Tapping Into My Inner Minimalist

 

Keeping and maintaining a clutter free home is an ongoing project that, for most of us, will never end.  Just like laundry or dishes it is something we still need to do on a regular basis so we don’t become overwhelmed by our stuff.  I make a point to routinely go through cupboards, drawers and closets to cull the items I no longer want, need or use, basically items that are no longer serving me, and every time I am amazed by how much I still find.  Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I really know how to pack things away in a closet or a drawer.

 

Things were stuffed in and hanging over the edges

Now that I have the goal to prepare my home, and myself, to make a big out of state move, I have been feeling like I still have too much stuff.  Even if I wasn’t planning that move I still think I would feel this way because after all of these years of decluttering I still feel like I am left with far more than I truly want or need.  If I had to pack up and move tomorrow it would be a complete waste of boxes, my time and my money to move most of the stuff I still have, there is no doubt in my mind about that.  Just that thought alone is enough to compel me to go through and really reevaluate the things I’ve chosen to keep and the “why” behind those decisions.

 

Swedish death cleaning is a good tool to use whenever you are evaluating many of the things you have when you find yourself asking yourself “why do I have this?” because the hard truth is  no one else I know will want the vast majority of what you have.  Case in point, I recently found a forgotten jar of coins.  Twenty one Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea dollars, three half dollars and three $2 bills were in there plus a bunch of loose change.  In all honesty I have no recollection of collecting all of those dollar coins or why I did.  I know my kids don’t want them for any special reason, they’re just coins.  So I gathered them all up and deposited them into my savings account.  I even added the flip top jar to my donation bag.  Done!  It freed up a lot of space in that drawer for things I actually do use.

 

Bag it up!  Move it out!

“What if” or “just in case” items are another struggle.  I kept a pair of dress shoes I’d never worn and a pair of dress boots I hadn’t worn in years for “someday” when I might need them.  Truth is I will never need them.  They are now gone and in their place are the shoes I actually wear.

 

I literally had boxes of boxes

In my garage I had a collection of cardboard boxes taking up an enormous amount of space for when I might need one.  Okay?  Really?  Cardboard boxes are anything but scarce, you get one every time you order something online, so why was I hoarding them?  I have no flipping idea.  I broke them down and stuffed them into my recycle bin and after the bin was emptied I filled it up again.  And then I went back out and found some more and filled the recycle bin again!  It was, to say the least, ridiculous.  At the same time I also realized I need to stop saving bubble mailers.  You do not need an entire plastic bin full of bubble mailers.  You don’t.

 

In my home I only want to keep the things that I truly want.  Only the things I actually use.  I don’t need to keep the items that frustrate me like the mini muffin tin that sticks no matter how much I oil it, same with the bundt pan or the heavy rectangle baking stone I never use.  The extremely well worn out snow shovel when I have already purchased a replacement?  Nope.  Or all the old towels for rags.  And what is with the good rags vs. bad rags?  Aren’t they all just rags? And how many rags does one person really need?  Paper?  Craft supplies?  Fabric?  Pillows?  Linens?  The list goes on and on.  So much stuff!

 

Love 💖

Once again I’m reminding myself that I only need what I need.  My children don’t need me to save stuff for them because they aren’t going to want it and, as they have demonstrated, they can take care of and provide for themselves.  I no longer need to provide things for other people.  I only need to provide for myself.  Old habits are hard to break sometimes.

 

Simple

In my heart and my mind I prefer to have less stuff.  I always want to live with a smaller footprint.  As I continue my decluttering journey I’m going at it much differently.  I’m tapping into my inner minimalist and I’m dialing in more on what my home is supposed to look like, feel like and have in it for me.  I’ve made a lot of progress so far, but I still have a ways to go.  I know I can do this!  Who’s with me?

 

Affordable Food Storage Organization

 

There are so many wonderful options out there for creating that Pinterest worthy pantry, however, they are really expensive.  And while they are pretty and seem like they’d be super nice I’ve heard they really aren’t all that practical.  Some don’t seal well and food gets stale.  Others say they don’t fit in most people’s pantries.  I’ve seen how the sizes don’t correlate to the package size of the items you are trying to store so you either have too much unused space or it won't hold it all so there is always a little bit left.  Most comments I’ve heard is that whole process becomes just too tedious and they just give up using them.

 

I’ve always found that glass jars work just fine for me.  They come in all kinds of sizes and hold pretty much everything I need to store.  They also seal nicely so my foods stay nice and fresh.  Best of all they are very affordable.  And if you aren't as picky as I am they can even be free.

