Cutting Out Plastic

Sadly it is really difficult to cut out plastic. When I walk into the grocery store it is all I see. Plastic bags for snacks. Plastic seal for meat. Plastic …

Declutter: Livingroom part 1

While in France we did not have a living room. No couch, only two chairs that were at the table or the desk and our bed. Coming from a place that has all of those things and more, it was difficult to get used to relaxing on an uncomfortable chair or in our bed. 

Getting home we both realized we had too much stuff just as decoration in our living room. Gifts, random Home Goods or Christmas Tree Shops purchases, sale items, pictures, etc. So the decluttering began, in stages. We are not completely done yet, the yard sale is next weekend so I have to get moving! 

 
This short cabinet has been here for as long as we lived here. It’s great because it’s deep, simple, nice space. Well as you can see it was full of stuff. (All the items taken out was from this one cabinet)

  

I have been bad at taking photos while decluttering, because I just get so involved. At the end I take a nice after photo and then realize I never got the before! 

In that cabinet there were: photo albums, candles, pens, sunglasses, books.

 The photo albums housed some photos of importance, but then some that weren’t anymore. I cleaned out the albums that weren’t important and found a shoe box, and then put them all in there. The box is in the cabinet along with some important albums, like the wedding album. (dont forget to give yourself time for this task!)

My goal was to recycle as much as possible, which I did. 

I had so many pens, I went through them and tested them, then added them to the office drawer or my waitressing pen pile. 

I made a pile of things for the yard sale 

  
My goal was to get everything I wanted to keep onto the left side of the cabinet, which I did. 

I still kept the candles because we light them a lot in the colder months. 

Here is the end result: 

  

The other side is now house into our wine glasses and extra things we don’t use often along with my slimmed down cookbooks.

  
It’s amazing how there’s still a little room left because I condensed even more glasses as I put these away 

So happy that it’s decluttered and concealed. 

  

Green Cleaning: Oven

I despise cleaning the oven, truly. 

Sometimes the oven door really drives me crazy when I see how gross it is, like when I am trying to check something and it’s impossible to see. 

 
I swear it looked worse in person. 

Well I use baking soda and vinegar for a lot, so here it goes. 

  

So you sprinkle the baking soda and then pour some vinegar on it, watch it foam. Get a scrubbie and go to town! (I also used it inside the oven.)

  

Ta da! It could be better but my elbow grease was weak. Also I bumped my shin in the corner of the door, I needed to stop before I ended up hurting myself again. 

Yard Sale Prep

It is that time of year! Yard sales are underway and I’m jumping in to the pool. For me decluttering and having a goal of a yard sale date has helped keep me motivated for the past month. It has been a lot of work but I’m happy to see the progress.

   
 

I started out with some items in our small spare room. Then moved it to the basement . 

     

Our house is a split level house so the basement is attached to the garage, which is easy access to setting up. We are doing some in the garage so there’s books and things that shouldn’t get we going in there in case of rain. 

I started by setting up a couple of tables.  

   

I used to work in retail so I try to use that knowledge in making a presentable table and easy to find an item. 

   

 

I used an egg carton for earring organization. A basket was used for my necklaces and bracelets. And a shoebox lid is great for dainty jewelry.

I put some things in boxes for rummaging.

I stacked books and CDs so they are easy to read the labels. 

Of course I am not done organizing, I plan on hanging clothes in the basement for people to look through. We have a pole for clothes there already, and can set up shoes and bags along with it. The glassware and kitchen things will be outside in the driveway. 

Of course there will be updated posts about our yard sale and its success. Stay tuned! 

Wardrobe Addition: black flats

Black Flats

They are seriously the one thing I replace the most. Doesn’t help that I end up getting cheaply made ones.  

One pair I wore out. Like beyond usable. 

The next pair were worn all over Paris for three months, and ended up in a nasty city puddle that I somehow put my entire foot in. That pair was left in France. Au revoir! 

The pair after that, gave me a blister and I barely wore them while in Paris this last time. I did not wear them much in the USA because I don’t walk as much so I tend to wear some heels. Well, they did not work out on long journeys in a big city and were also left in Paris.

So I was in search of another pair, especially since I just wear black shoes majority of the time now. I went to Clothes Mentor to see what they had while I sold some of my things…nothing. 

I went to Walmart to get yarn for a commissioned crochet project, and I found some but they were not going to be comfy or decent quality.

