I'm guessing one is for DH's camper shell. The last key I have no idea, and I can't think of anywhere else to try it. I guess that means one can come off of my keychain when I figure out which is for the camper shell.

Day #14 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 14 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 14 - Out with the outdated information. Remove old magazines, newspapers, newsletters, etc. We don't get many magazines, but I came up 3 catalogs and one outdated magazine to recycle. We also don't get a daily newspaper. The one's I buy on Sundays go straight to the burn box for the wood stove once I've taken out the coupons. I love tasks that take under 5 minutes! :)

Day #13 - 30 Days to a SImpler Life

It's day 13 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 13 - Edit your projects. The details -" Today, examine all of the projects you have not completed. To locate them, look into files, inside drawers, in closets, and under the bed. As they surface, make a list of things you promised yourself, or others, to do. Divide the list into Big Projects and Small Projects. See how many you can come up with in 30 minutes. Then ask yourself, "Which projects can be jettisoned? Which are a burden? Which ones are totally unrealistic? Which ones am I willing to start today? Finally, drop one project from your life and box up all its paraphernalia. You know what we are talking about --- paint sets, knitting needles, unread magazines, and plans for building a dome-shaped doghouse. Finally, place the supplies to be recycled in the trunk of your car. (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 81)" Here is my list of current projects: 1. Cross-stitch Christmas stocking for youngest - I have put way to much time into this already to give up now. I will finish it this year. 2. Crochet blanket for DD2 - I've worked on this one on and off for like 4 maybe 5 years now. I have all of the squares done. They just need to be put together. I'm really hoping to be able to give this one as a Christmas present this year. 3. Photos - I have so many photos that I need to do something with. I want to scrapbook, but so far have only purchased one pack of paper. I'm watching for albums and page protectors to go on sale, but otherwise this one's staying on the back burner until I've finished the two previous ones. Here is a list of things I've promised to do: 1. Hem up a pair of pants for DH - These are already pinned. It's just a matter of pulling out the sewing machine one day and finishing. 2. Copy standardized tests and mail in. - Must do. 3. Start packing up winter clothes and pulling out spring ones. I hate rotating clothes, but it's really one of those unavoidable biannual projects. My plan is to start as soon as 1 and 2 are finished. 4. Continue working on simplifying. Ongoing at a pace of a little bit each day. 5. Searching for used fall curriculum - Ongoing at a pace of a little bit each day. 6. 52 books in 52 weeks - Ongoing in spurts. I'm a little behind, but still hanging in there. There's my list of projects and promises. My goal is to have 1 and 2 of the second list done before the end of the month, so I can focus on the rest. I don't really have any to jettison, but I have promised myself not to add anything else until some of these are finished.

Day #12 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 12 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life. Challenge 12 - Simplify Your Mind I confess. I completely ditched this one. I couldn't think of something that makes me grumpy or angry. There are things that my children do that would qualify, but I know it's a matter of training or acceptance. No list needed for those. As for DH, I've just learned to be honest about some things and ignore others that aren't important (like putting away the sugar and creamer when he's finished his coffee. Annoying at times, but not worth fussing over.) I did manage a little of simplifying over the weekend. My mom was visiting and had a hard time opening the drawer under the oven. I apologized and mentioned that I was planning on getting rid of the two pans for mini muffins in the drawer since I never use them and they jam the drawer fairly often. My mom took them because she has to make smaller muffins for Dad's type 2 diabetes and hadn't had a chance to buy new pans. In the end, it was perfect for both of us. My drawer no longer jams, and she has enough mini-muffin pans for baking.

Day #11 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 11 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life

Challenge 11 - Create a minimalist environment in one room

Alright I'm gonna cheat a little bit on this one and pick the dining room. It has one table, six chairs, a small flower arrangement, the chandelier, one large picture, and 2 small pictures. No clutter. No surfaces to clean. I know the challenge says to take down the pictures, but they're staying. We just put the large one up a few months ago, and I would much rather someone walk in and notice a picture than walk in and see a bare wall all smudged up from the kids that really needs painted in the next month or two.

Instead I decided to clean the dining room. I moved the table into the kitchen; cleaned all the carpet stains with Resolve; shampooed the carpet; wiped some of the smudges off the wall; cleaned the windows, light switches, and back door; vacuumed the dead ladybugs from the chandelier; and wiped it down. I also shampooed my bedroom and a small part of the living room. I think I might put a movie on for the kids and take a nap. Cleaning takes a lot more energy than simplifying.

