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As I wrap up my 31 days of Declutter tips and trials, I want to encourage you.

You can Declutter.  You can let things go.  You can throw things away

Think about the people in your life.  How does clutter effect them?  How does your clutter effect them?

How does your time spent collecting, organizing and protecting your clutter effect them?

Do it for yourself.  Do it for the people around you.

You can survive with less things.  You can thrive with less things!

You don't have to "go tiny" to Declutter your space.  Start slow if you have to or jump in with both feet. Either way, I can almost guarentee you will have more mental and physical space to enjoy and/or share with others when you Declutter your space!

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I went to Ladies Night Out with our homeschool co-op last Thursday and got a short tour of the co-op resource room. 

Why would I ever consider storing homeschool "things"??

My old co-op had a "for sale" table that always had homeschool resources for sale at low prices.  My new co-op has a resource room with shelves of resources.  Not to mention there's always the library and the internet.

I saved flash cards (among other things, A LOT of other things) for 6 years waiting for when my kids would need them.  When we moved I HAD to get rid of them (this was such a relief!); now my son is at a point where he needs the flash cards!  But, guess what?  There is a flash card app for the iPad and I don't need those flash cards!  I kept them for 6 years and I didn't need them.  Sigh.

Tip #30: If you can't use it within the next couple years or you can replace it from the library or a resource room, let it go.  Donate it. Give it to a friend. Sell it on CL. Throw it in the trash.  Declutter your space :)

The stress of trying to remember what supplies you have, of organizing them so they don't take over, of realizing you forgot you had something and now it's to late to use it, of trying to teach around all the stuff...all those stresses and more will be relieved when you clear out your space,

Baking in a Tiny House!

I used my Kitchen Aid for the first time since we moved!!!  Oh, how I missed that tool!  Baking = therapy, in my book anyway and I'm so glad we're at a point where I can bake with my tools!

Today it was a new recipe: "No-fail Chocolate Cake".  I found it in a community recipes cookbook or something of the kind; it was missing the measurement for the baking soda but I guessed and it turned out pretty good :)

Using the toaster oven still which was a little small for the recipe but I'm flexible.  

Eventually, we'll have a small range here: 

Meanwhile, I LOVE having everything right on hand in my tiny kitchen!!  

I barely need to turn around to grab the ingredients and then I barely need to turn around again to put them right back!  Kept the mess down to a minimum AND I didn't feel like I was walking back and forth to the fridge, to the cupboards, to the sink...loved this!!

Now, in case you're wondering about the unfrosted cakes (I know you're just dying to know why I posted a picture without frosting ;) ), the frosting did not turn out but only because I thought I had powdered sugar and I don't. No worries though, totally not a tiny house issue; I have a couple extra Tupperware containers just waiting for something to fill them :D

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Hold On To The Things You Can't Replace

This tip can apply to whatever you hold dear, but I'll focus on blankets today.

I had a lot of blankets: throw blankets, comforters, quilts, sleeping bags, etc.  Just seems to happen when you have enough beds for all 8 people in your cousins family to have a bed when they visit, oh, and doing foster care for 5 years!

I gave away all of my blankets, except the one we use on our bed and the ones I can't replace.

I just can't replace the quilt made for me by the church when I was young.  

I used this quilt all the time as a kid so I'm going to use it as a throw blanket.

Another blanket that just can't be replaced: the blanket my husband's mom made for him.  

I also keep the one she made for me but I'm waiting for my seating area to be done to use it.

What are some irreplaceable things you hold on to?

Hold On To History Future Generations Will Want To Know

There may be some history we'd just rather throw in the garbage.  There may be some history future generations just throw away; that will be up to them because by then I'll be in heaven and won't have a care :D.

Scrapbooks and photo albums from the pre-digital time period:

There is the option with these to scan them to your computer.  However, if you're not going tiny and/or you can make the space, I say keep it.  It's hard to replace looking through a scrapbook or photo album.

I'll never forget the impact looking at his baby scrapbook had on a 5 year old who had been a baby in foster care in our home.  You just never know.

