Too much Storage

My kitchen at my new place is huge. It's approximately four times the size of my previous kitchen.

There is too much storage. And too much storage is a Minimalist's nightmare!

It's all too easy to put away things, and forget about it...all the things I never use.

I have 8 (yes, seriously!) overhead kitchen cabinets, not to mention the storage underneath the benchtops. What do we need and what do we own, that we need so much storage?
Popcorn machine?
Juicer?
Deep fryer?

I have some beautiful handmade teacups that I am "Storing". I bought them from a small art gallery in Congo down the NSW coast. They are very beautiful. I am "storing" them because I can't actually use them. The teacups get too hot with tea in them. Go figure.

So what do I do with them?

This is what I mean by too much storage.

I need to do something about the Play Room

We have a Play Room which is sort of a Living Room as well as a thoroughfare. It's hard to keep this space tidy as I don't have any storage facility except three bookcases.

I've edited and edited but to no avail.

I've come to the conclusion that the only solution is to buy a small low-line white storage cupboard. Or credenza, or sideboard. I would like to HIDE everything in them...books, toys, craft materials, pencils, puzzles, paper, tins, marbles, games etc.

I can't keep the bookshelves tidy and looking good, so they can all go into the cupboard and I can just CLOSE the doors.

Now, where do I source these white storage cupboards? If they can cost under $4000 and be hand-made in Finland, in oak, and of modernist design, that would be perfect. :p

One Room At a Time

I am trying not to feel overwhelmed and trying to maintain motivation with the Decluttering process. I really am not good at Stuff Management.

One room at a time...

This is Maddie's room. My lovely middle child and my only daughter. I bought some Chinese paper lanterns for some simple decorating.

While the cats are away...

While the kids are away, Mummy gets to play and donate boxes to the Op-shop.

I know the ideal situation is to go through each toy box with them and use it as a teaching opportunity to donate things, blah blah blah.

QUICK. In the box.

Gone!!!

New Rule: One In Two Out

One In Two Out.

I think this will help me speed up my "Minimising Crap in my Home" process.

Over Christmas, I got lazy and on holiday mode, didn't adhere much to my old rule, "One In One Out". Now that January is already gone, it's back to business...

I am about to pop out No. 3. In nine days in fact.

It's very exciting. But also a bit daunting. I have forgotten all about sleepless nights...and newborn baby cries...and pooey nappies...

We didn't find out the gender. So currently, we have both sets of girls and boys clothing. And I'm sure we will be given stacks more by very generous friends and family. I'm in a way looking forward to sorting everything out once baby comes.

I'm going to grab a big bag and put everything BOY in it...my bet is that it's a Girl. It feels like a Girl. But then again, I've been wrong on All occasions. ;)

Anyway, back to this rule. It's a great rule. And Like for Like. Bring in two new toys...I donate four toys. Similar size, weight, volume...

Garage Sale

I don't have enough stuff to sell to organise my own garage sale, but when a friend was having one, I scrummaged around to find some stuff to sell.

I fell into the trap of "What can I get for this?" rather than "How can I price this so it goes out the door?"

I sold one item, a little glass candle holder, quite heavy, and pretty, and expensive glass, but rightly priced at $2.

The other items, I may have over-priced.

A woollen Portmans top $5
A big cane basket $5
A ceramic oven dish $4
A pair of jeans $5
A big cane basket $8
A jacket $5
A stripey collared shirt $5

I should have made everything $2! Then I would have made $20 :)
My friend made $70.

Learn from her next time.

5 Questions: Deciding to Keep or Purge

From Apartment Therapy.

On the spectrum of keeper or purger I fall clearly in the camp of purger. There are, of course, a few exceptions to this rule. Here are five questions I ask myself to decide what to keep or purge during each clean out.

We purge our home of clutter quarterly because even though we are mindful about what we bring into the apartment, stuff piles up over time.

Here are five questions I ask myself to help decide what to keep and what to purge.

When was the last time I actually used it?

If the answer is more than five months, it probably needs to leave the house. Even though I love having a clutter free space, I can be very sentimental about some items. I use this rule to force myself to part with things in order to see if I can really let them go. I am ruthless about obeying the five month rule when I am sorting. Everything unused gets put in the purge pile. Period. The trick to making this work is to use the 8:00 a.m. rule. I never actually get rid of the purge pile on the day it is made. I'll always sleep on it to see if I really want to get rid of an unused item or put it to good use. (See number 4 for an example.)

Does it serve more than one purpose?

I really like living in a clutter free environment. In order to do that, we tend to have things that serve multiple purposes. For example, we don't have a tea pot because it is just as easy to heat water in a pan. If something passes the five month test but it is taking up space and doesn't serve more than one purpose I consider getting rid of it.

Do I like it?

This seems like an obvious rule, but it is critical. There is no point of keeping something around if it is not liked.

