PRODUCT JUNKIE TO MINIMALIST - Week #6 - Discovery of PROJECT 333

The goal I set for this week was simple:  Get the two crates of decorations in the hallway inventoried and eliminate another 177 items (to bring the total eliminated to 4200 even).

Saturday - Day #36

Went up and saw my nephew this morning for about 4 hours.  He's less than 2 weeks old, so obviously he just sleeps most of the time, but I did get to hold him and feed him (and even change his diaper).  Words cannot describe how much I love this little guy and what a blessing he is to our family.  I never really could see myself having children until he came into our lives and now....well....let's just say he's changed my perspective.  I just turned 38 last month, so if it's meant to be, it will have to happen soon.  That's another story though!....

We ran out of a few things this week, so I had to stop at the grocery store on my way home.  I debated on whether to even post this photo because I bought some really bad food.

All I can say is, "Guess what time of the month it is?!"  It's the time where I'm craving sugar AND salt and anyone who tries to stand in my way is likely to get kicked in the shins and/or the stink eye!  I really did need contact solution, deodorant, fruit, and shipping tape though.  The Starbucks jugs of coffee were on sale this week, so I'm hoping since I got two of them, that will get me thru the next two weeks of work and I won't have to grocery shop for another two weeks.  I'm going to read about Kylie Jenner's birthday now while I eat that piece of cake and remind myself that one day her metabolism will slow down and she'll have thighs too!  

By the end of the day, I had gone through the two crates of decorations, so that was crossed off the list!  Even did a load of laundry while I was at it since I was hanging out in my now-usable (AKA - cleaned out) finished basement.  

Sunday - Day #37

Woke up early enough today that it was still dark out and I was able to light my candles in my living room that I love.  What a great way to start the day!  I read a few magazines, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, and went thru a bag of bathroom items and a crate of items from the garage.  So far I've eliminated 56 items this week.  I looked at my long-term goals for the remainder of this year and determined I need to eliminate at least 66 items/week to reach my goal of eliminating at least 50% of my belongings by the 1-year mark of this project.  I broke it down even further to determine how many items in each category (food, kitchen, living room, bedrooms, office, bathroom, basement, laundry room, upstairs closet, downstairs storage, deck, and garage) I need to eliminate each week.  This will make it really easy when I wake up and want to purge things before work to know which room to focus on that morning.

GAME CHANGER - After my husband fell asleep watching baseball, I was searching the internet for more minimalist blogs and stumbled across something called Project 333.  It's basically where you choose 33 items including clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear, and shoes and wear only those 33 items for 3 months at a time.  I watched this YouTube video of the Dutch woman in the blue dress at the bottom and it just resonated with me (much like when I found my first minimalism blog).  

What's NOT included in the 33 - Wedding rings or other sentimental jewelry that you never take off, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear, and workout clothing (you can only wear your workout clothing to workout)

I went straight to my bedroom and made my list of items that I thought would be in my top 33 from memory.  Then, I went thru my closet quickly leaving only those pieces and a few more.  The rest went into another closet.  Of the items that made the cut, I turned those hangers around backwards so I can see what (if anything) I didn't wear at the end of those 33 days.

Here's what made the cut:

Bottoms:
1.  White denim Capri pants (my go-to pair of pants this summer)
2.  Regular (dark denim) jeans
3.  Grey stretchy jeans
4.  Black dress pants
5.  Black leggings Dark charcoal grey work pants (see "Wednesday")

Tops:

6. White 3/4 sleeve top
7.  White & navy "rope design" 3/4 length sleeve shirt
8.  Fuschia pink short sleeve top
9.  Burnt orange sleeveless top
10.  Goldenrod yellow top
11.  Mint green v-neck top (see "Thursday") - Solid grey GAP long-sleeve top
12.  Navy/blue sleeveless top
13.  Navy solid 3/4 sleeve top
14.  Black short sleeve top

Cardigans:
15.  Navy cardigan
16.  Black/white striped cardigan
17.  Black stretchy dressy cardigan
18.  Burnt orange cardigan

