Hope you’re all having a great Friday! My de-cluttering is still going strong… I’ve even progressed to furniture! Earlier this week I got rid of a desk by using the free section of Craigs List, and I’m hoping to get rid of a dresser today. We decided that my husband and I can share a dresser for things like underwear and socks, and that way we’ll have more open floor space in our bedroom. Once we get rid of the second dresser, all that will be in our bedroom is the bed and one dresser. I did some more purging in our closet this week, and there’s nothing sitting on the floor at all now – it’s all hanging up or neatly folded (only one or two deep) on the shelves. Much better! I’m also starting to see a difference in terms of cleaning… the house is staying cleaner longer without much effort from us, and when it does need to be cleaned, it’s a faster process. Having empty counters in the kitchen and bathroom means that I can wipe them down more often without having to move a bunch of stuff. Having fewer toys in the living room means there isn’t as much to get tossed around. Piles attract piles, so eliminating random piles of stuff in closets and on shelves means that we’re no longer likely to toss stuff in those spots. I’m having so much fun getting rid of stuff that my desire to go shopping at the thrift stores for entertainment is completely gone!
One of the inspirations for my purging journey has been the Tiny House Blog, which is a fantastic resource and a wonderful read. Even if you aren’t looking to move (we certainly aren’t!) it’s fun to look at all the absolutely fantastic little houses, and it’s a reminder that we don’t really need much in the way of stuff or extra space in order to be happy. If you are considering moving, the Tiny House Blog might inspire you to look for a much smaller place than you originally had in mind.
My husband and I both work from home, and we have a toddler, which together presents a unique challenge in terms of housing… we have to have a place where my husband (who spends quite a bit of time on the phone with clients) can work without house/toddler noises in the background. Having a basement has been perfect for us, and that’s where my husband spends a good chunk of his day. If your work/family situation is like ours, a super tiny house might not work out, but chances are a smaller-than-average one would work just fine. When we moved last year, our primary concern was the yard, as we had big plans for an orchard, berry patch, and huge veggie garden (all in place and growing now!). We didn’t really care one way or another about the house, and ended up with a pretty average-size place (1350 sq feet plus a full unfinished basement). We don’t plan to move again (ever!) but I do want to make our house easier to clean (less stuff is already having that effect) and make sure that it continues to feel spacious… no stuff creeping in around us to fill up the rooms. So even for people who have no desire to actually move to a tiny house, reading about them can be motivating and rewarding.
On another note, I also wanted to share a fantastic blog post from Green And Crunchy. There’s just no way you can scroll through all those awesome pictures and not be inspired to eat something tasty and nutritious. I love how simple so much of their food is… lots of fruits and veggies just cut up – no need to spend hours slaving away in the kitchen. And a huge congratulations to Mama Green And Crunchy, who is going to be a mama again!
Karen says
Congratulations on your decluttering! That has een my project this month too and I do agree its so much easier to keep clean when you don’t have to lift up a bunch of tchotchkes to clean your counters. I cleaned out my fridge last night and I kept going in there kitchen just to look inside. It was so nice!
I LOVE Tiny House Blog. I don’t know that I could ever live in a super small one but a house (on a lake – dreams) with a large open space for the kitchen and living (I don’t need a formal dining room) and a master suite (yep – one bedroom house) all on one level would suit me just fine.
Have a great weekend!
GC says
Does your husband ever find the basement depressing? Does it have any windows?
Thanks for the link. . . off I go to check it out.
FrugalBabe says
GC,
He loves it down there! There are two big windows and it’s pretty much always sunny where we live, so the basement is bright during the day. But the best part about it is how much cooler it is than the rest of the house. My husband would be perfectly happy in an igloo, but doesn’t do so well in the heat. We just had central air conditioning installed, and to conserve energy we’ve got the temperature set pretty high. But it’s always about ten degrees cooler in the basement than in the rest of the house.
Emma says
I love your new clutter-free mantra, and have been trying VERY hard to do this myself over the last year or so. The biggest problem we have is my mother-in-law. She is constantly checking out places like Value Village and other thrift stores in her area, buying anything she considers a bargain. She is very comfortable financially (she is always flipping turn-of-the-century houses), but practically lived at the thrift stores over a 20 yr period where she was a single mom with 2 kids to raise. Our problem is that the things she picks up she does not need, so she passes them on to us. Every time she visits (or we visit her) she has piles of things put aside for us that she bought because they made her think of us when she saw them. I LOVE and appreciate that she thinks of us. I love her to pieces. She is a dream come true as far as MIL’s go. The issue is the STUFF. It’s random ornaments, dishes, vases, decorative pieces, articles of clothing….ALL things we do not want or need. We feel we have to accept them, and display them in our home to save her feelings. Do you have any advice on how to discourage her from giving us this stuff, or, better yet, how to discourage her from even buying it?
FrugalBabe says
Emma,
I have a very similar situation, and have not yet figured out a good solution. My MIL is a sweet lady who derives huge amounts of pleasure from buying stuff for her kids and grandkids. She never shops at thrift stores, but she’s a big fan of Wal-Mart, the dollar rack at Target, Dollar stores, QVC and other home-shopping networks, etc. Every time she visits, she brings an assortment of plastic toys for our son, although to her credit, birthdays and Christmas have so far involved mostly clothes and books.
