In keeping with the theme of my previous post, I’m going to talk about simplifying, specifically what I have been doing to simplify my life. I have started by forming a few simple routines and habits that I believe will help me achieve my goals. Literal baby steps. Speaking of babies!….Must. Stay. Focused….I’ll tell you all about that in a different post. 😉 OK, simplifying. What have I been doing to simplify my life?
I have been purging. I purged my kitchen. I got rid of everything that I don’t use. I either sold it in a yards sale or donated it to good will. A lot of my plastics I just recycled. You know the dreaded plastic container cabinet? I cleaned it. I have very few plastic storage containers and they are cake and cupcake holders, deviled egg trays, and a couple of pitchers. Everything else is glass with a lid. I love my Pyrex! I have organized everything to fit in one cabinet and they are all stacked with the lids on so I never have to search for a lid that fits a specific container. You have no idea how wonderful it feels when I open that cabinet and I can clearly see everything that I have. Pure bliss. Ok, so I have one little basket in there that has baby bottles, some lids that go on my glasses, and some that go on my mixing bowls which are on display. Trust me, compared to what it was, I’ll take it.
I also purged clothes. I have a closet that I share with my husband and we each have one dresser. We have never stored seasonal clothes so our wardrobes are fairly limited anyway, but I went through and purged anyway because things were a little cramped. While browsing through Pinterest I stumbled upon some helpful tips to purging clothes. I combined a few of them and asked myself 3 questions:
1. Does it fit?
2. Have I worn it in the last year?
3. If I were shopping today, would I buy it?
I got rid of a surprising amount of clothes and I haven’t missed a single thing. Unfortunately, my dresser and closet are still full. I say that like it’s a bad thing, but I’m very lucky to have so many clothes. It’s amazing that I still have trouble finding things to wear. 1st world problems.
Today I purged and reorganized my bathroom closet….mostly. I still have three bins of medications to sort. The amount of medications we have in our house is absolutely insane. If it were just me, I would have aspirin, acetaminophen and some vitamins. I really don’t want to talk about that though. We don’t have the usual medicine cabinet over the sink, just a hanging mirror so everything is stored in a closet in the bathroom. Today is the first time in eighteen years of living here that I have been able to store cleaning supplies on a shelf and not on the floor. Toilet paper, paper towels, the cleaning bucket and rags are still on the floor, but that’s where they belong. I love opening the door now and seeing everything organized and neat.
<
p align=”left”>I really can’t explain how good it feels to have just these few places in my home neat and tidy and uncluttered. It literally unclutters my mind which is why I am so inspired to keep going with the whole process. One of the habits I’ve been forming is making my bed every day. Not a big deal right? Wrong. I have never been a bed maker. All my life I was firmly entrenched in the idea of why make it if I’m just going to mess it up again. I now love having my bed made because my room just looks so much neater and more organized. It just adds to the whole clearing the clutter and simplifying theme. I never would have though that decluttering would have such a big impact on me, but wow, it really is amazing. I mean hey, I’m back to blogging and that makes me so, so happy! Clean home, clear mind. Having less clutter around me has helped my creativity too!