Friday, September 7, 2012

Minimizing or as My Husband Calls It "What Are You Throwing Away Now?"


The title says it all really. I embarked on a new life mission to live a more simple and minimalistic lifestyle. The first step on this path was going through each room and assessing my possessions. You know what? I had a lot of shit.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a hoarder. Ask anyone who has been in my house, I lived an uncluttered clean house lifestyle. After all, I do suffer from mild OCD. All my possessions had a space to live, nice and organized. This is not minimalistic living though.

Organizing is a dirty word in simplistic living. Why? Most of the time you do not need more than one or two of the same item with the exception of dinnerware and underwear; so if you find yourself organizing twelve plastic food storage containers with only seven lids, you are just organizing your excess and this is not simple living. 

I began in my kitchen which was the perfect place to start. I mean, I am not a kitchen gadget addict so I was for sure this would be quick and easy. It took me nine hours to go through my kitchen. Yes nine hours of my life was spent on shifting through plastic containers, lids, unused small appliances, stacking and un-cluttering my cabinets. I was shocked to find that I had six decorated fruit bowls. Who knew I was addicted to buying fancy fruit bowls? I sure didn’t.  Here is a picture of the bags I donated from my kitchen clean out and a shot of my new simplistic kitchen and dinning room.


Only toaster and coffee pot on the counters to keep a clean look



I made my first big blunder during this time period. I threw away the coffee cup Michael used daily. I had already made the promise in the beginning of this venture not to minimize anything he used or any of his possession. Let me tell you something. If your mate is not on board with minimalistic living, do not touch their things, because they will complain. A lot.




Next I tackled the bath room. This was fairly easy because I do not buy in bulk. The medicine cabinet was the worst and I spent about an hour to get it cleaned out. I threw away all out dated over the counter medicines. My make up drawer was easy because much of the cosmetics was so old it and shades of hot pink and purple. I only kept the make-up I use daily and one nice compact of eye shadows for evening wear. I forgot to take a picture of the before but here is the after.  This make-up will have to be replaced soon because they are really old and it is good hygienic sense to replace your old makeup.




I also want to mention, that my second offense, happened in this room. I threw out an almost empty (I still say it was empty) aftershave bottle that I intended on replacing of Michael’s. Two days later I quickly replaced it because I was near insanity from his nagging constant reminders that I had promised not to minimize his belongings.
I removed a few pieces of furniture from the living room and moved our bedroom, into our spare room and left behind all the things that were still important to Michael in the old room. By doing this I respected his wishes and I was able to achieve a peaceful simple bedroom for my taste. The downsize of my wardrobe is covered here, because it was a challenge in itself.

I still have my craft room and I know this will be the hardest thing to simplify. I dread doing it, because a rule of simple living is you may keep the item if it is beautiful or brings you joy. And I am convinced my 20 shades of glitter are beautiful and I have 20 artist friends who are sure to agree. Overall I am happy with my first attempt and feel I accomplished a lot. I have been 3 weeks without the items I donated and we I haven’t stressed a moment without them.



xoxo
M.



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2 comments:

  1. I love that you are doing this. I need to do it too and you have inspired me! I am going nuts with too much stuff surrounding me. I do want you to reconsider downsizing your art supplies though. I think that can be the ONE place when you get to splurge on excess. Speaking from experience, not having what you need or want to make something is the same as blocking your creative flow. <3

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    1. :) It is liberating to not be cluttered down by so much "stuff".

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