I know I said I was taking an indefinite break—and of course the second I felt like I’d have nothing to write about for the forseeable future, a long-awaited package arrived on my doorstep that also held a big life change inside.… Read More »
A Reading List for Decluttering & Minimalism
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 Whether it was totally outdated clothes and shoes, the bike I never rode and later gave away, or kitchen gadgets like three different mixers–I could have taken less than half of what I moved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 »
The Magic of New Old Things
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 »
Beyond Stuff: Eliminating Clutter Hotspots from the Home
Happy 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 »
The Four Gift Rule for Christmas: Why & How
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 »
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