The Beginning (Sort Of)

Last summer a friend suggested that I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I had just finished graduate school, had a soon to be teenager and was expecting my second child two months later. To say that my house was a mess was an understatement. Our office had become a space where we threw objects in and shut the door. This room would need to become a baby room, and that meant we would finally have to face the music and would have to address the mess.

I listened to the audiobook and it has had a powerful impact on my life. I have severe anxiety and parting with objects is always something I struggle with. This book helped me to gain closure with donating and saying goodbye to things we don't need.

I am also an English teacher, so I also struggle with paper clutter. I am still in the process of trying to part with some books I know I will not revisit, but this has also been a challenge for me.

I'm almost a year in with decluttering, and I'm beginning this blog to hold myself accountable, and maybe I can help someone else in the process who has a hard time letting things go like myself.

My husband and I are also on a journey to become debt free and have enrolled in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. This has also been life changing.

Here's to the journey, the process, and happiness,

Lauren

Comments

Makeup Declutter-Why It's Important to Take Pictures!

I'm sure everyone else who is decluttering has already been doing this, but I wish I would have taken before and after pictures of my progress! Sometimes I feel like decluttering is like losing weight; sometimes you can't see your progress and it can become discouraging. I've been decluttering and minimizing for a year now, and some days I feel like my house looks the same. But I know that I have come a long way! I wish I would've taken a photo of our crazy then office with all of the papers that were hoarded in that room. It's now my baby's room and is quite clear. I would love to compare the two though! I was feeling like I could minimize my makeup some more, because it still feels like too much. So I tried to remind myself that I've come a long way. I still had my containers that used to hold my makeup, so I put the two I emptied out next to my makeup bag. I could see that I did clear out a lot of makeup! It's reassuring to see, but I plan on ...

Pantry Decluttering

I decluttered the pantry before Christmas and am determined to keep it clutter free throughout the year. To save money we only buy what we will eat immediately during the week. We make sure to eat practically everything we have in the house before we go out for groceries again. This leaves our pantry looking bare at times, but it still manages to get full of other clutter. The pantry was mostly cluttered this time around with plastic bags that were accumulating to be recycled. Here is our pantry before the recent decluttering: Our pantry looks pretty messy, but it's not as bad as our first declutter last year. Again, our biggest problem was the plastic bags that had been collecting for recycling. I own reusable grocery bags, but sometimes we buy groceries when we haven't been able to stop home for them. Hence, why we have some plastic bags in our pantry taking up space. We recycled those bags and I got my reusable bags organized and ready to take out. We also had p...

We own our car! Paid it off three years early!

Last May, when we lined up all of our debt, we had about $18,000 left to pay on our car. This was our largest debt, aside from the house, that we needed to pay off. Now, a year and a half later, we have finally paid our car off! I submitted the payment from a different bank account with the payoff amount, but since it took a few days to process, 11 cents in interest was added. I am proud to say that I transferred that 11 cents from my checking on that account and paid the car off today! I have learned from this car experience to NEVER buy new again! I didn't know that car value drops as soon as you leave the lot. Also, we paid so much in interest the last four years, we definitely overpaid for this car than we needed to. Lesson learned! We only have one more debt left, my teen's braces with the remaining cost of $700, and then we will only have a mortgage payment!

Simplifying My Life

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