 

I even use them to hold my laundry detergent

I invested in a flat of six half gallon Mason jars to hold rice, beans, pasta, my homemade granola and oatmeal.  Sugar and flour works well in them too.  They are wide mouth jars so you can easily use a scoop or measuring cup to remove the contents.

 

I invested in a flat of quart size Mason jars too.  In those I keep smaller amounts of beans, pastas, jasmine rice, nuts, popcorn, my dehydrated foods, etc.  If I need something smaller I use some of my pint and half pint canning jars.

 

The half pint and four ounce jelly jars are the perfect size to store most of my spices.  I saved the lids from parmesan cheese containers which fit perfectly and offer me the option of using a shake or measuring spoons to remove the contents.  By the way, the lids from the sixteen ounce peanut butter jars fit regular mouth canning jars, but you can also buy the plastic Ball lids at Wal-Mart in a variety of types and sizes.  I have a couple set of the plain white in both regular and wide mouth sizes.  Most of the lids I have however are peanut butter and cheese lids.

 

Yogurt!

So, in a nutshell, I guess the best and most efficient way for me to keep my food stored and organized in my pantry and in my spice cupboard is to keep it simple and just use a jar.  They also work well in the refrigerator for condiments, sauces and prepared produce items.  Works for me!

My Tireless Retirement – Week 171

 

Hello friends!  This past week began with our Independence Day holiday, a lot of good food and a very late night as our neighbors were popping off until well after midnight.  I stayed inside and kept my nervous kitties company until it was over.  Jack took refuge in the downstairs hall closet while Stella stayed upstairs under my bed.  Toward the end they came out realizing nothing bad was going to happen to them and hung out with me for another hour until all was quiet and we could go to bed.  It is safe to say I have a love/hate relationship with this holiday.  I love what it stands for, but I can do without the adverse affects it has on animals and some people, especially our veterans.

 

NY strip steaks & macaroni salad for the 4th!

The deck refurbishing project was put on hold as our weather was all over the map.  We had a two day heat wave followed by a windstorm and a duststorm and then a thunderstorm with rain.  I was happy about the rain, but it means I am going to have to do some re-sanding.  Before I could do that however we got another heat wave so I decided that Mother Nature was trying to tell me something so I acquiesced and enjoyed some downtime.  After such a busy month of June I figure I had earned it.

Clean & sanitized

Sunday was my day to wash up all of my bedding and remake the bed.  I vacuumed my mattress, gave it a Lysol spray and then turned it.  After washing the mattress cover in bleach and hot water and running it through a hot dryer until it was thoroughly dried I put it back on the bed.  Then I remade the bed with all of the freshly washed and dried bedding.  Every time I clean the mattress I’m always amazed and rather disgusted at what the vacuum cleaner pulls up even though I always have it completely covered and I regularly wash and bleach that cover.  So gross!

 

I invested in some replacement lids for my Pyrex food storage containers.  I was able to get four lids from Amazon for $12.99 which may sound expensive unless you price the containers themselves at the store.  The lids have gone up a lot in price recently, but so have the containers.  I do feel it is better and less wasteful to buy these lids rather than buy new containers, especially as I use them practically every day for meal prepping and storing leftovers.

 

Before I went into work on Monday I had the pleasure of replacing the worn out gasket on the kitchen sink drain basket.  Finding water in the bottom of my trash can a couple of times had clued me in that this task had come due.  While plumbing rates as one of the lowest on my list of fun things to do I am blessed with the ability and knowledge of knowing how to do a few things.  Long ago my dad taught me the basics – “All you need to know is $h!t runs downhill and payday is on Friday”.  I took it from there.

 

Done!

Cleaning up and reorganizing the garage last month let me also know that I already had everything I needed to complete this job in the garage.  A new gasket and some plumbers putty as well as a few tools from the toolbox and in less than a half hour I had it done, my tools put away, the sink scrubbed clean, my hands scrubbed clean and the rest of my mess cleaned up.  I was very happy to have that job completed and no more drips or water in the trash can.

 

Monday and Tuesday were my only work days last week with Tuesday being the most exciting when I took a large group of nineteen seniors whitewater rafting.  Yes, you heard that right we went down the Payette River on a big rubber raft and we had a blast.  Afterward we stopped off in a little town on our way back to the Senior Center and had dinner and it was really good.  I have the best job ever!  And they pay me to do this!