Shoes:
19.  Black wedges
20.  Brown boots
21.  Platinum Sperry's
22.  Blush flats
23.  Grey TOMS
24.  Black flats

Accessories:
25.  Black/silver infinity scarf
26.  Lia Sophia goldenrod/green/blue/silver long beaded necklace
27.  Lia Sophia acorn earrings
28.  Silver watch
29.  Black/white/silver long necklace
30.  Silver/clear crystal dangle earrings

I still have three more items that I can add.  I'm going to wait and see what I come across that I need/want to wear over the course of the next three months and add the last three items in then.  Coats are supposed to be counted on this list, but realistically, I hate wearing a coat even when it's snowing outside, so we'll see if I feel the urge to wear one by the end of November.

Monday - Day #38

I woke up all excited to decide what of my 33 pieces I was going to wear today.  Something that made this "Project 333" project challenging is that I live in Ohio and the seasons are about to change from Summer to Fall.  Today in fact, it was below 80 degrees and I wore this to work:

Tuesday - Day #39

I cannot believe how happy it makes me to walk into a cleaner closet without all the clothes packed into it!  (This coming from the girl who used to choose apartments based on how big the walk-in closets were and would have the entire thing packed).  Having less options to choose from really does make getting dressed a lot faster!  Plus, I don't get irritated looking at clothes that don't fit or don't make me feel good.  Everything that's in there now are my favorite pieces!  Here's what I wore today:

I know the "no white after Labor Day" rule technically went away several years back, but I'm old enough to still have that as my mindset.  So, I'm going to wear my favorite white capris and nautical 3/4 sleeve top as many times as I can between now and mid-September.  I debated on whether to keep these two pieces on my "33 list" since I won't wear them for the whole three months and that's 2/33 slots they're filling, but they're both so comfortable and I feel good wearing them.  I paired them with my navy cardigan and boat shoes and had a nice "Tuesday with no meetings" work outfit.  Normally I wear a golden, nautical-themed long necklace with this outfit too, but it didn't make the cut for Fall pieces.  Instead, these are my jewelry options for the next three months.  (The small, diamond/pearl necklace was my gift from my husband for our wedding and is what I normally wear daily, so it didn't have to be counted).

Now I'm going to work on eliminating some more items.  I'm at 4118 now and I still have 82 more to go by the end of the day Friday.  I'm going to check out the pieces that didn't make the Project 333 cut and see what can go to eBay/out of my closet permanently.

Wednesday - Day #40

No meetings scheduled again at work today, so I wanted to wear comfy, soft clothing.  This outfit definitely fit that bill!

I REALLY debated on if it was appropriate for an Executive Director to ever wear leggings to work.  Even though the agency I work for is pretty small and the amount of people who would even see my outfit was less than 20, I still felt funny about it.  My husband said he thought my outfit looked cute, but the more I look at this photo, the more I think these leggings are getting pulled from my 33 items.  Instead, they're getting replaced with dark charcoal dress pants (which I ended up wearing on Thursday).

After work, I went and got a pedicure, which was so nice!  Purged 5 more items from my closets too!

Thursday - Day #41

Today I had a meeting with one of the families we serve and with someone from the local County Board, so I needed to dress up more.  This was today's outfit:

Did I mention this little project is tougher than it looks?  During any given week in the Spring and Fall, it is not uncommon for the temperature to fluctuate by 40 degrees.  You really have to think hard about the pieces you choose because you don't get a lot of options!  I thought I had my wardrobe all figured out Sunday night, but once again, after looking at this photo, I've decided this shirt is getting pulled too.  It doesn't look flattering right now and the necklace I normally wear with it (a short silver and green statement one) didn't make the Project 333 cut.  This black/silver necklace kept falling into the crack of my chest and REALLY made for an unflattering look.

Friday - Day #42

Here's today's "casual Friday" look:

This is a very comfy (although not so flattering around my waist) outfit!  I love the necklace too!  The colors are perfect for Fall!!

