On Day 23, I cleaned out Nicholas’s closet, which was easier and less overwhelming than Mikey’s. A lot of that ease can be credited to my attitude. I was in a better mood and not so tired, simple as that.
Most of the contents were items to donate, which I expected. I had them set aside in here for a garage sale last year, but forgot to put them out when the time came. Our garage is now reaching maximum capacity thanks to my aggressive purging and decluttering, so today I did things a little differently.
I took everything out and sent the small items to the garage. Larger donation items, like an old green beanbag chair, were placed inside the cleaned out closet. Some items I’m keeping, like pillows for the future guest bed and the large rug pad. I’ll need that once I buy the new rug for the living room.
I’ve also decided to make this closet the place to store all the clothing we will purge once we tackle the Mister’s closet. Good grief, am I dreading that day.
After I was done, I once again thanked my lucky stars we have all this storage. Then I thought about it for a while, and something occurred to me.
That’s a pile of malarkey.
I have large closets, but they aren’t walk-ins. I have a pullout grain pantry in my kitchen, but my kitchen is 9×11. You can’t even fit a table for two in there. I am always quick to wave off compliments and credit something or someone else. This month, I’ve sang the praises of storage in my average sized, 1800 square foot home without acknowledging that, hey, maybe I have a lot of space because for the last 12 years I have worked hard at making purchases thoughtfully and responsibly.
Yes, I had two too many spatulas in the kitchen, but I didn’t have special spoons to dispense baby food, a pan to make cake pops, an asparagus peeler, or an avocado slicer. That counts for something.
Too often, and this is especially true among women, adults operate on a pendulum. There are the braggarts who can’t keep their yappers shut, so you hear about their every achievement, real or imagined. Then there are the rest of us. You look so pretty today! Oh, this? It’s ancient and I picked it off the closet floor. And I bought it on clearance at Target. This salad tastes delicious! Really? I think it needs a touch more salt. Wow, you have worked so hard this month on your house! Sure, but that’s because it was a mess and all the storage in this house makes it easy.
Yes, I have. Thank you.
You go lady! Take that credit! You earned it.
Good on you!
I feel like you have shared with me a new perspective about living simply because of the life-altering events you’ve witnessed this year. Your transparency about that time really helped me see how important a concept it really is. You should be very proud of yourself that you didn’t just learn something and then file it away for later, but that you took what you learned and started putting it into action. Way to go! You’re an inspiration!
Thank you. As tragic as this summer was, I feel I was handed a gift at times. I have completely changed my way of thinking on a lot of things.
I’m the same way with compliments…now I just say thank you and shut up:) Seriously, why do we always believe the negative things about ourselves, and not the postives??
Way to go with your series, I’m enjoying….I’m a minimalist by nature, but I still have those “areas”, (especially the garage) that need attention…I’m cutting myself a break right now since I’m 9 mos. pregnant!!
Oh, yes, definitely cut yourself some slack. :)
I love this series. You have really inspired me to get working on my house. We took 3 carloads of stuff to Goodwill yesterday.
That is so wonderful! I love to hear others have been purging and decluttering along with me.
Your home was beautiful to start with, i’d really been wondering what you were going to do for 31 days of decluttering and making your home more beautiful. BTW, Thanks for getting me lost in the world of single use kitchen gadgets. We passed some pleasant time making mock informercials.. “slicing avocados got you down?! No more with this MULTI USE tool!!” i can’t believe they actually tout the benefits of it being multi use. Except now i really want the cake pop mold. ouch. Seriously though, you wouldn’t have started with such a lovely home with out all the previous decisions and it’s lovely to see someone taking credit. Intended or not you have some inspirational and sweet Sunday posts.
Thank you. :) I think it’s on the blog Declutter that they award “stupid single use tool” awards. Hilarious!
All I have to say is that I’m very impressed that you’ve stuck with it. Even if you didn’t accomplish your task every day, which it seems you have, it’s still pretty amazing that you’ve stayed committed and focused. Bravo!
I have really truly enjoyed this series. I will be sad when it’s over! It has inspired and motivated me to do my own purging and reorganizing. You’ve worked so hard–you deserve to take credit for it!
