Making Space - week 2

Well, here I am at week two of this challenge!  So far, so good!  

Knowing we were having a last blast of heat before the pre-winter chill down, last week I decided it was time to go through my clothes closet.  The thought that I might do some serious purging was foremost in my mind.

I know there are those who advocate for taking everything out of the closet at the same time so that one can see everything, know what's in there, and I guess more easily decide what isn't needed.  The thought of doing a closet sort that way has always felt overwhelming to me.  Nevermind that we'd need the bed for sleeping before I'd likely manage culling through everything.  So I decided to do the sort by categories. And each category on separate days.  Frankly, my closet is already sorted by categories, so at least that part was already done and the culling through each category maybe took an hour or so each.   

So, my suggestion (if you're like me and don't think it would be wise to pull everything out at the same time) is to sort things inside your closet by category first. And, frankly, keep the closet that way.  That part isn't hard, in my opinion.

My ultimate goal with this task was to only have in my closet items I wear.   So with that in mind, I broke the categories down as follows:

1st - tops

2nd - bottoms

3rd - shoes

And, again...  I did each of these categories on separate days - just because that's how it was going to work for me.  And I think that was a very good idea.

Here were my steps:

First, after everything in one category was out of the closet (and on the bed), I removed any items that I could tell at a glance I no longer wanted taking up space in my closet (or home).  These were items I either I knew are uncomfortable, or weren't my color, or for some reason I always passed up for something else.

Second, assuming everything left passed the test of being something I knew I liked to wear, I tried everything on.  If it fit and felt comfortable, it went back into the closet, if it didn't fit I made the decision to either donate it, or box it up for the possibility of losing some weight and wearing it someday in the future.  I was both happy and a bit embarrassed that the vast majority of items fit and went right back into the closet.  The good news is, at least for the duration of our socially distanced existence, I have plenty of clothes to wear.  The bad news is I still have a closet full of clothes...

Anyway, the routine was pretty much the same for the tops and the bottoms.

And then it came time to sort through my shoes.  Now, seriously...  I don't think I really have a shoe problem, but the pile of shoes I came up with to rehome challenges that notion:

For the sake of camaraderie and maybe having something to say to help another declutterer, I thought I'd make some confessions.  There are two pairs of shoes here that are brand new and didn't get worn partly because they aren't comfortable.  And several other shoes I bought because they were kind of cute, but even though I gave them a go, they ended up being uncomfortable to wear too. The others... I got a good run out of them.    

I told myself (yet again), Stop doing this!  Stop buying shoes that I know are going to be uncomfortable!  For me, this is mainly shoes with no arch support, and too narrow of a toe box.  

And then, for the sake of moving towards this being a productive exercise instead of a self-defeating one, I decided to focus on the idea that somewhere out there are some women (probably with younger feet than mine) who will love those new shoes I'm no longer going to torture myself with, or berate myself over.  

Figuring that most of us have thrift stores and such that we know gladly receive our cast offs, I thought it might be interesting, even helpful to others decluttering, to give mention to places I become aware of that may not be widely known about.  In this case, Hubs recently found out about a local organization called Changing Footprints that collects shoes to be distributed to agencies that serve a variety of people in need.  In addition to giving good shoes new homes, they will also accept old, worn shoes and these they ship to Nike who recycles the components of the shoes - to minimize what may end up in a landfill.  Hubs found out about this local-to-us organization at the physical therapy place he went to this summer after his knee surgery.  So keep your eyes and ears open, folks - you never know what you'll notice as you go about your activities.

While today's post isn't a big haul in terms of clothing pieces, it sure feels good to lighten my home of other things from my closet, like hangers, shoes, a couple of purses.  All in all (counting a pair of shoes as one item), a few items of clothing, a couple of purses, and counting the hangers individually...  today's count is:  38 items.  Added to the running total:

Making Space:  53 items gone

If you'd like to join in a low-key decluttering activity that fits with the pace of life, see my post my post explaining this Making Space endeavor.  Check out the bottom of same link for graphics you can feel free to use.

A little finish...

I almost can't believe I started and finished the little cross stitch below since I was last in here.  I just haven't had much stick-to-it-iveness when it comes to crafting lately.  Having another of this Little Sheep Virtues series (Faith) I'm torn between starting it or working on something else.  I am finding that I'm enjoying focusing on one small project at a time these days, but I've been feeling the pull again to get back to my longer-term cross stitch piece.  We'll see come next Sunday, I guess, what I end up doing.