Came home and finished purging to make my goal for the week.  For some reason, this week was tougher than all the other weeks.  It's probably because I've been through everything at least once already.  I thought my clothes especially would be easier since I pulled most of them from my main closet, but what's left are pieces I really do like.  Clearly I still have some work to do on changing my mindset and letting go of things!

Totals for this Week:

Current Inventory - 10,645

Items Purged - 2762
Items Donated - 977
Items Used - 394
Items Sold/Returned - 71 
TOTAL ITEMS ELIMINATED = 4204

(4204/14849) = 28.3% of items inventoried have been eliminated so far

Next week's goal:  I don't want to stress about focusing on a number of items to purge this week!  I'm going to make my goal the minimum number needed to make my annual goal (69 items) and then if I go over that, great!

What do you guys think of Project 333?  Have any of you done it before?

XOXO,
Stephanie

PRODUCT JUNKIE to MINIMALIST - Week #5

The goal I set for this week was simple:  Hit the 4000 mark for items eliminated (either thru purging, donating, using, or selling).  

Saturday - Day #29

Started the morning off with a trip to the grocery store.  I had three things on my list (kitty litter, Draino, and razors), but then realized we were out of a few more things once I got there.

I hadn't grocery shopped for two weeks and this was all I/we really needed.  (The four jugs of kitty litter stayed downstairs since they weigh 20 lbs a piece and I didn't feel like lugging them up the stairs for the photo).  Buying the jug of coffee ended up being cheaper in the long run than stopping in the morning on my way to work to buy it since I always end up buying food too.   Now I can eat a banana instead or a bowl of cereal with my coffee at the house.  We were completely out of cheese and fruit, so those were fine to buy.  I'm going to try to wean myself off my US Weekly magazine addiction until I read all the magazines I currently have at least, but so far, that hasn't happened.  (Although since I'm only shopping bi-weekly now, I don't buy them every week anymore).  The total cost of these items was $74.97.  That's WAY below the old overage of $100-$115 per week that I used to spend.

Came home and photographed items to put on eBay since their free listing promo runs through tomorrow.  Put 11 more pieces on the site before the day was over and sold 2 shirts.  Yeah!!  

Sunday - Day #30

Woke up and photographed/put 21 more items on eBay.  Sold 4 items, so I packaged those out to ship out in the morning.  We had some company over, I did some laundry, and that pretty much consumed the day.  Tomorrow, it's back to work!  

Monday - Day #31

Back to work today!  Once I got thru my 181 e-mails and dealt with all the regular day-to-day goings on of a company that supports individuals with disabilities, it was time to go home and I was EXHAUSTED!!  I packaged up items that sold on eBay, watched a baseball game with my husband, and then zonked out for the night!

Tuesday - Day #32

Another busy, busy day at work.  Came home and packaged up an item that sold on eBay today while I was working, took a shower, and watched another baseball game on TV.  I know I should be listing more things on eBay, but I just don't have it in me.  Instead I logged what I used yesterday and today (including throwing a purse away that I had been carrying that was pretty beat up, and the daily things that get consumed like fruit I ate, contact solution I used up, packing tape I used up, etc.).  My goal was to hit 4000 items eliminated this week.  So far I'm at 3925.  Go me!  Only 75 more items to go before the end of the week.  Yeah!!  

I keep getting urges just to bundle up everything in front of me and donate it, which is a good sign.  My mind set truly has changed over the past 32 days.  I'm not even tempted to online shop anymore.  I logged on to the Limited website the other day to get a retail value for a shirt I bought and looked at their clothes and didn't have the urge to buy ANYTHING!  After all, I have all I need and more already!  I'm so grateful for this journey that began just over a month ago!!    

Wednesday - Day #33

I woke up this morning and set a simple goal - eliminate 5 items from my bedroom before getting ready for work.  It only took me about 10 minutes and I had found 15 items to get rid of.  2 decorations, a slip, a pair of heavy tights, a body slimmer, and a pair of shoe strings all went into the "Goodwill Donation" crate.  5 clothing items, a purse, and 2 decorations went into the "put on eBay" pile, and 1 decoration went straight into the trash.  Who-hoo!!