AMEN SISTER! You are ROCKING this challenge, and rocking our worlds as you do it! I have been especially impressed because of your realistic, on the small side home – we live in a 50s ranch that is just shy of 1400 sqft, so I am very aware of how we can tetris our stuff into our small (but totally adequate and comfortable) spaces, and then think, “how the heck do I have so much mess in such a small house?!” I have no reason to fill every nook and cranny with stuff, and I am happy to report that I’ve taken your inspiration and cleaned out my entry closet and bought beautiful glass hermetic jars to store my grains/dry goods (just last month we had a major moth infestation, and it. was. gross.). Thanks again for rocking my world, and for sharing your journey with us. I am so glad I found this series.
Thank you, Renee! :)
In freaky unsolicited advice land- adding some food grade diatomaceous earth can help prevent grain moth problems…
Enjoy the compliments, you deserve them big time!
I find it amazing how moods can affect how easy or hard a task may seem – like cleaning the oven for example, I have learned not to stress about it and wait until the day I feel the urge to do it and I then get stuck in and it is done in no time at all. I have found that it can take over half an hour longer when I am ‘making’ myself do it.
You really do deserve every compliment as you have remained dedicated to your challenge no matter what.
Oh how I needed to hear that! Somehow I never learned to just accept a complement. I always have to add something to disqualify it. For instance, I am a frugal clothes shopper. I’ve been told before that I am fashionable and first I say, “Thank you!” and then I immediately find myself making excuses, “I bought it at Goodwill for $5” or, “This? it came from a garage sale ages ago.” I don’t mean to be rude at all. Perhaps I try to bring myself down after someone tries to build me up. How sad. A simple smile and a genuine “thank you” would make both me and the person giving me the comment feel a lot better:)
PS I am a fellow 31 dayer and I’m absolutely LOVING your series! I understand a bit of where you are coming from. Yesterday, would’ve been my parents 57th wedding anniversary. I went to the cemetery and thought about how fleeting life really is and that I don’t want to make my kids sort through decades of stuff after I pass. I’d rather have less stuff now, but love and enjoy it more. Like you, I have a husband (who also notices dirty cabinets and turns a blind eye) and two very active boys. Thank you so much for the encouragement!
That last paragraph? So, so true. I think part of becoming gracious isn’t just bestowing grace and compliments on others… it’s also about receiving grace and extending grace to myself.
And you really have done a wonderful job on this project… You’ve really brought Morris’ words to life. Your boys are going to be so grateful for that kind of legacy. :)
First time commenting but I absolutely love visiting your site. You have such a wonderful command of the English language, without any pretense to go with it! Wonderful post and congratulations on reclaiming your space. The closing thoughts were particularly compelling. I think sometimes the narcissists of the world scare the more modest among us to self deprecate or just all around ignore our personal victories. There seems to be a fear of taking too much of the praise-pie. If we all can recognize that the pie is limitless, perhaps there would be greater ease in this wonderous world.
Thanks for putting things in perspective while you put your possessions in order. :)
I also find there are certain jobs that I dread and wonder how we will ever tackle them (biggest example: our overflowing garage). We have a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old and it’s very hard to work on big organizing/cleaning jobs when they are awake. But then this weekend my husband and father-in-law decided to tackle the garage in order to put our outdoor furniture away. Half a day of concentrated work and it is so much better (there is still work to be done, but now it’s easy to see where everything is). Sometimes the dread of a project is disproportionate to the actual work involved.
Jules, I have also been really enjoying this series. I often feel that we don’t take proper care of the things that we have, because we have too many things.
A challenge for me is to find a good spot for items that are in transition: that need to be taken to Goodwill, or sold on Craigslist, or returned to the store (or another owner).
This almost almost almost pushes me over the edge to clean out one of my own closets. So close.
In other news, I own one of those special baby food spoons and we used it all the time. Weird. No avocado slicer, however.
Hah! (Both on the spoon and on the closet.) If you use the spoon, that makes it useful, right? For me, it’s easier to clean out a bowl and spoon than it would be to take apart and clean a spoon/dispenser…but I had no problem cleaning all those Dr. Brown bottle parts while my friend gave up after the first day. You never know what you will have patience with and what will make you rip out your hair. :)
Just wanted to say I find this so inspiring! I moved a few weeks ago and have a two month old son, so it’s easy to feel overwhelmed around here…but you’re making me realize everything doesn’t have to be done all at once.