minimizing monday

When do things get to a point that is  recognizably "less"?
I'm wondering about this now, waiting to dip below that critical mass (can you say reach critical mass if you are trying to diminish the mass?)

Despite the items moved out last week...lots and lots of ladybugs items...my home feels quite, quite cluttered.
It's the small things more than the big things--though it's everything. Papers, mail, magazines, books, and shoes seem to be the things that are permanently strewn around creating the feeling of lots and lots of red ants biting rather than lots and lots of ladybugs. I know I need systems to deal with these items. I have been putting off this process until our lovely Attic Addition is habitable, because at that point the bags of tools and pieces of insulation, wood, and Hardiboard lying around (hmm, could be contributing to the red ants biting sensation) will be gone. Then I will have a better idea of the space that is actually here to work with.

However, as the wise Vappu from Life Should Be the Cat's Meow stated, organizing doesn't work if you have too many things. It just doesn't. It takes a tremendous amount of energy with little return. Better to minimize first, and then organize.

I am moving along, moving slowly. This morning I took two coats back to my neighbor, who had given them to us for me and p'tit minou deux but weren't being worn ( I also took her a miniature plum berry pie).
I have three bags of books set aside to sell or donate. One bag of random donations to go out, and another bag of clothing to try and sell (this is so much harder for me, somehow). I also have a stack of maps to go to an artists' materials recycling cooperative that came from the big cabinet. And P'tit Minou Deux and I have a date to make our traditional holiday snowflakes today--we will cut up a map to do it!

It's progress. I wish it was moving more quickly, but it's progress.

lots and lots of ladybugs

I just watched the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. Minou watched it too, and even P'tit Minou Un enjoyed it, to my surprise. If you're not familiar with the film, a lonely, recently divorced writer from San Francisco impulsively decides to buy and renovate an ancient Tuscan villa.

I really liked several of its themes, such as the belief in "signs", and the need to sometimes make impulsive decisions when they feel right. The main character wished for several things in her new home--a wedding, a family, a community. When she made the wish, she envisioned that she would be the one getting married and  having a baby. At the end of the movie, she realized that although that hadn't happened, in fact all her wishes had come true--though not in the way she first dreamed of.

There is another part of the movie I liked. As she searches for love and companionship, the main character is unhappy when it appears to elude her. An older friend tells her the story of searching for ladybugs as a child. She would search and search, without finding a single ladybug. When the young girl finally gave up and fell asleep, she woke up covered with ladybugs. Lots and lots of ladybugs, crawling all over her....just the thing she was searching for, when she finally stopped searching.

Where am I going with this? Sometimes, as an aspiring minimalist living a family life, there are frustrating spells of time. Suggestions of minimizing family possessions are met with howls of protest or solid resistance. So in quiet defeat (so dramatic, I know) I cease to think about it for awhile, taking a break from the downsizing process.

And then one day, my teenage son comes to me out of the blue and says "I don't want this piece of furniture anymore".

And then "These hooks" (which are consummate entryway clutter collectors) "remind me of preschool. Can't we take them out?"

And my husband and son say "This shoe box is ugly; let's get rid of it."

And to top it all off, my husband says "I don't think we need to keep that couch anymore."

And then I load said shoe box and piece of furniture up in the car, and drive them off to donate, hoping that someone can use them. And I enlist said son with the drill to remove the clutter-collecting hooks. The couch will stay a little longer, until after my mother-in-law's visit.
And I enjoy the new space...
Lots and lots of ladybugs.

holding down the fort

I have been on my own with my boys for a few days a Minou is off in the wilds, somewhere near Seattle, hob-knobbing and cavorting with a bunch of eco-builders and designers.

He left us hidden chocolate. That man is so sweet.

As are my boys: I loved watching them be playful, gentle, and encouraging with a little one we know. P'tit Minou Un used his Big Boy influence to encourage Finishing Dinner, while P'tit Minou Deux spent time building Mr. Potato Head and roughhousing on the floor despite being tired. I am so, so proud of them, watching the young men they have become.

