How To Reduce Items In Your Home
Do you ever walk into your home and wish you had less stuff? Do you ever read in your favorite home magazine about organizing, decluttering and living only with the minimal?
I used to think about living with minimal constantly. I would scrounge our house looking for what else we could live without. The thing is, I still find myself doing just that, but in a more realistic way. Will I ever become a minimalist? I am not sure I aspire to be a complete minimalist, but what I do aspire to do is to not live with more than I need.
What stops one from decluttering and getting rid of items in their home? Often it is the feeling of what they will be “missing” if they do not have this certain item. The fear of needing it someday, which lets be honest, rarely happens. Really though, we need less than what we think we need – we can do with less than we think we can. We just CHOOSE to live with more, so that we can continue to live in this “safety net” of stuff.
Some things are more or less a necessity, like something to cook your food in – can you completely get rid of every single pan in your home? No, but what you can do is keep just a few select sizes and that is it. Get rid of the rest.
So I want to challenge you to take a look around your home. What can you live with less of?
Here are a few ideas:
- Books – will you ever read it again?
- Magazines – lessen the number of subscriptions or donate/recycle the ones already read
- Vases – how many do you use at one time?
- Cookbooks – do you only use a few recipes out of a couple of cookbooks? Write them down and then get rid of the cookbook
- Kitchen gadgets – would another gadget be a great alternative for the lack of another?
- Drinking glasses – how many do you really use at one time?
- Hair supplies – do you need replacements for up to 50 years from now? Probably not because even hairstyles and cuts change. Stick with just a few options.
- Cleaning supplies – do you have products on your shelves that really do not do the job? That you will really never use? Get rid of them!
- Craft supplies – do you aspire to do certain projects, but realize after how many years, you have yet to get to them? Let the stress go of what you have NOT done and marvel at what you have already created
- Office supplies – do you have enough crayons, pencils, pens, and notebooks to supply a school? You only need to keep one little container of each and I will guarantee you that it will probably last a lifetime
- Candles – how often do you burn a candle? Is it only a few times a year? Do you have more candles than you know what to do with? Donate them.
- Winter supplies – hats, coats, gloves, mittens, etc. Are there any that do not fit anymore? Have your kids grown out of anything? Do they have holes in them where they will do no good anyways? Time to clean out and clear out!
Love your living with less posts!
This time of year is challenging for me because I am very practical when it comes to gift-buying. I try not to buy things that are large, difficult to store, or dust collectors. I tend to wander a lot during my gift shopping trying to find the just-right gift. I love your philosophy of only buying what's on your list, but what makes YOUR LIST? (I try to buy gift cards when I can and try to personalize with home-made touches, especially for teachers, who receive so many lotions, candles, ornaments, mugs, etc. — I like to tie a gift card onto a jar of homemade pancake or cookie mix, something to be enjoyed after the holidays). But what to buy for the husband or parents who have "everything". Even my teen kids are less interested in "excess", but the world they have been born into is so electronically-based…and expensive).
As a tip for you, with the baby shower season approaching, 🙂 I think it would be great to have a wish list for all the thoughtful families and friends wanting to express their joy for your family (especially with a mommy and daddy that serve like you both do)!
Gift cards to stores where you can purchase groceries, diapers, gasoline, etc. are so thoughtful. Home-cooked meals can be great when organized by a THOUGHTFUL FRIEND, so your fridge and freezer don't fill up all at once.(maybe a sign-up sheet or calendar can be helpful to organize this gift that keeps on giving. Little outfits are great, when planning ahead for a rapidly growing baby, by purchasing items that will fit next season or next year (taking into consideration weather seasons as well as growth).
Multi-use items are great. We bought an infant car seat that snapped onto a stroller (and later converted into an umbrella stroller for when the baby grew out of the car seat).
As for the "regular" stroller, we bought a double stroller right-away, planning to have more than one child. (Extra space is also great for coats, diaper bag, shopping trips when you don't want to use a cart, etc.)
HOPEFULLY SOME OF YOUR "LOCAL" FRIENDS CAN SHARE SOME OF THESE IDEAS:)
You always have such wonderful ideas! For gifts, I always ask the person what they would like. If I do not get any suggestions, I try to think of something unique or something that particular person wouldn't necessarily buy themselves. After Christmas, I can share more, but I can't say specifics as I know some of them read this :). But I too, am always about not giving excess. We are so on the same page!
I LOVE your idea of attaching a gift card to a homemade gift – what a clever idea! I am going to have to remember that one!
As for the baby showers, I do have 2. We are only registered at Target since that is the only store remotely close to us that offers great baby options :). It has been so much fun getting the registry set up! I like your idea though of doing gift cards for gas, groceries, etc. – another "note to self" for when my friends have babies!
I always appreciate your words and thoughts – thank you for sharing them! Don't ever hesitate :). You are such a thoughtful person and I definitely learn a lot from you!