Journals and Diaries:

I love reading about people in history.  This could be why I think journals and diaries are important.  I  don't think I'm the only one who thinks this way, however, I know there are some people who don't think this way.

I will not judge you if you throw your journals and diaries in the garbage.  I WILL not.  I will NOT.

But then again, "If you have space for them why get rid of them?" ;)

-You may want to go through some of them and take out the 50 out of 200 pages you actually used.  

-You can scan each page to your computer (great idea for those of you who didn't journal much!)

-You could look through them and select really fun or heartwarming pages to save.

-You could also look through them every once and a while and see how God has worked in your life. I am always humbled and awed when I do this.

Me Putting Up Shelves VS. My Husband Putting Up Shelves

Me:

• measure where I want to shelf to go
• make some marks for where the bracket should go
• check to see if the marks are level
• find the screws Ikea included in the packaging
• start screwing the brackets to the wall
• place the shelves in the screwed in bracket
• check to make sure its level
• screw in the other side
• repeat till all shelves are in

My Husband (redoing the shelves because my job came out of the wall):

• Buys correct screws at the local hardware store (it seems those ones Ikea included were NOT for the wall)
• Checks to see if the ceiling is level
• Checks to see if other parts of the ceiling are level through out the house
• Checks to see if the doorframe is level
• Measures to determine where to draw lines
• Draws a line on one side of the wall
• Measures to determine where to draw the next line
• Draws a line on the other side of the wall
• Uses some tool to make sure the placement of screws will be level
• Stops and considers whether to finish the wall paneling in this area before continuing with shelf placement; Decides to continue with the shelves
• Makes marks for screws, checks marks for accuracy, checks to see if marks are level
• Drills holes into spot marked where screw will go (I was told this is important ;) )
• Screws bracket to the wall with correct screws
• Starts to repeat on the other wall
• realizes that to get the shelves lined up straight, 1/8 inch has to cut off each board
• cuts off 1/8 inch off each board for this side
• Repeat till all shelves are in

Now, besides my awesome pallet board wall, there is a reason most of the board and screw work on this house is being done by my husband! 

Oh, and I made a pallet board garden box!  Maybe I'll stick with pallet board work and Varethane :)

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Hold on to the things you cherish.

I've done a lot of posts on just getting rid of things.  I think it's important to also think about what we are holding on to.

This little figurine was our cake topper in our wedding.  I chose it for our wedding because it's adorable but also because I could use it as a decoration later.  It's been decorating my bedroom since our marriage and I just couldn't (wouldn't) let it go.  It certainly helps that it's fairly "tiny" :)

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It's ok to throw things away.

It's ok to donate things too.

It's also ok give them to someone who needs them.

Sure, next time you make a purchase spend some time thinking about whether you will want to throw it away in the future.

If you want to Declutter, you will HAVE to get rid of some things.

If you have to get rid of some things, they have to go some where.

If they have to go somewhere, I can almost guarantee the garbage will get some thing from your house.

And that's ok, really.

Tubs and Toolboxes are not Forever

As funny as my current climb into my loft area is, 

we do have "big plans" for a stair case instead!

Here are some of the staircases that inspired me to have a my loft access where it is.  As everything in our tiny house, we (as in my designing genius husband) will design the stairs specifically for that space.

My shoes being in the stairs is one of my main priorities ;)

Our's will have to be more narrow...

The tall cupboard could hold my tall boots!

This is probably more the size of what we'll have ;)

And I just like the way this one looks!  Not at all a tiny house design but we may be able to incorporate some of the cool design ideas into a smaller staircase.

I went from my blog post to Facebook (naturally ;) ) and saw this!  Maybe he takes donations so you know your crayons are going for a good cause!

https://www.facebook.com/138242311572/photos/a.141139386572.121979.138242311572/10153219142356573/?type=3&theater

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Crayons.  Markers.  Colored Pencils.  Watercolors.

Time to color your world with a cleared out space.

These items can be so hard to get rid of.  If there is half a crayon/marker/colored pencil/watercolor left, then yes, there is still use left.  Unfortunately, most hands reach for the good ones, not the half used ones.  The half used ones stay half used and the good ones turn into half used ones and you have twice as many half used ones as you had before!