Anyway, we are holding down the fort. We bought massive amounts of groceries (two teen boys in the home), we bought chicken feed, we bought cat food and dog food. Our entire household will be well fed (me perhaps a little too much so: see hidden chocolate above, plus some amazing chocolates sent by a dear friend in a surprise package). I'm also hearing a buying theme here. Let's hope (for Minou's sake) that we don't buy a house too.

We're going to an open house today, just to look.
P'tit Minou Un reminded me that this was how our big brown dog Sawyer joined the family--a weekend that Minou was out of town, and the guilty parties went to the Humane Society just to look. Ahem.

In other news, I have discovered some affordable non-code (oops) tiny spiral staircase options that could solve our attic loft access problem. And I have a big week coming up at work, with two events I am excited about. Sometimes I don't recognize outright that I am feeling a little nervous about something--until the behaviors I am employing to cope with the feeling undercurrent trigger me to notice.

Such as: why am I eating too much chocolate? Why am I spending so much time on real-estate websites and driving around town to look at houses, when we are planning to fix up our little urban farmette homestead and make it work for us? And why can't I be motivated to scrub and clean, and go on long-distance runs, instead of these other behaviors?

Oh well. Related to news, I also have several academic deadlines coming up. I had promised myself that this would be the year of No Procrastination--I am tired of the disruption this bad habit can create, as I work feverishly last minute to gallop in and deliver the goods in time for a deadline. As interesting as my online coursework is, I am really, really ready to no longer be a student. So many years of this. And here I am, procrastinating again. It's challenging, with this tendency, to study online, since there are so many built-in distractions--such as blogging and real-estate websites!

Therefore, I'm going to take a little blogging break. I'll plan to check in and post weekly on the weekends as a self-reward for getting my coursework done. I'll fill you in with my decluttering progress, which is proceeding at a slow and steady pace. Thanks to a suggestion from a reader (thanks Sue!) I have been sticking with a set amount of time per day--15 or 20 minutes. When that is done, that's progress.

Have a lovely week...please leave me anote and let me know what you're up to!

woke up

What a rollercoaster ride of emotions this last week has been.
Thankfully, I woke up from a dream of a Japanese house to realize that, although I long for space and beauty,
there are many, many, ways to create them in my life...
and that I do not want to be saddled, weighed down, leashed, or chained,
to an enormous mortgage or any other debt.

Whew! Am I the only one who has these fade in/fade out moments?
Seized with a new passion for something, swept by emotions that temporarily overcome the rational parts of my brain.
I  live in both the rational and emotional parts.
I have discovered, though, that the "middle way" of living is more sustainable.
Slow and steady. I keep coming back to that theme, because I have found such stability and comfort in it.
Not to mention progress.

 I'm back to the "ten a day out" decluttering system. This sounds like it would move quickly, but many of the things are too tiny to be noticable. Still, it keeps me moving forward.

So, no grand sweep of the house (the attic avalanche is sadly still piled on the couch). I'm having the hardest time making progress with the baby clothes and little-kid toys. My preference would be to keep a few of the classic, favored toy sets, like the wooden train and Playmobils (I'm hoping for grandchildren some day far in the future, and we do have younger kids over to play occasionally). Also to keep just a few of the cutest, most memorable outfits...and pass the rest on to some other adorable baby or toddler to wear and make their own memories in. Most of these clothes were passed on to us from little Bastien, Tasman, and Zane. However, here is where I must defer to the P'tit Minous, who are inexplicably attached to their three-month old outfits and two-year old coats. Sigh.

We are (I'm claiming some credit, but really I should say Minou is) making progress on the attic remodel too. He pulled out all the rough flooring over the weekend and installed a new ventilation system to deal with moisture from the shower upstairs. I'm so excited to imagine this as our cozy little sleeping loft space (shhh...I mean, "storage space", since we aren't installing a legal staircase at this time. The City does not like lofts with ladders, since the fire marshal couldn't get up there). We live in the rainy Pacific Northwest, and I can just imagine falling asleep to the lullaby of rain on the metal roof just over our heads.

