The Annual Christmas Declutter

Simplify!

Our Goal

A simple and beautiful house

that the Lord can use as a peaceful haven

for my family and others.

Click here to find out why/how I started!

Well, Christmas is over, and it's time to put the decorations away.  Being Mrs. Practical, and having guys who are not into decorating, I don't have many Christmas decorations to box and store.  Also, I've already blogged about decluttering Christmas decorations a few years ago, so you may refer to that post for more details.  In that blog post, I shared how I got down from five boxes of Christmas decorations to four.  In my photo below, you can see that I'm back up to five.  This is only because last year, I was adventurous and decided to make tabletop Christmas trees with some wired garland that mysteriously appeared at my front door.

Also, I shared in that old blog post about how I labeled the individual ornament boxes with the ornaments stored in each one.  That is due to my excessive list-making urge.  My goal this year and beyond, however, is to simplify.  So the individual ornament labels are now gone.  Here we go with the details...

Once Joseph--sweet young man that he is--helped remove all the ornaments from our tree, and once I had everything spread all over the floor (grouping like ornaments together--I have a few "sets" of glitter snowflakes), I took inventory, same as two years ago.

As you may know, I collect snowflake ornaments; since the ornaments fall into pretty much two categories (snowflakes and other, lol), I don't feel the need to label the individual ornament boxes anymore.  Away with those labels!!

I sorted through my non-snowflake ornaments, setting aside most of them (the two shoe boxes below).  I also put aside those red ribbon bows, which I've hung along our front porch railing for several years, but not for the past two years.  They were a little smashed and old looking.  Plus who wants to go out in the cold to tie decorations on the porch?  Not me.

Side note--don't you just love that Hot Wheels shoe box in the above photo?  My youngest guy is 18, so you know that box has been around for a loooong time!  Okay, back to decluttering.

Even though the individual ornament boxes are no longer labeled, I wanted to update the labels on the (now) four large 44-quart Rubbermaid boxes.  So, I removed all labels everywhere and went to work.  First, I sorted all the decorations into the four boxes, below.

You may see two tree skirts in the two boxes on the right.  I use the one in the far right box, and the other one--well, it was made by my mom (both of them were), and I'm keeping it for one of my guys.  If they don't want it, out the door it goes.  It's just one item, it fits in the box with room to spare, and I'm not letting go of it yet--so there.  Don't bug me about it.  :)

I use Microsoft Word to create single-cell charts, make the border a nice wide one so I have something to cut out, and I use a font called Nickolodeon, which is on every label in my entire house.  Keepin' it uniform and all, folks!  I label the front side with the word Christmas, and the back side with what's actually in the box, so that I know I can fit everything in the boxes next year.

These boxes are stored in our basement, which needs a lot of decluttering again.  I'll be down there soon when the urge overtakes me!


Back to life,
Christine

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Simplify -- Bedroom Dresser

Simplify!

Our Goal

A simple and beautiful house

that the Lord can use as a peaceful haven

for my family and others.

Click here to find out why/how I started!

Part of having a simple house is that it works for you.  What I mean by that is this:  your stuff doesn't own you, and you are in control of your stuff.  You're able to live your life, and your "stuff" helps you do that.  It does take a few minutes' extra effort, but it saves so much in the long run!  Let me show you in pictures.

We're back in my master bedroom again, looking at the entry door and the dresser sitting just inside the room.  My long-term goal is to get rid of the dresser (Gasp!  Yes!) once we get some kind of closet organizer in our master closet.  Then a simple table (like an open sideboard) will sit here, to display my doily from Italy, my jewelry box from Korea, the candle holders, and the lamp.

Inside the dresser, I've organized the clothing so that everything can be found immediately, without sifting through stacks of things--these are shorts, workout sweats, long underwear, and t-shirts.  See what I mean about making your stuff work for you?

I'll share the method for folding (sometimes called the sushi method) in a future post (have to take pictures, haha!), but you can also look for a YouTube video, I think by the same name.  You'll find the same method there.

I decluttered this drawer, and now I own seven t-shirts, two pairs of sweats, two pairs of long underwear, and three pairs of shorts.  Seven tees seem like a lot to me, but a couple are grubby ones for gardening and sweaty chores, one is specifically a workout shirt, and the other four are for "general use."  I think that's okay, and I might just pare them down a little more once everything moves to the closet.

Yeah, I'm being brave to show you my bra drawer!  I nestle them together; they're underwire, so this seems to help them keep their shape best.  That bright teal item is my swimsuit, and behind it is my beach towel.  Next to the beach towel are sports bras and two specialty bras (with built-in lace panels for modesty) because hey--I need those.  Really.

Eight regular bras (seven in the drawer, one on me!)--yeah, that's a lot, I think.  I just purchased four of them, and am keeping the four old ones as long as they do their job.  If they still hold up well (they're Soma; they are amazing and last), I may donate them (Soma has a bra donation event the beginning of each year).  For now they stay, and trust me, I wear every one of them.

Using the same method of folding as with my t-shirts, I figured I'd try it on my underwear, trouser socks, and stockings.  I was able to combine two drawers into one with this method, and still have a bit of room left over.  Yeah, too much underwear.  I'll have to evaluate that soon.

