Day #16 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Set Up an Efficient Office

Here is our Day #16 task:

Today, declutter your desktop and surrounding counters.  Spend at least an hour sorting and tossing.  Make your work space the most efficient area in your life.  Clutter is especially annoying when it is on your desk or in your office.  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 100)

OR for serious simplifiers only...

Spend several hours ruthlessly editing your files.  If you don't have a filing cabinet, but an inexpensive filing box to organize your important papers. (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 110)

I'm still not feeling well today so I don't know how much I'll get done on today's challenge, but I'll try my best.  I wish I had pictures to show of our office before we had our house guests come to visit last weekend.  It was our "hiding room."  You know what I'm talking about.  We all have one --- the room where we throw everything when someone is coming over.  This normally works until the someone we had coming over needed to sleep in there!  The Cobbler and I got our acts together and picked it up.  That's not to say that our files don't need to be purged and organized though so that's what I'll work on today.

Since we already have a system for our keys, I don't have any results photos, but hopefully I'll have some shots in the next few days of some other things I'm systematizing :-)

Have a great Thursday!

Day #15 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Design Simple Systems

Say it with me---HALF WAY THERE!!!

Day 15's task is:

Today seek, sort, and organize the keys to everything in your life---cars, boats, bike locks, gates, sheds, houses, and offices.  Purchase key labelers and rings and make duplicates, if needed.  Finally, create a place just for keys.  Install a rack or board with pegs or nails and label it so missing keys can be identified.  This system works well for duplicate and seldom-used keys.  For everyday keys, we have three suggestions: 1) Put a basket by the front door for family members to deposit their keys.  2) Hang a hook inside your entry door.  3) Provide each family member with his own complete set of keys. 

(30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 93)

OR for serious simplifiers only...

Systematize everything you do repeatedly.  To find out what needs revamping, look for things you do randomly.  Before you design a system, ask yourself, "Can I eliminate this routine completely?"  Dropping a routine is the simplest system of all.  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 100)

The rest of this particular chapter has some gems in it about setting up specific systems (i.e. shoes, toys, school papers and artwork, etc.) so if you've got a copy be sure to take a peek!

At our house, we don't really have an issue with keys---at least not most of the time.  For Christmas one year I bought the Cobbler a charging valet similar to this one.  Prior to that, he just chucked his keys where ever and I ended up helping him hunt them down almost every day.  Now when he gets home from work he puts them straight away on the valet.  I have an issue with losing mine though.  I try now to either just leave them in my coat pocket or purse so that I only have two locations to worry about.  Luckily, we only have those two sets of keys plus a key to our church to keep track of.  I can't imagine if I had a whole mess of keys!  It would be a mess for sure.

FYI---I wrote the text above last night before I went to bed, but today I'm sick (I won't get graphic, but for those of you who know me in real life I had one of my "episodes").  So I won't be writing anymore today.  Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be feeling better!

Day #14 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Combat Information Overload

I'm still dawdling over Day #13, but for you speedies out there --- I give you Day #14!

Today, go around your house with a shopping bag and fill it with outdated magazines, catalogues, newsletters, newspapers, brochures, and books.  Put the magazines and books in the trunk of your car to be taken to the library or your health club.  Put the rest in your recycle bin.  Finally, make a pile of newsletters and clipped magazine articles that you intend to read immediately.  

(30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 86)

OR for serious simplifiers only...

Go on a "Low-Information Diet."  Say "No!" to extraneous information for one week.  Just read what you must for your profession.  Don't read irrevelant articles in magazines, newspapers, and newsletters.  Avoid catalogues and self-improvement books.  Shun the television.  In your car, don't listen to radio shows or mind-bending tapes.  Instead, play soothing music from tapes or CDs.  Finally, dodge advertising where possible.  Consume fewer info calories.  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 92)

Ta dah!  I'm done with Day #14!  I only subscribe to one magazine (I adore In Style) which I give to our babysitter when I'm done, we don't get the newspaper (to my parents chagrin), and unless it's around Christmas time all catalogs are recycled immediately.  I probably could get a few more books together to take to the library with my Day #11 stack, but I'm baby stepping that.