Guess what??  Little secret: these go on sale every year for back to school.

Throw out the half used ones.  Keep the good ones.  If you're really missing the ones you threw out, replace them when the sales come around again.

How do we get into the lofts?

Well, my husband and my hatch was cut last weekend.  Here's how I get up:

• Step onto the white stool.
• Step (lightly) onto the edge of the green tub.
• Put both hands somewhere along the edge of the hatch.
• Step onto the toolbox while simultaneously pushing upper body through the hatch.
• Avoid dehydrator at all costs
• Sit on the ledge of the hatch.
• And, you're in :)

My son's loft access was our loft access until our hatch was cut.  We stepped on the lifetime folding table (those things are tough!), grabbed the edges of the rope and loft and lifted our upper bodies through the hole.  This is still my sons access and since we are building a counter presently he gets a boost instead of standing on the table.

 

But WHY would you use the hole when you can do this??

                      

Of course the whole purpose of the net was to create an atmosphere where this is possible; I'd say the net is serving it's purpose :).

I've shown the steps to my daughter's loft in a previous post but since we're on the subject (and she wanted to be included in the picture taking), here's a little example how the steps work:

She steps up onto the first one, pulls/steps onto the second one and stands while moving into her loft. Honestly, this is the hardest one for me to climb but she scales the wall like a pro (and the climbing is great for tiny house winter activity ;) ).

And, for visitors, we keep a ladder handy :) 

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Children's Clothes

When we first were expecting children, I welcomed any and all offers of clothing.  I especially loved all the baby clothes; who doesn't just love those sweet little baby clothes?!

Then, the clothes began to multiply, and very quickly I realized that children's clothing is like rabbits: they multiply exponentially.

Even in a 1700 sq. ft house, I stopped saving clothes that were more than 1 size above what the kids were currently wearing.  Now, this doesn't apply to babies; babies change sizes almost faster than they poop so keeping a couple sizes on hand is a good idea!  I started limiting the hand-me-down intake when the kids only grew a size a year, about age 2.

In the process of going tiny, I gave all the size-up-hand-me-down's to a friend.  We only have on hand what the kid's can actually wear.  When they need something I go to the second-hand store first and usually some good deal is still there.  Please, don't get me wrong, hand-me-downs have and will saved A LOT of money, but tiny house living is kind of different... ;).

Now, for my children's clothing Declutter Tip (and this applies only to kids out of diapers!):

• Keep only one weeks worth of clothing in your children's room.
• Keep clothes that easily match so you don't have to worry about the match of something being dirty.
• Keep only clothes the kids love to wear: just because it's cute and stylin' doesn't mean they like it - it takes up space, let it go.
• Do the laundry once or twice a week.  Your kids will always have clean clothes and you won't have to fold as much laundry!!  Score!!

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Tip #22...If you aren't sure if you should keep something: try putting it in a box in the garage/storage room/spare closet or anywhere you won't see it much, if at all.  If you don't need it over the next year, you probably don't need it :)




Tip/Trial #23...

Before we moved (they're all mine from childhood...):

After we moved (the rest are sitting next him on his side of the bed...):

I've had them this long.......I just don't know what to do.  I don't idolize them, or even think they're my favorite memorabilia, but when I go to get rid of them....well, I just haven't yet.  Obviously my husband has his own opinion about them, but, thankfully, he never insists I get rid of anything.  My mom has room at her house; I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind more stuff at her house ;)

Pallet wall is finished (minus window frame)

Rainbows!

I love the way my bathroom flooring, rug and shower curtain blend.  It's super hard to get pictures in here but it looks good. Rainbows :)

"Look For the Rainbow!"

I commented this morning, "It's starting to rain."

To which my son replied, "Look for the rainbow!"

Sure enough, as we turned in to the Lowe's parking lot, there was a rainbow stretching across the sky.

As the frustrations of my week continued -- washing machine filter clogging, resituating everything to clean up water spills, shelves falling off the walls, baking catastrophes, rain on freshly stained boards -- I needed this reminder to "Look for the Rainbow".

