Thursday, May 4,^, 2012

In the last couple of months, I have been reading about minimalism, which is living using only the things you need.  And while I don’t think I could ever go all the way there, I have been getting rid of a lot of things lately and it is a very freeing thing.  So I will go thru some of the processes that I have been using to rid myself of excess “stuff”. 

Clothing:  I sorted thru my clothing and I am not done with this yet, I think it will be an ongoing process.  But the criteria that I am using is this:

1)  Do I wear it and……

2)  Do I love it and does it make me feel good when I wear it? If so I keep.

3)  Is it stained or have any holes? Get rid of – or one shirt I really like and so I decided to try and get the stain out, which I am doing today with my laundry.  If I can’t get the stain out, I will throw it out.

4)  How many of one color do I need?  I found I had a lot of black and white t-shirts!  So I got rid of ones that were stained or didn’t fit well and kept a couple of each color.

5)  What reason am I holding on to something?  I have one shirt that I really don’t like and only wear one time a year…..Is it really worth keeping?  Nope –as I write this I can’t figure out why I kept it so I am going to get rid of it now!  My sister gave it to me and while it might be her taste, it isn’t mine!

After I went through my clothes(which I now realize I need to do more of) it was on to the kids.  We went through and I would ask them if they really liked an item or not, or if they wore it or not.  We tried on a lot of clothes and it is amazing how many clothes we got rid of and the good thing is, it is now rummage sale season and when I go to sales, I know just what each child needs – which in all reality is – not much.

Now I just have to figure out the best way to get rid of these clothes!  I did list a bunch of items on ebay.  Now in the past I really have not had much luck with ebay, but I am trying it once again.  I started most items out at 99 cents, so we will see how it goes.

Today is a short day, with me closing my daycare early so that I can take my daughter to dance recital dress rehearsal, so the only thing I am going to try and get done today is a menu for next week.

Monday, May 7, 2012

This weekend was such a whirlwind of getting the kids where they needed to go – dance recital and soccer, that I ended up with a headache and got nothing accomplished! 

But today has been quite productive so far.  I made a list of things that I want to sort thru this week:

1)  Laundry – washing and putting away all laundry and switching out a dresser in my son’s room to make it easier for him to put his own away.  Also getting rid of 7 items of clothing in each person’s room.

2)  Sort thru the tv cabinet – I have some knick knacks in there that I am not even sure I like any more, so I am getting rid of them.

3)  Look at a shelf of knick knacks over my piano and get rid of the things I don’t want.  There are some bird houses there that I do like and I think they would fit just fine in the tv cabinet.  I ordered a picture of my daughter from dance recital and I want to be able to put it over the piano in the spot where that shelf is, but I can’t unless I get rid of the shelf.

4)  Sort thru 2 totes under my bed – they have knick knacks in them that I have never used since we moved into this house – so if I haven’t used them yet, what are the chances that I will use them – not much – getting rid of them!

5)  Sort thru the laundry room closet. I have totes with seasonal decorations in there and my goal is to reduce the number of totes by at least one.

So those are my cleaning goals for this week.  I am also getting back on track with my diet and exercising.  I think freeing myself of “stuff” also makes me feel more like taking care of myself. 

So now I am off to work on laundry and other areas!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Today is my birthday and so I decided to start this.  Lately I have so many thoughts racing around my head that I need to put them someplace!

So here is where some of my thoughts lie:  I am making a list of goals that I want to accomplish before my next birthday.

1)  Pay off all debts – my debts are around $4000 and this is a do-able goal if  am diligent in making payments on time and paying extra each month.  I have also in the last few months been setting up the payments at the beginning of the month to come out of my account.  This has been very good, as I am no longer forgetting to make payments and then getting late fees. 

2)  Finish my on-line course that I started last July.

3)  Write down all the ways I feel God is working in my life and the directions I feel He is leading me.(this in itself needs to be a completely separate entry!)

4)  Set some new exercise/fitness/health goals(that incorporates dealing with the tendonitis in my wrist).

5)  Set my cleaning/decluttering goals

6)  Set aside some time each month to do some scrapbooking.

7)  Each day sit down and make a list of things I want to accomplish each day.  I used to be very diligent in doing this and somewhere along the line I lost track of doing this.

8)  Continue to make up weekly menus – I have found I save so much money when I do this.

So today’s goals and chores:

1)  Start Journal – yeah I did that

2)  Fold laundry and get to appropriate rooms

3)  Set up Women of Faith pages both on facebook and set up payment page.

4)  Unload and load dishwasher.

5)  Look at starting a blog – not sure I want to do this, but  will look at it.

Some other thoughts that are swirling around my head that I need to write down and  think about:

1)  Church mission trip – July

2)  Bridging ceremony for Brownie troop – need to order patches

3)  Dance recital this week – have to figure out Megan’s hair

4)  What are some ways that I could make a little extra money that could help me pay off my debt faster?  Are there any that are feasible?