Below is the top center drawer--pretty empty now!

Here's a now-empty drawer!  I'm on my way to saying bye-bye to this dresser!  And yes, even though I love this dresser, its style, the cedar-lined bottom drawers, it really is time to let go of it.  It's hard to keep it dusted, and more empty drawers means I have to fight to not purchase more stuff.

On to my beautiful inlaid pearl jewelry box, a gift from Fernando on his travels to Korea.  Right now, here's what's in it.  Burglars beware--the two pairs of pearl earrings are gone now, as are the rings.  There's really only $100 or so of minimal items in here, so no use trying to find my house.  Plus we're gun owners.  'Nuff said, okay?

To show you I haven't reached perfection, here's Fernando's junk drawer.  I told you I don't mess with other people's stuff.  He's very ready to go through this drawer now, so it won't look like this for long!

I just can't end this post with a nasty picture.  Here are a few prettier ones of candle holders on my dresser.  I love these!

There, that's better.


Back to life,
Christine

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Ornaments for the Tree

Kinda random here, but I took some macro pictures of some (mostly) new ornaments for our tree this Christmas.

This first one I found when we got our Christmas tree.  In the little gift shop at The Growing Place, I almost walked right into a display of hand-crafted ornaments--all snowflakes!  Since my aim is to cover our tree with snowflakes of all kinds, I splurged and bought it.

My younger brother Jeff bought me a few ornaments, too, once he heard how I'm collecting snowflakes for the tree.  Here's one he bought for me.

This next one, tin and painted with a whitewash, I found in Alexandria Bay when Mom and I visited there. There were four different ornaments, and I bought one of each pattern.

Here is the second ornament Jeff bought me:

A hobby horse thrown in here, just for fun and just because I took a picture.  :)

A glass ball with silver "snowflakes."

I love snowflakes!  They proclaim the glory of the Lord!!


Back to life,
Christine

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A Simple Family Christmas

What a beautiful, wacky, fun, special Christmas Day!

Here is the story in pictures.

Jacob.

Thomas handed out the first gift.

Fernando got a dumbbell.  :)

New pajamas for Joseph.

Jeff (above) got the infamous Victoria's Secret box!  It has been in the family for 27+ years, and has been passed from hand to hand almost every Christmas.  It ended up in our family last year, so we wrapped Jeff's gift in it this year.  The tradition continues!

Char "admires" Jacob's wrapping job.

Jeff made the picture frame for Mom; Danny chose a photo to put in it.

I got my bricks back!

I had wrapped these for "ballast" in a light gift a few years ago,

and Jeff kept them for three years before using them in my gift.

Another family tradition!

Danny did a great job capturing my expressions as I opened my gift.

Another picture frame, also made by Jeff.  Can't wait to pick a photo to put in it!

Thomas thinks inside the box.

Matt and Jeff contribute a few friendly punches.

Due to a wrapping snafu, Danny and Thomas open their gifts at the same time.

They each got an extension set to go with their board game, Pandemic.

Can you believe this?  There were only 11 gifts, and we made that mess?  Unbelievable.

What a celebration!  I love my family.  Merry Christmas to you!


Back to life,
Christine

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Simplify -- The Master Bedroom

Simplify!

Our Goal

A simple and beautiful house

that the Lord can use as a peaceful haven

for my family and others.

Click here to find out why/how I started!

One day, I just started.  That's how I do many projects:  I sit and think about them for a long time.  Then, one day, almost on the spur of the moment, I begin.  Well, on this particular November day, I walked into our master bedroom closet, and stared at the boxes of stuff on the shelves.  I had  decided to pursue a path in my photography that did not specialize in photographing newborns exclusively; however, I had kept boxes of baby blankets, caps, bows...  I stared at those boxes, realizing I would probably never, maybe once, use those items.  And faced with the possibility of moving to a much smaller place, I knew they just had to go.  So I started making a pile piles.

I usually declutter when Fernando is out of town.  I'm not sure why, but I know that he is not a throw-er-away-er (my new word), and if I'm going to get rid of stuff, it has to be when he's not around.  Sometimes he doesn't even notice when I've cleaned out an area, unless it's particularly bad.  Plus, I work much better in quiet solitude.  So there you have it.  I was in declutter mode.

I don't have pictures of the closet, although I did declutter it a few years back.  But I had accumulated more stuff since then, and it needed decluttering.  So I did.  Since it was well organized, it was a relatively easy chore, and I was able to bring several boxes/bags of stuff to Goodwill that same day.

Feeling the freedom from that job gave me the courage to face our master bedroom.  It took me most of a month, but I got the major part done.  I also keep in mind that Fernando lives here too, and I can't touch his stuff.  There are places his stuff hides, and so it must stay hidden.  Oh--he just told me today he's ready to get rid of some of his stuff!  He's really good with ignoring it, and then all of a sudden it bugs him so he takes care of it.

Here's the view from just inside the main door to our bedroom.  Just ignore those sagging curtains on the window; if we ever do get the money, new curtains are definitely in order!

