Our daughters room. DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNN

Recently, we went through our daughters bedroom. She's our only daughter, plus she's the youngest. She was pretty spoiled to start out with, and it's calming down a little, but she definitely still had too much stuff! Not to mention, we have most of her brothers toys in her room as well due to his room being really small, and some behavioral issues we are working through with him. He uses toys as projectiles, it's not a fun time.

So, wall to wall, floor to ceiling, we did our thing. To include the closet! I was able to get rid of a lot of her clothes, and found quite a few broken toys and trash items. We pulled both our youngest kiddos in there when we were ready for them to make some decisions on which toys to give away to other boys and girls, and to our surprise, they were able to do this! We had a hang up on a tiny pretend kitchen, and cash register set. So we had them choose one to give away. Thankfully they chose to give away the little kitchen, because they already have a bigger one.

After all was said and done, it was SO much easier to clean because there weren't any toys and misc items all over the floor. It is now much easier for them to clean up because their toys fit into two bins. To be honest they don't have that many toys compared to most kids here in the US. We had started changing our ways a few years ago by keeping that kind of stuff to a minimum. We don't want our kids to be lost in a sea of toys, and we want them to value people and their time more than objects. We have learned that they are NOT at all bothered by this. I think we were more bothered by the idea of this in the beginning.

I think most of the time the reason kids have so many toys, is because of us, their parents. We love them so much, that we want them to never go without. We want them to enjoy their childhood, and have fun. They can still do this without a sea of toys, I promise. We are living proof of that. I have seen so much creativity come from my little ones, and be still my heart... They play SO well together now that there aren't so many toys to distract them. They pretend all the time. The two youngest are only 15 months apart, and I didn't think I'd see them grow into best friends still at such a young age.

2014 is going to be fantastic

Aside from still being sick, I have a feeling this year is going to start pretty well. We're already on a roll on our journey to minimalism. Really, we just want to keep up the momentum. And actually, my parents are here right now for a short visit. Our bedroom has really taken a back seat because we're trying to get the main rooms of our house in check, so our bedroom has been our catch all.

I think my new years resolution, is to be able to just maintain this new lifestyle. Meaning to have all the big things pretty much taken care of, and just maintain all that we've achieved. And also, to really get my business going, while keeping a minimalist mindset while doing it. Not having way too many supplies (I've had more than I need in a lot of things, and it's just created too much clutter)

Ok, maybe one more. To take better care of myself. Mentally, emotionally, and definitely physically. What are your new years resolutions?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. How I made a new dog bed with items just taking up space!

Since my husband and I made a decision not to bring anything into the house unless we absolutely need it, now we need to focus on getting stuff OUT of the house. But what about all those things on your list you need to buy? What if some of those things, you can make yourself out of things that are already in your home, taking up space? What an idea! We have to be careful with this idea though, and make sure it's REALLY something we need, and not just something we think we need.

So, here's the story. We have 2 dogs. They each have their own bed, and both of those beds are small. Yet, instead of laying in their own beds, they curl up together in one, which means either one or both of them are hanging off the bed! Which is pretty cute, and funny... But I also kept telling myself "Man, I really need to get them a bigger bed!" I had this idea about a month ago, but of course half the stuff I knew I had in the house I couldn't find. Why? Because of clutter. Oy!

So, I finally found what I was looking for. A few years ago, we bought some fleece to use as a background to take our own Christmas family photo's of the kids. They turned out pretty cute, too! So I have two REALLY big bunches of fleece hanging around. My parents left some old pillows here for when they come through and visit (they live 6 hours away). To be honest, they're pretty old. The pillows that is, not my parents. Still in decent shape, but I know they have more pillows they could bring. I asked them if it was OK to use them for a project, and they said sure. So... Here's what happened!


                 What's this stuff, Mom?? Can we play with it?

 

 

 

These are some happy pups! Here is a good tutorial to how to do these if you've never done a tie blanket. I promise it's really easy, and anyone can do them! Tie blanket tutorial