My journey to simplicity

So as you know, I'm on a journey to simplicity. I've been working on decluttering my home. It's a slow process when you work at it only during weekends. And you probably also know that I've succeeded in my first Whole30 at the beginning of the year.    I've decided to take it up a notch in March 2015. I'll be taking on three life improvement challenges.  1. I'm continuing the decluttering . Of course. No surprise there. I'm inspired to succeed at this new minimalist lifestyle. It's a struggle (mostly because it takes so much time to go through everything), but I will achieve it! 2. I'm doing a second Whole30 . I've been off track in February. I miss how I was feeling during my first one. And eating simple ingredients, in my opinion, totally fits the minimalist lifestyle. I won't be encumbered by a whole bunch of prepackaged foods. Just meats, fish, seafood, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and good fats. Simple! 3. I&

Smiley Sunday Sunday morning (the morning after my first official decluttering day), when I left my room to go downstairs for my morning coffee, I was greeted by a lovely clear computer nook. " Oh yeah! I cleaned this out yesterday! *smile* " I thought to myself. What an awesome way to start the day! The reading The fourth book I've been reading is The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life - by Francine Jay (298 pages). I'm a little more than half way through and I'm a little disappointed. I feel (so far) that this is redundant information considering the other 3 books that I've read last week (one by the same author). I will finish it, in case there is another little lesson or at least more reinforcement to the concepts I already have on minimalism. The next move I've still been contemplating my next move. I've taken a few before photos of the various areas of my house because I've ac

A lot of stuff! "Wow you have a lot of stuff!" is what my landlord told me looking around the dinning room at my piles of boxes with a bewildered look in his eyes the day I moved into the townhouse I'm renting from him. I was insulted. "Yeah so? It's not that much. There are many other things I want and need! I've gotten rid of tons of things before moving. How dare you!" was my inner dialogue in response. Instead, I didn't say anything. I just looked around at the dinning room where SOME of my stuff was piled and then looked back at him. Looking back on it now, he was absolutely right. It was none of his business, but he was right none the less. I have (will have had) a lot of stuff! Preparing So I've read 3 books on minimalism in 5 days and I'm on book number 4. I'm excited. I'm scared. All week I've been looking forward to attacking the first area of my home: the home office area. But as I stood there looking at my st

OK, I said I wasn't going to write every day, but I'm just so darn excited about this new "challenge" that I've given myself! :) So I've read Miss Minimalism: Inspiration to Downsize, Declutter, and Simplify , by Francine Jay. It only took me two nights to get through it. Not a very impressive feat; it's only 133 pages. Turns out that that "one item a day" idea I had, well she does that also. Cool! So I've decided to try to do that all while doing a more important decluttering. What I got rid of so far: A bag of clothes donated to Value Village A book I gave to a friend A curling iron I never use anymore Candle holders that I gave to my mother A tablet that I gave to my mother An extra kettle I have dreams of simplicity. Dreams of getting rid of enough stuff so that when my mom moves out into her own place (possibly this summer), my daughter and I can move to a smaller apartment instead of renting the townhouse we currently liv

Yesterday , I added a post to my Whole30 blog about starting something new. Yesterday's plan was to get rid of one thing a day until the end of the year. And I actually did start yesterday like I said I would. I dropped off a bag of clothes that I was planning to donate at Value Village. So my day one was a success! But you know what... I've been rethinking my plan. I don't want to get rid of one thing a day. I don't want to limit it to one thing a day. I know it would mean 318 things by the end of the year as of yesterday. But that doesn't seem like enough. And how do I figure out what counts in those 318 things? Would trash count? Purging paperwork? Getting rid of old receipts? Does it have to be things that can be used by others? So instead, my plan is still to de-clutter, organise what I keep, and set up a system to keep things organized, simple, and try to live a minimalist type of lifestyle in as many aspects of life as I can. Today , I bought a few e-