Simplifying My Life

It's so important to take before pictures! I recently decluttered my kitchen a bit more, but I wish I had a picture to compare how far I've come. My counters used to be cluttered with so much stuff. There was a pile of paper always by the sink and the wifi was also located there. It was all such a mess! There was hardly any free counter space and it always looked so sloppy! I took some pictures of what my kitchen currently looks like, but I wish I had more before pictures so I can remind myself that our kitchen is so much more pleasing to the eye now than it used to be! If you are starting a minimalism journey and you want to watch your progress, I suggest taking pictures! Decluttering is like losing weight; you reach a point where you feel like you can't see a difference, but you know you have been working so hard to change. Then you see an old photo and realize how far you've come. This has been how I feel with decluttering. I feel like there is still so much jun...

I had applied to be apart of Nick Vujicic's launch team, to share his new book Be The Hands and Feet: Living Out God's Love for All His Children. Never would I have thought to have been picked! We had just arrive from our trip in December and my daughter lost her pacifier on the airplane. I had a panic attack because a huge part of my OCD is the fear of losing things. We weren't allowed back on the plane to look for it, so I cried in the airport. It sounds ridiculous I know, but the whole trip I worried we would lose something of hers. When it happened I felt the loss of control and I didn't handle it well. When we arrived home, I saw I had a package. I hadn't ordered anything and was so surprised to find this book inside! I immediately took it as a sign from God that it was all going to be OK. Sadly I was only able to read in a bits over a large time span because of grading and everyday home life, but I plan to go back and read it over the summer in one s...

I HATE wasting money. If I waste money, or even feel like I have, I get pretty upset. I'll kick myself for days, but will cool off as time goes on.  To try and save money on haircuts, I tried to be proactive by buying hair products that would prevent split ends I get from straightening my hair. Through error, I know which products not to use, but I hated the thought of throwing them away because I spent money on them.  I'm embarrassed to say, but I've kept two of the products in the picture since 2016! The purple product in the middle I had bought after I got a haircut with a Groupon. I figured since I saved so much with my haircut that I could afford to buy some fancy conditioner for my hair. The Neutrogena product I bought that summer and I was going to use it in my hair once a week, My hair was going to be so soft and would be healed from my heat usage.  The shampoo bar I bought  recently . We all know how well that turned out haha! With all thr...

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 kept our Christmas decorations simple this year. Some may not think it is minimalist enough, but that's OK! To me this is a big step in minimizing our stuff. Since living together, my husband and I usually put our tree up on Christmas Eve because we are slackers...and because trees are cheaper the day before Christmas. Then we put the decorations away, but we do it weeks later. Then after nagging over and over again about how we need to take the tree down, my husband finally gets rid of it by February. Yeah we're those people. This year with trying to get out of debt, we agreed that we would not buy a tree this year. We plan on investing in a fake one next Christmas. This year we put on decorations on the faux fireplace my husband made and put up a miniature fake tree that my parents had given my oldest years ago. Here's what our decorations looked like this year: My baby put my Breaking Bad and Batman figures in the tree we put up for her and her sister....

For three years in a row, my aunt has had her neighbors over to join us for Thanksgiving. They were a very cool older couple. Upon meeting them they wanted to talk tattoos and I complimented their steampunk hats. They described their home and all the art they had inside. It sounded beautiful! Last year we got to visit their home for the first time. Art was displayed on all of the walls. There was a piano that was painted by high school students; I can’t recall how it looked, only that I was very impressed. Their living room was one that seemed like it was for display only. Their bathroom had custom bowl sinks with carp fish designs. I’m not giving it justice by leaving out other details, but I remember thinking that I wanted to redesign our bathroom ASAP. Ours was no longer good enough! We went to their pool table room that had a waterfall type sink in it next to their bathroom. Every room left our jaws dropped! My then 12 year old was so impressed she wanted to go home and clea...

Sometimes it seems like all the good things in life happen to everyone else but you. I know sometimes I think, why can’t this great stuff be happening to me? It’s good to remind yourself of all the good things that have happened to you. Who knows, at one point others were probably envious of you! You also have to believe that good things are coming your way. Focus on the small victories of each day. Today’s small victory for me was that I went to the store to get coffee creamer and I was the only customer in the whole store and I got front row parking! It may not be the same as a huge life altering event, but it’s a start in focusing on the good stuff!