I've already had my first challenge to my promise from yesterday not to buy anymore fabric with this loveliness.  I'm obsessed with that vintage lady print.  I saw it on a bag on one of my favorite quilting blogs today.  I must have, I MUST HAVE...okay, I must control myself.  One project at a time!

Back to editing projects, I am having such a hard time with this challenge.  It has seriously paralyzed me.  I have quite a few half finished projects that I don't know what to do with.  I know the author said toss them or recycle them, but seriously---throw them out?  And I can't see someone wanting a purse that's half way made.  Here's one of the thorns in my side.  

My mother started making this nightgown for my younger sister sometime during the mid 1980s (my sister was born in 1981 and the pattern is a size 6x).  When she was cleaning out her sewing area a couple of months ago, she convinced Red that she would look darling in it and told her that she must have mommy finish it for her.  Yes, Red needs some new pajamas.  Yes, by the time fall rolls around this year this will probably be her size.  Would I have chosen to make an orange polyester nightgown for my daughter?  Probably not.

So what do I do now?  Sigh...  There are some things I do want to recycle (things that I never started, not things that are part done) so I'll get that stuff together.  I think what I want to do instead of tossing the half done stuff is commit to work on it for 15 minutes a day.  Beginning work on it will tell me right away whether or not I want to finish and it may even convince me to put it (gulp) in the trash can.  

What would you do?

Day #13 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Edit Your Projects

Day #13's task is:

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)

OR for serious simplifiers only...

Collect all your unfinished and unstarted projects.  Next, toss your projects and the paraphernalia that goes with them.  Who knows what new interests you may discover if you free yourself of the deadweight of old business.  Remember how good it felt when you finished final exams and could throw out your notes? (30 Days to a Simpler LIfe, p. 85)

I admit it---I'm a crafting junkie.  I have two closets that have a little bit of everything crafty lurking in them.  I'm going to see what I can do in there today.  I already donated some cross stitch kits back on Day #3, and I found the infamous spare knitting needle from that day too.  I think the author's suggestion of tossing projects is not the greatest plan.  I think donating and giving away what you can is the best route so that's what I'll do.  I am making a solemn commitment right now:

I solemnly promise not to begin one more single solitary project until I complete the ones I've already started. Unless it is to be used to complete a project that I have already started, I will not buy one more piece of fabric.

Some of you might think that it's crazy that I would need to promise to not buy anymore fabric, but it is a HUGE weakness of mine.  I can't resist little delectable bits of quilting cotton.  They are so delicious.  :-)

I have three projects that are in the works right now that I want to complete:

1. The airplane quilt

2. The fairy tale quilt

3. The Italy scrapbook.  Yes, this trip was back in 2004, but I will finish the scrapbook this year if it kills me.

I am not going to work on ANYTHING else until I finish these projects.  Now I'm off to purge out the unfinished projects that I don't want to do.  

And for those who asked for it when I mentioned it on day #11, here is Ty in the shower from page 20 of Ty's Tricks:

And you too can own the book complete with picture for a mere $7.98 on Amazon --- ha ha!

See you on Day #14!

Day #12 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Simplify Your Mind

Woo hoo --- Day #12 is here!

Several years ago, we realized that the most cluttered area of our lives was our mind.  We saw a direct link between a calm mind and a simple life.  Today, you will do a task that teaches you how to clear your mind.  First, you'll need a pen and a piece of paper.  Second, think of someone whose behavior makes you grumpy or angry.  Anyone.  It can be your spouse,child, parent, a friend, a co-worker, a neighbor, a company, or the government.  Third, fill in the blank in this sentence,

"___________(name of person) should/shouldn't _________(write down the offensive behavior)."  Be petty.  The pettier you are, the better this task works.  The task continues later. 

(30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 74)

Day #12 is going to be hard one to explain because I would pretty much have to write down the whole chapter to tell you what you're supposed to do next.  There are seven whole pages of techniques on how to let go of the expectations you have of others.  I will illustrate what you're supposed to do using my own personal example.  I'll do the best I can.

