Minimize It Monday - Traveling wardrobe

We are home from our whirlwind weekend trip attending our daughter's out of state graduation. Since I am still catching up with all the to-dos this will be a short and sweet post.
When I was packing for the trip, I had only one thing in mind - travel light!
I don't do the capsule wardrobe concept but I do maintain a seasonal exchange closet. I have been methodically building up my wardrobe color, which is black and white mostly for traveling/last minute dress-up event needs. However, lest you worry I am a colorless person (far from it) I do have a closet full of other color clothing, mainly the casual wear. Black and white is my solid, will not go wrong, color scheme for dress-up events. :)
With the "light traveling" thought in mind, I took a quick collection of the clothing I needed for the three days two nights stay, and here was what I brought with me - all in black and white:

Two black pants - one slack and one skinny jeans. One black and white flower long skirt. Two nice tanks - one black and white stripe and one solid black. Two pairs of shoes - one dress-up and one semi casual. Three sweaters - one white, one black and one sparkling (which I didn't end up wearing). Two sets of necklaces, one formal and one semi casual. Two short night gowns - one satin gray and one cotton white with little pink flowers (not pictured - it was a last minute grab) and three sets of undergarment, also not pictured. :)

Everything fit in this small carry-on - I even decided, in the last minute, to keep my nice shoes in the shoe box, which was also in this bag. 

I love simplicity.

And the whole weekend went well. We are so proud of our daughter finishing her college BA degree right after high school. If you have attended college, you'd know the effort it take to finish that race right after high school.

At Baccalaureate night

We even got to celebrate Mother's Day early, in person, this year. And she hand-made me this sweet card. :)

That's it for today!

Have a purposeful Monday!

Minimize it Monday - Calendar Squares

What a super busy weekend we had! I am still recuperating from it today.

As I was contemplating what to minimize today, I saw my planner from the corner of my eye. Ahh. Yes, sometimes, minimizing our busy days is actually a wonderful project to launch, and what better place to see what our days are really like than looking into our family's calendar/planner?

Seeing some empty squares made me so happy. Nowadays, empty calendar squares are hard to come by, no matter what your age is.

Our calendar maybe fuller or emptier in the coming months, it all depends on how we want to use our days. My goal is not to fill it so full that all I would be doing is just to check off the boxes (or squares). We have many milestone celebrations this year so our calendar is mostly full for the summer. I am praying when Fall comes I will be able to minimize the busy squares on our calendar.

Increase empty calendar squares. increase our trust and rest in the Lord for our days.

Minimize It Monday - Procrastination Piles

We all have them. You know, on the floor or in the bags, the boxes, the baskets, the bins.

When we throw those "to be xxx" into those containers, we had one goal in mind - the stuff will be taken care of after this time or event. The reality is, while it tricked us thinking they are contained (especially in pretty container), 90% of the time, the stuff just sit there. And the containers multiplied. So did our shoulder pain, aka stress.

I have  a few  many of these containers. I call them my Delinquent Boxes (DB). They are mostly papers. It shocked me because I usually process mails that got into my home immediately. Where did all these boxes come from? I decided to grab a box today and examined the content of that DB. Sure enough, most of them are school papers (we homeschool do CC) and bill invoices (regardless I have many bills paid automatically).

Why is that? Why is that I couldn't control this part of my life?

As I went through the DB, my mind was made up to make this my paper de-cluttering project for the duration of this year. I want to lick this monster. Paper piles stress me most out of all other kinds of piles. It is a constant cue that I am either avoiding certain reality or my priority is just not parked in the right place.

So first thing first, I eliminated one bin. Shredded many papers and sorted the copies (which I will go further to cut down before "filing" them) I will, however reluctantly, be sure to change some more statements from paper format to pdf on the company's website.

It is always good to set small goals. My humble goal of sorting through this DB today was reached! I took my first bite of this elephant. I am ready for another bin bite tomorrow.

This was the most recent DB so I started with it... the bin is not even mine....

An hour later... cleared box, clearer mind. The bin will be returned to its owner in a couple of days!

Now onto making a bill binder.

Do you have any Delinquent Boxes?

Minimized It Monday - A few years later (!)

Wow! As I clicked to start a new post I glanced over to see when was the last time I wrote an entry, it was THREE YEARS ago, on a Monday!

I am on the de-cluttering mode again, after living here three plus years. I want to start documenting our lives again. I really missed blogging. It was great soul therapy in the years past when I did.

The room I have started with is our school/library/office/guest room. Yes. It is in a dire need of tidying up.

