Not giving up on Minimalist Advent yet!

So it has turned into a list, no themes, just a list.  But I’m still doing it!

Day #10 – old rain coat – it had several baby/coffee/dirt stains, but I loved it, so it was hard to part with, but it needed to be put down.

Day #11 – protein shake packets – I don’t know why I kid myself with these things, they work for weight loss because they are extremely low calorie and full of protein so they fill you up, the trade off is they are disgusting.  I’ve decided I would rather eat the calorie equivalent of something that tastes good and feel hungry afterwards than to choke down one of these.

Day #12 – extra address labels – I was looking through my office supplies and had some sheets of random sized labels (the leftovers from previously used boxes) why on earth did I keep these?  One consistent size is more than enough for my once or twice a year address label making needs!

Day #13 – Set of blue and white mugs/lids/plates/saucers – I’m counting these for 4 days because this was such a big thing to get rid of.  These were our “hot chocolate mugs” and “treat plates” and they were quite cute with their little lids for the mugs and everything.  And when I got them (I think for my wedding) they were surrounded with so much hope for cozy blizzard days with hot chocolate around the beautifully set table with my yet to be born children that I could cry just thinking about it (Thank you Williams Sonoma for setting that expectation).  Ends up they aren’t practical; we use them once a year and typically when we have used them a child has chipped the delicate porcelain or spilled (they are very “spilly” cups, you know what I’m talking about, some mugs just spill a lot).  You will not be surprised to find out that we have as cozy of days as I had imagined with hot chocolate in regular mugs at our table set with plastic mats.  There is more screaming and hitting and whining than in my imagined scenario pre-children, but it’s still pretty nice.

Day #14 – as above

Day #15 – as above

Day #16 – as above

Day #17 – baby gates – we don’t need them anymore, yay!!!

Day #19 – a pair of jeans – how many jeans does a person really need?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

Cheaters Never Prosper

This weekend I had an "aha" moment about this experience.  I actually tried to cheat the system on Friday.  I put aside about 4 articles of clothing that I am going to donate, thinking that I would use one of them for day #6 and then keep the rest in case I have a busy day later on this month or I run out of things to get rid of (Ha ha!  As if I could run out!).  But despite having some things knowingly set aside to use, I still keep running into new things on a daily basis, without any preplanning whatsoever, that I want to get rid of simply because I am more observant about my surroundings with this mindset in place.  It is interesting because I have done big “spring cleaning” sorts of things in my closets before, and I really enjoy them, but the smaller daily living mindset is actually really nice too and keeps me more present and aware of my use of various household objects. So even though I planned on cheating it didn't even work!  Although they are still in my closet just in case...

Day #6: “An item of clothing that doesn’t fit”

I wore a pair of pants today that I haven't worn in awhile and they started out the feeling like they fit, but 30 minutes into wearing them I realized they are "saggy butt pants."  I’ve lost a little weight over the past year (through a lot of sweat and tears) and my body is just different now which means clothing fits different.  I have been selling my in-good-shape clothing through Thred Up (an online consignment store) and I’m happy with their process, so into the Thred Up bag they go!

Day #7: “something that needlessly takes up surface real estate (my own term for flat spaces: tables, counter tops, etc.)”

I got rid of my alarm clock today.  It worked just fine, but it was sort of old and pretty big, plus I don’t even use it any more as an alarm clock, I use my phone.  It was starting to be crowded on my bedside table and now it looks so nice and empty; my phone has it's own real estate now!

Day #8:  “an item of clothing that is worn out, and should not be worn in public”

I have a tendency to hang onto sweaters.  As someone who knits I love the texture and color and everything about a sweater.  But sometimes they get worn out, and pilled, and just smelly.  This particular sweater lives on the bottom of a stack of other sweaters that I actually wear.  I keep thinking I’ll wear it some day for some dirty indoor task where no one else will see me and I will never go outside in it.  Which means it will probably never get worn.  Because who wears a sweater when what you want is actually an old sweatshirt?

Day #9: “something useless taking up space in the kitchen cabinet”

If you have little kids you know that sippy cups are sort of annoying, but also necessary if you don’t want to be constantly mopping your floors.  There is always a “new and better” sippy cup that comes out and I am exactly the person they are marketing those for.  And then I get them home and I’m acutely disappointed in their performance.  I got rid of a couple of them today and it’s like a sippy cup size weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Just in case you thought I forgot...