And in other news, I'm back to jogging, tonic for my soul and mood (there's nothing like a good run in the pouring rain), and I love my new job and co-workers. Life is good.

clear & clear some more

Somewhere, and I can't remember where, I read a blog post or a blog post response about Uncluttering by a mother. This mother said that when her children were small, every day she cleared out 10 things from her home to create a more serene, functional and peaceful space. It could be big things, furniture or clothing or books, or it could be 10 broken pens from the random pen drawer. It didn't matter. Just 10 things.

That's my goal right now, fast-tracking the 365 Less Things. And if I find I can't do 10, well, I'll step it back down. I'm also trying to do the 10 first thing in the morning, because if I do this before bed, I end up staying up too late, mooning around the random pen drawer feeling confused.

Today: clothes. I'm frustrated with P'tit Minou Deux's sartorial selection. Despite his closet full of a resonable number of clothing changes, he has one preferred outfit that he would like to wear daily. My requests for clean and varied clothing are met with "You can't tell me what to do". Ah, 13.

So why keep all those hopefully selected (by me) items in the closet that are met with daily rejection? Why, indeed? If a "How about this?" has been met with an emphatic "Ugh!" at least 5 times, no let's make it 10, I see no reason why said item needs to remain on his closet shelf. Let's clear it out. As he commented the other day, it's true that most of his clothing consists of hand-me-downs (I personally love that frugal solution!). Which does mean that they may not really be to his taste and were not of his choosing. So by making the space in his closet, we will see what he really "needs" and have more room to boot. And hand these clothes along to another friend.

simple saturday: lady stuff

I don't know why I dislike the term "feminine hygiene products" so much...
but let's talk about them! Please stop reading now if this topic makes you sqeamish.

Disposable products can obviously generate a large amount of waste and can also be quite expensive.

Around the time that I started to use cloth diapers for my older son, I decided to invest in cloth menstrual pads. I bought a set of Glad Rags from an Oregon-based, small female-owned company. They are very soft and comfortable, and still (we're talking 15 years later) in good shape after many washings. Much like cloth diapers, I used these most of the time, always when I was at home, and supplemented with disposables when I was out and about or working.

source: www.gladrags.com

 

 

However, for a long-distance runner, there can be a little issue with chafing. So I tried The Keeper, a menstrual cup:

 

source: www.gladrags.com

 

I have heard great things about this ecological and inexpensive option from friends, so I was disappointed that I didn't love it--but I didn't. I had trouble with leaking, and it can be awkward to empty and rinse if you are out and about, to say the least, unless you find a private restroom. Also, the stem was uncomfortable, though it can be trimmed.

 

I am happy to report that I now have the best solution I have found, for a woman not planning on more children for a while (or at all):

 

source: www.mirena-us.com

 

This is an intrauterine contraceptive (IUC) with just a bit of progestin, which causes the lining of the lining of the uterus to atrophy while it is in place. So after a few months of spotting...no more bleeding to cope with. I love it. I can't even tell you how much I love it (I will spare you the humourous/distressing tales of my years of menorrhagia). Let me just say that I am not planning to have a menstrual period ever again, if I can help it. I'm going to use this puppy (I'll have to change it out once) right through menopause.

 

And since the Mirena is effective for at least 7 years (though only FDA approved for 5), it is a very economical, simple, and space-saving solution. I was recently doing some tidying/decluttering in the upstairs bathroom and realized that I hadn't used the bag of menstrual supplies in at least a year--out it goes!

 



one at a time

I like this concept of simplifying material possessions.
It is much less overwhelming and easier to approach.
For quite a while I have been reading a wonderful and always evolving blog called 365 Less Things.

The founder, who lives in Australia, got fed up with feeling overcrowded and decided to simplify her home, one item per day, for a year. She took pictures of each thing and gave a bit of backstory for it. She was sure that she would be done within the year.

The blog has been around for several years and still going strong.

Our home, approximately 1000 square feet, would be luxurious in many parts of the world. It is certainly comfortable here, but in the area where I live, it's considered "smallish" for a family of four. I feel fortunate to have two bathrooms but would greatly enjoy a third bedroom. Mr. Minou and I feel very Japanese as we unfold our living room futon couch-bed each evening, and fold it back up and stow our bedding away each morning.

