Friday, October 24, 2014

Decluttering and Living a Simpler Life

One of my goals is to declutter and live a simpler life.  In my decision to live a simpler life, I will start by decluttering our home, then moving on to downsizing my electronic footprint and finally simplifying my goals, commitments and relationships.  Obviously this will not happen overnight, however I am setting a realistic time frame for me to start living my simpler life.

Many families, like my own, declutter their homes before the holiday season arrives to make room for ohana to spend quality time together.  Walking into the holiday season completely decluttered feels amazing and it is my preference every year.

Where shall I start?  What room shall I start in?  These were a few questions that ran through my mind before I finally settled on starting in our laundry room.  Our laundry room cabinets are filled with our linens and overflow pantry items while on the opposite side we have our laundry area.  Our overflow pantry was first up, I combed through every single item and first removed any expired items before I proceeded to clean and reorganize the area into sections.  Second up was our linen closet, the very top holds our blankets/comforters, the middle houses our towels and the bottom houses our bedding.  Once I removed the items that we rarely/do not use, I sorted those items into three piles ~ sell, donate and trash.  The items that we regularly use were neatly organized and placed onto the shelves.  Our laundry area is the last area in this space to be cleaned.  All items on shelves have been cleaned and organized.  All laundry detergent making supplies are picked up off the floor and placed onto empty shelves.  Recently we cleaned behind the washer and dryer and organized items between them.  I wiped down the washer and dryer and reorganized the inside of our drawers plus I swept and mopped the area.  One room down and many more to go, looking forward to my next room.

By the time I am done, we will have more then enough to send another box off to Swap.com, sell locally, help those in need and hopefully very little will end up in the trash.  I am all about selling our gently used items in good condition and upcycling items that can we used in other projects.  The white sheets from today will be donated and put to good use in one of the special projects that I am happy to be a part of this holiday season.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Buy One, Get One Free Holiday Cards, Wrap and Stationery

Hallmark is holding their Pre-Season Stock Up Event from October 11-26, 2014 where you can get buy one, get one free holiday cards, wrap and stationery.