Productive Weekend

This past weekend was a long weekend for most of us and for me I decided it would be the time for me to continue making some headway on my New Years resolutions.

When my husband cleaned out his closet one thing he decided to let go of was a pair of pajamas that he never wore...I decided to re purpose them.

They were a nice cotton pair with a pleasing blue striped pattern that I thought would make:

A cool reusable straw holder (from one of the sleeves)

A bunch of two ply handkerchiefs which I sewed by hand (it was a nice relaxing activity)

I love having these two things.  Now I can bring my straw(s) with me (the bag is big enough that it can hold several) and my nose is so much happier to have this soft cloth instead of the rough paper tissues.

The fun didn't stop there...oh no the party kept going...AND

I made a years worth of laundry soap and about 6 months worth of deodorant for us for a fraction of the cost of conventional chemical laden brands from the store.

For our deodorant I used:

• 1/2 cup of coconut oil
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1/4 cup cornstarch

I made two containers and the cost was $1.59 worth of ingredients

For the detergent you need:

• 1 cup Borax
• 1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
• 1 bar of Fels Naptha (or other solid soap bar
• 4 1/2 gallons hot water

The laundry soap makes a 5 gallon buckets worth and cost a mere $2.14 in ingredients

The time it takes to make both of these products is not long, and in fact making the laundry soap is a bit of a work out since you have to grate the laundry soap bar.  For me seeing that it costs me $2 to do laundry for the year for a family of 5 just blows my  mind.  I can't fathom why anyone would want to pay so much for ready made heavily perfumed soap.

I do these things for the family not to save money, although that is a nice benefit, but really I do it to keep track of the ingredients that we put on our skin.

Do you do anything similar in your own household?  If so please share your recipes.

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Positive out of a Negative

This past Sunday we had an ice storm and it knocked out the power, but luckily for us, only for the day.

The sadder part is that the internet was also knocked out.

We are now into day 4 of no internet.

At first you might think no big deal...but once it is gone you realize how much you depend on that connectivity.

My kids and husband were bummed because they couldn't use their devices and watch shows on Netflix.  It also meant that many of the video games we have, which require an on-line connection, couldn't be played either.

This perhaps drums up imagines of Lord of the Flies and that my house has gone completely crazy.

Actually I am pleasantly surprised to report that just the opposite has happened.

Instead both of our boys have decluttered and minimized their possessions.  They took the Marie Kondo approach and emptied out their clothes, the desk drawers, assorted electronics and went through their komono...and in the end have traded rooms.

My oldest, who is 16, decided he wanted a smaller bedroom so that he could be mindful of the number of possessions he has.

Our middle child, who is 11, was overjoyed to get his older bother's room and for both of them there is a fresh sense of joy that they have for their respective spaces.

When you look in their drawers the clothes are folded neatly and in rectangles and they radically minimized the number of clothes that they have.  Once you pull that stuff all out you realize that there are a bunch of clothes that you don't really wear or like...and that when you are forced to fold them up again...you don't want to and that there is no joy/happiness in that item.

When we haven't been decluttering we've been enjoying time together as a family and watching regular tv (via antenna).  Last night they discovered the fun of Jeopardy.  What is mind blowing to them is when my husband and I say this is how we used to watch tv...you don't get to just pick on demand what you want to see.

It's come with a learning curve but it has been it nice to hang out together at night...so for me, I might not mind if the internet is out a little longer.

What are some fun activities that you like to do with the power, or internet, are out?  

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We All Make Mistakes

So one of my resolutions this year was to use no plastic straws.

Seems easy enough? 

Just don't use them.

Yeah well today, 9 days into my list of resolutions and I've made a mistake...I used a straw.

I had a gift card to Starbucks so I decided to get a coffee (didn't break my resolution for this part) but then without thinking grabbed the straw on my way out.

As soon as I popped it into the drink I realized what I had done...now the quandary was what to do about it?

I couldn't put it back in the paper and return it to the shop...so I decided instead to make a $5 donation for each straw I take.

I don't mean this to be a way for me to keep using straws and then paying off my debt with a donation...but I thought I should have a stiff reminder.

I looked around and decided the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center would be my charity of choice.  They do some wonderful work to help out the local population of sea turtles in South Carolina (turtles can have some very sad injuries from straws).

I am going to keep a tally on my resolution spreadsheet so that at the end of the year I know how much to donate (I am hoping that it is only $5).

So this is the first expansion to my resolution list but it is also a reminder that I need to stay on top of my selections for this year.  One item I was going to take care of was to sew a pouch to carry my stainless steel straws...looks like I need to get on that tonight.

What have been your remedies for not keeping a resolution?  Do you give up?  Or do you find a way to work with the error?

Hopefully you aren't too harsh and show yourself some grace.

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Weekend Decluttering

I mentioned in my last post that my family, and I, were watching the Marie Kondo series on Netflix "Tidying up with Marie Kondo."

