The Cottage on the Hill

I noticed as I shopped various stores and yard sales the past couple of weeks that I am shopping differently now that I've minimized so much. As I see tempting things, I find I'm asking myself, "Do I really want to bring this into my house and find a place for it?" The answer is no. I was offered some vintage pyrex for free, but politely declined. In the past I would have grabbed it as if vintage pyrex were a talisman to the rose-colored joys of mid-century Americana. Today, it just looks like useless clutter. I have some vintage pyrex that I do use. I have enough. I don't need a collection, and I can enjoy what I have without feeling overwhelmed by what I do not. This is very refreshing and I find I can walk through stores and sales more intentionally. It is also freeing in that I don't feel sad about buying or not buying the latest trends or cute thing.

The smallest bedroom in this cottage has the largest closet. Go figure! Inside this closet is my grandmother's cedar hope chest. Inside the chest is my vintage clothing collection. Well, it mostly goes ignored, so I decided to create a goal of getting rid of most of my vintage clothing collection and using the trunk to store my seasonal clothing, thus eliminating two totes in the basement. I did, indeed, get rid of the majority of my vintage clothing collection, but I still had enough to not leave enough room for my seasonal clothing. I was a little disappointed. In order to make it work, I would have to either capsule my seasonal clothes or get rid of all of my vintage clothing. I wasn't willing to do that, but I was really sad that I fell short of my goal! To make it up to myself, I reasoned that I do have room in the trunk for key pieces of memories that I am saving. I can store my kiddos' baby boxes in it as well as some heirloom and special memory baby cl...

As I've been minimizing and decluttering, I'm noticing a psychological by-product occurring. I wouldn't quite call it being judgemental. Admittedly, that's a bit of a click-baity title, but what I mean is I notice and am more bothered by other people's clutter. Not that I think ill of them! No way! That would be being judgemental and wrongfully so! It's not the people or their circumstances. It's the stuff itself. And it isn't that it upsets or angers me. I'm not bothered in that way. I'm bothered in that I itch to declutter for them! To be honesty, I already clean for friends and family, but if I weren't such a shy violet when it came to confrontational things, I probably could make a good go at hiring myself out to help minimize and declutter! It is normal to notice and even get a bit anxious around other people's clutter. Ignore the clutter of those who are happy as they are and be willing to support those who are seeking ...

I went through a dark corner under my basement stairs. It is the forgotten area where we shove things we never use, but are reluctant to get rid of. I was able to eliminate somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 of the stuff, but it bothers me that I didn't just toss it all. I wouldn't miss it. But, I have to respect where other household members are in their comfort levels in keeping things. And I have to rejoice in what I did get rid of, not focusing on the negative. There is "breathing room" under the stairs, now, which is the goal for our poor basement to reduce dampness, increase airflow, and eliminate mold. Overall, the basement is looking 10x better! I can allow myself to be proud of that, even if there are a few items I am reluctantly holding on to, and areas of other improvements I need to make. I must see what has been done, and not what is left to do.

I noticed something recently. As I've been greatly reducing our household inventory, I'm finding I have a reduced mental load as well. Little things I've been meaning to do, but rarely able to, are now achievable! Meal planning, reading, keeping up better on the every day tasks. I'm not as forgetful as I was before. Even my mood is more uplifted. Maybe it's minimizing euphoria or a honeymoon phase, but I'll ride the wave as long as it lasts!

Summer holiday is drawing to a close. Just after Labor Day the school year begins. I won't have time to purge, declutter, and reorganize. I will have to work with my home as it is. Honestly, I'm a little worried about the mind-shift. I've spent all summer sorting out my thoughts, feelings, anxiety, and decisions about my little home. Will I be able to put it out of my mind so I can focus my mental energy on homeschooling 4 children? I'll have to. I'll simply have to. A notebook may be the answer. I'll have a notebook to jot down any ideas I have that'll have to wait until next summer. I'll also have to take some time to think about all I have done this year to improve our home, and it's a LOT. Instead of seeing anything still undone, I will focus on the done for a day, perhaps an afternoon, or reflective evening, and then actively shift my mind so I can successfully focus on homeschooling.

My little girl is not quite a teen, yet. She is wonderfully artistic, and as her brain swarms with creative energy, she has little room left for mundane maintanance. To put it not so nicely, she's messy. Like, she could be on one of those reality TV shows where someone comes in to clean and can't even see the floor. In the past, it was a gigantic battle between us. The answer was drill sergant barked orders and taking away her favorite things, right? Right?!! A friend of mine was the first to calmly tell me that this was just my daughter. She has a son who is similar, and what he needs to function well and keep up his room is similicity and minimalism. I bucked at the idea. After all, I grew up with lack compared to my more privileged peers, and I wanted my daughter to have all the things I didn't. That's not reality, though. That's unhealthy projection. A big lightbulb moment was when I discovered that my daughter simply doesn't care about havi...