Day 10 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 10 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life.

Challenge 10 -Knickknack elimination challenge

The challenge is to find and eliminate 10 knickknacks.

This is definitely not my best challenge. Knickknacks in my house can only be displayed in high out of the reach places. I have one shelf of Precious Moments on the living room wall and a few dolphins on the television cabinet. I don't want to get rid of any of these, so I went digging through the kitchen cabinet over the refrigerator to see what I could find. I only found one knickknack for immediate removal, which I put in my Goodwill bag. (Apparently I had already purged some of the other items that I thought might still be up there.) There are some Precious Moments figurines in the cabinet that I jotted down a note to sell over the summer on EBay. Downstairs I spied a small box from my grandmother's house, but it had something like 40 canning jars in front of it, so I decided it could wait until summer as well. So I spent the day shampooing the carpets in the older kid's bedrooms and the hallway and cleaning up in the office/toddler bedroom. There I did much better. I found a small shoebox sized pile of trash, a much larger pile of recycle, and several toys that I moved down to the consignment sale box.

Day 9 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 9 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life.



Challenge 9 - Organize your recipes

For the record, I don't really use a lot of recipes. The food we eat is very plain and simple. Most of my recipes are either breads or desserts.

I was short on time yesterday so I didn't completely reorganize my recipes. I sorted out my loose papers and tossed several recipes that we no longer use. I also typed up my favorite bread, roll, and muffin recipes and put them in my current recipe binder. Recipes to try or the ones I still need to type up went into a two pocket folder for now. I do need to start writing out some of the meals I cook to pass on to the girls, but I'll have to actually make the different meals to figure out the amounts I use.

Day 8 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 8 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life

Challenge 8 - Clean out the pantry or for a challenge do some serious streamlining in the kitchen

I been trying to do a better job of rotating my pantry items, so I was curious to see what I would find for this challenge.

Throw away - The tub of Crisco was 2 years out of date probably because I never use it.

Give away - I did find a few jars of baby food. My current 2yo took a long time to switch over to real food because he had a very sensitive gag reflex. I also pulled out some spaghetti to give away. Honestly after eating the whole wheat variety for awhile, the regular pasta just tastes nasty. It was free for me, and I'll gladly make it free for someone else.

Everything else is in date and something that I use, so I just straightened up a bit.

Day #7 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 7 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life

Challenge #7- Clear the bathroom counter and clean out the cabinets and drawers

The bathroom drawers were no problem - I came up with a piece of plastic that had been wrapped around the bars of soap and a very dirty Q-tip. Otherwise, there really wasn't anything else that needed to go. (YEAH!! That means I haven't added any unnecessary items since I cleaned the drawers out a few months ago!)

One cabinet contains my cleaning supplies, which I had already cleaned at the beginning of the month. The other cabinet has a few miscellaneous items, but nothing that needs to go.

Now for the counter - Three items just wasn't enough for me. The soap dispenser, candle, and toothbrush holder need to stay. The large germ X bottle and DH's mustache trimmer also have to stay. (The youngest would play with the latter if it were moved down into the drawers.) I did remove a few miscellaneous items to their proper homes like the jug of carpet shampoo and a small pile of papers. Overall this was an easy challenge!

Spring is in the Air!!

How do I know spring is almost here?

It's not the warm weather...

Around here spring officially arrives when DH makes his first trip to Southern States to get ready to start the garden. In addition to replenish our supplies of starter potatoes and bean seeds, he can home with 4 lettuce and 4 cabbage plants. It will be fun to try something new this year. Hmm... I've feeling the need to start checking out library books for more ideas to try...

Day #6 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 6 of the 30 Days to a Simpler Life



Challenge 6 - Check your wardrobe for items that have nothing to go with them

I don't really have any stray wardrobe items, so I opted to sort through the items in my chest of drawers instead.

• I pulled out one pair of pants and an orange polo shirt to give to Goodwill.
• I decided one of my nightgowns, a shirt, and a pair of shorts had reached the end of there lifespan and tossed them.
• I also found 3 large t-shirts that I can't give away because they are fire station t-shirts from when I used to volunteer that I'll cut up and add to our depleted stash of rags.

It's not a lot, but it cleared up a lot of drawer space.

I did it!!!

