11 and 12 of 31 Day of Declutter Tips and Trials

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! :)

8 of 31 days of Declutter Tips and Trials

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.

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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. 😊

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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.

Things to Throw Away

This post was shared through FB by one of my friends:
http://embracinghomemaking.net/2015/04/200-things-to-throw-away/

Living in a tiny house demanded I "throw away" or in my case mostly "give away" a lot of "Things" so naturally I was curious about what was on this list.

I browsed through it and found that surprise, surprise I had gotten rid of most of the 200 things she lists.  

At least a 1/4 of the things she lists I never owned to start with (maybe that made it easier for me to downsize??) and no offense meant to anyone but if you really have all 200 of these extra's lying around your house somewhere you just might be a hoarder.  

Also, 

if you're having trouble getting rid of more than 25 of these you might consider having a friend (or counselor!) come over and help you declutter!

I've said for a while now: 

"If you have the space for it why get rid of it?"

I think the real problems start when we don't have the space anymore.  This is when we start to place value on "Things".  The things start to take up our time: cleaning them, moving them, organizing them.  The things start to take up our money:  buying storage tubs to keep things in, buying storage bags to keep things in, buying storage shelves to keep things on, buying storage racks to hang things on, buying storage hooks to hang things from, etc, etc, etc.  I'm sure you can come up with others ways "things" take up our time and money.

When you have the space for things, why get rid of them?  

Personally I don't think there is any reason to get rid of things if you have the space for them.  As people we tend toward valuing things: memorabilia, art, comfort items, etc.  In fact, even living in a tiny house, I value things such as my washer/dryer combo, my tupperware, my glass storage jars, my blankets, kids hammocks, legos, bakeware, mugs and tea.

"Getting rid of things shifts our values." 

 (credit: husband)

The most frequently asked questions about tiny house living is about stuff.  Shifting our values to other things has really helped us not to miss the things that we "threw away".  The kids are close, cleaning takes less time, we are spending more time on our hobbies (which right now happens to include woodworking, but also tennis, racquetball, and reading), we had more time than usual to spend with family over the Christmas holiday, I had an opportunity to help clean someone else's house before Christmas, we have time to help out around the church and when friends come to call we have plenty of time to visit.  

I think each person has to assess their values introspectively with "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness" as a guide.  When our values are centered on seeking first His Kingdom, we can't go wrong.

I'm sure I'll revisit this topic of "things" again, tiny living in our society certainly brings "things" to the forefront, but for now I'll leave you with one by-law that has helped me purge:

If I have a question about keeping a "thing" 

and I can replace it for under $50, 

out it goes.