 

The storage area in the back of the closet is practically empty 😊

Even though I took in a HUGE load of donations to the thrift store a couple weeks ago I am still finding stuff!  I went through the downstairs hall closet and removed two jackets I never wear anymore and the last of my beer brewing supplies.  I went through the junk drawer and found a few items to donate and toss, went through the OTC medicine bin and found a couple more things in there to get rid of and I even let go of a few more sentimental items I realized aren’t really all that sentimental to me anymore and haven’t been for quite a while.

 

My junk drawer

In the pantry I got rid of some excess packaging and added that along with this week’s junk mail to the recycle bin.  The blue wheelie bin is full of recycling and ready to go to the curb for pickup again.  I also shredded some more papers with sensitive information on them.  Paper clutter is never ending, I tell you.

 

This guy has been getting a workout in the last month

More recycling heading out of here

I decluttered 80% of the cat toys from their basket in the living room and kept only the ones I know they play with.  I took about a half dozen toy mice and placed them inside the catnip bag I keep on the top shelf of the pantry where the kitties can’t get to it.  I’ve been giving them one each day to play with and they are enjoying that very much.  It’s been fun to watch, ha, ha, ha.

 

While dodging the heat I was able to use up some more craft and office supplies I had on hand to update my dayplanner so it now includes calendar and planning pages for 2026.  I’ve also been working on a lot of future planning as well as some 2026 vacation plans that may come to fruition.  Even though we are only halfway through this year I’m also thinking about and mapping out next year’s household budgets so I can have a good solid plan well ahead of the upcoming new year.  I feel like the better prepared I am the more successful I will be.

 

Another bag full of donations & I'm hoping to fill up this box too

And that was that!  How was your week?

 

Finishing Up The Garage Declutter

 

Everything I have or will be bringing into my house needs to have a home because without that it just becomes stuff.  That includes the garage too.  Without a place to store our items we end up with clutter and chaos making it more difficult to do what we like to do.  We struggle to find what we need when we take on a project.  We can’t keep an inventory of what we actually have on hand so we end up buying more we didn't need.  Working in this way and living in chaos adds stress and anxiety to our daily lives.  My goal is to always work to improve my quality of life.  Regularly cleaning, maintaining and organizing my home is one of those ways I can improve my quality of life.  I want to enjoy going out to the garage, not dread it.

 

When my BFF was here during my staycation we were able to make a good dent in decluttering my garage. I got rid of a bunch of stuff I definitely did not need like a ton of cardboard boxes I had been saving just in case I needed “a good box”.  There may have been an eyeroll from someone.  I filled up my recycling wheelie bin and set it at the curb for collection.  After it was emptied I ended up filling it up a second time.  I gathered up all of the donations I had collected and got that pile dropped off at the thrift store.  I also dropped off the glass recycling.

 

Getting better

I later went out there to clean and reorganize the shelves I had decluttered.  I like to have like items with like, that is what makes the most sense to me when I am organizing.  When I was finished I was thrilled to see some open spaces.  Things were no longer jam packed.  When I have too much stuff and not enough room to store it I tend to get frustrated because I knock things off the shelves when I’m moving stuff around to get to what I need.  I had eliminated the potential for this to be a problem anymore.  Yippee!

 

Love this!  So much nicer! 😀

I ended up moving that green extension cord

A week later I made it back out there to work on the other side where I have a set of shelves that hold all of my supplies for my vehicles, the yard and garden, the house as well as all of my power tools.  After decluttering and clearing the shelves I wiped them down and then put everything back on placing like items together.  All of my supplies for taking care of my vehicles are on one shelf.  The yard and garden supplies and bug sprays now sit together on another.

 

I decided to eliminate the big bin I kept my power tools in because it had become too heavy and was getting difficult to get on and off the shelf.  Instead I emptied it out finding five worn out blades for my reciprocal saw at the bottom.  I have no idea why I saved those.  After tossing those out I placed the tools on the shelf next to my miter saw so I now have them all on one shelf and easy to access.

 

The vacuum cleaner now has a place to live on the bottom shelf.  The power washer sits next to it and on the wall right next to the shelf I installed a bracket to hold the wand and hose for the power washer.  Bungi cords become a tangled mess so I hung them up on the side of the shelf so that won’t happen anymore.  My step stool has a home when it is folded and not in use.  It now sits in between the shelf unit and the deep freezer.

 

Everything has a home

The front corner where I hang my yard tools was nice, but it could be nicer.  With a little rearranging and a few more brackets I was able to better organize them so it is much easier to access them without knocking others around or off onto the floor.  No one needs to get hit in the head with a shovel.  Well, maybe someone does, but it isn't me.  Anyway, everything has a home there too.  