I didn’t! I just don’t have time to blog about stuff every day so I’ll have to chunk it.  Also, for the fun of it (and for potentially repeating the process next year) I’ve added themes that complete the directive, “Pass along something…”

2^nd day: “…that is broken.”

Today we sold a desk and matching chair on craig’s list.  It had a broken drawer, and had been well used by our whole family for the past 8 years.  The drawer was fixable, but neither of us wanted to do that, or pay to have it done on something that was already in fairly worn out condition.  Plus it doesn’t match any of our other furniture (which is no crime, we definitely lived with mismatched furniture throughout college, grad school, medical and vet school, and 7 years of residencies).  Furniture that plays well together is enjoyable for me and so the broken desk is now gone.

3^rd day: “…that is an unnecessary duplicate.”

Today I donated our old duvet cover.  It was one of those things I had thought of keeping because it was still in decent condition, but really, when am I going to use that, ever?  Plus it was annoying because it had pin tucks.  Have you ever tried to tug gently on something with pintucks? (when you are making a bed for example)?  Don’t do it, it rips them out, which looks bad.  Not a good purchase choice on my part and keeping it reminded me of my failings.

4^th day: “…that you’ve been holding on to only because it was a gift.”

Today I donated a piece of pottery that was given to us as a wedding gift.  I liked it for the first 6 years, then I stopped liking it as much, and now it doesn’t fit with anything else we have and the guilt surrounding getting rid of it because it was a wedding present is cloying.  But, it is gone.  Sweet relief.

5^th day: “…that is uncomfortable/annoying.”

Today I sorted through my sock drawer and got rid of a bunch of socks.  I need to remind myself not to buy socks in sets, because inevitably half the set has colors I like and the other half I don’t, so they get shoved in the back of the drawer and never worn.  I also have a bunch of socks that annoy me because of the way they feel inside my shoes (my kids are super sensitive about sock seams, I wonder where they get it from…) so those are gone too.  The remaining socks can now luxuriate in their spacious drawer.

Minimalist Advent

I’ve always loved the idea of an Advent calendar but I’ve never actually had one.  A couple of times we’ve bought the inexpensive chocolate deals for the kids and it just seemed so excessive to have a treat every day (and the chocolate is often gross) and so it just never really “took” as a family tradition.  But I like the idea of “marking the days” which is what it seems like it is all about.  Based on my very brief research (5 minutes of google) advent calendars have only been around for 100 or so years and the ones that have gifts in them for only about 60 years, so it’s not like Jesus said “give them loads of stuff every day leading up to and including my actual birthday!” right?  And I don’t want to send the message to my kids that “you get a new ‘thing’ every day” and then there is just more junky stuff around the house, which drives me crazy. 

I looked around on the internet and I found some really fun ideas like this one http://www.theminimalistmom.com/2012/11/clutterfreeadventcalendar/

but even that requires more time and planning than I am capable of at this point.  So I decided to do something that kills two birds with one stone (on a side note, that is really an unfortunate metaphor isn’t it, with the killing of the birds and everything?).  I’m going to donate or get rid of one “thing” every day leading up to Christmas, and I’m going to document it here so that I can hold myself accountable.  Not only will it free up more space (and be less stuff to move to our new house) but it will passing things on that could be of potential use by others.  I’m going to try to talk the kids into doing it too, to make some room for whatever new might be coming into the house this holiday season but we’ll see how that goes.  Wish me luck!

Day #1 – Our Crib – ok, so this is totally picking the low hanging fruit because we were going to get rid of it anyway, but give me a break, I just finished working 60+ hours over the past 4 days and I’m tired.  Plus, it’s been sitting in our garage for the last 3 weeks and it really needs to go.  Surprisingly, even though all 3 of our kids slept in there as a baby, I have no emotional attachment to the crib so this is not really a painful one to give away.  So tonight we will put it on Craig’s List!  (I would absolutely donate it but there are no charitable organizations that will accept cribs in our city that I can find due to safety risks).  If you’re looking for a free crib let me know.