Let's play a little eye-spy game, why don't we...  Can you spot the mistake?  Actually, there are two mistakes, but the first one I made (in the snowflake) I was able to disguise pretty well, but if you see it, kudos to you.  I know where it is and I can't even see it.

The other mistake I didn't see until I had downloaded the pictures of this I had taken.   This was my first time working on linen and boy, was it a bear for me. I ripped out and started over many sections. The mistake that is screaming at me as I look at the picture was something stitched early on when it was harder for me to see when I was "off".  I ripped out and started over many sections and I'm sure this little project took me nearly twice as long as if I was using, say, aida cloth.

So many people talk about how they fell in love with linen once they started stitching on it, but other than its looks, I have grown no real love for it.  Yet.  I have a smoother piece of linen that I'm going to give a go.  Though, somehow, it looks even more challenging to me than this fabric did - even though they're both the same thread count - 30.  The above is just coarser and the spaces between the threads are larger. 

I so wanted to like linen. 

At the moment, I'm feeling no confidence that I'll grow in like with it, but I'm not going to give up yet.

Making Space - week 1

Making Space graphics used in my weekly posts, or any found here, 

can be used by anyone participating in this decluttering challenge.

For the first week of this Making Space challenge, I decided to go through my jewelry.  Left to my own natural inclinations, I'd probably own a couple earrings, a watch, a few fun necklaces and my wedding ring.  The only things I regularly wear is my wedding ring, and a pair of hoops or other dangly earrings.  I haven't had a working watch in years, and while I have some necklaces, I've gotten out of the habit of wearing one.  How many ways can I say I'm just that into jewelry?   

That said, I own some interesting (mostly costume) jewelry my mother had, and this summer my sister-in-law offered me the opportunity to look through and take home some pieces of my MIL's jewelry - which, of course, I was really happy to do.  And it has sat in boxes at the foot of a dresser for months.  This week it was finally time to sort through everything and make a place for what I wanted to keep.

So I pulled everything out, consolidated items, and considered what I might wear vs what I know I will never wear - e.g. taking an honest look at myself in the mirror, I can accept that choker-length necklaces will likely never be flattering for me again (nevermind that I hate the feeling of anything circling my neck anymore), but putting on a vintage bracelet and enjoying how it looked I did decide to try wearing some of the ones I'd inherited -  just for fun.  If jewelry doesn't enhance something or simply make you smile, what's the point in it?

And just like that I was able to make some decisions. Knowing what I won't likely ever wear again is just as valuable as knowing what I will wear.  So touching every item, I was able to fairly easily decide to rehome some of it, and throw away some things that are just old (and of no value - don't worry).  And several things got put in my craft supplies for possible harvesting for something else someday.  

I added a few items after this picture was shot, so consider this picture just a representation  of what was parted with:

I also didn't include in the picture some pieces with beads or dangly bits that are now in my craft room since technically they are still taking up space.  I guess some of the earrings above are too, but we'll not worry about that...

For the sake of enjoying how much I end up removing from my home, I'm going to try keeping an approximate running tally of all that leaves, so I skimmed the picture and counted around 15 items (counting a pair of earrings as 1 item). 

Making Space:  15 items gone

They are just small things, but getting rid of them "made space".

I also suspect I'll revisit jewelry at some point in this Making Space challenge.

If you'd like to join in a low-key decluttering activity that fits with the pace of life, see my post explaining this Making Space endeavor.  Check out the bottom of same link for graphics you can feel free to use.

And you might want to check out this video from The Minimal Mom:

Good food for thought!

Making Space...

Having completed the 30-Day Minimalism Challenge in October, and wanting to continue with house clearing in some fashion, I've come across an idea (iow, it's not original) for doing this in a less intense, but still effective way.  And I'm inviting anyone who'd be interested in joining me to do so.  (If you're reading this and it sounds familiar, it is.  I've cut and pasted from a previous post and decided to create a separate post dedicated just to this for making it easier to refer to if I want to in the future.)

I have decided to set a goal of creating one weekly post accounting for items leaving the house that week.  Personally, I'm going to aim toward the goal of 10 items each week, but I'm not going to stress at all over the actual number.  I'm simply hoping the goal of a weekly post and a reasonable number of items leaving will keep me going with clearing my home of unwanted and unnecessary stuff.  I am sure there will be weeks when I remove more than 10 items, but there will probably be weeks when I don't come up with that many items, and maybe some weeks I won't post at all - because...  well, life.