It took me all this time to hate, to love, to accept, to accommodate this room. Then, all at once, in the beginning of this month, I FELT ready to tackle it. I am still in the tidying process. I took my time and because it's my Minimized It Monday, I thought it would be great to start blogging again and share my life once more on this small pad of Blog Land.

I didn't take a "before" picture, just imagine there were more bags and stuff all over the bed. This is a "during" photo.

Not the best picture but it's a start.

And I wonder how many of my old readers still check-in on my blog. :)

Minimize it Monday: Start Over

Over the weekend I was bed resting for my lower back pain and I had a chance to go through my old blog posts and I found myself re-reading many of my Home-Making posts. Minimize it  Mondays were the posts I enjoyed re-reading because they reminded me the effect of less is more.

Since we moved, I have not really had a chance to make any plans or continue some of the wonderful habits we have established in our old home. It is over due and I am about ready to launch my minimizing effort again, now that I get to "know" this home a little better.

This Monday post is a "Start Over" but we actually tackled the tasks over the weekend. My goal was simple to attain since I had to be careful of my movement so not to upset my back pain any further:
~ Unplug and remove some small appliances from the counter top that are not in use constantly - toaster oven, coffee grinder, juicer, etc... you got the picture.
~ Replacing all the light bulbs to the "greenlite" economic types (Hubby's department and they were  mostly done!)
~ Pull out my "To-Do Notebook" and start jotting things/projects down.
~Clean the boys bed rooms. (Josh got his done and Peter was helping Daddy (since Mommy was out of commission) by making his own bed - we are still working on a better organization for his toys).
~ Going through Peter's clothes and continue to keep them in the "seven sets" way. Still working on this as I was not able to move/sit too long.
~ Assigning new "Hot Spots". Almost done.

I had to pace myself as any sudden movement would send me back to the excruciating pain in my lower back. None the less, I am glad I was motivated enough to start (actually, to continue) the belated Spring Cleaning.

Peter Helping to make his bed.

Joshua Made his the military style - Straight and no wrinkles!

We are in the process of replacing the whole house's light bulbs into this type of energy efficient ones.

 ~This post is linked to Amy's Tuesday AP Party~

Minimize It Monday: "To Do" Notebook

As I was writing down this week's activities on my "To Do" Notebook, a feeling of great satisfaction came over me. 

Long time ago, I had loose lists of all sorts.  A clothes shopping list, a GROCERY list, a to do list, a cleaning list, scrap papers with phone # that had no names on them (thinking I would remember whose number they belong to. Ha!), you name it.  Anything that came through my head all got jotted down on little pieces of paper, oh I was such a SHE!!!

{In case you wonder, a SHE means Sidetracked Home Executive (a FLYlady term)}

The Lord took mercy of my short coming.

One day, I was visiting a friend, and we were going through her calendar to see if we could pencil in a date for an event.  As she flipped through the calendar, I was amazed at how organized that looked.  Now her DH works in a fire station, so he was given a calendar with all his schedules on it.  Which in turn, helped my friend a great deal to see what her week looked like and schedule activities around her HD's work/home days.

When we "bingoed" the date and penciled it in, then she moved to her kitchen counter and pencil it in again in a yellow notepad.  I was so curious by then as you can imagine.  So I asked why did she mark it twice?  She replied: "the calendar gives me a glance at what I have going on in a month, my yellow pad lets me know what I need to do on a daily bases."  So matter of fact!

I went over and checked out her yellow pad and saw that there was a page for each day for a few days.  The first page was full and the following ones were filled in but there were room left for more.

"I love crossing out the tasks I accomplished." Said she.  "Then when the day is over, I just rip up the page and move on to the next day."

I was so inspired to say the least.  When I went home I decided I wanted to do the same thing.  But I have to tell you, An old habit is hard to die.  Took me what seems forever to change that habit from jotting down on pieces of papers to a notebook format.

Speaking of notebook, yeah, I could not bring myself to purchase the yellow pads (for some reasons they were very expensive)  so I just used the left over notebooks from my kids and started to write thing down on them. 

At first, I did a page per day like my friend's, but quickly realized that I didn't have a heavy schedule as she did, so I sort of just gauged my days and grouped some lines to each of them.  It has been working out so well through these years.

No, I did not rip the page off at the end of the day.  I saved the notebooks.  Those were days before blog.  I treasured the notebooks as they witnessed my days with my family. I did say I was a sensible (or sentimental) minimalist, right?

I have a calendar, too, and it is marked with days that Robert will be home.  Also another notebook to keep track of my checking account balance (I check my balance over the phone daily and it really helps to know I have the money to pay the bill :)).