I sold a top while I was sleeping, so I wrapped it up and shipped it out this morning.  

On my way to work, I dropped off the overflowing crate of donations to Goodwill and it took less than 30 seconds.  Double who-hoo for the day!!

After work, I decided to go thru a 5-gallon crate of items left over from a garage sale last year to see what would go on eBay and what would be donated to Goodwill or go to the trash.  There were over 30 old Lia Sophia look books in there that went straight to the recycling and almost put me to my 4000 items purged goal.  I'm only 2 items away from hitting that mark and I'm so excited!  I will find additional items to get rid of and hit that number TONIGHT!  Yeah!  GOAL MET!!  (Did I mention setting attainable goals is a good way to keep yourself motivated)?    

Thursday - Day #34

This advertisement was in my e-mail inbox yesterday.  It's from Express and they're trying to convince me (and the rest of their subscribers) that we need to wear blankets as cover-ups this fall.  It's cute and all, but lucky for me, I have plenty of blankets I can bring from home if I get cold at work this Fall/Winter.  Ha!!  #thanksbutnothanks

On a more serious note, I woke up and purged another 21 items from my bedroom.  This time, I decided to go through my earrings and bracelets before getting ready for work.  Out of my earrings, 3 pairs went to the trash, 1 pair is going to my sister, 10 pairs are going onto eBay, and 1 pair was donated.  1 necklace and 5 bracelets are also headed to eBay (hopefully this weekend).  

Friday - Day #35

My husband and I met his brother and his brother's wife out for a drink after work and then we came home and went to bed early.  Another week in the books!  Praise the Lord!!  

Totals for this Week:

Current Inventory - 10,628

Items Purged - 2714
Items Donated - 932
Items Used - 317
Items Sold/Returned - 60

TOTAL ITEMS ELIMINATED = 4023

(4023/14654) = 27.4% of items inventoried have been eliminated so far

Next week's goal:  Get the two crates of decorations in the hallway inventoried and eliminate another 177 items (to bring the total eliminated to 4200 even).

Have a blessed week everyone!

XOXO,
Stephanie

TARGET Beauty Box Review - August 2015

Some of you may be surprised to find a beauty box review on here since I'm working on becoming more minimalist.  This box had several items I was actually needing though, and buying it was cheaper than buying what I needed individually.  So, I went for it!

Cost:  $7.53 with tax

What's Inside:  6 beauty items from Target

Here's a list of the products:

1.  Clairol Hair Food Moisturizing Mask (Full Size) - RV $12
2.  Fekkai Pré-Soleil Hair Mist - RV $6.80
3.  Olay Active Botanicals Moisturizing Toner - RV $1.80
4.  Olay Active Botanicals Day Lotion - RV $3.60
5.  Crest 3D White Strips 1hr Express - 1 set - RV $11.25
6.  CoverGirl Super Sizer Mascara by Lash Blast (Full Size) - RV $6

TOTAL RETAIL VALUE:  $41.45

A closer look:

Clairol Hair Food Moisturizing Mask (Full Size) - RV $12

Conditioner is one of the items I was actually about to run out of and needed to buy.  This is advertised as a "mask", but I've been using it as a regular conditioner and just leaving it on a bit longer in the shower and it's worked great.  I LOVE the apricot smell too!  It's not something I will pay $12 for in the future, but I love that it came with this box and I needed it!

Fekkai Pré-Soleil Hair Mist - RV $6.80

I've never tried a product like this and it's not really something I need to use since I'm not out in the sun a lot.  I might use it if I go to a concert, hiking, or camping though.  It has sunflower seed oil in it, so I'll probably use it during the winter months when my hair gets really dry too.  

Olay Active Botanicals Moisturizing Toner - RV $1.80
Olay Active Botanicals Day Lotion - RV $3.60

This is another practical item in the box that lead me to buy it.  I wear Oil of Olay moisturizer DAILY and swear by it!  I've never tried their botanicals line, but after trying both, have become a fan!  I have sensitive skin, but both products moisturized my skin without causing any redness or reaction.  These are great travel sizes too, so I can throw them in a duffel bag and they won't take up a ton of room.  (Plus, I'll use them up pretty quickly and be able to remove them from my inventory soon too).