In fact, it was the intensity (especially toward the end) of the 30-day challenge that made me realize I was forgoing concentrated cleaning and decluttering for the sake of the challenge.  I'm glad for the challenge as it jump starts something, but what I hope to accomplish now is decluttering in a more purposeful way.  A way that may make messes, or take longer than a day.  If I decide to sift through craft items, or photographs, or my closet...  anything...  I can take my time to do that as thoroughly as I want.  My goal isn't just to get rid of things, but to make the space we live in as nice as it can be.  To live in, to invite others into, to create in.  I've learned over and over that too much stuff stifles my desire to create.  I believe we all need space in our minds and in our physical surroundings to go about the often times messy business of creating, making things.  Even just making our spaces better usually involves a bit of mess before "better" happens.

If you'd like to join me, just for the sake of camaraderie and mutual inspiration, that would be wonderful. There is no commitment to a time frame, or even a regular post.  There's just the opportunity to post however regularly you want to post about decluttering.  The beauty of this, I'm thinking, is that there is no pressure to post, there's no "getting behind" or feeling like you need to catch up - ever.  There will just be a weekly (that's my personal goal) opportunity to share the camaraderie of however many of us are working to make more space in our homes.  

I only have one personal rule for this - for me, decluttering a thing has to be an intentional decision to let something go, and then taking action.  Things I throw away or recycle as a matter of course, I won't be counting.  That doesn't mean there won't be things that will go straight into the trash or recycling bin.  Here's an example of what this might look like:   If I open a jar of spaghetti sauce for supper and I wash and recycle the jar as I'm cleaning up the kitchen, I wouldn't count the jar as something I decluttered.  But if I've been hanging onto jars thinking I'll do something with them someday and I finally decided to just recycle them and clear some space - that I would definitely count.  You make your own rules.

I have some ideas of things I'd like to share in posts...  photos, for sure, since they make this personal and relatable; podcasts and videos I come across throughout the process that I find motivating; books I may read or listen to that inspire and motivate me; and links to blogs - perhaps yours and others that share inspiring tidbits, or prove as good examples of diminishing the amount of stuff in our homes.  And, of course, stories - if I have any.  It's stories that we all share of why we've been saving things and how or why we set them free that can help break the hold some items may have on us.  Don't get me wrong.  We should keep what is important to us to keep. For whatever reason it may be important.  It's just that sometimes we hang onto things we don't even really want to keep, and all it takes is an instant shift in perspective from someone else's experience to set us free. 

I'm planning on making my post mid-week -- Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, whichever day works for that week.  If I don't post, it may be that I didn't have the time or maybe just the inclination.  Hopefully others will post and keep the inspiration going.

What to call it?  I know it doesn't sound very original, but I'm calling it Making Space.  That phrase encompasses not only making space in our homes, but making space in our lives and minds and hearts for things that truly matter to us.  If you join along, feel free to use that title if you want - and I've come up with a graphic that anyone joining can feel free to grab from my blog to use if they like.  

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Of course you can make your own graphic, or feel free to grab (copy to your own computer) a graphic on this page or any of my Making Space posts if you want to use it for your Making Space posts.  

I couldn't stop fiddling with the background color over at Fotor.com  😄

And a few different ones just for fun...

Goodbye October...

 Yes!  I finally finished my October stitch!

I originally thought I'd make these monthly stitches into flatfolds for easy display (and easy storage when not in use), but now I'm just not sure.  Mostly, I'm just not sure I want to make twelve flatfolds.  

No hurries to make a decision about that since this is the only one I've finished and I won't be contemplating displaying it until next October.  I'm all ready to start the December stitch, though.  Yes, I'm going to skip November for now as I doubt I'd finish it before the month is over.

These are very simple stitches (as far as cross stitch patterns go), but the cuteness is what drew me in.  

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Oh!  And one more thing!   Looky what I found in my 30-Day Minimalism Challenge last month:

I knew I had put it somewhere for safe keeping.  

And that's exactly where I found it!  😁

While the October 30-Day Minimalism Challenge is over, if you're at all interested in joining me and others in a low-key, on-going decluttering effort, see the second half of my post here.  It's no stress, you set your own goals, come and go as you like...  Really, it's about as low-key as it gets.  The whole point is to have company on the journey to making space in our homes for the things that matter most to us.