I do have a FLY control journal but it houses my daily routines and other more regular "to dos" while the notebook is more portable, sometimes I just grab the book with me as I am running out the door and check on/edit things in it while I was waiting for the kids music lesson to be over.  The notebook is so tattered  loved.

Moving from pieces of paper to notebooks was a big step.  My next step is to determine which notebook I could let go (I am guessing the checking balance one).

One small bite at a time.

I finished writing down the week's activities and I am so happy that it seems like it will be a lighter week coming up.  Praise the Lord!

Love how my week look so far...

This stack is from year of 2007 - mid 2009 (not sure how I got a yellow pad in there.  Must be from some kind of give-a-away)

Minimize it Monday: More Hot Spots

Such a busy time in my life. So glad I am embracing the minimalist mind set. I could not imagine how many things I would be bringing into my home on a daily basis have I not decided this year is the year to LET GO.

Just to clarify, my minimalism is a sensible one. I am not the kind that wants not a speck of dust in an empty house. No, no, no. Far from that. I want to live a little you know.

I still hold on to things that have sentimental value to me until I am ready to let go. You may think it is not a realistic way to purge. But it works for me. I let go of a lot of stuff that I thought I would hang on for life. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. Once I have said my good bye to the items, they are free to go to another home or to file 13. I do make sure to check if some one else can use the item before dumping them. After all, that is part of the "green" effort I am trying to make.

Stuff is one thing, maintaining the home is another. Keeping my home in a functional mode is my role I believe the Lord has commanded me to do. Not perfectly, but diligently I shall keep my home a place where my family want to linger regardless of the square feet.

I have been doing FLYlady's method more years than I want to tell you. Even though I can't follow her ways completely (which is good because FLYlady's life and my life is completely different), I do follow some that work for me. Hot spot dealing is one of them. After years of trying and failing in keeping the hot spots clear, I finally came up with a plan a few weeks ago.

Acknowledging that I am not a super mom, I graciously asked my two older kids to take up some hot spots which they gladly did! Praise be to God! I assigned them some spots a few weeks ago and they have been keeping up their parts. It was such a wonderful scene to see when the kids announced someone must remove their stuff from their hot spots or else the stuff will be donated! I love my kids!

Last week I have assigned each of them another new hot spot (I keep in mind the location so the spots are in the similar area for them to take care of - part of my one-motion strategy) and they delivered again.

I hope in this busy season of my life that I would be able to instill a degree of minimalism into my children's mindset. Be it so that they could handle their own homes when the time comes or be it in a mission field, that when the Lord calls, they will be ready to heed it without all the stuff that would slowing them down.

Joshua's new hot spot - right next to the other three he has.

It has been cleared for the entire week!  Good job Josh!

This is a hard place to keep clear as it is right next to Peter's play things.

But Christine managed it!  Thank you my dear girl!

Minimize it Monday: Paper Tiger

I have always wondered if it is possible to live a paperless modern life?

Seems like no matter how hard I have tried to tame that paper tiger, it just keeps on roaring back at me.

I almost dreaded to pick up this minimizing task. But, I have to start from some where to get it under control.

Then I looked around and realized I have not just one, or two, but three file cabinets/drawer in this tiny house!

Please don't ask me what do I have in them, because honestly, I don't remember. Ever since I discovered the online bill paying and other nifty online filing system, I kinda live in a denial world of my pre-existing paper mess.

I seemed to have a "system" of filing the old papers... I "remember" in which general location I put certain papers... LOL! Well, at least they are not jumping out of the folders, they just don't have all the labellings on them and some of the folders are just a bit bulgy.

No problem, I will try taming this paper tiger again , I should "eat" it like I do with my "elephant", one bite at a time. Right?

So I worked on this latest filing drawer while Peter took his nap. I really took my time and went through every single piece of paper. It was such a great feeling tossing those papers away! Wish I did this sooner.

Well, one down, two more to go. Maybe after all, it is possible to live paperless!

Before ~ Looked organized but it was not...

I cleared out 2/3 of the files. Most of the papers were obsoleted (as expected). The only things I still have in this file drawer are school related papers. My goal is to get all of these loose papers into this white school folder. I will take care of them later as my work time is up (Peter woke up from his nap).

Minimize it Monday: Hot Spot

According to FLYlady, Hot Spot is any area, but usually one that is clean. Yet, as soon as you lay one piece of paper on it, the paper will begin to multiply and before you know it, the surface will be covered.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to call for a family meeting to fight the hot spots in our home. I supposed if I were to live alone, I may or may not have these many hot spots to take care of, depending on how diligent I could be and if I were a pack-rat. But since we have five people living in this tiny condo, chances are if everyone just put one or two items on a clean spot, before you know it, as FLYlady said, they multiplied.

