Author: Cheryl Wilcox

Decluttering Checklist: Week Five

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This week I checked off:

Nothing again!

I continued to shop for items for the girls’ room. A wardrobe, some sheer curtain panels and cheap curtain rods, a lamp, and storage bins. I’ve set a deadline of next weekend to finish this project.

This was the first week of Becoming Minimalist’s Spring 2018 Uncluttered Course. I’ve  had lifetime access to this course since I first registered for it (for free) by pre-ordering Joshua Becker’s book, The More of Less. So I’ve been through the course before. It hasn’t gotten me through my whole home, but I signed up again for extra inspiration. I joined the closed Facebook group, which I hadn’t done before. This week’s challenge was to list the reasons why you want to declutter your home and post it somewhere you will see it often. (And reduce it to one sentence and post it to the Facebook group.)

There are many reasons why I want to declutter. Maybe I’ll list them in another post, but here’s the sentence I wrote on a sticky note and posted on my bathroom mirror:

I want to declutter my entire home and practice a rule of life so that I may love God, others and myself better.

Decluttering Checklist: Week Four

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This week I checked off:

NOTHING!!

I’ve been working on the kids’ rooms project, which I wrote about last week.  This has involved lots of shopping and acquiring new stuff, and getting rid of the large bunkbed/trundle/storage unit that used to be in the girls’ room. I’m happy to say that a young man picked it up this morning for his ten year old son. I posted it on Craigslist for free, and it took me a full three days to get rid of it.  I had twenty people express interest in it, but they weren’t committing to a pick up time. Next time I’m going to try a Buy Nothing Facebook group that my friend told me about recently.

So I have purchased two beds, two nightstands and a dresser. I spent an evening putting Mary’s daybed together. I also let the girls get a waste basket, which they’ve been wanting for years. We found it for $5 at Target. And we purchased a picture, a picture frame, a candle (for decoration, not for burning), and a light up “H” for Hannah. I had 4 photos Joseph wanted framed, printed at Walgreen’s and I bought frames for them. New komono.

The girls and I have been discussing the goals of this project. Well, my goals of this project.  (They might just want a pretty room.) They are simply to have a place for everything, and everything in its place.

More specifically, there are these three goals:

  1. To assign a home for each item that we use and/or love. (Or that matches the room décor.)
  2. To put things away when you are done using them.
  3. To have certain times each day for putting things back where they belong. (Because let’s be real, some people are not going to accomplish goal #2)

I eventually plan to have room tours on this blog.  But right now I am focused on finishing setting up their room, and then getting right back to the decluttering checklist.

Decluttering Checklist: Week Three

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This week I checked off:

  • Joseph’s room
  • The girls’ room

I had expected to get much more decluttering done during the past week, which was school vacation, BUT…

I turned this into a major project. The girls room, which Rachel, Hannah, and Mary share, was very cluttered. Hannah and Mary slept on a used bunk bed/trundle/storage unit that we were given for free a few years ago.  Hannah kept asking that they get their own beds, and Rachel really wanted to make some changes in their room. Here are some before pictures.

So we took every single item out and moved it into the hallway and the school room. It was crazy how much stuff was in that room.

Then I started to panic. It was overwhelming. We probably took a snack break.

Then we cleaned the room, and here’s where I made this into an even bigger project.  I took down the bunk bed. We put all the pieces in my garage bay. (I still can’t park in there.) I moved the rest of the furniture out.

Ah!! The calm of an empty space. It was all ready to paint. But no, there wasn’t time for that. If it was summer, I would have done it, but we needed our school room back on the following Monday.

The next step was decluttering Joseph’s room. I moved the things he wanted to keep into the empty room.  This took up most of Tuesday. He got rid of some clothes, books, komono and loads of paper. He kept every single Lego.

On Wednesday, we went through the girls’ stuff. They got rid of some, but on Wednesday night (and Thursday) we went shopping. We plan to replace the bunk bed with other furniture, but I haven’t made any decisions yet. We bought a new lamp, a comforter set for Rachel’s bed, and a set of plastic drawers. And then I had a very busy three days and now vacation is over. So this project will be continued…

Decluttering Checklist: Week Two

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This week I checked off:

  • kitchen desk
  • foyer closet
  • utility closet
  • pantry

For decluttering the kitchen desk, I tried something called the “Shock Treatment Declutter Method”.  I read about it on Uncluttered Simplicity.

  1. I took everything out of my desk and put it on my bed.

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Then I sorted it into these categories:

  • Paper (in piles and files) and Product Manuals (in binders)
  • Cookbooks
  • Matthew’s paper tray
  • Electronics
  • Stationery
  • Office Supplies
  • Cash
  • Keys
  • Gift Cards
  • Library/Store Cards
  • Kids’ bank books and cash (in tin)
  • Decorations
  • Items to repair

2.  I surveyed the damage. I observed that there was stuff with no assigned homes, too much paper, things I never use, and that my paper filing system was not simple enough. I decided to keep paper separate as it is listed on my checklist as a “Major Project”.