I made the mistake of joining a fundraising committee for an organization that I belong to.  Yes, I said it, MISTAKE.  Not everyone is bad, but there are an entire contingent of cliquey women who apparently know everything about everything.  There is one in particular who has stepped on my toes (figuratively, not literally...geez that would be awkward if she had) several times.  I'm chairing a fundraiser that launches today.  She's chairing a fundraiser that launches mid-May.  Despite me asking for information about her fundraiser for a newsletter that that will be attached to my fundraiser information that goes out today, she announced her fundraiser last week; thus, blunting the impact of mine.  I'm angry.  It's petty----extremely petty of me.  I know.  So my fill in the blank sentence is:

"D should be more considerate and not trump my fundraising efforts with her own."

Now what you're supposed to do is write down your belief.  In my case, it's "D shouldn't reduce the impact of my fundraising efforts to enhance her own."

Then you're supposed to reverse it and put the responsibility on yourself.  In my case, the money is all going to the same place.  I should be happy to support any fundraising efforts.  I should work on both mine and hers. 

Then, figure out what's the reality.  In my case, both fundraisers are going to happen.  Both will raise money for the organization.

Then, what is the payoff?  The organization will get money.  I can have clarity about this and let go of being angry with a person who has the same goal as me, even if I don't agree with her methods.

I don't know if this technique would work for me every time (it's more fun to be angry, right? :-), but I am definitely more relaxed about the fundraiser now.  It is what it is.  It's just a fundraiser, not a tsunami or a war.  I've felt pretty ridiculous about what's been upsetting me lately considering all the pain and conflict going on the world right now.  Way too much drama in my life is personally inflicted.

So--- who has got your panties in a bunch today?

Here are my results from the Day #11 minimalist environment challenge.  

I had to clean up the family room anyway for the company that arrived yesterday.  I think I did all right.  I wanted to keep the photos, but I finally got all the toys hidden away except for the dollhouse.  I was going to put it in the basement, but the Cobbler said, "Leave it in here.  They were just using that the other day." So I did.

See you back on Monday for Day #13!

Off to Narnia...

Day #11 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Consider Minimalism

The day #11 challenge is:

Today, create a minimalist environment in one room.  In that room, remove the wall art.  (You might put it under your bed temporarily.)  Next, remove everything except the lamps from tabletops, dressers, and counters.  Most people live in rooms that are overfurnished and overstimulating.  In these spaces, we are distracted from the present moment by too many objects from the past.  This task will enable you to experience one extremely simplified room. (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 69)

OR for serious simplifiers only---

Create a minimalist environment in every room of your house.  What more can we say?

(30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 73)

With house guests arriving to stay for the weekend at my house tonight (eek!), I don't know how feasible this task is for me.  I might be able to get it done in the family room (but I'm leaving the family photos out...after all, it is the family room).  We'll see...

The Day #10 knickknack removal challenge did not go well for me.  In the main living space, there is a curio cabinet where I keep all my knickknacks (my husband is a Ford junkie so all his model cars, autographed photos of him with Bill and Edsel Ford, etc. are in the office).  From the time I was a small child, I collected Royal Doulton Beatrix Potter figurines.  People gave them to me for birthdays and Christmas and I saved my money up to buy them.  I finally stopped buying them around the time I moved into my own place when I was 21.  I have 40 of them.  Here's a sampling:

They don't take up much space and I like them so my Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddleduck and Timmy TIptoes and Tom Kitten and Thomasina Tittlemouse and all their other little friends are staying.  I found only one knickknack that I could definitely call meaningless in the whole cabinet---

I think my aunt may have given this to me at some point over the years for some occasion that I can't remember.  I think I can let the angel fly.  In lieu of knickknacks, I got together a stack of books to donate.

I think I'm finally ready to donate Ty's Tricks.  I had the hots for Ty Pennington back before Extreme Makeover Home Edition when he was on TLC's Trading Spaces.  The Cobbler got it for me as a joke for Christmas 2003 when it came out because there is literally a photo in it of Ty showering.  I have no idea what that had to do with home improvement, but it improved my home --- ha ha. Now some other girl can enjoy page 20. :-)

See you on day #12!

Day #10 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life---Revise Your Living Spaces

Welcome to the Day #10 Challenge!