Even as I write this I am sitting in my loft looking out my window because we repositioned the bed to make this possible.  I'm sitting next to my son as he works on his school work (with a good attitude!!) and haven't received any calls from the principal at my daughters school (yeah, it's been a tough week with school stuff too).  My dishes are washed and the washer/dryer finished drying the clothes.

AND "all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose".

Look for the Rainbows!

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Random things just lying around that you THINK you MIGHT use someday or just MIGHT be the perfect gift for someone.

Time to clear it out.

My tip for this is have some fun with it.  

If it's a gift, just give it to someone.  

A random act of giving. 

If it's a MAYBE use someday, use it.

Then donate it.

Here's a few things I had lying around that we had some fun with before passing them on (not the kid, he's a keeper!) ;)

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Take a look through your sheets and pillowcases.

Set aside your favorite sheet set for each bed in the house 

and a pillowcase for each pillow. 

When you wash sheets, take them off the bed, wash them, and put them back on in a day.

(I do understand if you have babies & toddlers this idea will only be possible in a dream world!) 

Consider saving a couple flat sheets for drop cloths if you plan on painting anything.

Donate any now extra sheets and pillowcases to somewhere (homeless shelters, secondhand store, etc.) or just close your eyes and toss them in the garbage.

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Tip#19: Use the library.

Oh, and don't forget to clear out some of those books at your house no one Reads anymore :)

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Tip #18:
If you haven't used it in the last 5 years, you probably don't need it.
If you haven't used it in the last 15 years, you don't need it.
If you haven't used it in the last 30 years, you really don't need it!

Start giving away or throwing away those things you don't need.

But then again, "if you have the space for it, why get rid of it?"

THIS is small...

My son and I visited a submarine last week.  I took some pictures of the kitchen; these two spaces were used to feed 85 men 4 meals a day!

Now I'm really curious: how many people can I feed from my tiny kitchen? :)

Running Water!!

It came a runnin' all right!  Straight out of the pipe and onto our floor!!  

I'm talking to my friend on the phone and suddenly water is pouring out of the pipe and I'm yelling, "It's coming!!  It's pouring out!! Turn it off!!"  Conversation was cut short as my husband and I feverishly mopped and moved things out of the way.  The cardboard and drop clothes protecting the floor were quickly moved out of the way and hey, I can see my floor now!

My husband fixed that problem.  Whew!

It came running again!  Spraying out the hose connection to the washer/dryer!

Thankfully, since this time I was watching all pipes, I caught it quick and there was a little less running!  This one frustrated me though because we paid a plumber to connect the unit to the plumbing.  My thoughts tend toward, "If I pay someone a lot of money to connect something there shouldn't be any problems with it".

My first inclination was to call the plumber up and tell them what was happening.  My husband, on the other hand, just wanted to get the water running (through the pipes that is).  After a few attempts: success!

The water is now running where it should be 

and I am currently washing clothes in my awesome washer/dryer :)

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When I began actually considering the idea of living in a tiny house,

 one of the first things I worried about was shoes.  

Yes, my shoes (judge me if you must: I like my shoes!).

AND, my husband assured me that he would make room for my shoes.  

I know some people who only have one or two pairs of shoes; I am not one of them.  Neither am I one of those people who has a closet full; I have a modest, oh, maybe 15 pairs of shoes.  In my defense almost all of them are worn on a regular basis.

Also, I might add, my husband insists I buy shoes that are good for my feet, thus my shoes didn't fit under my mantra: "If I don't use it much and can replace it for under $50, get rid of it"  

Tip #17: Get rid of duplicate pairs of shoes.  

I had two pairs of tall black leather boots (no judgement here please, one pair was free!), so one pair went to a friend.
I had two pairs of hiking sandals, again I gave one pair to a friend.
I had two pairs of gardening shoes, the garbage got the extra of those.
....Hm...yeah...I think those are the ones I got rid of :)

Stay posted for where my shoes will be in our tiny house!

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Tip #16

DO the craft you have been intending to do for...how long?

I'm sure not everyone has crafts stored away for a rainy day, but I did.  Grudgingly, I looked at how long I had craft "things", i.e. an 'in process' quilt(10 years...), scrapbooking supplies (10+ years...), children's crafts(8 years...), and I figured if I hadn't used it/completed it yet, it probably wasn't high on my list of priorities.