Honestly, this is not a big inconvenience--the only issues are privacy related. Sometimes it's nice to have a door to close for a multitude of reasons, whether it be a nap, couple intimacy, a good cry, or just a place to journal. Also, if someone is staying up late doing homework or a cooking project at the kitchen table, it's hard to go to sleep. Other than that, I kind of enjoy the ritual of it.

I'm digressing though--the point of that foray into sleeping arrangements was that we are trying to pack a lot of living into our smallish home. Two teen boys, an active home office (Minou's architecture business), an online student (myself, at the couch/bed or kitchen table), a passle of cats, a big brown dog...you get the picture. There isn't a lot of storage, and even with a minimum of possessions, things seem to pile up all around before you can blink.

I have found it essential to having a more peaceful, serene home to have fewer possessions. (Note: this does not mean that my home actually is peaceful or serene--see above, I have two teen boys with very different personalities). Also, a designated home for the items we own so that they can be stored away when not in use leads to less clutter and more peacefulness on the material plane.
I see how the phsyical state of our home affects the emotional state of the family.

So, with a busy week coming up, here are 7 items that we no longer use/love.

a bathroom basket

 

some souvenir coasters

 

a small coin purse

 

a CPR face shield, have more

 

much mended gloves

 

seldom-used picnic ware

 

terrible liquor from a White Elephant gift exchange

 

 

sorting shoes

How does one minimalist-leaning woman manage to amass so many pairs of shoes?
And how many is too many?
Here's what I have currently. When I put them all together, it was more than I expected.

I think it's too many. But I do wear almost all of them often. The ones I don't wear as often are the fancier sandals that would cost a lot to replace for the few occasions I would want them.

Brown Keen boots-fall/winter/spring
Black Dansko clogs-daily work (beloved by nurses and teachers everywhere, so comfortable)
Brown Keens-summer sandals and walking shoes
Brown Italian leather sandals-had for 18 years! Rarely wear, but still nice.
Black flat sandals-black summer shoes
Slippers-home, cold tile floors in the winter
Blue plastic clogs-gardening and chicken tending
Nike running shoes-handmedown from P'tit Minou 1, worn out
Trail running shoes-see above

Yikes! One place I think I could trim down is by sticking to either brown or black and not having two sets of colors. I actually tried this--choosing black because it seemed the more basic--but truth be told, I missed brown (I had hung onto the shoes to see how it went). I'm an earth-tone kind of gal. I also have two nice brown skirts that were given to me that I'm reluctant to part with, so I figured I will hold on to them until...?

So how can I trim? This is too much shoe volume in a small home. Also, I preach minimalism at home, but I have more pairs of shoes than anyone else in my household. Ahem. Though my feet have stopped growing, unlike some!

Here are P'tit Minou Deux's pairs:

 He loves the black leather ones (which are falling apart). Summer sandal season will soon be over.
The two pairs of running shoes above were inherited from P'tit Minou 1 (who was the other runner in the family until being sidelined by a knee injury--don't let your early teens run half-marathons, even if they want to!). P'tit Minou 2 is not a fan of running shoes and never wants to wear those.

So I think that I will get rid of my two worn-through pairs of running shoes (after today's long run: 10 miles!) and instead adopt G2's darker pair. Which leaves each of us with one less pair of shoes. His leather ones will need to be replaced soon, but we will throw away the older one.

As I write all this I can't help thinking about what a first-world problem I am having. My friend S., when leaving her Peace Corps stint in Guatemala, collected money from friends at home because she wanted to leave each woman and child she had worked with on a garden project with at least one pair of shoes. One.

This is my life now. Aiming to simplify and finding it a struggle, while others in the world struggle to meet basic needs.
It's not right or fair.