Beware of overfurnished, overdecorated living spaces.  Create feelings of comfort and serenity by living with less.  Today, let go of at least ten knickknacks.  There are three categories of knickknacks---meaningful, semimeaningful, and meaningless.  Look for ones you have outgrown.  If you can't part with ten, or any at all, put several in a cardboard box and store them out of sight, in an Ambivalence Center.  Experience your home with few visual distractions. (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 64)

OR for serious simplifiers only...

Abide by this rule: When something new comes into your home, let go of something old.  Everything has a life cycle.  Embrace change. (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 68)

This task is going to be very difficult for me.  I don't have that many knickknacks and the ones I have I think I want to keep.  I may have to go into the belly of the beast (i.e. the hall closet) and see if there's anything in there that I'm already ambivalent about that I can let go of.

I'm still dawdling through the pantry challenge of Day #8.  Today I got the second shelf cleaned up.  Can you tell we like rice cakes?  Only two more shelves to go!  I'm hoping to get the other two shelves done during my pre-houseguest cleaning blitz that will be underway between now and 6PM Thursday night.  Anyone want to share how they keep their rice and dried beans neat?  Those are on shelf #3 and I'm at a loss as to what to do to neaten them up in their open, messy plastic bags.

Yesterday I said that today I would share my personal method for meal planning and recipe keeping that is a little different from what they suggested in the book on Day #9.  To be honest, I really need to get a bigger binder to accommodate my recipes, but right now I have a regular 1 inch binder.  The front part is a print out of my contacts from Outlook for phone numbers and addresses and my Flylady control book.  I'm an on again, off again follower of her system.  Behind that are my favorite and family recipes in page protectors.  I don't get a lot of magazines so I'm generally not clipping recipes to try, but the ones I do want to try are all jammed inside one page protector.  Granted, it could be a little bit neater, but for right now it works because there are so few.  I think unless you're a recipe clipping junkie there's really not much need for the 2nd binder that the author recommends to house the recipes you want to try.  Here's a photo from my binder of my great grandmother's plum kuchen recipe written out for me by my mom---

Most of the time when I try a new recipe it's from a cookbook I checked out from the library or on the Internet.  If the recipe makes the cut to get into the favorites section of the binder, I make a copy of it and put it in a page protector.  Some recent ones to make the cut are this broccoli cheese soup recipe (we put the cheese on the side---dairy for the kids, soy for us.  Not to mention, the croutons are AMAZING!) and this cauliflower bisque recipe (we do it with rice puree instead of cashew cream).

Until I started trying to convert to vegetarianism, here is how I planned our meals.  I made this master sheet of all the meals and sides I could think of that we regularly ate and put it in front of all the recipes in the binder---

Then the night before I grocery shopped , I picked five or six meals from the list (plus a new recipe or two), put them on a bottom of a piece of paper, and then wrote the grocery list with all the items I needed to make the meals above like this (this is my list from when I shopped on Monday this week)---

You may have noticed a name and number in parentheses next to a meal. That is my notation for the name of the cookbook it's out of and the page it's on so there's no confusion about where to find the recipe on the day I go to cook that meal.  When I get back home from shopping, I post the list on the side of the refrigerator.  Then every morning I look at the list and decide which meal I feel like making.  I'm not a slave to the day of the week I wrote on the list.  That's more to help me get organized.  

I still use that method except now I'm pretty much cooking everything we eat out of vegetarian and gluten free cookbooks I checked out from the library.  Tonight I made this vegetable paella recipe and served it with a salad.  I eliminated the mushrooms (Red hates them) and the water chestnuts (I forgot to buy them) and cooked the rice separate from the veggies.  I figured if the vegetables were a disaster at least I could still salvage the rice.  It actually turned out great and I would make it again.  I used canned tomatoes, and I think that was a mistake because it made it taste more tomatoey and acidic than I think it would using fresh.  Next time I'll use fresh tomatoes for sure.

Anyway---so that's my method.  Now I just need to get that bigger binder...

Day #9 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Fix Quick and Healthy Meals

Day #9 is here.  Today's task is:

Organize your recipes!  Make a three-ring binder for Favorite Family Recipes and another for Recipes to Try.  You will need two binders, two divider sets with tabs, a three-hole punch, and a few clear vinyl sheet protector pages.