3.  Step 3 is to ruthlessly eliminate. I don’t think I was ruthless, but I eliminated stuff and I was happy that most of the things I returned to my desk are things I use regularly. (I may not use the sticky tabs often, and I kept a few paper clips that I may not need.)

Next was the foyer closet. I removed 2 games with the kids’ permission, and 24 hangers.

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I noticed I’d like to replace the ironing board cover. I started a wish list. (Maybe I’ll get one for Christmas.)

I took everything out of the utility closet.  (See below.) I sorted into these categories:

  • cleaning supplies
  • children’s medicine
  • first aid
  • bandages & tape
  • aprons
  • sunscreen/bug spray

I got rid of old stuff, and reorganized.

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The pantry was a mess. I forgot to take a before picture, and I’m glad I did. Here is the after picture.

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It will be a little more filled up after our next food shopping trip. Those Easter pails will be stored in the basement with the Easter decorations after more candy is eaten. I am pleased that everything in here has a home.  Most of the shelves are labeled with a category name and a little list of what goes on the shelf.  This is school vacation week, so I am expecting to declutter for a block of time each day. I may even post more frequently.

Spring Capsule Wardrobe

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I made my spring capsule wardrobe by using the ebook, The French Minimalist Capsule Wardrobe Spring 2018 Collection that I purchased from the website Classy Yet Trendy.  It was SO helpful. Without it, I would not have known where to begin, and I probably wouldn’t have even made one for the spring.

I purchased about 30% of the exact recommended items; I tweaked it a little bit by substituting my own versions of  50% of the items, and the remaining 20% I skipped completely. I didn’t buy bandanas or necklaces, and I passed on two of the bottoms because I do laundry six days a week and I’m hoping I can get by with just four bottoms. So far, I’ve made it almost two weeks with just two bottoms.  It’s been so cold here!  Let me show you my wardrobe!

The bottoms: black skinny jeans, blue skinny jeans, white cropped jeans and this black mermaid skirt from the Gap

The tops: white T-shirt, gray T-shirt, black short sleeve top, black tank, striped tank, light blue pineapple shirt, gray striped shirt, beige lightweight sweater, and striped mariner shirt

The layers:  black cardigan, beige cardigan, gray cardigan, denim jacket, and a black rain coat

The footwear: black sling-backs and gray Converse sneakers that I already owned, and beige ballet flats and black slip-on wedges (both new, and not my usual styles)

The dress and accessories: a black sleeveless dress I bought a couple of years ago for $9.99, the recommended “budget-friendly” beige tote and black handbag from Target, my Hope and Read-Aloud Revival totes (I’m not sure if I’ll use both of them, but I’m keeping them in my closet anyway.)

And one more soft, lightweight, white sweater that I wore on Easter. It matches many items, so I may use it again.

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I officially started using this wardrobe on April 1st, and so far, I’m enjoying laying out a new outfit each night. Because of the cold weather, I’ve been sticking with the skinny jeans and converse sneakers. (I need to wear socks.) Three days ago, I even wore snow boots! And I haven’t packed away my winter coat and gloves yet.  It looks like warmer weather is expected at the end of this week, so more variety is coming!

Decluttering Checklist: Week One

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This week I checked off:

  • Cheryl’s clothing
  • Hannah’s clothing
  • living room
  • laundry room (1/2 bath)
  • upstairs bathroom

I purged quite a bit of girl’s size 10 hand-me-downs that we would not likely use. I also got rid of a few bath toys with Mary’s permission and some play make-up with Hannah’s permission. After years of decluttering, the bathrooms are really down to just items we use regularly.

I wrote about our purchasing new living room furniture in January. Back then we took away our old entertainment center cabinets where we stored DVD’s, and purchased a new TV console that had less storage space in it. I went through the DVD’s with most of the kids and purged several of them. Then I stored most of our DVD’s on a bookshelf in the nearby foyer closet. (See photo below.) My saints DVD’s, our Wii games and accessories, and electronic components are stored in the TV console, and Christmas DVD’s are stored elsewhere.  The living room is also home to most of Sarah’s sheet music (near her piano) and the girls’ Kindle Fires, which are stored inside of the loveseat and in an end table drawer. In another end table drawer, we store all remote controls.