Crest 3D White Strips 1hr Express - 1 set - RV $11.25

I like Crest White Strips and have used them in the past.  Not sure why one set is so pricey though!  The ones I've used before have a minty flavor to them and these didn't for some reason.  They did seem to lighten my teeth a shade or two, but overall, I wasn't a fan of them.  They didn't sit right on my teeth and were just awkward to have in.  

Cover Girl Super Sizer Mascara by Lash Blast (Full Size) - RV $6

This mascara was the other reason I bought this box.  The one I was using needed to be replaced, so when I saw I could get this box for $7 and a tube of mascara alone would cost me $7 or $8, it was a no brainer!  The shade I received was called "Very Black", which is what I usually wear.  I'd never tried this particular kind of Cover Girl mascara before with this wand.  I usually go for the wands that have a bushier, curved brush so the mascara goes on smoothly and separates my lashes.  This is a plastic wand and the mascara goes on a bit heavier/goopier in some spots.  It's not something I'll buy again just b/c of the wand, but it will do the trick for the next three months until it's time to replace my mascara again.

FINAL VERDICT:  As I mentioned earlier, I purchased this box because I needed mascara and conditioner.  This box fulfilled both of those needs and I'll use everything else included as well.  I don't foresee myself needing $15 worth of beauty products in the next few weeks, so the coupon, although nice, will probably go unused.  All in all, I'm very happy with this box!  Target seems to offer the box for the price of one item in it, so the value is always well worth it!

What did you think of this Target beauty box?

XOXO,
Stephanie

Why Closing a Credit Card Actually Made Me Sad

Those of you who have been reading my blog over the past few years know that I've been following the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover and have been paying debt off.  Minus the time where I lost focus, I've been paying things off at a really good pace.  (I'm $40 away from passing the $19,000 mark).  So why would something like closing a credit card make me sad?

The backstory - I opened this particular card in 1998 and my first purchase was buying swimsuits (2 of them to be exact) for Spring Break.  Over the years, swimsuits turned into bras, underwear, pajamas, clothes, etc.  I always joke that I paid for part of the white picket fencing that surrounds the town where Les Wexner lives.  This card is my last one on my list to pay off (since it has the highest balance).  If keep rolling my (debt) snowball, this puppy will be paid off within the year.  Since I've stopped using it, closing it should be no big deal, right?  Wrong, it actually bummed me out!

Last night and this morning, I kept trying to figure out why?  Then this morning several things hit me:

1.  I associate this credit card with great memories I had in college with my best friend.  That trip was one of my most favorite trips I've ever taken.  I was young, traveling with my best friend, and having the time of my life!  And, I was in the best shape of my life!  Letting go of this card felt like a loss because in some way, I was holding on to those "glory days".  I'll take other trips, but I'll never be 20 again, in college, with barely a care in the world!  

2.  Having this credit card payment has sadly become "the norm".  In 17 years, that card has only been paid off a few times and when it was, it didn't last long.  How screwed up is that?!  Thank goodness I'm working diligently to define the new "norm" in my life!  It doesn't involve debt and it doesn't involve a life filled with thousands of possessions and endless purchasing!     

3.  I know I've said this before, but in the past, I've shopped to fill a void.  Whether it be boredom, anxiety, anger, etc., buying something gave me instant satisfaction - especially if I bought it with a coupon code or discount.  Now when I'm bored, I go find things to get rid of or I read one of my 3 dozen magazines so I can get rid of them.

4.  Just because I closed my credit card for this particular store doesn't mean I can never shop there again.  I just can only shop there with CASH when I need something.  (Looking at my inventory numbers though, that may be a few years away).

And with that, I'll leave you with the view of the beach (and two really happy college kids soaking it in)...

