Our Home Is Getting Lighter

 Our youngest daughter moves this week for her new job!

And our home is getting lighter. 

This room is getting filled with the packed boxes and furniture she is taking with her, so we can do quick work to fill the trailer after we pick it up. 

And she's finally addressing some of the papers, notebooks and books from school days of the past. I helped pull paper from notebooks to recycle and have about three notebooks worth of blank paper I can use! 

Planning, packing, decluttering, and organizing definitely give me an energy boost. I'm excited for her next chapter and to lighten the load of things in our home. There are still some of their things left behind for now, but easily stowed away in a closet when they are ready.  

If you have older children who have moved out, do you still store some of their things? When did they finally take it all? 

A Little More Decorating

More decorating going on here! 

I put out our nativity today. Earlier in the month I was going to keep it simple with the wreath on the front door and the main tree up. But then I decided to get the stockings out, which took mere minutes to put up. My husband noticed the add on and seemed please to find a new decoration up! 

He's been out of town this week, so I thought it would be fun to get out the nativity. I'm sure he will notice this too and be pleased. This task didn't take long...although it would have taken less time if I hadn't dropped the donkey and had to glue two of his legs back on! 

I guess this was a year of simple and slow decorating! It's just enough. 

I honestly don't have much more I could put out after the big declutter in this past spring. I have another tree and ornaments. A JOY sign and a red lantern that I could put on the porch. I have two Royal Doulton figurines inherited from my grandmother, but I don't actually have many flat surfaces for them. I have a nearly a full bin of various ornaments from when I was little and our girls were growing up that we haven't used in at least four years. I'm considering them sentimental, more than decorations at this point. 

Have you completed your decorations for your holiday celebrations? Tell me about it in the comments. 

Welcome December!

Hello Friends!

November went so fast I never got back to posting an update or two. As of today, all Christmas shopping is complete. Everything is wrapped. Gifts that are being mailed are going out on Monday. The few Christmas cards I do send will go out this week as well. As you can see in the picture the tree is up. I have a lighted wreath on the front door and I hung two stockings on the mantle today. That's it for decorations this year.

December is starting out in a whirlwind. Our youngest daughter is accepting her first post college job in another town about 3 hours away later this month, so we are helping her launch and move out! Bitter sweet. We will miss seeing her daily, but excited for her to be self supporting. Bonus is that plenty of items will leave my home as a result. 

I'm very grateful for my very advanced Christmas planning in October and November, so that I can be fully present to assist with the move and not be under additional pressure to 'do all the Christmas' at the same time. I can focus on the move, my self care (exercise and whole foods eating) and enjoying the season a little at a time. 

I have a digital subscription to Simplify Magazine. The most recent issue has multiple articles about Focus. I'm looking forward to gleaning more on this topic as I do believe it is key to getting where we want to go. We need focus to clear our homes of clutter, make health changes or take on a project. I even wrote a post about Focus in October. After I read the articles, I hope to be inspired with new focus for the new year ahead. Interesting to ponder where I will be in 2024.  

I wish you a beautiful December! 

 

November Progress And A Need to Refocus

Hello Friends! How are you? Have you found your focus, your essentials for this month? 

My intention for November was to keep things simple. Keep the focus rather narrow. Self care, holiday preparations and finish four projects. Overall, I seem to be keeping to the theme. 

I did finish the four items that I deemed projects. But I added in a couple more sewing projects last week! Oops. I'm having too much fun getting back into sewing, if there is such a thing as too much fun. Christmas planning and preparations are moving along. I have wrapped everything that has been purchased so far. 

I also found myself decluttering, which wasn't on my list for this month. But my mind got to thinking about some things and I decided if on my mind, best to take action and coral them into my donation bin or trash.

Here's some pics of things that are leaving. 

I don't regret the decluttering, but just noticed that the focus was not where I intended to be this month.I had the idea of one item a day, which had my mind figuring what I could pull each day. I can come up with multiple items in a day, it's unnecessary to play the daily game. I think during this holiday season, that is an unnecessary stress. So yes, if something comes to mind or I see it, I'll take action. But I'm letting the idea of decluttering one item a day go. 

I'm taking pretty good care of myself. Exercise daily, many times with a walk outside in the fresh crisp morning air. I'm also eating pretty well, but not perfect. Aware that if I start to feel stress, I want to eat chips lately. So that awareness, has me working to make other choices as a way to deal with the stress. Just taking a moment to recognize it and breathe is often helpful. Emotions can pass right through the body if we acknowledge them and allow it. 

There's a one night trip, that wasn't expected or planned coming up this week. Plus more vehicle repairs that will work out, but again not expected nor welcome. These are minor compared to many things others are experiencing in the world. I am resilient. We are all resilient. 

For now, the sewing machine and tools have been put away. The table has been reset as my space to wrap gifts. I will continue to make gift purchases and set aside time to wrap them each week. I will continue to care for myself, allowing space to relax and go at a slower pace than I have been. Fewer projects and less focus on decluttering. 

Thanks for reading friends! I hope you are finding balance and an essential focus this month. Take care of yourselves!

 

November Focus

 November! A clean slate. A new page. A new season. Time to create focus for the month. 

I'll keep the post simple and focused.

Holiday preparations and planning. Gift buying, planning travel and meals, as well as wrapping gifts, I have my gift wrap station ready to go, specifically so I can wrap as they come into the home. 