I've been trying to figure out a time to exercise for a few weeks now, and it just hasn't been happening. If I do it early morning, the TV light wakes up Henry. The morning's filled with schooling and by afternoon there's housework and dinner. It was such beautiful weather yesterday that I REALLY wanted to go for a walk so...

when DH walked in the door I had just put the kid's plates on the table. I grabbed my shoes and favorite music, gave him a kiss, and headed out the door. Needless to say he was caught off guard but was a very good sport about it. He even had the kids do some picking up while I was out.

I walked mostly with a few intermittent stretches of jogging for about 3.5 miles (it's been awhile since I actually measured that route) and got back home in about 50 minutes or so.

For I long term solution, I think maybe I just need to be more flexible. One evening, one day on the weekends, and one afternoon when DH is off (he works 4 days) would give me 3 days a week to get out and walk. Surely I can squeeze in a short workout at least one other day a week.

Day #5 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 5 of the 30 Days to a Simpler Life challenge



Challenge 5: Organize Your Closet



My first thought. Ugh! Anything but the closet.



Then I realized that all I had to focus on according to the challenge was the clothes. OK I can do that. Actually it's not that hard for me because I'm not a big clothes person so there are actually fewer clothes on my side of the closet than DH's.



I pulled out a skirt, a neon green shirt, a long sleeve teddy bear t-shirt, a short sleeve shirt, and a sweatshirt. The last two were showing some wear. The first three were all bought by my Mom who has different tastes than I do in clothes. I think the long sleeve shirt was the only one of those 3 that I ever wore. I also found a pair of shoes to pull out. I have plenty of hangers, and I don't feel the need to replace them just so that all of the hangers match. So after the inital groan, I finished in under 5 minutes; and I've started another small bag for Goodwill.

Day #4 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's day 4 of the 30 Days to a Simpler Life challenge.



Challenge 4 - A Serene Bedroom



Part 1 - edit sheets and pillowcases



Piece of cake! I just cleaned out the linen closet a few months back. Truthfully I have two sets of sheets for each mattress in the house, 2 sets of twin sheets for our 2 air mattresses, and two extra old flat sheets that can be used for tents or catching messes when needed. Editing finished after just looking in the closet.



Part 2 - create a tranquil bedroom



We have no tv - check

We have no dresser only 2 chests of drawers - check

The wall only has 1 large and 1 small picture plus a calendar - I don't see the need to reduce these.

The bed has very few items under it. I did remove an empty shoebox and a calendar that I found under there. The puzzles (500-1000 piece) stay because Henry hasn't found them in that location.

I cleaned off my bedside table, the small table with the phone, and most of the top of my chest of drawers. It's not perfectly done, but it was certainly an improvement.

Day #3 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's Day 3 of the 30 Days to a Simpler Life challenge.


Challenge 3 - Make a list of questions that will help you decide what to buy and what to forgo

or for serious simplifiers commit to buying no non-perishable items for the next 30 days.

Questions are easy:

Do I need it?
Can I accomplish the same result with something I already have?
Can I get it for less somewhere else?
Where will it be kept?

I think I'm going to have to pass on the no non-perishable items pledge because both of the girls have birthdays in the next couple of weeks, and I'll be looking for gifts for the boys once the girls' birthdays are over. We already buy a minimal amounts of non-perishables, so I'll stick with the questions for now and maybe try the 30 day pledge later in the year.

Day #2 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

It's Day 2 of the 30 Days to a Simpler Life challenge.



Challenge 2 - Dejunk a drawer

Happily none of my drawers are in too bad of a shape. I decided to dejunk and straighten up the non-filing drawers of my desk. That was 4 drawers total. In the end I had a small pile of trash and a small pile of recycle. It's nice having clean drawers. Now if I could just keep my DC out, they would stay that way.

Day #1 - 30 Days to a Simpler Life

I came across a great challenge from Fairy Tale Mama's blog to spend the season of Lent simplifying using the book 30 Days to a Simpler Life.

Challenge #1 - Fill a Shopping Bag of items that you no longer need/love

Since I was already in the midst of preparing things for consigning, I went a bit farther. By the end of the day, I had...

• taken 65 items (mostly clothes) to consign
• filled up a kitchen sized trash bag of clothes and other miscellaneous items for Goodwill
• filled up my recycle bin with mostly unneeded papers
• created a box of curriculum to list for sale tomorrow
• began a new box of toys/books/etc. for consigning later as well as a smaller box for EBay items
• and found 6 books which I need to return to the church library tomorrow