Tag Archives: White space

Things are coming together.

Posted in decluttering, home improvement, kitchen remodel, Uncategorized by

I took everything off the shelves to the right of the sink and did the 2 coats of paint and then this morning did the final third.

I have the bins ready to go back tomorrow when it’s had 24 hrs to dry. My goal with all this redoing is to really only have what we use and get rid of the rest. On someones minimalist video, she said ” having open shelves keeps me accountable to what I have”. I really love that. And it’s quite true.

I have a vision of what  want this funky old house to look like. There’s nothing really special about it. It was built in 1949 in at that time, a very rural community. There was no insulation in the walls and when we re -modeled ,we insulated what we took down but there are still walls without. All the window were replaced as they were just single pane. Now after 24 years almost some of the window need to be replaced as the dual pane has some degradation and they are slightly filmed. But we continue on. We don’t have any inclination to move so it’s making the best of what we have and I WANT that vision of a a clean, minimalist house.  I think there’s really a ways to go as I am continually surprised, yes, genuinely, surprised when I declutter for the umpteenth time and still find I am releasing stuff.

Over the years, I’ve given away thousands of things, many valuable. And you know what, I hardly remember or care what they items were. By removing them, I have moved toward that goal.

So back to these open shelves. What’s there is what I can see and the rest is gone. Some stuff is in other baskets on the restaurant stainless steel shelves, but most is gone.

I love this process of minimizing and and have learned so much.

So today was a gym day and then to I went into Target to get a water proof crib liner for Bonnie, the rescue dog, as she is peeing in her bed Every. Single. night.  So in I go, get cat food, of course, cream, a bottle of wine and sale, one more bin for the pantry to hold my brush,Invisalign,stuff, etc and then left and promptly forgot the liner. My list was folded over and of course the one thing I went in for was on the other side.

I did call and got her an appt. Monday to check out the situation.

IMG_0541All this is open shelving now and ready to go tomorrow.

 

why​ minimalize

Posted in decluttering, minimalism, Uncategorized, White space by

We all have different thresholds of clutter and for things that are around us. When I look around my small house, I can see where a die-hard minimalist may say, ‘Gee, you have a lot of Easton Press books, or that I still have my Fiesta Ware.’ Even though I have gotten rid of probably 75 % of what we did have ( grand piano and 2 couches and a futon) plus more, there is still a comfortable amount of stuff that I like.

I love my Needles and Pine Tepco dishes that are in the Heywood Wakefield. Even though I use White dishes daily, I do use the Tepco and I use the Fiesta Ware. But I have them where I can appreciate them visually and they fit on the shelves they are on.

IMG_1235.jpg

That’s a big minimalist thing and I do use that concept of how much ‘real estate’ or space do I have for those items. If they were boxed away, I would get rid of them. But they are out on my shelves and fit the space. If you need to start your minimalist journey, I’d recommend the container concept. There’s only so much room on a shelf or in a drawer for items. So that is your parameter. You can only put what fits and that doesn’t mean cramming things in sideways.

So why bother decluttering and minimizing your stuff. From my own personal experience, my house stays cleaner as there is less stuff to dust and overall less stuff to deal. My stress levels are quite low( mostly) when things are tidy and uncluttered. I read a great article on some blog about when we’re stressed we want to declutter and I can say that is what I did.  I found the more I released the less stressed I was. My home felt better to be in. As an introvert, I spend a lot of my time home especially since I no longer work at the library. So

  • cleaner house
  • less stuff to deal with
  • lower stress levels
  • more time for other things like reading, cooking, walking etc

 

There’s less noise in my head when I have more white space around me both literally and figuratively. I think there’s even more, I can declutter down the road but for now, it is a nice balance.

 

 

Minimalism, create white space

Posted in decluttering, minimalism, simplicity, Uncategorized, White space by

9a1fb140b9232e6ec8deba592897d9cb.jpgAhhh, to have the things out of the house. It’s very freeing and leaves open lots of possibilities.