XOXO,

Stephanie

PRODUCT JUNKIE to BECOMING MORE MINIMALIST - 1 Month In and 26 Percent of My Items Eliminated!

The goal I set yesterday for this week was simple:  Finish the inventory!!!

Saturday - Day #22

Spent over 8 hours inventorying the rest of the desk wall and filing cabinets.  Logged over 1500 items.  It really ticked me off to be spending my Saturday doing such a tedious task!  I'm determined to finish this inventory though!  The poor pets were all confused b/c I didn't eat lunch or even take a shower until 3:30pm this afternoon, but I'm on a mission!

Sunday - Day #23

Spent another 11 hours inventorying the office.  I got thru the wall that has a cabinet, shelf, and closet.  Also got mostly thru the wall that has a cube organizer against it.  Counted over 1700 items today.  This time I did eat lunch and take a shower before noon though.  When I pulled everything out of the closet, this is what the room looked like:

I'm happy to say it looks much better now.  The office count is up to 3252 items and I'm not finished yet.  I'm counting everything - even down the number of sheets of tissue paper (404), envelopes (181), and ink pens (226).  On a positive note - between yesterday and today, 503 items went to the trash including foam pieces for shipping (60), old checking ledgers that were shredded (50), ink pens that don't work (30), boxes (37), and little jewelry bags (39) I had from when I made/sold jewelry.  Another 100 items were donated too. 

Monday - Day #24

Praise the Lord!!  After 8 long hours of going thru things in my office I am finally DONE COUNTING!!  Who-hoo!!  Here's an "after" picture of what the office looks like:

The final count is 4096 items!  Oopf!!  And that's with eliminating close to 400 more items today as I was going along.  A lot of these items are packing materials, so I can't wait to start focusing again on selling things on eBay so I can use up these bubble mailers, jewelry boxes, etc!

Here's a before/after of the desk too:

Time to start grabbing crates out of the basement to go thru!

Tuesday - Day #25

The basement - ugh!  That's all I have to say (even though it's finished and quite nice down there actually).  I literally have not been in the basement to sit/hang out for nearly a year.  It became the room where things got "stashed" and the door got shut.  "Out of sight, out of mind" if you will!  Here's a look at what I started with today:

I couldn't even get to the right curtain to open it.  Talk about embarrassing!  I am happy to say I was able to get thru 3/4 of the basement though (thanks to an 80's music revival while I was going thru things).  It was pretty easy since most of what I went thru ended up getting thrown away or donated.  If it's been down there that long and untouched, it probably didn't hold too much importance, right?!  I still have a little ways to go, but so far the purge count is up to 2648 items.  I'm averaging a 20% purge, which is good, but I still have a LONG WAY to go!

Wednesday - Day #26

Today was really productive!  I started off by going thru items in the garage and throwing a lot away.  (172 items to be exact).  I noticed my neighbor had his recycling bin out and he's usually always right as far as what day it comes.  I drug all kinds of stuff out of the garage and out to the street to be picked up!

...And then I realized that the neighbor (and several others on my block) was wrong and recycling doesn't come until next week.  So, pulled the recycle bin back up to the house and loaded all the stuff I piled up into my car over 3 separate trips and took it to the local fire station where they have recycling dumpsters.  It was messy, but I was so happy to get rid of everything!  I literally gained an extra 2 feet of space in my garage so I can pull my car further in.  Go me!

Came back and finished the basement.  Here's the "after" photo:

Kitty is happy and so am I!  The TV on the table is broken, but I need to call for bulk pick up to get rid of it.  The big TV is one of those really old ones with the huge back on it that takes up that whole corner.  I initially told hubs I wanted to get rid of it, but on second though, it's good enough to watch baseball games on (and I don't want to buy a TV until I see if we're actually going to spend time down there).  The total inventory for the basement is 609 items (with 100+ of those being picture frames/photo albums, 54 books, and 61 CD's).