I still have more shoes than anyone else in the family, though. Ideas? I want to trim down!

less & more

I want less of:

• clothing
• jewelry
• stuff on the floor
• pens & pencils
• coats, shoes & bags
• books
• magazines
• paper piles
• time spent cleaning and picking up

I want more of:

• laughter
• evening walks
• learning new skills
• naps
• glasses of wine with friends
• reading books
• hugs
• family bike rides

september evening

It seems I don't have much to say here these days.
Life continues on, changes are both with us and afoot.
Waiting for news and waiting for plans to be drawn
leading to a permit and more changes.
Routines and the coziness of home are a comfort.

Both my boys are back to school--
while this may be relief to some parents,
it's sad for me, as our overlapping schedules means
I see them much more seldom. We have breakfast together,
dinner, and a short hour or two of time, homework help, then bedtime.
On the weekend, there are movies together, bike rides, maybe ice cream.
I love the weekends.

Something about September, the early fall,
carries a melancholy sweetness. I look forward to it, and
I find this time of year so beautiful, the light, the leaves, the air,
...but then a sadness strikes. I miss the long days and energy of summer.

It takes all the seasons. This drawing inward is a good thing too.
My tiredness may be just of the body. I ran nine miles today!
I'm on a slow and steady plan, my new mantra for everything.
On November 17 I plan to run my second half marathon.
I feel inspired to start a new round of paring down of possessions.
Again, slow and steady.
It's funny how things cycle--

How is life with you these days?

the organizing itch

Tonight my Mom returns from her longer trip, hopefully in a very good mental & emotional space after two weeks of meditation at Plum Village, a Buddhist retreat center in SW France.

My first week back I stayed in her home since our wonderful house-and-chickensitters were still here. I took a few too many liberties with cleaning--it slipped into organizing mode, which is very dangerous in someone else's house, and I hope that she will forgive me. Cleaning up spilled cat litter led to cleaning out a closet. Doing laundry led to organizing the laundry room. Looking for something for a headache led to a 2 gallon bag full of expired medications. Looking for bathroom cleanser led to organizing the cleaning product cupboard. You can see where this is going...

I have the organizing itch. Not to say that my own home is done--far from it--but I didn't have access to it, and besides my mother's home has so, so, so many things in it...piles of them...I had to restrain myself from doing more. (Which I did; Hi Mom!) It always strikes me how very much easier it is to clean when there is less to clean around. And since I don't particularly like to clean, this just makes sense.

Now I am home, back in my own rather spare space (though much less so since my three Beloveds came home) and it feels good. I was asked rather anxiously by one of the p'tit minous if I had done much minimizing while they were gone, and could answer truthfully (to his relief) that I had not--too busy with work and academics. (I also didn't do any gardening, which is sadly apparent).

However, the organizing itch just must be scratched. Last night I sat on the couch with Minou and p'tit minou deux while they watched an action-hero type movie, and I happily organized my computer files and server storage, deleting the multiple nested duplicate files that I have somehow managed to accumulate over the years (I'm better now, but in my early days of thumb drive use it was all a little bit confusing--I must have had at least five or six copies of all my past teaching files).

And I can't wait to see if my Mom will let me at her closets and not-closing dresser drawers...(with her of course).
I love to spread one of the joys of minimizing: being able to find clean, flattering, well-fitting, not-worn-out clothing without digging through a bunch of not-that.
Do you think I should give her time to recover from jetlag before bringing up the question?!

winnowing wednesday: minimal closet

At the risk of incurring the wrath of petit minou un, I am showing you my closet. Which is also his closet. Yes, I know that it is messy. The hanging items on the right side, along with the items in the drawers, are almost the entire contents of my wardrobe (I do have a small carry-on bag of seasonal items stored in the attic).

Anyone who knows me personally knows that "fashionable" is not a word very likely to be used to describe me...but I  enjoy clothes! However, as I travel along my path of "less is more", I have become much more careful about a) how I spend money, even on thrift store items and b) what I bring into the house, realizing how much more I value the space and freedom it brings.

I have been thinking about how to create a very small wardrobe of comfortable, versatile, mix-and-matchable, and flattering items, a la Miss Minimalist's ten-item wardrobe. I was inspired yesterday by a post over at the minimalistmom.com about moving toward ethically made, multipurpose clothing items. I followed her link to (r)evolution apparel and was even more inspired by the story of two young travelers who decided to follow their dream and make a difference in the world...with fashion.

