Friday, March 28, 2014

Clutter Busting Challenge March 2014 Part 3

I continue to be amazed each week by how much I continue to find to purge from my home. I think I am getting close to be done and I can't possibly find anything more but I dig a little deeper for thing we don't need.


School Supplies, Deep Fryer, Scarves, Containers, Hangers, Food, Server, and an Eye Glass Case.















 
Cookbooks and Baby Stuff















A Picture and Mirror.
















A Heater
















 3 Large Totes of Homeschool Books.

 













Baby Clothes.

I'm giving them to my grandson.
















Baby Blankets and a Pillow.

I'm giving these to my grandson.



















Hanging folders.















a box of paper.














You may be interested in:

Clutter Busting Challenge March 2014 Part 1

Clutter Busting Challenge March 2013 Part 2

Thursday, March 27, 2014

40 Bags in 40 Days: Days 14-19


To keep me moving forward on my minimalist journey I like to join Challenges like 40 Bags in 40 Days. It makes it fun, keep me motivated, and I have support from others. 


A couple of the Challenges I have done over the last year are:
Clutter Busting Challenge http://moneysavingmom.com/
Zone Defense http://lifeasmom.com/
Creating Peaceful Organized Homes http://orgjunkie.com/


My Purge Pile for this Week:
1 large trash bag, 4 grocery bags, 3 large totes, a heater, a picture, a mirror and a box.
I'm counting this as 23 bags in 19 Days.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

March 2014 Reading List

I am in the mist of the 40 Bags in 40 Days project during this season of Lent which is March 5th - April 19th. It has reflected in my reading for this month. I haven't gotten to read much due to spending so much time on my project. What I did read was two books on the topic of uncluttering. These were both quick reads it maybe took 2 hours to read each of them.The 3rd book I read this month was about ways to make your home beautiful.














Unclutter Your Home by Donna Smallin

Cleaning Up the Clutter by Emilie Barnes

Simple Secrets to a Beautiful Home by Emilie Barnes


 Submitted to: 2014 Booking It @ Life As Mom

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Home Tour: Upstairs Hall Closet















In January I purged our upstairs hall closet were we stored our children's games. I put the small amount of things we are keeping in our guest room before I donated everything else. I'm hopeful we can use this closet for a 1/2 bathroom within the year. It will remain empty until then.

You might be interested in reading my post Spring Cleaning: Upstairs Hall Closet. It gives more detail about how I emptied this closet that used to store our family game collection.


Monday, March 24, 2014

Spring Cleaning: Upstairs Hall Closet

I Spring Cleaned our upstairs hall closet.  It didn't take much work since it is empty but I dusted the shelves, removed spider webs, and vacuumed the floor.

We used to store our children's games in it until January when I emptied it. I donated everything we chose not to keep and relocated the ones we are. I hope to turn this closet into a 1/2 bath.















This is the most recent picture I could find of the closet in 2011. I looked pretty close to the same before I emptied it in January minus a pile of games that I purged in August.


The games I moved into a cabinet into the guest room in January. These are for my grandchildren.















And the other games I moved to the China Cabinet shelf.














We have a small collection of adult games that my family uses in my husband mini office. They were never stored in this closet because this closet was for our kids games.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Clutter Busting Challenge March 2013 Part 2

I'm coming up with a good amount of stuff to purge from my home while doing the 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge.  


My Books.















My Husbands Books, Photo Paper, Star Wars Toy, and Playing Cards.














A Bag, Magazine, a Baggie of Stuff from the Bathroom, Food, Night Light, Book, Fabric, and Perfume.














A Snugly, and Frame.














A Dehydrator.














Workout Clothes.















You may be interested in:

Clutter Busting Challenge March 2014 Part 1

Thursday, March 20, 2014

40 Bags in 40 Days: Days 8-13

My home has always looked nice, uncluttered, and organized. I have still found stuff to purge the last 3 years that I've been on the journey to Simplicity. I have not missed anything and it is very freeing to have less to care for on a daily basis. It takes time and the longer you work at purging the more you find that you are willing to let go of stuff. I am in a life transition as my husband and I are heading toward an empty nest. There are lots of things we don’t need in a home where only adults live.  My hardest thing is that I’ve put off downsizing our homeschool books and past work. I am at the point where that is most of what is left for me to purge. I also need to deal with putting our family pictures into Albums. 