It’s best to follow, though, the one in one out rule once you’ve done a good purge. So, if you buy a new T-shirt and the old one goes out. Same with everything, although, one caveat might be if you are buying something you need and don’t have one like it to discard. In that event, just find another item not related to donate.  Of course, I don’t follow this to the letter at all. For Christmas, we all received(from Santa) 2 Easton Press books. Since I’ve decluttered almost all my other books, I didn’t feel the need to reduce the books.  They are beautiful classics that are leather bound and gold gilded. I bought a lot on eBay before Christmas for an amazing price of 80.00 for 7 books.  Very sweet deal.

Creating white space is leaving some spaces unfilled. Perhaps a shelf only with a few items. I try and keep one open shelf or at least 1/2 of a shelf open. It’s much easier on the eyes not for it to be packed.img_0363

Also, creating white space allows you to open up to new possibilities and ideas. Rearrange your furniture or think of a creative solution to small space living(or medium, or large) but something new.   The possibilities are endless really when we have decluttered down to the essential, purged all the unnecessary things that we hold on to, white space let’s us be creative.

Plus, it’s really fun!!

Try to empty a shelf, a cabinet shelf, or a drawer.  Let it be a  space for light to come in.

 

 

One empty shelf or one empty drawer

Posted in decluttering, simplicity, Uncategorized by

I love the sound of one hand clapping and I love one empty shelf or drawer.

I’m not sure where I first read that on a minimalist’s blog but it totally captivated me. Now in every dresser, there is at least one empty drawer and in 2 of my bookcases, there is one empty shelf.

It feels good to have that room on those 2 shelves. It lets the space breathe.  The one larger bookcase in our front room does not have an empty shelf, but 3 shelves hold my fiesta ware and 3 shelves hold our Easton press books, and 1 shelf holds my cookbooks and 1 shelf hold photo albums. I may have to re- look at that bookcase and redo the Fiesta ware.

Today is a quiet day with just some puttering around and menu planning for the week.

So far I have:

Sunday was Sunday supper (or something to roast, or bake for leftovers during the week) I did a lovely whole organic chicken.

Monday is pasta night so I might do a mac and cheese or just a simple pasta with butter and parmesan.

Tuesday is taco Tuesday and I’ll use some of the left over chicken and do soft chicken tacos.

Wednesday is Whatever Wednesday so ???

Thursday is crockpot Thursday and I have an organic pot roast to cook. I’ll throw in some potatoes and onions.

Friday is Friday night pizza. so some sort of pizza.

Saturday has been Sammie Saturday but now with the cooler weather, I think I’ll make it soup night.

 

BTW, didn’t see the weird park guy today, but I did carry my pepper spray.  Also, B is gone this week up to the North Coast, so I’ll be walking alone. So if I see the guy I’ll turn around and walk the other way and then the same when I get near him on the other side. The park path is a .5 mile circular path.

 

Wednesday stuff

Posted in Uncategorized by

Well, I had my blood test on Monday, and today is the doctor appt. Since I reduced dex to 16 mg we’ll have to see how my m protein is. 

I’ve still had on going issues with diarrhea but I work on timing especially at work and when were out camping. I’m not sure really if there’s anything to do about it except the immodium . It’s part of this whole thing and I’m just happy my m protein went down last month. It’s kinda a wait and watch sorta thing. Then we’re stopping briefly at Costco to return something, and then home. I should get my revlimid delivered either tomorrow or Friday . 

Not too much new here,  same old same old. 

I have some touch up painting to do in the house, and about 6 bins of Star Trek figures to go thru. Ugh, why did I buy them so many….

this is such a good time of year to declutter as stuff can be brought out side and put on tables or a tarp. I still feel the need to minimalise more. Less stuff makes everything easier . Easier to keep the house clean. Less to have to deal with , and less to dust, put away etc. 

it might be time for me to really look around again at what stuff I’m not using and see what 

else can go.  I really like the idea of ‘ white space’. It’s space where there is nothing.  Since our house is small, I need the ‘white space’ .