Because I was downsizing to a tiny house and not just decluttering, I made it a priority to work on some of kids crafts with my kids, then I donated my other crafting things to friends.  I did keep all the 'in process' scrapbooks I had and I finished them with those "scraps" I showed in a previous post.

Now, please don't get me wrong, if those crafts had been my therapy I would have made room for them in my tiny house.  However, my therapy is baking, so instead of crafty things I saved my Kitchen Aid :)

So, do that craft or donate it, and hopefully like me, you'll feel the burden of an unfinished project lift from your shoulders!

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Tip #15:  Eat the food you have.

You know that jam that was given to you last Christmas, as in 2014?  If it's sealed, it's still good.

When we began to downsize I made it my goal to use up all of the food in my cupboard and freezer.  I think this is hard for me because I like to buy things and if it's food I can justify the purchase :).

It was a real challenge for me to go to the store and ONLY buy the noodles for spaghetti...ONLY the noodles, no more, no less.  I had the tomato sauce, herbs to make it yummy, carrots, onions and meat...I ONLY needed the noodles.  Going to the store and ONLY buying what I needed to be able to use the things in my pantry was an ongoing challenge as I downsized.  

Now that we're living tiny, I always take stock of my food before a trip to the grocery store.  For instance, I have a jar of Cashew Coconut Sauce that needs chicken and veggies: I bought chicken and veggies for the week.  It is nice that we don't have much to take stock of, however, I did almost buy 6 peppers at Costco today when I still have one from last week unused in the back of my tiny fridge...

Cooking Together in our Tiny Kitchen

Today my rookie chef made Chicken Cabbage Salad and Pizza for dinner.  

Before I took this picture I was standing next to him cutting butter into the GF pizza dough in the blue bowl.  Believe it or not, we had plenty of room to work together in the kitchen.  

Oh, and dinner turned out great!  I can't wait to see what he decides to make next week :) 

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Tip #14:  take some of those old letters and cover a photo box with them, then only keep the super special letter that will fit into the box!  ...take pictures of all the rest of the letters and send them to the "going out of the house" receptacle (yes, yes the trash).

Currently, my Kitchen

As I'm sure you know, we still have lots of work to do on our tiny home.

We are making the best of it and really, whose house is ever actually COMPLETE with NO work to get done??

Anyway, here's a few "updated" pictures of my kitchen (it's always changing as I get a new idea!)

Oh...and so far I've tackled and succeeded in making (among other things I can't remember right now):

• Cranberry Pecan coffee cake
• Brownies
• Vegetable Curry
• Rice
• Stew
• Tacos
• Cornbread
• Drop biscuits
• Bean Soup
• and Chicken Nuggets ;)

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• Take pictures of all those old letters you just might have laying around. 
• Upload them to your computer.
• Back up your hard drive.
• Voila!  Memories Saved.

Oh, and don't forget to have a good laugh about what is in some of those letters!  I know I got a kick out of some of the things in some old letters I found!  

One of my favorites, although certainly not the most hilarious, came from a friend when we were about 15 years old telling me:

 "I still think about (boys name) he really was a gentleman  Maybe our husbands will be gentleman, of course they will be!"  

Considering I married that particular gentleman, yes, yes, I do believe I ended up marrying a gentleman! :)

Still working on making these crates look right in the space but they will eventually be my "wall" and my photo box fits perfect :) 

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I didn't even realize I had missed posting yesterday until tonight at about 7pm; it was just one of those days.

Now on to the Tip and Trial of the day! 

Tip #11 - Trial #12:

Go through all those old cards and letters and scrapbook them

or 

send them to the "going out of the house" receptacle (sounds better than "put them in the trash doesn't it"?) 

and/or 

save the most special and put them in a memory box.

 This may not be a trial for some people, but it sure was hard for me.  I always just threw my cards, letters, pictures of friends, etc, into a storage container and kept them in my storage room.  Over the years the containers got bigger, and bigger, and bigger.  Every once and a great while I would go through them and make a super cool scrapbook page with something I had kept.  Then I would feel justified in keeping everything, or I would throw somethings away, feeling as though I could do that because I scrapbooked something else.