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Operation Joyful Space 2.0

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Operation Joyful Space, my plan to declutter my whole house in six months has failed. Halfway through the six months, I have barely completely the tasks of the first month. I have my excuses. There were March birthdays, and three nights of Footloose the Musical. There was the announcement that the high school where my son is a junior and my daughter is a sophomore will be closing at the end of this school year; and the efforts made to try to keep the school open. (Which have succeeded, for 2018-2019 at least.) And there was my mom’s 70th birthday dinner, and my brother and his wife and son stayed with us, and Easter….

And maybe there was also some procrastination going on. Sometimes it’s hard to get started. Six months sounds like a big commitment.

So today I got back to it. I made a new checklist Decluttering the Whole House. I’ve sorted the areas in my home by the amount of time I’m guessing it will take to declutter them. There are small projects, larger projects and major projects. I intend to pick at the smaller ones daily for at least 15 minutes a day. During the upcoming April school vacation, I plan on tackling the larger projects and maybe a major one. I want to focus on this and GET IT DONE!! I also want to post my progress on this weekly, on Sundays, to give me some accountability.

Today I knocked off the first task: Cheryl’s clothing. I packed my out-of-season clothes in a bin, and stored it in the basement. What is currently stored in my dresser and in my closet? My Spring Capsule Wardrobe, pajamas, work-out clothing, yardwork/cleaning clothes, my movie popcorn T-shirt, and my bathing suit. I’ll do a Spring Capsule Wardrobe post soon. And I’ll be back on Sunday.

How I Found My Passions in 15 Minutes

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If you could do anything, what would you do?

This was today’s reflection question on Dynamic Catholic’s Best Lent Ever.  I immediately thought, I can’t think of anything.  I had just woken up.  I texted my sister about it and she didn’t think she’d come up with anything either. I told her that because I don’t have much free time, I don’t really know what I love to do. I’m just trying to keep up with what I think I have to do.

So a little later, I got out my journal and I wrote reading and writing. I know I like those.  To dig a little deeper, I imagined I was single and I didn’t have to work. What would I do if I had plenty of money and no responsibilities to other people? I assumed I would have a tidy, minimalist home and just hours in the day to fill up with whatever I wanted. I set a timer for 15 minutes. Ideas began to come.  It seems I would like to:

Read, Study or Learn

  • languages, maybe French, Spanish, Italian, Latin
  • certain historical subjects, like Church history, or Colonial America
  • the Bible
  • about the saints
  • spiritual classics
  • my family geneology

Go Visit Places

  • pilgrimages, such as famous Marian shrines, or back to the Holy Land
  • Europe, especially Italy and Paris
  • Private beaches, maybe even live on or near one

Do a Few Activities

  • hiking with other people (don’t want to be alone in the woods)
  • go to Broadway plays, especially musicals
  • take walks on the beach and watch the ocean
  • a 30 day Spiritual Exercises retreat (and other retreats)
  • write and illustrate children’s books

I also had a couple of more personal answers that I don’t want to blog about today. It was only 15 minutes, but this was a good start. I was happy to learn that I do have some interests, and some I could pursue in the near future or even now.

The motivation for simplifying my life (Operation Joyful Space, capsule wardrobes, streamlining home management, reducing distractions …) is so that I can spend more time on things that are important to me. I have been taking care of my family and home for many years. More recently, I have been doing the meditation, eating better and exercising. These things are very important, but that doesn’t mean I always enjoy them.  I plan to share these ideas with Bobby, pray about them, and see what happens. Some of these ideas would seem like work to me at this season in my life, so I would need to choose wisely.

 

 

Planning the Spring Capsule Wardrobe

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I recently wrote about my Winter Capsule Wardrobe and that I was eagerly awaiting The Stay at Home Mom Capsule Wardrobe ebook on the blog, Classy Yet Trendy. It turned out that I wasn’t attracted to it. I don’t care for the colors blush and coral, which I could have substituted with other colors, but I also don’t like to wear leggings. I really liked the French Minimalist Spring Capsule Wardrobe. So I bought the ebook!

This is a whole new style for me. Last spring, I mostly wore boot cut jeans or old tan cargo-style capri pants, along with T-shirts that Bobby brought home for me from foreign countries. And everyday I wore black Teva athletic sandals. When I was cleaning or mowing the lawn, I wore my Yoda T-shirt. (I’ll probably still do that.)

So I planned my Winter Capsule Wardrobe without an ebook. I had loads of winter clothes, and I only purchased a few items. This spring one is the opposite. I only have a few items, and I needed to purchase loads of them. So that’s what I’ve been doing this week. I bought some online and I did a shopping marathon yesterday. I didn’t even eat or use a restroom for about six hours! Crazy!

I’ll be interested to see if these items will last for a long time. In fact, I have beaucoup (That’s French for many.) questions:

Will I not need to buy anything next spring?