Notebook #1.  Favorite Family Recipes: Gather all of your recipe cards, recipes from magazines, and your favorite dog-eared recipes in cookbooks.  On 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper, photocopy recipes you use frequently.  Divide them into hors d'oeuvres, salads, entrees, and desserts.  Place them in your notebook.  This notebook will contain all those old favorites like Mom's Apple Crisp and Uncle Charlie's Chili.  It will not contain untried recipes.

Notebook #2.  Recipes to Try:  Create another binder with dividers and add a top-loading clear sheet protector to each section.  Recipes collected from magazines and friends are placed inside the sheet protectors.  When you have several odd sizes collected, photocopy them onto 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper, punch, and put into the notebook.  After you have tried a recipe from this notebook and know it is a keeper, transfer it to your Favorite Family Recipes notebook.

(30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 55)

OR for serious simplifiers only...

Make a list of your top twenty simplest dinners. Select dinners with the fewest ingredients.  Choose recipes with five or fewer ingredients.  Post this list on your fridge and use it to plan dinners during the work week.  (30 Days to a Simpler LIfe, p. 63)

As always if you want more help simplifying, do the author a favor and buy the book!
Amazingly, I already have a pretty decent system for this which I'll share with y'all tomorrow.  Unfortunately, it's not helping me too much right now since I can't eat dairy or nuts anymore...and my husband is gluten free and dairy free...and I'm trying to be a vegetarian.  When did making dinner get so complicated?!?!

Here is part 1 of my day #8 results.  I had TOO much going on yesterday.  Red had a vocal performance last night and subsequent potluck that I had to cook for.  That doesn't sound too bad, except I had to go grocery shopping with my two monkeys to get the stuff to make for the potluck.  Then I still had to go to the post office to mail some stuff I sold on eBay, and I had to do an extra load of laundry so Red would have the proper clothing to adhere to the performance's dress code.  *sigh*

This is the before shot of my packed to the gills thus I can find nothing pantry:

While I was waiting for dinner to finish cooking yesterday, I reorganized and consolidated the spices.  I now I have one beautiful shelf out of four.

I'm going to try to do the rest of it today.  I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed right now with the company arriving on Thursday night.  The house is not the most clean at the moment, and I wanted to steam clean the bedroom carpets (well, at the bare minimum Tom Thumb's carpet since that's the room they're staying in and it looks pretty sketchy).  Take a few deep breaths with me--- in, out, in, out.  

Can I have a massage after this is all over?

Day #8 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life---Streamline Your Kitchen

Happy Monday!  Welcome to Day #8!

Take an hour to go through your panty*.  Remove everything you will never never get around to eating---like that candied fruit you received as a gift, that low-sodium soup that tastes awful, and those seasoning envelopes that are five years old.  Then toss items with dates that have expired.  Update your pantry today.

(30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 50)

*This is an actual typo from the book.  I was amused to be instructed to take an hour to go through my panty and I thought you would be too :-).  

OR for serious simplifiers only...

Imagine that you are going to paint the inside of your cupboards and drawers white.  To get ready for the painter, box up everything in your kitchen.  Do that today.  Haul everything out to the garage.  Then, after the imaginary paint dries, bring back what you need---as you need it.  After six months, recycle everything you didn't use.  (30 Days to Simpler Life, p. 54)

Well, I don't think I'm going to be a serious simplifier today.  The garage is the Cobbler's domain so I'm not touching that one with a 10 foot pole...not to mention, that I really don't have that much stuff that I don't use in my kitchen.  The pantry on the other hand is a whole other story.  I think it will take me maybe even longer than an hour to get through there.

Here are my day #7 results.  One thing that I am pretty good about is keeping stuff off the counter so limiting the amount of stuff on the counter was a really easy task.  Going through the drawers, however, was ack!  Everything was just smashed in there with no organization whatsoever.

I ended up taking everything out of the drawers and then putting it back in.  It may not look that much different, but I put the makeup that I don't regularly wear (because it's the wrong season, etc.) in the black bag.  I put the stuff I wear on a daily basis in the brown bag.  The other thing that helped make it look much better was picking up all the stray hair elastics and putting them around the bottom of my hair product bottle.  Plus, I wiped out the drawers which vastly reduced the "oh my grossness" factor.

