14 of 31 Days of Declutter Tips and Trials

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 :) 

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.

9 of 31 Days of Declutter Tips and Trials

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??  

7 of 31 days of Declutter Tips and Trials

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

6 of 31 days of Declutter Tips and Trials

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.

5 of 31 days of Declutter Tips and Trials

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.