Self care. Continue to eat whole foods and exercise daily. Walk outside when I can, but adapt to treadmill or a workout video when needed. Use my sauna. Take baths. Relax and breathe!

Projects. I have four items on my projects list. Finish a book. Clean a shower curtain and oil diffusers. And finish one sewing project. 

I'll likely check in with some holiday updates and inspiration as the month goes along. In the meantime, if you need more inspiration, search Christmas Planning for older posts about how I approach planning for Christmas. 

What is your focus for November? Where do you want to end up at the end of the month? Now is the time to focus and make a plan that you can accomplish. 

Wrapping Up October

Fall is one of my favorite seasons! The changing light, the changing colors of the trees. We made a point to walk a new to us trail last week. My favorite part was this row of old arching trees that lined a short path down to a creek. It felt like an enchanted forest! 

Self care I completed a Walk 30 Day Challenge with Michelle from My Everyday Wife Life on YouTube. I found a route this summer that I walked regularly that takes about 50 minutes and adds up to 2.6 miles walked. Yes, everyday in October! I lost a couple pounds and nearly 5 inches. 

Projects I completed two sewing projects. I did not get to a painting project. I'm clearly procrastinating that one! I actually can't wait to find time to fit in some more sewing. It may not be a priority until the new year though. 

Decluttering I decluttered quite a bit. Much more than I expected I might. The truth is there is always more, always something that is no longer needed. Old clothes, kitchen items, Christmas and household items were the most found. I did let go of some paper too. You can find the details on my October decluttering here. And know that I AM getting these things dropped off right away! 

Deep Cleaning My last project for deep cleaning this month was to dust these glass shelves in the kitchen. Despite the doors being closed most of the time, dust still accumulates.  I feel the house is set for the holidays. 

Christmas Preparations Yes, I continued to prep for Christmas. It wasn't a big focus of the month, but I know the things I did will help November and December be less stressful. My Christmas cards are written, addressed and stamped. I have purchased two more gifts and a couple stocking stuffers. I also purchased a new wreath for our front door. I also picked up some tissue paper, little gift bags and ornaments hooks. I will write more about Christmas preparations in November as that will again be a focus for the month. 

Another success in October was meal planning! I tried out three weeks at a time. Once meals were planned we shopped in full for the first week, as well as meat and non perishables for the following two weeks. The lists and needs for the final two weeks were short with primarily the perishables on the list. I loved this! It does take some effort up front to be thorough, but I loved the time savings. 

I love creating a focus for each month. It doesn't have to be a lot. It just a road map of where I want to put my attention. I'm very happy where my focus let me this month! 

How was your October? Do you have focus for November? 

Final Decluttering of October

I was going to make one long post wrapping up October, but it was getting a little long! So let's just talk about my success in decluttering this month here. 

I've done some review of small areas primarily in the last week of October. Tweaking many of the areas I took care of earlier this year when I did 40 Days of Decluttering. 

Below is what I decluttered from my laundry cabinet. It was overflowing with microfiber cloths...I let the oldest ones go. I moved the t shirt rags to the paint supply bin in the garage, since that is the only time I use those. I relocated the glass and recycled the box. 

While I was in there, I found these washing machine cleaning tablets. It's been months since I ran one of these through, so I went ahead and deep cleaned the washer, too. Bonus!! 

No pictures, but this week I found old addresses on index cards, old receipts to toss, empty hand sanitizer, and a cracked plastic cup. All going out!

I did a review of my sock and underwear drawer. Three pairs of socks that had thin heels and one that was missing it's mate (I think I already threw it away). I added a pair of capris to donation that I had considered earlier this month and originally decided to keep. I considered AGAIN and this time I am ready to let go. I didn't wear them once this season because they feel too baggy on me now. 

I bought a new holiday wreath for our front door. I dug out the old one that I made before we lived in  home with a red door. It's too small and the red clashes with the door. Donating! 

While I was in the basement digging out the wreath I decided to finally let go of these three baskets. I haven't used in several years and don't even have a surface to put them on at this point. Baskets are easily replaced if I find a new reason to need one. 

I did a few decluttering sessions while in the midst of other things! I decluttered these from the fridge one afternoon while I was getting my food for lunch out. Only took a few moments to know these were old or nearly empty and need to go. All packaging to the recycle bin! I also pulled a older pair of sneakers to swap with my mowing shoes while I was getting my pj's on one evening. I also saw an extra baseball cap I never wear. It will be donated. 

I was cleaning our two main bathrooms and found two empty lotion bottles and a dried up package of wipes. I really like when the decluttering is while in the midst of something else! Then in our closet I noticed a new package of three shirts and three pairs of socks my husband bought possibly a full year ago. I knew he had holes in some in his drawer...so I popped in the new and pulled out all of this that he was willing to let go of! More went out then in. 

The final Friday of October as our weather began to turn colder, I was determined to do some tidy in the garage knowing we would be spending less time out there in the coming months. The picture below is the after. Lots of moving things around.

I tossed. I recycled. And added a few things to the donation pile. 

Here is the donation pile I expect to be taking to Goodwill next week! Impressed we still have things that we no longer need. I also have a small bag of items to take to Best Buy that can be recycled. Yay!

It's been a really great month for decluttering. I ended up with far more than I expected. I will continue to add to the donation bin in these last few weeks of the year with goal of making one more trip to Goodwill at the end of the year! 2023 has been a great year for clearing out the old. 

Tell me your decluttering success for this month. Do you plan to declutter more in 2023?