Then, I got the drawer with all the spare product and rarely but still needed items organized a little bit better.

Finally, I gave the bathroom the old scrub down and it looked pretty show worthy.  I still need to wash the bath mat though.  Unfortunately (fortunate most days...unfortunate for this challenge), I have two more bathrooms to do.  I'll have to save that for another day.

Now, I told you guys that if I broke the non-perishable sabbatical that I would 'fess up, and I have indeed broken it.  I have blogged in the past about my little sister's wedding coming up in October here and here.  She was in town from out of state this past week to work on wedding stuff and finally she picked a bridesmaid dress. This is for sure the one in navy just like the photo:

I didn't have to pay for it yet so that's not where I broke the sabbatical.  I broke it Saturday morning when I bought the flower girl dress and matching sweater for Red and the same set for my niece (my other sister will reimburse me later).  It was on extreme sale at JCPenney (50% off, plus my mom had a coupon, plus the mother of the groom has a 25% employee discount) so I paid $28 for both the dress and sweater.  It had to be done so I guess that ended my sabbatical.  I'm going to try to continue to be a good kid though and not buy anything else...although Tom Thumb needs new sneakers pretty bad.  Not buying is harder than I thought it would be!  I'll keep the confessions going though if it makes you guys feel better.

See you back tomorrow for the pantry showdown!

Fun at the Daddy Daughter Dance

The Cobbler and Red went to our city's annual Daddy Daughter Dance last night and had a blast!  The theme was "New York, New York".  Red's friend Stacy and her dad were there too.  She wore her pink sequined Christmas dress with a shirt underneath (because apparently it's itchy!).  We got some use out of her fake hair from last year's ballet recital too.  I'm so jealous---I wish the mommies could have gone!

 Daddy putting on Red's corsage.

 Red "pinning" on Daddy's boutonniere.
I finally learned how to do it properly by watching this Youtube video.

 And here they are at the dance---

This just cracked me up.  Here are the girls dancing to "Beat It".  And yes, that is Red doing the Michael Jackson "Woo!"

While they were at the dance, Tom Thumb and I went to Barnes and Noble.  We played with their train table and then came home and ate a bowl of Trix as a treat.  He seemed to like our "mommy son dance" too.

Day #7 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Transform Your Bathroom

Wow--- seven days in already!  Our Day #7 mission is:

Today, clear your bathroom counter of everything.  Then add no more than three items.  Good choices are a water glass, a soap dish, and a scented candle.  Next, declutter your bathroom cabinets and drawers.  Toss any product in a jar, tube, or bottle that you have not used for six months.  Include prescription and over-the-counter drugs, dried up hand cream, and perfume bottles that are so old the insides are dark brown.  Bathrooms need not be a haven for half-used, nearly empty, never-to-be-opened containers.  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 45)

OR for serious simplifiers only...

Think of the freedom you have when you travel with a makeup kit and a few toiletries.  With that image in mind, remove everything from your bathroom counter, cabinets, and drawers.  (Go for one brand of each item---you don't need three kinds of cold medicine.)  After that, put back your essentials.  Finally, hang plain-colored towels and eliminate excess wall art.  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 49)

I just have one thing to say about this mission and I wish they had said it in the book (maybe they weren't worried about it in 1997 when the book was published)--- if you have expired medications, please don't flush them down the toilet or wash them down the sink.  Here's a link about what to do with expired meds.  I don't think we have any expired medications to get rid of, but I do need to go through my make up for sure.

Here are my day #6 results.  Like I said yesterday, I didn't really have any "strays" to deal with but I have the hall closet to tackle.  There is a bunch of crap in there---clothes, Halloween costumes, books, CDs, luggage. I decided to just focus on the clothes.  Anything else would have been too overwhelming for me.  You may recall this hall closet before photo:

This is what I came up with to donate---

You know you want the Hawaiian shirt.  We actually bought a slew of those shirts for a golf outing in my former corporate life (believe it or not they were expensive and it's made of silk---oy!).  The two dresses I loved when I got them, but they're just not me anymore.  And seriously---when am I wearing them??? 