I am starting this minimizing effort by giving both Christine and Joshua "their hot spots". They are responsible in keeping the areas clean. The good thing is, our home is not filthy, meaning you won't find decay food scraps around the house, just clutter. It didn't take long for them to clean the stuff off the surfaces.

I will be assigning them a new spot each week till we cover all of the hot spots in the house.

Just in case you are wondering, I have some spots, too. even Robert volunteered for one. The family felt very good last evening after all of the "assigned" spots were cleaned before sitting down for an old movie viewing.

Minimize the Hot spot, minimize the stress.

Christine took the really hot spots: Dinner table top, the high traffic spot...

She loves the "after"!

and the stair rail spot. Whose stuff are these?

Now gone. Christine has been keeping that area stuff free since yesterday. Believe me, it is an accomplishment.

Joshua took the up stair ledge. That surface is an awful area to keep it clean at all time. Everyone of us all have put things there waiting to take down stairs. So far, Joshua has been keeping a keen eye on it, nothing has landed there since yesterday as well.

Another surface that beckons for stuff to be put there, this, too, is Joshua's "territory".

Last but not least, for Joshua, the linen closet top. Stuff just seemed to appear up there often and *NO ONE* seems to remember who put them there...

After - oh boy, the inside of the house needs to be painted desperately...

Good job Josh!

I love how this look every time when it is clean. I hope this time it will stay clean longer since Joshua is staying on top of the clutter there now.

Robert claimed this spot. The quickest cluttered up surface due to its position being next to the garage door and we just unload things there as we come in from outside. The battery recharger seems to reside there permanently.

I couldn't believe my eyes! Where did he put that battery recharger? I found a place for the rice cooker on the other side of the counter since we use it almost daily. I just noticed the adhesive residue from the shipping tape in front of the top drawer. We were trying to keep Peter's little inquisitive hand out of that drawer. I have to figure how to get rid of the mark without damaging the wood surface.

Welcome to my spot. It is on fire!!! This is what happening when I decided I need a break (what was I thinking?) Well, at least the sink is clean. :)

Now it is better... I am going to see how long I could keep it looking like this.

My other hot spot? You are looking at it. LOL! Peter said, "who? Me? I make messes?" Yup! I am after you your toys!

After. Almost clutter free. How did Buddy got back on there?

Minimize it Monday: Cook Books

I am not a chef. Cooking for me is responsibility I must adhere. Feeding my family is a duty I don't want to neglect.

In the past, I have struggled with cooking tremendously. I would buy all sort of cook books to get me excited for cooking. I remember I couldn't cook without having a nice picture next to a recipe. Because of that insecurity, I ended up with *lots* of cookbooks.

The sad truth was, most of them just sat there on the bookshelf as displays. Most of the cookbooks I would probably tested only two or three recipes from them.

About ten years ago, I started the FLYlady system (still doing it but not as diligent), she has recommended simple dinner recipes through the cook book called "Saving Dinner". I was delighted and ordered one. I must say it is truly a cook book I would recommend for moms who's fortes are not in cooking but desire to serve her family with healthy food using common household ingredients that she perhaps already have on hand.


Oh, and let's not forget: "SAVING DINNER" IS A PICTURE LESS COOK BOOK! Ha!

Until I have a change of heart about being an avid cook, I will stick with this cookbook and put/give the rest away.

Cooking has been easier since I made up my mind to stick with my stir-fries and that one cookbook. Another good thing, the recipe varieties have not been compromised. I may never be a chef, but I can cook now and my family even have their favorites from my cooking. Imagine that.

The book is well used as you can see from the worn edges of the cover and pages...

and I book marked it with yellow post-it notes and noted how well a recipe is loved. This one is one of the favorites as you can tell by the notes.

Minimize it Monday: Bathroom Medicine cabinet

When I was eliminating stuff from the bathroom medicine cabinet, I thought it was odd that I have things there that are not at all related to medicines. Funny how we have changed over time the way we live, even with the content in the little cabinet.

I have never been known as bathroom medicine cabinet pat rat. However... the stuff there still bugged me as I noticed all of the little samples/items started gathering on the top shelf.

After - Stuff be gone.  I only keep what we use daily/frequently.

Minimize it Monday - Elimination

After using the four of everything of the table services in the last couple of weeks, I am glad to say that I am now a happy dish washer mom! LOL! I liked it so much that I have started eliminating my dishes as well. It has been a week now and yes, I am extremely happy with the result of this act of minimising. It is hard to believe how quickly I could get all the dishes done with the perfect amount of dishes for each member in the family. We had our friends over for dinner last Thursday and we simply brought the extra dishes in from the storage cabinet in the garage, and the cleaning up was a cinch. I had put away the extra dishes the day after the dinner. Right now as I write my kitchen sink is sparkling clean with all the dishes put away in their proper places in the cabinet. Did I say I was happy with this minimizing effort? I am on a roll now. What a great feeling.  Praise the Lord!

