Minimalize for Space

It doesn't have to be messy to be cluttered!

Clutter is a life-long battle. It is so hard not to accumulate as time passes. You walk through the store and see so many shiny things. Look at that bowl, it really matches my napkins. Speaking of bowls, here is a cleaner made especially for toilets. Now that I'm thinking of my bathroom, I think I need another shelf in there, and then I'll need fancy baskets to put on that shelf. Before you know it, you have clutter.

I once read about the 100 things challenge. The goal was to cut down the number of items you own to an insane number of 100. This included everything from underwear to shampoo. I don't find this realistic, nor do I think it is a good idea. To me, this would be more expensive. Every time I wanted to do something, I would have to rent or borrow an item. Just one hobby, like gardening, can require many tools. Now add on sewing and art supplies and canoeing. That's a lot of things I wouldn't be able to do. This will not work. I like to do fun things. (Besides, I probably have triple that number in just books.)

Step 1:  Take a room at a time.

Or, maybe even take a part of a room at a time. Here is what I decided to do. Whenever I clean a room, I try to find something that can be discarded/donated. As I type, I'm staring at an ugly set of candle holders. I just haven't had the heart to throw them out since my husband lovingly bought them last minute one year for my birthday. If you can even discard one thing every time you clean a room, it can really add up. Just think of a beautiful "Zen" room while you do this and you will find it easier to let go.

Step 2:  Lose the Clothes (the ones you're not wearing)

Literally, if you are not wearing your clothes, lose them! Another cause of clutter is clothing. Luckily, as a kid, my mother got me into the habit of going through my clothes seasonally to donate to others. This stuck with me and I have improved upon it in the past year. After maternity clothes, post-pregnancy clothes, I'm never going to be thin again clothes, and the new getting thinner clothes, I just had a lot of clothes. There are two options:  donate them, or pack them.

Pack them?
If you have items like maternity clothes or clothes that don't fit right now, you might choose to pack them. Grab some space bags, or just use those giant ziplocks and roll the air out. Don't want the plastic? If you have the space, put them in a box. If you have no space at all, then maybe you don't need them that badly. If you still can't part with them and have some time or money, build or acquire furniture with drawers underneath or a chest. My husband and I built a platform bed with drawers and this picture shows a chest I bought second hand and refinished. (Also, this mess was caused by a cat I was caring for, I'm not quite that messy.)

Donate them?
I call this the "Pick 5 Challenge." You can tackle everything at once, or take chunks. Has the toddler finally fallen asleep? Quick! Empty a drawer from your chest/dresser. (This works if you have your clothes sorted, if not, you might need to take a day off and take out all of your clothes.) Now, pick only 5 of each item to keep and donate the rest. Let me clarify, make the categories you want. Only having 5 shirts wouldn't work for me personally, but I am good with having 5 tanks/undershirts, 5 work shirts, and 5 casual shirts. It does not have to be 5, pick 3, or if you have a lot to deal with pick more. After I did this, I was able to close my drawer without having to do the finger stuff. Now, when I buy something new, I have to take something out and put it in the donate bag.

Repurpose them, too.
If you have any old cotton items, cut these up and use them to clean. If you find an old sweater with holes that no one would want, cut that up too. You can use it to dust, or sew it into mittens, dog clothes, or a tea cozy.

Step 3:  Reduce by Multi-Use

Earlier I mentioned all the tools and items related to hobbies. Maybe we can lose some of those things after all. The kitchen is a good place to start. In the kitchen there has been an explosion of really cool things to buy. They have entire outlet stores dedicated to kitchen gadgets. Let's avoid those stores and look at what you already have. Is there an appliance that is redundant? Learn how to cook rice on the stove and you can lose the rice cooker. If you only use the hand mixer, then you don't really need that stand mixer. If the blender is a distant dream of margaritas never made, then just keep the immersion blender and get rid of the big one. And lastly, if you have enough dishes to go all week without washing, then you can definitely lose some of those. 

Speaking of dishes, let's talk about cleaning supplies. Remember that special toilet bowl cleaner? Save that money, you don't need it! I buy basic ingredients and make almost everything I need. I will have a separate post on specific recipes, but the main idea is vinegar, soda, and essential oils.

Step 4:  Reduce by Losing the Lazy

Maybe you don't have a lot of redundant items in your home but you are determined to reduce. In that case, find things that just make jobs easier and opt for the elbow grease. Leaf blower? Do you really need that? Can you do it with a rake? How often do you really use that mixer? If you're not baking cupcakes every day, maybe you could just mix by hand.

These are steps, in no specific order, and definitely not rules! These things help me, sort of. Still on that path, too.