Then, I have 4 suits, 4 blouses and 2 jackets waiting to go to Dress for Success.  Two of their guidelines are they must be clean (and these are dusty!  Who knew a closet could get so dusty?!?  Good thing I have some Dryel still) and on hangers.  Can you believe I don't have any hangers to donate them on!??!  I thought I was so cool just having the wood hangers.  Any of my local peeps have some wire hangers for me --- Carri?  Sock Monkey Mommy?

And yes, the prom dress stayed...along with my confirmation dress.  Those dresses and my wedding dress will probably still be in there when they're carrying out my cold dead body.  I just love them too much.  And I actually did wear the prom dress for Halloween last year.  I was a "princess in distress" (Red said I had to be a princess for Tom Thumb---who was a dragon--- to chase) and Red was Rapunzel.  See---I've worn it in the last year.  I can keep it!  Ha ha!

We get the weekend off --- yay!  Watch for your day #8 post on Monday.  

Hint: We're moving into the kitchen!

Day #6 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Dress with Less

Your mission on day #6 is:

Spend at least an hour reviewing your wardrobe.  Create a wardrobe without "strays" --- items that don't go with anything else.  Identify your strays and hang them at one end of the closet.  Plan to buy something to go with them or give them away. (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 38)

OR for serious simplifiers only...

"Freeze your wardrobe", says Allison, an artist living in Boston.  At first, we thought she was suggesting we put our clothes in cold storage.  A shuddering thought!  But she meant, "Don't buy any new clothes for a specified time period---freeze your wardrobe in its current state (and continue to cull out the clothes you rarely wear).  When you feel compelled to buy something new, write it down on a list." (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 44)

I don't really have any "strays" to speak of.  I do, however, have a hall closet chock full of stuff that I'm afraid to let go of.  See the shiny burgundy sleeve close to the front?  That's my prom dress circa 1994.  I think it'll have to stay because I love it, but there is a TON of other things in there that can go.  I'll tackle this today instead.

Here are my day #5 (organize your closet) results.  This is my closet before:

Doesn't look too horrible...just kind of sloppy.  Here are some funny items I found in there---

You're probably wondering why I saved these and why in the world one leg is cut off.  A couple of years ago, I dislocated my knee while ice skating.  The hospital had to cut my favorite jeans off in order to put my knee cap back where it belonged.  I kept them because I thought I could turn them into shorts.  So yesterday I did.

I still need to hem them, but at least now they are in semi-wearable condition.  Anyone want to go to a sorority function?  I graduated from college 14 years ago and yet inexplicably still have this sweatshirt.  Don't worry---I put it in the recycle pile.

I also found some square toed black leather ankle boots (circa late 90s) and white strappy sandals that have always been uncomfortable and cut into my feet to donate.

This is my closet after:

I ended up with about 1/2 of a large black trash bag for donation.  Hopefully, I can get the comforter (taken out of the linen closet the other day to give to my mom) and Rubbermaid tub (full of stuff to sell on eBay) out of there soon.  

I'm saving the hall closet for this afternoon.  This morning the Cobbler has sent us on a mission to get some pieces of steel for his electric car project at a metal supply place downtown.  I'm a little nervous going with two kids.  We'll see how that one goes.  

Another quilting project got finished yesterday.  One of my friends had a quilt that her husband's grandmother  made long arm quilted for his 40th birthday.  His grandmother passed away years ago, but they found the quilt top in an attic so it has a lot of meaning for him.  It still needed to be bound, but she doesn't sew so she asked me to do it.  Here's a peek at it.

Yesterday turned into kind of a debacle with the kids.  We had both a pee and a poop disaster (i.e. poop smeared on the bathroom floor and wall and then pee mixed with mud tracked from the downstairs bathroom up the stairs into the office) and to top it all off the washing machine overflowed so today has got to be better.  It has to be better, right?

Day #5 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life--- Organize Your Closet

Today's mission is:

Do you ever find yourself saying, "I'm I'm so smart why do I have so many clothes and nothing to wear?"  After today's task, you will have fewer clothes and more to wear.  

And it will be easier to use your closet!  

First, sort your clothing into three piles: the Recycle Pile, the Ambivalent Pile, and the Love and Wear Pile.  Use the steps in Day 3 as a guide. 