Will some of these items be used in the summer capsule wardrobe?

Should I buy the black handbag and beige tote? They look cool, but if I get them, what would I put in them besides my money belt? What does a French minimalist carry?

Can I pass on the other accessories? Necklaces and bandana scarves might be too over the top for me. I feel like I’m going to be high maintenance enough with ballet flats.

Will anyone notice a difference in my appearance? Going from boot cut to skinny jeans seems drastic to me. And I haven’t worn a denim jacket since 1989.

Will I actually use the outfit guide to create all those combinations? Or will I wear the same few favorites over and over and realize that I only needed half of what I purchased?

Will this be simple? Setting it up is taking me more time than I expected. Some things didn’t fit well. I needed to look for a substitute shoe because Bobby didn’t like the loafers.  I’m waiting for some expensive white pants to go on sale…

Will I actually go out in public with the substitute shoes I chose? (See below.)

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These are some things to ponder on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I’m sure my questions will all be answered during the coming months. But for now, there are still several more weeks of winter.

 

Winter Capsule Wardrobe

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I love the idea of a capsule wardrobe!

It seems silly that I look forward to new posts on a blog called Classy Yet Trendy because I consider myself to be low maintenance when it comes to health and beauty aids, and definitely fashion. Yet here I am waiting for her to come out with her Spring Capsule Wardrobe for Stay at Home Moms. My explanation is that I have experienced the benefits of having one.

If you’re not familiar with a “capsule wardrobe”, it is a set number of clothes that can mix and match with one another to create many outfits.   Typically, you wear a capsule wardrobe for 3 months, then at the end of those 3 months, you update it for the next season.  (Leanne from Classy Yet Trendy)

I made my first one in the fall, and then I continued to wear it in the winter. This week, I took out the items I haven’t been wearing, and I’m going to share it with you now as my winter capsule wardrobe. I love that you set it up and then it’s done for three months. No need to shop for anything else or declutter until the next season comes + I love or use everything in my drawers = peace of mind.

When I made mine, I followed the steps in this post. I was able to use so many of the clothing items that I already owned because most of my wardrobe was made up of neutral-color coordinating essentials. Maybe they were old or not the perfect fit, but it was a good start. I tossed all the items that I didn’t love or that didn’t coordinate with what I had. I made a couple of purchases in the fall that helped round it out. So here are the steps I followed and what mine looks like.

STEP 1: SELECT “NAVY” OR “BLACK” AS YOUR BASE COLOR

I selected black.

STEP 2: SELECT YOUR NEUTRAL-COLOR COORDINATING ESSENTIALS

I selected 2 pairs of blue boot cut jeans, 1 pair of black straight leg jeans, 1 pair of black dress pants, 3 long sleeve T-shirts in white, charcoal, and black, a black turtleneck, a black and a charcoal cardigan, a grey pullover sweater, and a charcoal turtleneck sweater. I owned all of these items before last fall except for the black jeans. I made it through the previous cold weather months with just 2 pairs of blue jeans, but I likely doubled the number of outfits to choose from by adding the black jeans.  Thank you capsule wardrobe!

STEP 3: CHOOSE YOUR ACCENT COLOR (OPTIONAL)

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I chose deep purple, and I guess olive because I bought a new olive colored cardigan in the fall. I do not like the color of the green shirt on the left, but I keep it because that is my popcorn shirt. I wear it whenever I go to the cinemas and plan to eat movie popcorn. I don’t want to get butter stains on any of my other shirts. Bobby has a bright red Red Sox popcorn sweatshirt. I guess you can do this when you’ve been married for twenty years.

STEP 4: ADD A FEW PATTERNED ITEMS AND LAYERS

I added a color coordinating flannel shirt, a grey striped turtleneck, a fringed cardigan, and my Les Miserables T-shirt. These were the patterned items.  The layers were: a navy hoodie, a grey hoodie, a black raincoat and a NEW black winter coat. I previously wore Bobby’s old one. I feel so feminine wearing a fitted coat. It’s super soft and warm, and very much appreciated here in Western Massachusetts.

STEP 5: CHOOSE YOUR SHOES AND ACCESSORIES

I chose black sling-back dress shoes, hiking boots, black suede flats, black western boots and black snow boots. By the way, this capsule doesn’t include pajamas and work out clothing. So I didn’t take photos of my slippers and running shoes.

These are my winter accessories. I chose 4 scarves and one tote bag. I don’t own a purse. I usually carry a money belt and my keys and iPhone in my pockets. I know this is neither classy nor trendy.

The Stay at Home Moms Spring Capsule Wardrobe I was waiting for came out today. (I started this post awhile ago.) It looks good, but I prefer the colors in the French Minimalist one. Maybe I’ll have to make up my own.