I hate pen clutter. And I hate cheap pen clutter even more. This is another throwback to my childhood. In the spirit of household frugality, if cheap or free pens could be had, they were taken. Another thing to remember is our baby boomer parents grew up in an era where you had to purchase things and they were a little harder to come by. By the time they were adults, cheap mass production was growing at a breakneck speed and "freebies" became great ways to advertise and promote. Of course they took the free stuff! It was easy, and free and saved them some jingle and time going to the store to purchase it. By the 1990s, it was coming in in abundance and the habit was set. Going through my own children's things, I have found piles of cheap, free little bits and bobs they've gotten from stores, parties, parades, fairs, school, church, holidays, restaurants, and giveaways. Handfuls of erasers and pencil sharpeners. Crayons, little cheap toys, pencils, tiny...

Every January I have the good intention of having and keeping a budget and expense book. By February, it is abandoned. As I cleaned out my desk drawers the other day, I came across a two year old budget book that is mostly empty of entries. I asked myself why I could never keep it up. Part of it is just the busy of every day life. Another part is the growing receipt-free culture where receipts are either refused or sent electronically. Also, online purchases are another reason, as they are so easily done and forgotten, the tally never really noticed. Same with bills. Many are automatic or done online. But, the main reason, I concluded, is "budget clutter." Because of the ease of purchasing these days, it's no big deal to "swing into" Target, or the gas station, or a yard sale, or what have you. We end up not seeing the individual purchases and bills; we only see the balance remaining in our accounts. We don't handle tangible money sitting in ...

We acquire so much stuff for our children based on hopes and dreams rather than reality. Cleaning out a cupboard, I came across a set of cheap card games. The boxes had come unglued and the cards were all mixed up. I began the tedious process of sorting the cards out with the intent to fix the boxes and get them organized so we could play the games. As I sorted, I became more and more stressed and agitated. The cards are very cheaply made and some had some damage. The illustrations and colors used on the cards were croweded and overstimulating and forced you to look carefully at the cards rather than being able to work with them at a glance like traditional cards. I began dread having to count out each set to make sure each game had all their cards. As I got more stressed, I realized that we rarely even played these games. We have other games, and the children are old enough to use traditional cards. We could play most of these card games on a single deck of traditional cards r...

Living in a such a small house, I am very grateful to have a basement.  We do have an attic, but it is very difficult to get to, harder to climate control, and not very big or safe for storage.  As such, our basement became our storage center, but also, I wanted to use it as secondary living space.   In the past, we planned on either adding on to this cottage or moving.  Therefore, I kept pretty much everything so I would have it for that some day.  Unfortunately, that meant that the basement became a cluttered mess.  At worst, we pretty much just had narrow paths to the laundry area and hubby's man cave.  I had to climb over boxes to get to the pantry.  This became a trap for dampness, mold, mildew, and mouse infestations.  Embarrassingly gross and health damaging!!   My house makes me sick. I love my little house, but I found it strange that I would feel tired, anxious, and sickly at home, but if I left the house, I felt better.  ...

As I minimize and declutter our stuff, and face my husband's chronic illness, I really have to think realistically concerning our next 10 years.  I can have hopes, dreams, and goals, but, fact is, life is very uncertain.  Even so, the next 10 years will be heavily focused on the children's education, paying off our debt (mortgage and medical-related), fixing up our little house for our elder years, building our business, and planning for hubby's early retirement.  He can retire at age 55 at a reduce pension.  Between his life-long hard labor work and chronic illness, we believe he's going to have to retire ASAP instead of holding out another 5 years to get his full pension.  In the meantime, I will likely have to work part-time to help fill in gaps and pay down the debts.  Life will be busy and family-focused.  So, I am purging many things that will not contribute to a busy modern life for the next 10 years.  That means many of my cute vintage giz...

The yard sale went very well!  I made $250 and got rid of most of my stuff!  It felt so good to unload and clear out so much of the clutter in my basement.  In due time, too, because Hurricane Isaias came through and flooded a large part of my basement.  If I had all that stuff in there, it would have been an overwhelming, exhausting, messy problem.   The kitchen is on hold a little longer.  My husband's chronic illness flared up and he spent a week at home in bed.  I didn't want to aggravate any stress or discomfort with paint smells and noise.  Instead, I worked on gathering and organizing our homeschool for the year, and I watched many episodes of The Minimal Mom on YouTube, which segues to: The Minimal Mom has a lot of great advice concerning decluttering and minimizing.  One spot I always have difficulties with is clothing.  Her wardrobe videos really helped me get into a mindset to be ok with a smaller wardrobe and a more realistic...

Stress kills the gut, and the unhealthy gut can wreck your life. Life has a way of knowing when I'm trying to reduce stress and it throws a million curveballs at me at once and throws me under the bus. I'm going to have to be a bit selfish. But, I think the biggest stressor is the stuff and clutter.  This comes back full circle to redoing my kitchen, and, by extension, minimizing my stuff and my home. Another thing I need to do is let go of wanting greater success.  It's ok if I need a break and the cucumbers turn yellow in the garden.  I'm sick.  I'm healing.  In the absence of others caring for me, I need to care for myself, and that may mean letting things go.  If anyone criticizes, they can put their words into actions and fix it for me.  Weed the garden, if you're upset that I took a much-needed nap instead of weeding it.  If people won't budge a little for me, now, they'll be forced to take it over completely because I'll be in th...