Decluttering

Simplifying Life in General. It all starts with your house, your rooms, your cabinets, and drawers. Scary isn't it?

A few household items

De-cluttering. It seems like a scary word for most of us, but slowly and surely, we can make it happen! It takes one day at a time and a goal. My goal when I first moved to our new house over two years ago was to be organized and simplified- much unlike our last house of chaos. We've lived here for a little over two years and it seems the only organized room in the house is the guest/kids bathroom. 

I have so many projects and goals that I want to do with my life and to me, it seems, they all need done right away (please don't tell me I'm the only one who does this)! Then I get overwhelmed and give up. Well, not anymore. Let's look on the positive side. The guest/kids bathroom is organized. That's one less area/room that's done! 

I'm also trying to simplify my pantry and eat healthier. We don't buy junk food (I haven't bought potato chips over a year) and the pantry seems full of canned and bottled food. Olive oil, canned oranges (for salads every night), jello, and a TON of condiments. We are always buying fresh produce (patiently waiting for the garden to produce) and it seems we are always spending hubby's hard earned money on bills, gas, and groceries- in that order. 

I went to look in my pantry to organize it and under the kitchen sink. The twenty bottles and cans of cleaners, detergents, canned and bottled never-expiring food made me realize we have so much and waste it all! We really need to get back to the basics! How did people survive in the 1950s? They didn't buy bottles of ketchup or run to the store because they ran out of butter!

One of my cabinets

I'm determined to go green- maybe not 100%, but a little at a time. Do I really need to spend $30+ on Tide detergent or $20 on dishwasher detergent gel pacs? I would love to spend that $50 on a Christmas gift for my husband or re-plaster the house (stucco exterior).

Our four year old daughter is starting to think that everything you ever need is at the store and that Daddy will always be able to buy those things. That's not how my husband and I grew up. Our parents did buy most to everything (food and household cleaners) at the store it always seems a lot of money went down the drain, all over the floor, etc. I don't want my kids to waste their money and support the outrageous advertising for commercial products. So in order to save money (I'm a stay at home mom with a 2 and 4 year old) I'm willing to experiment and teach my kids (and husband) that homemade is worth the effort!

I've done a lot of online research and I'm not going to make all these tomorrow, but weekly. I will have weekly goals and other projects on the list, so please be patient with me. 

My monthly goals are practically a to-do list. I'm not forcing myself to work only on certain days or hours, but as long as I can cross it off the list (I love lists)! These goals will be done Monday-Friday only- unless I need hubby's help. 

Each month I will clean and de-clutter one room, garden and pull weeds (sections), experiment with a new household/homemade cleaner, a from-scratch food, and overall, teach my kids and hubby what its like to not be reliant on commercial products.

The overall goal is to become organized, de-cluttered, and somewhat self-reliant with a two- and four- year old mixed in! 

My weeds never seem to stop growing!