Second, put the Recycle Pile into your car to be taken to a thrift shop or a consignment shop.  When you give up a garment that no longer feels good to wear, you let go of something that no longer enhances your life.

Third, place the clothes from the Ambivalent Pile onto wire hangers.  Hang them in the back of your closet or in another closet.  Practice living without these clothes.

Fourth, buy enough wonderful hangers to hold the garments in the Love and Wear Pile.  Buy them today, if possible.  Finally, hang up your clothes.  Tomorrow morning, notice how much easier it is to get dressed.  You may find yourself combining colors in new ways.  Organizing your closet may take longer than an hour.  You may want to save this task for a Saturday morning.  

(30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 32)

OR...for serious simplifiers only---

Design a highly organized closet immediately.  To become inspired, visit closet companies and stores like Hold Everything and Stacks & Stacks.  Make your hangers one kind and one color.  Next, radically pare down your wardrobe.  Recycle at least half of your clothing and accessories.  Put your clothes back into your closet using a simple arrangement.  (See "Arrange your clothes inventively" above.)  Finally, remove your shoes from the closet floor and restrict them to neutral colors.  After seven days, review your closet and work out the bugs!

(30 Days to a Simpler LIfe, p. 37)

Again, there are a lot more great tips in the book (like "Arrange your clothes inventively" which the author mentioned in the quote above) so if you want to get more out of the challenge, get the book.  And remember, we are not getting any new challenges on the weekend so if you need to stretch this one out for the rest of the week and into the weekend, you can!

Lucky for me, I've done this before so I already have some lovely wood hangers that I purchased for my closet last time I did a purge.  For those of you who are doing the month long non-perishables sabbatical, I give you permission to buy hangers if it helps you with this challenge.  Not like you need my permission, but if it helps you get through this and end up with an easier to use closet with all the stuff you actually wear in it, then I think it is worth it to break the sabbatical for a few hangers.  If you don't want to break your sabbatical, use the hangers you have and add some nice matched ones to your "to buy list" for when your sabbatical ends.

Here are my day #4 results.  Here's a photo of my linen closet before:

Not bad.  My husband neatened it a few weeks ago.  The top shelf is all our spare guest pillows, and the bottom shelf is our featherbed.  In between are shelves filled with spare blankets, towels, and sheets.

Here's a photo of my linen closet after:

Not too much different.  I just got out an old comforter of my mother's to give back to her from the top shelf, made the second shelf just sheets (and neatened them up), and put all the towels on the third shelf.  The fourth shelf now has stuff that isn't used often.  I guess it's kind of my ambivalence shelf.  On that shelf are spare  bedding for our room (it hasn't been used in 3 years but we paid a TON for it so I don't want to get rid of it just yet), spare bedding for my daughter's room (I love it, but she's not sure about it.  I'm hoping one day she'll change her mind), and spare throw blankets.  Here's the small pile of stuff to donate...

...and a baby blanket my grandmother embroidered for me and a really cool throw I got at Pier 1 and paid too much for like 10 years ago.  I really don't know what to do with those (I don't use them, but I like them) so I put them in our hall closet for now.

You may recall these shots of my bedroom before --- the cats lying all over the donations for the crisis pregnancy center and the dresser piled with junk.  I'll leave the unmade bed and the overflowing basket of clean laundry waiting to be folded to your imagination.

Here's my bedroom after:

Tom Thumb was a good helper! :-)

The pregnancy center donations finally made it into the trunk of the car (I must drop them off today!), the clean laundry finally got into drawers, and (shocker!) I made my bed.  Yay!

I'm still working on the basement so I'm not ready to reveal any basement photos today, but they're coming soon!  I did manage to get this stuff out of the basement.  I cleaned it up and bagged it.

Here's the stuff being picked up by Purple Heart today:

Yes, I did it.  I managed to sneak the ride on toys out of the basement.  Tom Thumb's pushing four years old now so I think it's time to start riding bikes.  I have to admit I felt a little choked up as I put them in the bags.  My babies aren't babies anymore...sigh.

We donated just the big honkin' truck that Tom Thumb never uses.  The little truck gets to stay.

Five more bags of stuff out---hurray!

 Don't worry---we get a bit of a breather tomorrow after two busy days in a row.  See you on Day #6!