Check out the video of the Versalette and "how to rock it"! It's rather amazing, when you consider the design ingenuity involved in creating this multi-use garment (the model is great at showing the quick changes--she could duck into a phone booth and transform her look in a flash). I'm not sure how many of the options I would actually use... but the fact that this one item of clothing can transform from scarf to shawl to hood to top to tunic to skirt to dress is incredible!

I subjected both Minou and p'tit minou un to a complete viewing of the seven minute "How to Rock the Versalette" video, and they in turn subjected me to some teasing. However, Minou did promise (and petit minou un was my witness) that if I gave away fifteen items from my current wardrobe, he would purchase a Versalette for me (from outside our household budget). Game on, mister! (he didn't know that at all times I have a bag of waiting-to-move-out-of the-house items sitting in the closet).

Here is the Versalette in all its glory:

source: http://revolutionapparel.is/pages/sharing-stuff-we-love

And here is the bag of six items ready to go:

I have three more items already selected to be passed on as well, bringing me to nine. Just six more til I order that Versalette. Not a bad trade, fifteen items out for one in that can take the place of  all the others. What color, charcoal or sage? Opinions?

magazine minimizing monday

These are a reoccurring cause of clutter in our 888 sq foot home.
By clutter, I just mean visually (semi) unappealing items that tend to lie around on the couch, floor, and just about any flat surface--not that the contents are not informative or useful.
I'm not sure how we somehow ended up with such a surplus this year. I think it was a combination of Minou subscribing to multiple trade magazines, using up some airline points that weren't enough for a ticket, holiday subscriptions for us and the boys from Grammy, and just generally being too busy to read & reuse them promptly.
The pile you see below, occupying the top of our library & encyclopedia shelf, has already been reduced by at least two-thirds.

before

Magazines are items that I firmly believe we don't all need to get individually. Think of the trees! Although I know I can access some content on-line, I also know that I probably won't. A great solution is reading them at or borrowing from the library, or sharing and rotating with friends and neighbors.

So why are we currently receiving (besides our alumni publications and trade magazines) National Geographic, The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Outside, Wired, Popular Mechanics, Skipping Stones, and Inc.? And are we ever going to read all these back issues? And can you predict the response if I ask the respective recipients if they want to keep them? And do you think I should ask?

after

Don't worry, I will ask. And they will henceforth be kept in individual bedrooms, except for a basket with the most recent issues in the living room. I'm ready for clear flat surfaces. Now what to do with the piles of architecture magazines is another story. Any suggestions??

winnowing wednesday

On Mother's Day, my boys gifted me with a bit of Minimalist Mama bliss: decluttering their closets.

Look what is leaving the house!

too-small shoes

p'tit minou 1 pile

p'tit minou 2 pile

I forgot to count the number before bagging it all up for a friend's yard sale fundraiser to send her daughter to college and for our neighbor friend who is still ever so slightly shorter than p'tit minou 2.

I'm guessing there were at least 25 items. However let's just call it 7 for 7 and put the total at 35.

I can hear the empty space singing to me.

wardrobe winnowing wednesday

to winnow: [transitive]
a) to remove, to get rid of b) to sift or separate c) to blow on to remove the wheat from the chaff

Working on the wardrobe this week.  In part those pesky aspirational clothes. 7 items for 7 days:

1) sweater with a snag

2) color not quite me

3) stained, plus needs ironing, never a plus

4) love this shirt, but I will never, repeat never, be a size small

5) ditto

6) ditto

7) would need to minimize myself to fit into these comfy passed down corduroys

And sadly, keeping these aspirational clothes around, no matter how nice they are, will not make them wearable! They just fill up my drawers. Sigh.