We know how much pleasure it brings her to buy and give gifts, and I don’t want to take that away from her. What I’ve started doing is being selective about what we keep. We have a few decorative items she’s given us that are displayed in our home so that she sees them when she visits, and I make a point to use the scrapbook supplies she gives me when I’m making her Mother’s Day, birthday, and Christmas presents (she loves those, and I know she notices that I’m using the stuff she gives me). But we periodically go through our son’s toys (and all of our stuff!) and purge things. I don’t think my MIL notices at all, since she gets to see the stuff we’ve kept.
Sheri (Green & Crunchy) says
Hi Frugalbabe, thanks for the kind shout-out!
HOW do you even have ANYTHING left in your house to declutter?!!
Your motivation to purge inspires me — I’m going to tackle a closet or two today :)
You said this: “Piles attract piles”…..oh, how true! When I was down with morning sickness for a few months, the piles REALLY, well, PILED up (haha). I am still catching up, doing my spring cleaning and decluttering all in one.
Thanks for the link to the Tiny Houses blog, and thanks for the sweet comment of congrats you left me on my blog. So sweet :)
Cortney says
My partner and I seriously de-cluttered, and I was nerdily proud that when we moved from TX to CO all of our possessions fit in the back of his single cab ’91 Toyota pickup, the smallest trailer U-Haul offers, and my ’91 Toyota station wagon. It made moving so much easier, and I find our home to be so much more peaceful without all the things.
The last big thing to deal with for me was books. As someone who wants to be mobile and who is concerned about wasting money/resources, I haven’t purchased a book in about a year. I just borrow from friends or go to the library. But, from all those previous years of shopping at used bookstores, I have a full bookshelf of books, even after donating two laundry baskets full! We had 4 large boxes in the move, and they were hard to manage. I always thought I wanted to be that person with a library of books, but as I get older, I just want things simple. I never thought I’d be able to get rid of my books, but the fact that I’m willing to do so really proves to me how much I’ve changed my cluttery ways. I love to read so much I rarely read a book twice, so it doesn’t even make sense to keep them as a collection. I’d rather hit up the library once every two weeks, get a good stack, and then take them right back :)
Molly On Money says
I find Jay very inspiring. We have a yurt (350 sq ft) that we use as our guest house. Friends love to come stay and we’ve even had people stay in it that we didn’t know but heard from a friend of a friend that we had a cool yurt.
Last summer we took it down and put it in storage and are now in the process of rebuilding it to be more structurally sound and mouse proof. My husband and I have often fantasized about living in the yurt for a year with our two kids and renting out our house. If we did I wouldn’t have to clean/declutter closets for a whole year!
Everyday Tips says
Don’t you love the piece of mind you get from having less clutter? Sometimes I look around my house and I want to just drive away! It has been especially bad lately with the end of school and all the ‘projects’ that have been coming home.
Good job, and keep it up!
Courtney Carver says
I love to read about how uncluttering makes people feel. It is never less than a joyous experience. I know it is for me, and I want to keep going until I have just enough instead of too much of everything!
Now that I am on the minimalist path, gifts are the most challenging but I think I am figuring it out!
Thanks for the great post and congrats on finding more with less!
Charlotte says
Wow, thanks for sharing the Green & Crunchy link. Everything on there looks delicious. I’m adding her to my Google Reader!
Also, if you’re interested in small-space living, check out boat living. We liveaboards live in VERY tiny spaces!
Claire in CA, USA says
Yes, you are so inspiring! I have a smallish home (1,400 sq ft) with little storage, and I need to de-clutter, badly. Having two teens and a pack-rat husband doesn’t help. :)
I have the same issue at Cortney: Tons of books. I have two, tall bookcases in a small office, one small bookcase in my living room, and books EVERYWHERE on tables and even the kitchen counters. Being a homeschooler kinda does that to you, but a lot of the books are those I’ve read for pleasure. I have a plan to sell them on Amazon, or the like, because I can’t bear to think of the money spent and not get something in return. It would also raise money for homeschool curriculum, which we can’t really do without.
Bankruptcy Ben says
I’ve just found the Tiny House Blog… I love it:) Already dreaming about my tiny straw bale… At the moment though i’m working on getting rid of my clutter. First 7 dvd’s sold on eBay hopefully more to go:)
Sam says
I’ve gotten to the point I hate getting presents – it’s usually stuff I don’t need, doesn’t fit, etc. I’m ecstatic to get something i can use but that’s hardly ever the case. I end up donating a lot of it but it’s usually not decorative stuff that I could put on the wall so that helps with the gifters noticing.
Although, I’ve started to notice I’m doing the same thing as my son gets older -picking up trinkets or items for him because they remind me of him or something he & I did together. Maybe the gifting thing comes with age?
We have a 795sq ft house but I regret getting such a small house – there’s not enough room for the growing pack of boys to hang out comfortably and as he gets older I want them to hang out @ our house so I can keep an eye on ’em.
We can only have two kids spend the night due to space – meaning my son is usually somewhere else. Although we’re going to try to rearrange furniture in August after some projects are done & see if that helps . If we could just get rid of the fridge & stove – that’d free up some space…
I hate clutter too it’s so nice to get rid of stuff no longer needed – it’s liberating. It’s almost as if the “stuff” weighs down the soul.