Don't forget about the clutter in your head!

I have to keep telling myself this is a journey. Think, marathon, not sprint. I keep hearing that, but seriously, it's the best way to describe it. I have slowed down a wee bit on minimizing while focusing on getting everything done that needs to be. It has occurred to me lately that I just have too much going on again. Some things I can't avoid, much as I'd like to. But some things I just reeeeeeeeeeally didn't want to let go of, though I know it was at a point where it was creating more stress for myself, and more to do.

Ever heard that saying "too much of a good thing"? I definitely think there is. When it gets to the point where there's more of something than you can use in a year, yeah... Too much. Especially if it's creating more clutter/stress. I have gone through some slight obsessions. For example, baby legs. Heard of them? They're itty bitty leg warmers for babies. Seriously adorable, and very useful. So I took that, and ran with it! My daughter had almost 30 pair. It was INSANE. To think of the money I spent on that, when a few pair would have sufficed.

I read my devotional today and it was talking about the American dream. You know, bigger, better, faster, stronger... More more more. It's so hard for my generation especially with all the mommy wars, and social media. Everyone wants what others have. I do too, sometimes. I was just talking with my husband about this yesterday, actually! Then to have it right there in my face today was almost like the answer I was looking for.

Back to my original idea for this post (I saw something sparkly, sorry!) I tend to think SO much. I get the gut feelings, but the I have to rationalize EVERYTHING. I pretty much just drive myself crazy. So, when you decide to take it from gut, to brain, ask yourself these questions. Does this add value to my life, or stress? Do I really need ALL of this, or just some of it? If you find yourself thinking a ton about it, maybe talk about it out loud with someone. You never know, the answer just may come to you in a really unexpected way.

But my point is, I want to stress less. I am going to be taking the time to face these things that are stressing me out, and find a solution to them. Getting rid of the mental clutter, as well as the physical clutter :)

Do you have anything on your mind lately you're trying to sort out? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. I hope my journey is helping others who're wanting to try this out as well!

Another bedroom down! Our sons room!

This weekend I helped my oldest son with his room. I have been dreading this because he wants to hold onto everything. I'm talking rocks from outside, acorns, papers galore, ect. His room isn't tiny, but it's not that big. He has a full size bed in there, a dresser, and a desk. His desk was full of papers and all kinds of stuff. He had even stashed stuff under his bed, and in his closet. It took a good few hours with breaks between to get it done.

But you know what? I think I planted a seed. I had him bring one drawer full of items to the middle of the floor, and we created 3 piles. Throw away, give away, and put away. When everything was said and done, we had an entire box of donations, 90% of his items had a place (we're looking for some smaller sized bins for lego's and such) and he got rid of most of his papers and misc items he brought in from outside. I think he even had fun!

When we first started it, he didn't want to really get rid of much, but when he saw the piles filling up, he got more into it! We humans are very visual. It seems like with me and my family especially, the more progress we SEE, the more we want to do! What I really liked about this experience, is that he was fully involved, and I could almost see the way he was thinking change! I hope that this will help him as he grows up, so that things are always manageable for him and stress free!

I highly encourage you to try this with your child if they're at an age where they can help you. For one, it's always nice to have company when doing this, and two, they might really enjoy it :)

Our bedroom. One HUGE task we've been avoiding since we moved in.

A little back story. We bought our house in Feb of 2013. It has 4 bedrooms so each of our children finally have their own room. One of the rooms used to be a garage, so we do not have one. We have a little shed in the back of the property, but it's not fit for storage. So, our closet is our storage. No real attic to speak of, or basement. That's it. Now, our bedroom is ENORMOUS! Which you'd think is great, right? But the issue is it is also my craft/office, and our workout room. So, too much going on to say the least.

My parents are here for a few days, so instead of them watching the kids so we could have a date (I'm too sick to go out anyway) we asked them to watch the little ones so we could figure out our bedroom and closet. I know, so romantic :) It took us a solid 2 hours. We went through probably 85% of our belongings both in our room and closet. Let me tell you, it was no easy task. Boxes and boxes of items and photo's and such we've had for years. Some things for decades.

We took a lot of trash out, and filled up my car with yet another load of donate items. I am only posting a few photo's because we still have a little work to do, but now we can do it here and there since the bulk of things are gone. I refuse to let it get to that point again. I refuse to bring in more things that will just take up space. Our lives are changing for the better so we can focus on what's really important :)

Please excuse the black squares. Hubby has a photo of him by the treadmill after his first deployment of non stop working out as motivation LOL.

Knowing when to let go

Deciding to try to minimalist approach to life is HARD. Mostly it's hard to get started, but sometimes even when you're in a good groove, you'll hit a road block. Things like "But my grandmother gave this to me", and "If I get rid of it, I might find that I need it later and have to buy it again", or "This is really cute, and it's in perfect condition!" We are in the beginning stages of minimalism, and I can promise you we will never be the true definition of minimalists, but we are going to do the best we can to achieve happiness, and freeing ourselves from our over abundance of belongings.

So, let me touch on those things that pop up into your mind when going through things. This is another thing I learned from Flylady. Start small. In one area of a room. Maybe pull out a box that you've been meaning to go through. You want to have 3 categories that you put things in. Put away, throw away, give away. I'll give examples on each categories, and those thoughts listed above. Here we go!

In our bathroom (this is the room I chose to deep clean and organize this week) I found some dog ear cleaner. One of our dogs is a breed that is known to have ear issues because they're floppy ears, and very very furry. When we got him over 3 years ago, we bought some to prepare ourselves. I found it in our bathroom 2 days ago and thought "Well, we got lucky and he has never had ear trouble, but I should probably hold onto it in case he does, so we don't have to buy it again" Seriously, Stacey? You've had it for more than 3 years, he hasn't needed it yet, and it's just getting moved around from one place to another, and from one house to another! We move a lot being a military family. Oh, and look, it's EXPIRED! So once that voice of reason came out, it was a pretty easy decision, after all. And, if one day we have to buy some more, we just will. Another way to avoid this, is don't buy things you think you MIGHT need.

So, that went in the trash. Next order of business. This is really cute, and it's in perfect condition! I had a very overflowing basket full of lotions and body sprays. Even as a woman, you won't use 10 bottles of body spray in a very quick amount of time. I had stuff in there that was full that I've had for FIVE years. I'm not even kidding. So, I went through and picked my favorites that I use constantly, and took the rest to the donate pile. OK, this is getting easier... Next!

This was in a different room, but this was one of THE hardest decisions I've made so far in my journey. My grandmother on my dads side passed away 2 days before my 5th birthday. I do remember her, but my memories are almost like photographs in my head. She was a very sweet lady, who loved to craft. She crocheted lots and lots of goodies for everyone in the family, and we have a BIG family. I had a blanket that was made by her that my mom passed down to me because she didn't want it anymore. The thing is, it's not something I honestly wanted, and it was being packed and stored and only taken out to look at once in a while.

Here's why I made the decision to let it go. My grandmother made it, yes. But holding onto that is not how I am choosing to remember and honor her. Keeping something that she made, and putting it in a box for decades is not doing it any justice. I know there is someone out there who could/would appreciate it the way it was meant to be, so I decided to donate it. I feel so much better about it having gone to the mission to raise money to feed the homeless, than it sitting in a dark box on a shelf.

And the things you love, but don't have a home. Find a home for them! Put them on display. If you can't think of a place for it that it will get some use, or be appreciated, maybe you don't love it as much as you thought you did?

Don't forget, once you get a box full of donations, put it in your car to take the next time you are out :)