When we decided to "live Tiny" I bit the bullet and spent several days going through my special paper "things".  I took some pictures to share at a later date...and now it's a later date :)

Thankfully I had a little scrapbooking/organizing helper to wade with me through all of this!

Here are just a 2 out of MANY scrapbook pages I threw together to save "memories".

I've learned that if you don't just do it, it won't get done and everything will sit in storage containers.

And here's what I got it down to...well, actually this box closes now so I must have done some more work but these are the last pictures I have after all the work.

I filled at least one 12x12 scrapbook as well, but it's still in one of these rubbermaid tubs we're using as chairs right now.

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Update on Day 9's Trial: 

I got rid of some books!  About 6 of them, maybe 7.  

They were those ones, you know, the ones you LOVED, the ones that really HIT HOME, the ones that really created LIFE CHANGE, the ones you WILL NEVER READ AGAIN.  

And just in case I ever do HAVE to read them again: I'll order new ones.

Now, for today's Declutter Tip:

Use up one thing of soap/shampoo/cleanser/conditioner and don't replace it!

In fact, don't put more soap/shampoo/cleanser/conditioner in the shower/bathtub until you are out.

Then, keep only one soap, only one shampoo, only one cleanser, only one conditioner...I think you get the idea...in the shower/bathutb at a time.

Not to say you can't store extra's in a cupboard (after all, if you have the space, why get rid of it?), but your shower/bathtub will be a lot less cluttered if you keep only one in there at a time.

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Trial #578: I think I still have to many books.  

I don't even know what's in some of the tubs still cluttering my tiny house but I'm pretty sure its mostly books of some form or another.

And I know I need all of them.

I keep telling myself that once all the storage is put in and cupboards are built everything will find its place.  Like Magic!

I'm sure you haven't heard the end of this trial...it's been pretty much ongoing since we decided to move!

Cargo Net turned Clothes Line

And all the clutter down below :P.  Actually, what you see is the end of our folding table that is taking up a lot of space and impossible to organize, the floor covered in every piece of cardboard that comes into our house (to protect the flooring...), and our one seat in the house: the step stool.  

But isn't our cargo net/clothes line awesome! :)

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Towels.

Bath towels. Kitchen towels. Hand towels. Rag towels.  Baby towels.

It's ok to donate them.  Really.  

Or, even turn some into rags for the garage.

We each have one bath towel in our house, except my husband because he uses hand towels not bath towels: he has 4 hand towels.

Just a tip, but then again, if you have the space for 50 towels, why get rid of them??

It's official:  we now have internet BEFORE running water.

And yes, it is quite a bit easier to call the cable company and have them install internet than it is to

• dig a trench
• re-plumb lines
• install water pipes
• install a new outdoor insulated spigot
• get and install the lead free hose to hook the water to the house
• etc, etc, etc.

Really, I don't know what else needs to be done, but thankfully my wonderful husband does!

I'm also thankful for family who let us use their washing machine and shower and a tennis club where we can workout AND shower, oh, and a building on out lot where we can wash dishes!  

See, who needs running water anyway??  

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Blankets: if you haven't used them in the last year (or two, or three...) you probably don't need them around.

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With Christmas "things" I think I need to revisit my philosophy "if you have the space for it why get rid of it?"

For me, I think really I just had to purge.  

I got rid of old lights, old garland, old christmas trees and old Christmas cards and...well, actually, you know, I don't remember what else.  And that tells me I probably didn't need what I got rid of.

What I kept were the ornaments that meant the most to me, my books that meant the most, Christmas photo albums, stockings and a few other things: all of it fits into one Rubbermaid tub.

I fully intend to purchase lights next year and light up my Tiny House for Christmas and I would love to go to the tree farm and look for a tiny tree :)

Meanwhile the tubs in this picture are gone and it feels good to simplify my Christmas collection.

A break from Declutter for some pics :)

I didn't get any snow pictures of the house but our resident snowman is still hanging in there.