 

After a break to hydrate and have a bite to eat I went back out to the garage to attack the top shelf where, yes I hate to admit it, I had more empty cardboard boxes.  For the third time I filled the recycle wheelie bin with broken down boxes.  The shelf is now empty except for one box filled with the empty flats I keep my empty canning jars in.  I’m good with that.

 

Before

Wow!

And with that my garage is officially done.  Moving forward I am going to really work hard to keep things neat, clean and tidy and not allow it to become a dumping ground out there or a place to hoard things I don’t need.  In fact, I’m hoping as time goes on to declutter more items and embrace the open spaces I create in the process.

 

My Tireless Retirement – Week 170

 

Hello, hello!  June has finished itself up and it is now July.  Our year is already half over and looking back at my journal and dayplanner I am quite pleased with all that I’ve been able to do and accomplish this year.  I’ve done some really big things this year so far and not to boast, but I’m rather proud of myself.  Needless to say, I am feeling super charged to take on the latter half of 2025!

 

I got a few things done 😁

Unbeknownst to all of you I challenged myself to take on at least one practical project a day in the month of June, one useful project to improve my quality of life.  While it certainly did that I was surprised by how much these projects also impacted my mental health in a very positive way.  I walked away from the month of June feeling absolutely AMAZING!  I decided to continue my useful projects in the month of July as well however, I’m going to take on fewer projects, perhaps not every day and go at a much more leisurely pace.  I’m not all that good at the leisurely pace part, but I thought I’d give it a try.  We shall see how well that works out for me.

 

Nailed it!

When I did my home reset I had printed off a fresh copy of my housekeeping checklist and re-cleaned.  After six weeks I had accomplished what I normally now spread out over a six month period of time.  Plus, I did all of the additional projects and a TON of decluttering.  I made four trips to two different thrift stores to drop off donations during the month of June.  June was definitely my best and most productive month so far this year.

 

I cannot tell you enough just how much I enjoy opening my cupboards and cabinets in the kitchen and seeing those lovely and cheerful shelf liners.  It is so nice to see some open spaces in my cupboards and drawers, less jam packed.  What a joy it is to cook, bake and put away my dishes.  Who knew such a simple little thing like making those shelf liners and doing some more decluttering could make such a difference?

 

Refreshed & clean

As the month was coming to a close one of the things I wanted to accomplish this year was to give my entry way a freshen up.  Since the last time it was painted there were some dings and gouges from clarinet and violin cases heading out the door not to mention my own special touches when I moved furniture out during my first big declutter a couple years ago.  A touch of kitty activity as well.  I spackled the imperfections and then gave it a good coat of paint.  It was a bit sad to cover up some of that history, but now those memories are safely entombed for all eternity.

 

Before with a little bit of spackle work

After!  Nice!

Also on the never ending “to-do” list to complete was to repaint the wainscot in the upstairs bathroom.  I had already repaired a bit of wall damage some time ago and all it needed was a fresh coat.  I had planned to paint it before my house guests arrived, but ran out of time.  It is done and now as I sit on the potty I am no longer reminded I have an unfinished project patiently waiting for my attention.

 

I made this table matte

and a candle matte using some of the leftover pieces

I made it back into the sewing room to finish up the hanging dish towels I had stitched together.  I made myself a table matte as a nice treat to myself for all the hard work I had completed.  Everything I used to make it came from my sewing stash so I did not need to purchase anything new.  I like to make these mattes in various holiday themes to decorate my dining room table.  This new one is very patriotic and will remain on my table until I decorate for Fall.

 

"You should do something about this deck!"

The deck in the backyard has also been patiently waiting for me to give it a refresh.  I started off by power washing the entire deck and letting it dry for twenty four hours.  Over the course of a few days I sanded the entire deck and the steps.  I worked on it early in the morning while it was still cool and in the shade.  I used up some sandpaper I had that had been hanging around in the garage for ages.  I was hopeful it would be enough to get the job done, but ran out and had to go buy more.  Shoot!

 

"About time you got started on this!"

Power washed and ready for sanding.

On the way home from work on Monday I stopped in at Home Depot and picked up another package of sandpaper.  A heatwave hit us so I had to put this project on hold because it was way too hot to safely work outside, but I will get it done now that the temperatures have gone back down and then you will see pictures of the newly refreshed deck.  In the meantime have a great week!