When will I get around to finishing this?

I like projects but I don't always finish them quickly. This is one of the reasons a quarterly purge is necessary in our household. Inevitably, every time we purge, there is a half finished project that has been collecting dust for a month. If I decide that I don't like the project enough to finish it within a few weeks of the purge, then it has to go. This decision serves a double purpose because it either removes the clutter from our home or it motivates me to finish things that didn't have a deadline.

How much is it worth to me today?

I have made the mistake of holding onto too many things because the memory of what I paid for them kept me from letting them go. If the item doesn't have a high value in my life right now then it isn't worth holding onto, regardless of how high the purchase price was.
How do you decide what to purge or to keep during a clean out?

Cleaning out the Pantry

After blogging about it, I got down on my hands and knees and cleaned out the very Messy and very Massive Pantry.

The Result:

1. It was good to put all the similar items together. I now have a lovely little tea collection. I didn't know I owned so much tea!

2. It was good to throw out the expired items e.g. coconut cream.

3. It was good to bring to the front the items I use frequently e.g salt, pepper, olive oil.

4. It was good to see what I've got so I can do some more menu planning.

I think I will simplify my meals further. I really don't need 8 different sauces. This is especially so with the Baby arriving in 4.5 months.

This is what I would like. Rows of white pantry cupboards:

One In One Out Policy

My mother-in-law has a One In One Out Policy with my father-in-law's boats. I think he's capped out at 3.

I really like this Rule. It forces me to be disciplined. When I am being lazy, and not thinking, this is when I start accumulating Stuff. This is especially so when you have loads of storage space to just store stuff.

I recently received a present for my new house. It's a lovely retro looking, colourful, stainless steel mixing bowls. Because I have a big kitchen I can just store everything. But I won't. I'm going to donate the old mixing bowls. The ones I've had since we were married, but still have life in them! So off to vinnies...

One in One out. A great rule!

Cleaning out your undies drawer

I cleaned out my Bedside table. Boy, it was good!!!!

I threw out all the socks with holes in them. And the too-stretched ones. I threw out all the undies that I no longer wear (uncomfortable, hole-y). Now I only own big, cotton, very attractive, granny undies. 8.

My bedside table is now very Neat and Tidy. It definitely appeals to my slight OCD streak... everything is folded and in their little corner. I love it.

I do however own about 88 hankies. But I think at this stage of my life (little kiddies), I need every single one of them. I tell myself, this is instead of buying boxes of tissues (wasteful and un-green).

So I will make room in my heart to store the 88 hankies for now.

Give Away Box

I have a box in my bedroom that is ready to go to Vinnies*. It's the Permanent Give Away Box. There's a nice Vinnies up the road, with nice old friendly ladies volunteering there. The box gets filled up with things that I no longer need.

Once it gets full, I put it on the pram and go for a walk up the road and donate the box.

It's a bit messy having a box out permanently, but I find if it's not in there, it's all too easy to put whatever I no longer need back in storage.

One downside is that the kids sometimes rummage through it and suddenly decide something is their new favourite toy. So I usually try and disguise it with an old item of clothing on top. Or put a lid on the box. Or get it out the door quick - during their sleep time.

It's good to not think too much about it! I try to follow my guts. I haven't used it, I don't really like it...in it goes. Don't think about how much it cost, who gave it to you, how the kids used to play with it etc. Because more often than not, I'm not going to miss it. In fact, I don't think I can even remember what was in last week's box.

*St Vincent de Paul's: a charity store. I think Americans call them Goodwill stores. There's a few others in Sydney like Anglicare and Salvos (Salvation Army), usually run by a church, selling secondhand goods to help the disadvantaged. They always welcome donations - clothes, books, toys, kitchen stuff - but not big white goods.

Downsizing Your Wardrobe

Some ideas for downsizing your (unused) wardrobe:

1. Give to Family
2. Give to Friends
3. Donate to Vinnies or Anglicare
4. Sell on ebay or gumtree. You can also give away for free on gumtree.
5. Go to a clothes swap e.g. The Clothing Exchange in Sydney
Visit: The Clothing Exchange
6. Fitted for Work - helping disadvantaged women get back into the workforce
Visit: Fitted for Work
7. Offer it for free on FB. Or Freecycle.

Decluttering my Wallet

It all started with a nice wallet I got for a present for my birthday. My 30th.

I started cleaning out my old wallet...getting rid of old receipts, expired cards, train tickets etc. Then I went onto cleaning out my handbag. There were about six pens in there, old lolly wrappers, and numerous coffee cards. It felt very good chucking out bits and pieces, tidying up and just holding onto the essentials.

This is the Handbag Items List:

1 Wallet
1 Phone
1 set of Keys
1 Lip balm
1 Handkerchief
1 Pen
1 Moleskin

This is how my minimalist and decluttering journey begin. With a humble wallet!