I also inventoried the downstairs bathroom and the laundry room.  I ended up throwing away 184 items out of the laundry room!  I had NO IDEA I even had all that in there!  Turns out the cupboard was stuffed full of junk.  (Over 100 pie tins that were my grandma's that I had saved for years just b/c they were hers, old outlets (a few years back, we changed the outlets from a cream color to white and I kept the old ones for some reason), rags, plastic bags, buckets, and other randomness).  The final laundry room count is 140 (with the majority of it being paint cans and hangers).  I'm going to start asking around to see if any of my friends/family needs hangers and give them away!

All I have left to inventory is one more storage area.  I'll do that tomorrow and then I'll really start focusing on purging!  eBay is having a free listing promo for the rest of this week, so I need to get to listing!  My trash bin is full/overflowing (and trash day isn't until Friday) and so is the recycling bin (even after my neighbor let me put some recycling in his bin).  So, I am in a holding pattern as far as throwing more items away.  I've tossed over 2100 items this week alone (not counting what I've donated and sold).  Who-hoo!  It feels so good to get rid of things (even thought there's still A LONG way to go)!       

  
Thursday - Day #27

Started the day off by taking 203 items to Goodwill and donating them.  Then, around 1pm, I officially became an aunt again to my sister's first baby!  Everything else took a back seat after that!  There were a lot of things she needed for when she brought the baby home, so I withdrew some money from the eBay sales fund and went shopping for my new nephew.  Funny thing is, I stashed that money in an account, but never really knew what I was going to use that money for.  (I thought maybe I'd use it to take a trip or something).  It was so nice those funds sitting there and to not stress about not having enough money to buy her what she needed.  I didn't go wild buying toys and things that weren't necessary either.  I bought basics like baby bibs (OK, so maybe the one did say "Awesome Like My Aunt"), a portable changing pad, a teether, a rattle, a health care/grooming kit, multi-use crib pads, etc.  (And one really cute toy that reminded me of one my sister had when she was little).  Funny thing is my sister squealed when she saw the bottle of Dreft baby stain remover and said she really needed that!  It really is the little things!      

I also found this little guy while cleaning out the basement yesterday.  I bought it years ago when I though maybe one day my husband and I would have a baby.  That hasn't happened yet, but I knew my sister didn't have a nightlight for the baby's room and she would love it!  Sure enough, she went right up and put it in her bedroom so she and her husband didn't stumble around in the middle of the night when they were checking on the baby.


Friday - Day #28

Didn't get home until late last night from my sister's house and then woke up at 4am wondering what my nephew was doing (ummm - he was sleeping like I should've been) and wishing I could hold him!  Needless to say, I'm tired today!  Still, I paid some bills (including paying off the next credit card on my Debt Snowball list) and then sent out this text to my mom and sister (after I sent my sister a picture of 2 notebooks b/c she mentioned she needed one yesterday to write down the baby's feeding times):

They both texted back and said they needed some of these items, so I made them both a bag of goodies.  Getting more stuff (307 items to be exact) out of the house!  My mom and dad were in town, so they stopped by for lunch and I sent their bag of goodies home with them.  Who-hoo!  My mom thought I had lost my marbles when I told her I counted my sheets of tissue paper and she saw me writing down how many Ketsup packets we used during lunch so I could deduct them from the food inventory, but that's OK.  (I reminded her that I don't do anything half-way, so when I decided to do this, I wanted the numbers to be accurate).  While we were eating she said she wants to start purging things in her house too, which is great!  Go mom, go!

In the end, I still have a 3 really small shoe boxes worth of stuff to go thru and some boxes of holiday decorations and items in a little storage area, but other than that, the counting is finished!  Now I can really focus on getting rid of things!

Totals for this Week:

Current Inventory - 10,726

Items Purged - 2663
Items Donated - 897
Items Used - 244
Items Sold/Returned - 41 

TOTAL ITEMS ELIMINATED = 3845

(3845/14571) = 26.3% of items inventoried have been eliminated so far

Next week's goal:  Hit the 4000 mark for items eliminated (either thru purging, donating, using, or selling).  Since I go back to work next week, there will be a lot less time to focus on purging, but I think 155 more items is definitely doable!  