The ditch across the front of our house is for (eventually) running water!  It's almost there but the snow slowed things down a bit.

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If you're actually following this blog, you'll notice day 5 is actually on day 6.

However, I'm hoping, since very few people read this blog, that no one will even notice :D

Tip #5:

In the kitchen: if you don't use it get rid of it!

When we moved I had boxes of things in my kitchen that I never - or rarely ever - used.  Sure, those little heart cake pans were adorable, but I used them...hm... maybe 5 times in 10 years.  Really, I don't need them around.

What do you have in your kitchen that is used next-to-never?  

4 of 31 days of Declutter Tips and Trials

Day 4 and already we're on Declutter Trials.

When we decided to downsize we let our kids decide if and what they wanted to get rid of.  Our only stipulation for our son  was that everything ( minus clothes and bedding ) had to fit into his massive toolbox turned toy box; really it's so big he said he could sleep in it, and he probably could!

Our doesn't-care-about-things, throws-things-away-at-random daughter only had three Rubbermaid tubs worth of things (that included her smaller throw blankets) and her suitcase of clothes.

So far, so good.

A little history:  a couple years ago I saw my old doll house collecting dust in my storage room and decided to give it to my son for his army guys.  He was very excited probably because it was solid wood and built by my dad...well, OK, actually what he said was, "it even has cobwebs!!"

As usual the newness wore off and eventually the house was used almost never, if not never.  I figured it was among the "unwanted" and left it at my moms house.

My mom put the house in the girls room, where James found it today...full of cute little girly dollhouse things set up by girls over Christmas.

A very calm but angry little boy confronted me: "Why is my army house in the girls room?!!"

Opps.  Mommy mistake.

I explained and apologized...and helped him haul the house out to the car (did I forget to mention this house is like 1 foot by 2 ft by 3 ft, solid wood??).

After a disbelief moment (or two, or three, ok maybe 10) my husband not only helped my son haul that thing into his loft but helped him organize and get rid of a few other things so the house semi-fits into his loft. 

I don't want to be so extreme with our downsizing that my kids become resentful or emotionally run over in anyway.

So, tomorrow I'm going to make sure my son is happy with how that house fits...and that there isn't anything girly about it.

3 of 31 days of Declutter Tips and Trials

Pots and pans.

Specifically, the pots and pans in our kitchens.

How many do you have in your cupboard?

How long would it take to count them?

If you're anything like me (and a lot of people I know), I had enough clean pots and pans to cook for several days without washing ANY of them.  

Now, I'm down to one 6qt and one 4qt saucepan, one small and one large cast iron skillet, a flat crepè pan and a 6qt popcorn pan - as it stands right now I will not cook in the pan my husband uses for popcorn because he burns it and it drives me nuts.

Oh, and did I mention I'm not using any of them seeing as how I don't have a stove yet??

Who knows I may even learn to share pans with my husband and I'll be down one more pan...or he can store his burnt popcorn pan under the house. 😊

2 of 31 days of Declutter Tips and Trials

This tip seems to be in just about every article I read on decluttering, but it was relevant today so I'm sharing :)

When you get a new article of clothing, get rid of an article of clothing.

This has actually kept me from buying more clothes cause I can't think of a thing in my closet that I want to part with!

My husband has been doing the same thing and yesterday he was given a nice shirt from his dad.  Today one of his "favorites" went out to the church garage sale box.  He seriously considered not accepting the new shirt because he didn't know which shirt to get rid of.  Personally I thought the new shirt fit him better so... 😊

1 of 31 days of Declutter Tips and Trials

Books.

I love books.  They're comforting to me somehow.  I love reading books but I also just like looking at them.

How many of the books on your bookshelf (or shelves) have you read?

How many of the books on your bookshelves have you read but know you will never read again?

I had ever intention of reading or using the books on our bookshelves.  Or I had read the books but wasn't going to read them again.  

When thinking about decluttering to live "tiny", I realized the books in these two categories could be cleared out.  This was very hard for me but you know what?  I don't even remember what books I cleared out.  I don't miss a single one of those books.

The burden of having books "things" on my mind is lifted and it feels good.