Above, standing there facing into the bedroom, I never thought I'd get to the point of being able to share pictures with you of the room where everything else ends up, the catch-all room for stuff around the house that has no place to go.

Standing directly in the room, here's our master bed--a Sleep Number bed, too!  My sweet friend Becky (and her hubby Tim) gave us the comforter and throw pillow.  The set came with shams, but we don't use them, and a bed skirt, which won't fit since the Sleep Number support piece is squeezed tightly into our existing bed frame.

In the above picture, you can also see, from left, a hanging shelf, empty since I don't collect anything but it was made by my grandfather so I'm holding off taking it down for now.  Then, there's the wall unit with the TV--yuck, but Fernando wants the TV there, so there it stays.  Then a tri-fold picture stand with photos of our boys, and the corner tall bookshelf with next to nothing on it, and a lamp on top which isn't even plugged in, lol.

This room, as you can tell, is long and narrow, and maybe one day we'll have just a TV hanging on the wall opposite the bed--I think I'd be okay with that.  For the below, I'm standing with my back to the west window in our room.  In the front corner, way back there in the center of the image, is my project desk.  I can see getting rid of it someday, since I rarely do "projects" such as scrapbooking or paper crafting.  It still needs to be decluttered, and lots of the craft supplies are ready to be sold or given away.  That's another project for the future.  My room is now peaceful, and a quiet place to lay my head at the end of a long day.

It's not done.  And a simple life is never a place you arrive at.  It is a place you maintain, and I'm not there yet.  I'm realistic enough to know I won't reach perfection, but it's a journey I'm happy to be on because I know that simple is best.  More on the bedroom soon!


Back to life,
Christine

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Simplify -- A Journey's Start

Simplify!

This is the cry of my new year (even though it wasn't 2015 yet...).  I feel the urging of the Holy Spirit to simplify life for our household, and thought I'd blog my adventure for you.  I'll be posting many of my adventures--for adventures they'll surely be--throughout the new year as I seek to create beauty in our home, through simplicity and contentment.

Welcome to my home.

So, to start off, a little background...

In November, as we ended a one-year mortgage modification because of Fernando's unemployment, self-employment, and much lower income throughout 2014, we faced a mortgage company (we'll call them WF, which you can probably figure out) unwilling to work with us to pay off the back payments we owed and were happy to pay back in a way that we could afford.  Due to snags, miscommunications, unreturned messages and overlooked documentation, our home seemed to be hanging in the balance, and we faced the real possibility of losing it.  Which meant:  we faced the possibility of moving.

We have lived here for over 16 years, and have accumulated stuff to fill the spaces that were oh so empty upon our move-in.  Having just recently had the experience of my parents moving after 35+ years in their home, with all the accumulation that that time frame afforded, I knew without a doubt that I didn't want to have to move that much stuff into a new home.  Oh, and that new home would most definitely be smaller than our 1700-square-foot home!  I shifted into declutter mode, and our family made three or four trips to Goodwill with various piles of boxes of stuff.

My kitchen, ready for canning summer tomatoes from my garden.

Now, I'm not a hoarder, and other than snowflake ornaments for our Christmas tree, I don't own any collections of stuff.  However, I have managed to accumulate stuff that I no longer use, that just sits around, that I have to manage, or dust, or tend to in some way.  With a potential move on the horizon, I had the perfect impetus to start decluttering!

My silverware drawer, nice and tidy with my DIY organizer.

I'm a natural throw-er-away-er (new word!), so decluttering doesn't come hard to me.  However, I live with five men of varying degrees of messiness, so I have to maintain balance and be careful with their stuff.

I started with a goal.  Because without one, the journey bogs down and I forget about why I'm doing what I'm doing.  This goal will extend not only to my home, but to my life in general--because, who wants a crazy-busy life with no room to breathe?  Well, not me!  And I don't want my home to look that way, either.  Here is my goal, which I'm sure will be refined every now and again:

A simple and beautiful house

that the Lord can use as a peaceful haven

for my family and others.

Friends drop by?  Come on in, there's couch space for sitting.
At mealtime?  Sit with us and share our meal.
Crazy day for the family?  We'll be able to relax at home.
Your furnace went out? We have room for you to spend the night here.
Troubling day?  I have a peaceful place to lay my head at night.
And so the list goes.

Unrealistic?  I don't think so.  Do-able?  Absolutely.  I've listed a what, a why, and a who.  And I think it reflects the heart I have for my home.

So, time to get started.


Back to life,
Christine

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Almost Christmas

December 21.

A few days before Christmas, when our hearts are still filled with anticipation of celebrating the birth of Christ, sharing special time with family, opening our hearts with gifts to each other, spending sweet time in fellowship with friends...  It was a day for singing!

We hosted a neighborhood caroling party, with fellowship throughout the afternoon, a shared meal at dinnertime, and finally, singing from door to door in our neighborhood.  Here is the singing group, going through a few of the Christmas carols before heading out to knock on their first door:

They were gone for a long time, but--faithful as usual--they rang our own doorbell and caroled the few of us who stayed behind!

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

Back to life,
Christine

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