Watching the variety of families transform their spaces into neat and tidy places that feel like home really inspired us.  So on Saturday we embarked on a mission to tidy up our family room space (still lots of work to be done there...but we started) and my husband's closet.

My husband would often tell me, when I would mention decluttering his closet, that he:

"didn't have that many clothes"

"had space so why clean things out"

"not sure if he will need some of the items later"

Well to work on the project together I told him I would help and pull everything out for him...man oh man was he surprised when he saw the amount of clothing he had tucked away.

This is about half of what I pulled out

He quickly went through the process of seeing which clothes sparked joy and amazingly he only kept about a quarter of his items.  I helped him refold everything and now his drawers are nice and neat (I should have taken a picture but I forgot).  

He mentioned that his closet feels lighter now that he removed the items that no longer serve a purpose for him.  He can see the things that he enjoys and wants to wear and can select them with ease.

The second decluttering task I took on this weekend was to sort through a box of pictures that I had (probably 1000 pictures were in this box):

I had pictures that spanned over a 25 year period, from high school trips to Europe, my wedding, snow days, to birthday parties for my kids.  It was wonderful to go through these and keep the ones that brought us joy and then as a bonus those pictures that I thought my friends and family might like I pulled out and mailed them off to them.

So be on the lookout my friends for a card coming your way!

It was fun to think back to all of the good times and to look at how people have changed over the years.  I thought this might be really tough, and that I might not want to let many pictures go, but I realized that keeping the ones I enjoyed the  most and store them in a picture book would allow me to enjoy them more often.

Do you have any areas in your home that you could go through and declutter?  What spot do you think needs it the most?

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KonMari Craze is BACK

Yesterday I shared a snapshot of some of the resolutions I wanted to work on this year...one of those items was to minimize my possessions, and if my family cooperates, hopefully many of their possessions as well.

Just when I wasn't sure how to get my family on board enter Netflix and the Marie Kondo 8 episode series titled "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo."

Years ago I read the book "Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Ms. Kondo and was very inspired to go through my house using her techniques and also sharing it enthusiastically with anyone who would listen.  I think in the end I was probably a little bit of a pain to people ("Sorry Mom"), but that's what happens (at least to me) when I am so excited about something and think people will benefit from the knowledge I've gleaned.

Netflix has harnessed the book and brought it to life.  You see people who have varying degrees of clutter that need to be addressed and you get to observe as they apply KonMari methods.  The series does a great job of getting a variety of situations and people so as to show that the methods can be utilized in so many different ways and that they can be adapted to work for everyone.

My husband watched two episodes with me and we kept pausing the show to reflect on our own house and things we wanted to accomplish this weekend, this year, etc.  

I think the series could really provide something for everyone and so to that end I highly recommend this to anyone and everyone.

If you don't have a Netflix account...perhaps snag a free month and then binge on the episodes.  I know January can be a month where many embark on "no spend" challenges.

If you've watched the show, or read the book, what were some takeaways for you?

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Happy New Year...Bah Hum Bug

The new year is upon is...we will be writing 2018 on paperwork for a couple of days at least...AND it is the time of year where people make resolutions to a fitter/better version of themselves.

My husband and I were walking on the beach yesterday and he asked "What is your new year's resolution?"

My flippant answer was "Nothing...these are just promises you make that you know you are going to break."

The conversation moved on, but I kept thinking about his question.  Perhaps I should be so crass with my answer and perhaps there are things I could do all year long to enhance the person that I am.  Perhaps I don't need one singular resolution perhaps I need a list of ideals that I could complete monthly (cum Gretchen Rubin) or perhaps I just make a list and take the year to make my way through it.

So I sat down and started to think of things and included a few doodles along with it because that made it a little more visually interesting to look at (I mean after all I am going to have to keep referring back to this to make sure I get everything in).

My illustrations are not spectacular but I think it helped my creative ideas flow and helped me make a list longer than I originally anticipated.

One of the resolutions I selected was to spend one month doing Kindness Tasks (a separate list was made for those).  I am most excited about this one and foresee it being an all year long list that gets added to as new things come my way (i.e. ideas from my kids who I want to incorporate in some of these activities) instead of just concentrating on it for one month.

My daughter read over my list and was excited to do a volunteer activity together at a local animal sanctuary but was shocked that I want to give up Starbucks for a year...she begged that that one only be a month.  I do love take away coffee, but I feel like I need this time to be more intentional with my purchases and what I consume (both food and products).

To that end to be more conscientious about my purchases I plan to purchase no new clothing, only second hand items this year.  I have whittled down and made a very minimalist wardrobe for myself but I can anticipate that I may possibly need to have a new to me item sometime this year.

As a family we will continue to minimize our possessions and work to have a home that we love and enjoy...not one that we dread having to take care of all of the items.  

So what are you doing this year?  Did you decide to make a resolution or two?  I would love to hear the things you are doing and if you have any suggestions for "Kindness Tasks" I would love to hear them as well (as I said I hope that list grows throughout the year).

I will continue to make posts and updates and let you know how various tasks and ideas are going.  

Until then Happy New Year my friends!

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