Embracing my Inner Minimalist
I have been a purger for as long as I can remember, at least in my adult life. I'm not really sure what started it, maybe moving so often growing up, but I have realized that I prefer having less things around me. When I live in clutter, I almost feel claustrophobic. I've been pretty good about getting rid of things over the yar, especially clothes (since I use the seasonal closet method). In all honesty though, I've always held back a little because I felt this unexplained obligation to have certain things. But this year for whatever reason (I have my theories), I've started taking things to a whole new level... and I'm loving it. Once I started purging this spring, I just couldn't stop. And now that I'm in Fall Cleaning mode I find myself wanting to get rid of even more... a lot more. So much so, that I've decided to finally embrace my minimalist nature. I was a little hesitant at first, but I've found all these encouraging blogs and websites of people discussing their journey into simplifying, decluttering, turning minimalist. And these aren't crazy people living on the fringe of society... they're "normal" people with marriages, children (one guy has 6 kids!!), people with lifestyles I can relate to. It's just helped me think, if they can do it, so can I, after all, I'm already a minimalist at heart.
And so the process begins. And it is a process. I went through my closet, Dylan's room, and the kitchen last week. We got rid of a lot of stuff (including my Kitchen Aid stand mixer... there's something i never thought I'd part with... but thanks to a hand mixer I have, I rarely ever use it), but I can still think of more things I can part with. Not to mention that I still want to go through every other part of the house... rooms, closets, drawers, forgotten hiding places. I don't expect to be done this week, or even in the next year... but I just plan to keep working on it. And I'm sure I'll be posting about it from time to time.
I dont have the before pictures for comparison, but here are some of the "after" pictures... I really hope things stay this way for a while :)
The kitchen. I finally managed to clear everything off the top of the cabinets (not pictured). The rose on the ledge is from Matt and Dylan, they brought me flowers for all the cleaning I did :)
Likewise, my pots and pans. Part of my motivation for the kitchen purge was that I wanted to be able to fit my new Le Crueset pans into a cabinet without stacking them (since they are insanely heavy). Now they all have their own spot.... I'm just trying to figure out a way to make room for a 6 qt dutch oven someday. That make take a while though.
The closet. It's really hard to get a picture of it because while it's a walk in, it's super narrow. So this is the best I could do. Shortly after Dylan was born we had California Closet redo our master closet... mostly to make use of the storage we could have with 14 foot ceilings in the closet. One of the best things we've ever done (house-wise). In the over 2 years we've had the new closet it has NEVER once gotten messy. Everything has a place and it is easy to put it there. I LOVE it :)
And so the process begins. And it is a process. I went through my closet, Dylan's room, and the kitchen last week. We got rid of a lot of stuff (including my Kitchen Aid stand mixer... there's something i never thought I'd part with... but thanks to a hand mixer I have, I rarely ever use it), but I can still think of more things I can part with. Not to mention that I still want to go through every other part of the house... rooms, closets, drawers, forgotten hiding places. I don't expect to be done this week, or even in the next year... but I just plan to keep working on it. And I'm sure I'll be posting about it from time to time.
I dont have the before pictures for comparison, but here are some of the "after" pictures... I really hope things stay this way for a while :)
The kitchen. I finally managed to clear everything off the top of the cabinets (not pictured). The rose on the ledge is from Matt and Dylan, they brought me flowers for all the cleaning I did :)
Proof of how much was cleared out of the kitchen this year. This under-sink cabinet used to be crammed full of stuff, now it's nearly empty. I have no idea what used to be there, I dont miss it at all, but it's nice being able to easily find the dishwasher soap now.
The smaller pantry. I moved a lot of stuff to this cabinet so that the larger pantry would be more functional.
Tupperware and mixing bowls. I think this will change soon because I'm planning on replacing the tupperware bowl sets with a set of stainless steel bowls. I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to open this cabinet up and not have to take out 40 things to find the one dish I need to put leftovers in. I cleaned this out in April and it's stayed this way ever since. :)
Likewise, my pots and pans. Part of my motivation for the kitchen purge was that I wanted to be able to fit my new Le Crueset pans into a cabinet without stacking them (since they are insanely heavy). Now they all have their own spot.... I'm just trying to figure out a way to make room for a 6 qt dutch oven someday. That make take a while though.
The closet. It's really hard to get a picture of it because while it's a walk in, it's super narrow. So this is the best I could do. Shortly after Dylan was born we had California Closet redo our master closet... mostly to make use of the storage we could have with 14 foot ceilings in the closet. One of the best things we've ever done (house-wise). In the over 2 years we've had the new closet it has NEVER once gotten messy. Everything has a place and it is easy to put it there. I LOVE it :)
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