I have de-cluttered my stuff many times before, but honestly I was really just shuffling things around instead of getting rid of the excess. It got to be that emotional tie that I have with the stuff. It was hard to ELIMINATE. This time though, I evaluated each item as I put it away, gave it away or threw it away. I have been taking my time doing this because I am ready to live with just what I really love and really need. The added blessing is that the whole family is in on this minimizing effort which has been a great support. I can't wait when this year is over and we can look back to see all that we COULD live without.

Before - It doesn't seem like we have much dishes in this picture but we do. We are only a family of five and we really don't need all the extra dishes in this cabinet. I also wanted to make it more ergonomic friendly with the item placement as I am getting older now that sometime a simple stretch of pulling down something could just throw my back off.

After - In case you are wondering, the Kleenex box houses the plastic grocery bags for my little kitchen trash can under the sink and the coffee filters' double duty is to hold the homemade french fries. They don't really "look" belong in this cabinet. I may put these two items else where one day when I minimized other areas. I still need to go back to line the shelves with my famous brown paper bags. No worry, it will be done soon. :)

These are the left overs that took me a few days to put away (I wanted to be sure I was ok with what I kept in the cabinet). I did switch the measuring cups back. I like the look of the Pamper Chef's measuring cup but I realized these Pyrex ones are better marked for the measurement. Some of the dishes I put away in the garage (will bring them in when we have company) and some I gave away. I am glad to have found a way that works for me to make the cabinet look more spacious and less dishes to wash. :)

Minimize it Monday - Letting go

Ok, nothing fancy. Just another cabinet. The feeling of satisfaction, though, is enormous. I boogied this cabinet and pared it down to almost bare minimum. We (I) love it! No more zillions of mugs/glasses to wash and everything is so easy to find and return. The hardest part for me was letting go some of these mugs. Even though I gave away some, I do keep the good ones in a box in case the ones that we are currently using broke. I am on a roll with this minimizing effort. It feels good to live with what we really need and I want to see if we are disciplined enough to do it.

Before - How did my spices got into the cup cabinet????

After - We are keeping the big John Wayne mug because it is Robert's favorite coffee mug. I am basically only keeping four of everything here until Peter is completely on board with us using glass/mug and all. I keep all of my yogurt jars - speaking of which, I need to make some more tomorrow. The plastic wares on the third shelf are containers for Robert's work breakfast and lunch items. I limit consumable items for food containing (ie. plastic wrap and foil). I have lots of Tupperware and it is about time to put them to good use. Eventually though, I would like to switch everything to glass. I don't like using plastic for food storage, but right now our goal is not to buy anything unless it is absolutely necessary.

The shelf liners are my grocery brown bags. I love recycling them this way. It took forever for them to get dirty or looking dingy, and when they do, I can replace them easily and at no cost!

*The test run on the spoon and fork etc. is working out well and I am happy to know that I won't have a gazillion of spoons and forks to wash every time I am at the kitchen sink.

Minimize it Monday - less IS more

Last week after the local FLY meeting I was recommended to this website unclutterer.com. While checking it out I noticed the Minimalism tab on the sidebar. It perked my interest instantly. Went there and was once again being inspired by the less IS more concept.

Since Joshua also show great interest in the concept, the whole week our exciting conversations involved words like de-cluttering, purging, parting, un-attaching, throwing away, giving away, downsizing, minimizing, etc., you got the picture. What joy it is to have a common interest with my dear boy.

I thought of what timing it was for me to see this website. I am ready for Amy's Anti-Procrastination link party tomorrow and now my head is full of even more ideas on how to de-junk our home! I decided to post my minimizing effort on Mondays. Of course the speed of this minimizing project will have to depend on my time availability as well. Since we homeschool, we are usually busy in the morning and when evening comes, some times I am just plain tired and not wanting to do anything.


By the way, I am not in any hurry to "clean out" our place because it took me *many* years to accumulate all the junk so it will take a while to clear them out. I've learned the virtue of patience. :)

Today, I only minimized the table services and some utensils. I have this lovely Longaberger basket so I decided to do a test run by putting the most used items in the basket for this week. Living only with four knives, four forks, four large spoons and four small spoons (I already tested the utensils months ago) to see if it will help to cut down on the dish washing time. I will have the "test result" next week.

I hope to minimize the dishes next.