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A Reading List for Decluttering & Minimalism

February 9, 2026 by Claire Leave a Comment

I’ve written about decluttering quite a bit on the blog–but what’s my inspiration behind it?

When I was fresh out of college, living in the Bay Area, I lugged a LOT of items out to California from my childhood/high school/college days. Items that, it turned out, were pretty useless now that I was adult with a job and wedding to plan. Whether it was totally outdated clothes and shoes, the bike I never rode and later gave away, or kitchen gadgets like three different mixers–I could have taken less than half of what I moved with and been completely fine. Probably better, since I wouldn’t have been trying to squeeze things into every corner of a one-bedroom apartment!… Read More »

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: books, decluttering, minimalism, reading list

The Magic of New Old Things

December 20, 2025 by Claire Leave a Comment

This morning, we were at Target (where else does one find a midwestern family on Saturday mornings?). I don’t love shopping at Target, but we needed some household items–baby wipes, water softener salt, dishwasher detergent–and it’s by far the easiest place to buy them.

While we were there, we picked up some new sketchbooks for the kids. It had been a few months since I replaced them, and I couldn’t find a blank page the last time I looked. As we were walking away from the craft aisle, my second child said to me: “Don’t we need new markers, too? Ours are all dried up.”… Read More »

Filed Under: Frugal Living, Minimalism, Simple Living Tagged With: frugality, lifestyle, minimalism, simple living

Beyond Stuff: Eliminating Clutter Hotspots from the Home

December 5, 2024 by Claire Leave a Comment

eliminating-clutter-hotspots-title-imageHappy December, friends! Can you believe it’s the last month of 2024? This year absolutely flew by for us–pregnancy and election notwithstanding–and I’ve just about wrapped up my holiday shopping 🙂 I’m ready to settle in for a month of festivities with (ideally) low stress and Christmas to-do’s.

Speaking of the holidays… another project I’m working on at the moment is our pre-Christmas decluttering. With four kids, generous grandparents and extended family, holiday craft projects from school and two winter birthdays after the holidays, things can get seriously messy in our house during the winter.… Read More »

Filed Under: Lifestyle, Minimalism, Simple Living Tagged With: decluttering, lifestyle, minimalism

The Four Gift Rule for Christmas: Why & How

October 17, 2024 by Claire Leave a Comment

I am a minimalist. I also have four kids, three of whom are not minimalists (the other one is three weeks old, so I’m not sure about his aesthetic yet). My olders love their toys, books, art supplies, random bits and bobs they’ve accumulated from birthday parties or the dentist’s office, school crafts… an endless array of things that are meaningful to them. C’est la vie!

However, we are six people in a four-bedroom house–and Eric works remotely, needing a full-time office space–so space is limited. To this end, and given our generous extended family, we realized a few years ago that we needed to cut back on gifts (both given to our own kids, and things we all receive). The stereotypical American Christmas is focused on the presents, but we needed and wanted something different.… Read More »

Filed Under: Christmas Tagged With: Christmas, holidays, minimalism, parenting, simple living

Living a Balanced Life: Make It Do…

June 8, 2023 by Claire Leave a Comment

Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. I’m very into the idea of cutting back lately. Not just in the obvious ways (buy what’s on sale! Ask around for hand-me-downs!) but also questioning what I feel like I/we NEED to buy for one reason or another.

When I was little, my mom was quite frugal. Not because my family was struggling, thankfully, but because my parents were good stewards of their money to save for what was important to them: funding our college accounts, living in a suburb with well-ranked schools, traveling to Europe every two years.… Read More »

Filed Under: Simple Living Tagged With: frugality, lifestyle, minimalism, simple living

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Hi, I’m Claire!

I'm 31, wife, mom of 4 and a writer. Just to Claireify is a blog about crafting a balanced, healthy, and feminine lifestyle--and a pinch of my personal life sometimes too. Grab a mug of something hot and make yourself at home! (Learn more about me here.)

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