So I went to Payless (all of these stores were in same shopping center) and I found the same pair I had before… The gross puddle pair…and they were on sale for $15. Score! They were also very comfortable and resilient until gross puddles.  

 
They are plain, comfy, and more durable. 

I know, my goal was not to buy clothes unless I needed them, but remember I actually needed these. It was tough to pass up other shoes I thought were cute! There are so many nice sale shoes at Payless that I resisted. Believe me it’s tougher than I thought it would be, to pass up sales.

Decluttering Update: Jewelry

The one thing I learned about myself: I do not wear a lot of jewelry. I do wear scarves more than jewelry, and have worn them in the warmer weather. But when it comes to big necklaces, I do not wear them often. Even though I dress up at minimum 2 times a week, I tend to skip jewelry. 

So here is what I had as far as jewelry was concerned: three jewelry boxes and some hanging.

  
The large box was my husband’s grandmothers that he fixed while we were dating. The smaller two were given to me when we got married. I bought key hooks from Home Depot and hung my chunky jewelry. 

Well, going through it all, I did get rid of a lot a few years ago. I used to make jewelry so that made me hoard things, but never wear them. 

There were some pieces that were my great grandmom’s and some that were my husband’s grandmom’s. Some of those I never wore. 

The other day I sat and sorted. 

   
 

I emptied the smaller boxes and my large box.  I started from scratch, got rid of earrings I do not wear, rings, bracelets, necklaces, pins. I kept a few keepsakes from family members and my husband. My goal was to only use my large jewelry box.

This is my pile I got rid of: 

  
Some things I put back later for sentimental reasons, but I did well at getting rid of some. 

  
This is all of my necklaces I kept. There’s special ones from family that I wear often, and some colored ones that compliment my neutral wardrobe. 

So what did I do with all of my jewelry? I sold it. 

I love Clothes Mentor, a consignment shop for misses styles/sizes. (it’s like Plato’s Closet) They go through your items and give you money for what they want that day. It’s where I have gotten many items for my wardrobe and they were so excited that I brought in jewelry. 

I sold a lot of items and got $125 for it all in store credit! That is amazing because now I won’t have to really spend any money shopping for a long time. 

Whatever I have left will be added into the yard sale next week. 

Using What’s Left: potato chips

Trying to be less waste we do compost and try to use everything before it goes bad. There were some potatoes that looked like they were going soon, so I …

My Beauty Routine

Growing up I was not at all a girly girl.  I did wear dresses when I needed to and I did like some jewelry, but not a lot.  One hint …

Declutter: Part One-Bedroom

In our journey to become clutter-free, we took it room by room. The first one was the bedroom.

   
     

 
So much stuff ! Also our bedroom had not been painted in 9 years and it’s very dark which made everything seem even more cluttered. 

First thing I did was make sure that the center dresser was empty. Then I began to take items from the cluttered shelves and put them in the dresser. The top drawer has everything from our dresser tops. 

  
  
Obviously we still own too much in general but it’s contained and out of site. The bottom two drawers house hair products, vitamins, and other things from our messy shelves. 

Just decluttering wasn’t enough for me. I have been thinking about painting our bedroom for a year, it has been a long time. So of course decluttering made it easy: let’s paint! 
  

  
Ahh, that’s better!

Since I decluttered the room, it has stayed that way. I do plan on some minor decor, but nothing to make it more difficult to clean around. 

I’m really liking that fact: less clutter, quicker cleaning time. 

• It all starts with wardrobe  minimalize your wardrobe, more space for other things to be out of sight. I have done the “backwards hangers” trick and it really helps. If you do laundry every ten days or so, you will know within a month what you wear most. Really do you need all of those clothes? My travel wardrobe was quite slim and I had a hard time wearing everything. 
• Find concealed space.  Put your stuff in drawers or closets. This shouldn’t be drawer hoarders but it should be a way to clear your dresser tops. However if it’s not useful, ditch it. 
• Yard sale anything you don’t need. Clothes, jewelry, shoes, furniture, etc. yard sales are perfect for these things. If you know it’s not an antique, just let it go. 
• Letting go is the hardest part  taking the sentiment factor out of an item, it’s very difficult. You have to remember that these things are not going to be saved in a fire. Sadly it’s the truth. If they are hindering you from a goal then get rid of them. 

Cutting Out Paper Products

Going to my grandmothers house for a family dinner we would use the nice plates, silverware, and cloth napkins. Most other times, we would use whatever paper product was handy. …