My Purge Pile for this Week:
2 boxes, and 1 large trash bag, and 1 grocery bag. I'm counting this as 14 bags in 13 Days.




Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Organizing My Nail Polish

I have 11 bottles of nail polish. I like to have options but don't want to over purchase and have too many bottles. I keep them all in this plastic container and don't buy more unless one goes bad or I decide I don't want a color anymore. The container helps me to limit how many I have the space to store.














I decide to organize my nail polish by using index cards. I lined them up based on what month I use each color the most. I added a small coat of polish, wrote the brand name, and the color name on each index cards.

 My January - June Colors:













The first card is most of my pinks or light colors that I tend to use January-June. The second card is more reds or dark colors that I tend to wear July-December. I did the cards in order of what I would wear each month and as you can see I am 1 polish short of having one for each month. I need to buy a polish for August. I like to wear the same polish color for a month. I made sure the polishes I picked would look good with most of my clothes.

My July - December Colors:













I plan to take the cards when I'm getting new polish. This will help to know what I already own and what color I may need. This was a simple project and took about 30 minutes because I wanted to make sure it was neat.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Home Tour: Living Room

This is our families Living Room. I would like to buy some colorful curtains and pillows. I'm having trouble finding something I like that will look good with our furniture.


The View from the Double Doors.















Starting to the Left of the Doors. Our Bench were we store family Album and Photos. 















The Closets and Entertainment Center.

The Closets:
Our old bedroom which is now my dad's has no closet, and our new master bedroom has a small closet so my husband and I each use a closet in the Living Room. It would be more convenient if it was in our bedroom but we are doing the best we can with what we have.

Entertainment Center:
I keep my exercise/health books and exercise DVDs  on a shelf in the Entrainment Center so they are easy to use. I store my granddaughters toys in the blue cloth bins.

You can read my post from when I updated Our Entertainment Center:
Our Entertainment Center














Our Couch and Corner Cabinet. I have a wooden box next to the couch for my granddaughter books.














Our End Tables and Couch.















You maybe interested in:

Spring Cleaning: Living Room

Monday, March 17, 2014

Spring Cleaning: Living Room

I cleaned the living room this past week. I didn't find anything to purge since I worked on this room in January after I took Christmas Down.


The Bench:

This is were we store family photos and albums.I didn't do any organizing in this area yet but Family Memory Keeping is on my To Do List.














Top Left Closet.
 













My Husband Closet.














Top Right Closet. 














My Closet.

You maybe interested in some of the others post I have done on My Closet:
My Diva Closet
My Closet














The Entertainment Center:

You can read my post from when I updated Our Entertainment Center:
Our Entertainment Center















My Fitness/Nutrition/Spa Shelf:
 
I moved all my to the entertainment center in the living room. They were previously in my bedroom and although it gave me privacy, moving them gives me more space to exercise. I like keeping all the topics together. The baskets are the workout DVD’s that I own with no cases although one is empty. 

I do use my fitness/nutrition/spa books and exercise DVD’s but not as often as I should recently. A couple of the diet books I haven't looked at in awhile but I'm going to read a little to see if they fit my style. I lost 80 pounds by putting my own plan together after reading a lot of books on the topic. I have the small workout equipment needed to use the books and DVD's that I own. I Walk/Run, do Yoga, Zumba, along my DVD's and books. I'm a CYI (Certified Yoga Instructor). Fitness is kind of a hobby of mine. LOL















 My granddaughters toys in the totes.














Our movies and game stuff is stored in the lower cabinet.














My Corner Cabinet:

I emptied the bottom cabinet in early January. It had candles and extra decor in it but I moved them to the basement were the others are stored.  It works better if everything is stored in the same place.














The Left End Table:

My bible and devotions.














The Right End Table:

A pen and notepad.















You can read my post:

Cleaning Zone 4: Bedrooms & Closets