Off to enjoy a cleaner closet. 28 items lighter to date.

winnowing wednesday

to winnow: [transitive] a) to remove, to get rid of b) to sift or separate c) to blow on to remove the wheat from the chaff

So...maybe all this Wednesday winnowing needs a little explanation...
(or maybe not, since I think my main readers are family members who have probably heard more than they ever want to about the joys of minimizing)
...but anyway here it is. I can't remember when I started on my personal journey of "living with less", "less is more", or "Mama's gone minimalist!" (well, not really). I do know that it started in earnest quite a few years ago when I began to entertain the notion that we might move one day. At that time, thoughts were swirling around about a possible future transplanting to southern France (Minou's homeland) or Portland, Oregon for graduate school. And then it occurred to me what a horrendous proposition moving house would be.

Little by little, I began to cull and winnow my possessions. Family was sympathetic to this preoccupation as long as it involved upgrading technology--for example, it was a win-win situation when we got rid of our old, gigantic square box TV and traded it in for a smaller flat-screen one for movie watching. Or the move from stereo system to Ipod. You get the idea. And I learned to keep my impatient mitts off of other people's treasures after one too many enthusiastic suggestions that were greeted with alarm and resistance.

Really, the roots of wanting to live with less go much deeper. But let's focus on the results and not the roots for now. Although we have remained firmly settled in place, and indeed have dug in deeper into our little community here, I think that living with fewer possessions and thinking about what we bring into the home has had long-term benefits.

To get specific: It is easier to find things.  It's a heck of a lot easier to clean when there is less to move around. There is less to pick up and put away. In the past, one of my p'tit minous had shelves full of clothes that were deemed unacceptable for school or what-have-you, but still managed to make it through the wash cycle at least once a week (I know you didn't wear that, since you rejected it four mornings this week! Why am I washing it?!) The way our little home is structured, I share a closet space with one p'tit minou and have a single dresser in a shared space--how nice that all my clothes fit into one-third the closet and that dresser.

My goal is just enough--what we need and use, or love and that brings beauty into our lives. Over quite a few years now, I have gone through intensive "decluttering" or "minimizing" efforts in different parts of the house, the attic, the garage we share with my mom. My inspiration tends to come and go in waves--followed by a long dry spell and a slow, steady silting up of new possessions again. I have found that lately with work, classwork, family life, running, commuting, there is not much time for this downsizing process (though I will never forget my favorite anatomy & physiology instructor saying that she discovered an urgent need to clean her closets just before every neuroscience exam--seems to hold true for nursing coursework as well).

Around the New Year on January 1st, I thought seriously about starting a "One a Day Declutter" through the year, inspired by Colleen at the blog 365 Less Things (her motto is "It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I'm slow").  But I abandoned this idea because...well, it was too slow. However, around mid-April it struck me that if I had been doing this all along, that I would already be at least 105 items further along in my quest to find new homes for things that we (I) no longer need, use, or love.

So, Winnowing Wednesday was born. Once a week I will collect the items that I have winnowed or culled from my home once a day throughout the week, photograph them to share with you with a little bit of explanation, and then pack them away into appropriate donate/sell/White Elephant/to friends bags. When the bags are full enough, out they go (except the White Elephant items which will wait for our neighbors' much anticipated Winter Solstice party).

Here we go with this week's 7 for 7:

1) Actually have needed to be returned to their rightful owner for many a month--regret delayed act
2) how many of these can one really use?
3) too holy to wear, even too holy to repair
4) almost gone, but dispenser also broken...
5) its mate is missing
6) not very sharp duplicate
7) in excess

Total count: 21 items.

winnowing wednesday

to winnow: [transitive]  a) to remove, to get rid of b) to sift or separate c) to blow on to remove the wheat from the chaff

Sifting and separating for the week: 7 items for 7 days.

1) recently passed down to me--pretty, but consensus is "Are you expecting?"
2) great film--watched twice--to the White Elephant stash it goes
3) old prescription--off to the Lion's Club--thanks Colleen for the reminder!
4) works well, but Minou upgraded to an industrial one for his business--why keep two?
5) interesting wrap that Da left-- pretty, but I probably won't wear it, so someone else can enjoy
6) passed down, don't fit...(love those recycled clothing bags from friends though)
7) classic, but can borrow from library

Because I love open space. And less to clean & tidy.