Long term goal:  My mom asked me today what percentage of my items I wanted to eliminate.  That's a great question!  I hadn't really determined a set number or percentage.  I initially said I'd like to be down to 2000 items or less by the 1-year mark of this purge.  That would mean living a drastically different way than I am now (which wouldn't be a bad thing).  I think a more realistic goal for me at the end of 1 year would be 5000 - 7500 items.  That would mean eliminating over 1/2 of what I own in the span of a year.  Considering I started out with so much stuff and want to try to use and/or sell as much as I can of it (which takes time), I think that's very reasonable.  Then maybe during the second year I can step it up a few notches and try to reach that 2000 mark.  We'll see!  As I've said before, this is a journey, not a sprint. 

Has anyone else been purging along with me?  If so, how's it going for you?

XOXO,
Stephanie

PRODUCT JUNKIE to BECOMING MORE MINIMALIST - Week #3

The goal I set yesterday for this week was simple:  Focus less on eliminating items and more on getting things counted so the overall inventory is complete.  If I hit 700 items eliminated overall, I'll be happy for Week #3.

Saturday - Day #15

I started today by paying off a credit card!  Who-hoo!!  I also started working on inventorying my hall closet and then off to meet my friend Angie to get pedicures.  (This falls into the approved "friends/family" monthly budget).  It's so important to take time to nurture those long-term friendships!  It's something I need to work more on honestly.  Between work and these projects I'm always focused on in the evening and on weekends, I know I don't take enough time for my friends and family.  I'm trying to get better though!  In the end, pedis turned into pedis & lunch and we had a great time!!

Came home and finished the closet inventory (and even counted every little tool in my toolbox).  It took about 5 hours total to go thru everything, but I ended up donating and throwing out quite a few items.

Here's the closet before:

And After:

Final Hall Closet Total:  373 items (175 of which were in my tool box and paint supplies tool box)

Sunday - Day #16

Went grocery shopping for the first time today in a more minimalist way (AKA - I only bought what I actually needed.  (Some may not consider chocolate, Shells & Cheese, and a magazine a necessity I know, but I was out of them).  And I do have 3 fur babies, so the 3 jugs of cat litter will last about 10 to 14 days.  The last time I went grocery shopping, I remember coming home and telling my husband that every time I went to the store, it cost $100-$120.  

Today's total:  $65.85.  And, it took less time at the store because I wasn't wondering the aisles.  I went in with a mission!

After grocery shopping, I came home and spent the next 7 hours finishing the kitchen inventory.  Can I just say how tedious this was?!?  I wanted to just start throwing things away just so I never have to count anything again.  Guess that's the point though.  :)

The final kitchen items tally (not including food):  1257 items  (That's with tossing gobs of plastic containers and random items from drawers).  This number will only go down as I use things (like the 58 cleaning rags and 57 candles for example that are stored in my cupboards).  The kitchen is much more organized though, so that made the day worth it!

Evening quiet time (minus the snoring husband on the floor who fell asleep watching a baseball game).  I read a blog by a man who wore the same 10 pieces of clothing for a year. (Click here to read it).  Reading blogs like this really put my level of minimalism into perspective (clearly I'm just beginning to take baby steps) and inspire me to continue on this journey.  Mind you, I don't want to go as extreme as this man did.  But is a goal of 100 items or less in my closet a feasible goal?  Eventually - yes!  My current closet inventory is at 1554 items, so getting down to 100 will take a while for sure.  Each day I'm pulling items out though and either donating or selling them.  (I went in and pulled 12 layering tank tops out of my closet immediately after I wrote the few sentences above to get rid of).  Make that 1542...

Monday - Day #17

Came home from work and finished up my living room inventory count.  Only 205 items, which is much less than any other room in the house (or closet for that matter).  It's funny how the room I'm in the most has the least amount of stuff in it.  I'm taking it as a sign of encouragement that deep down I don't like a lot of clutter after all.  I think the key is that there's no closets in here to stuff things into.  The majority of what's in this room is in a bookshelf that primarily holds DVD's & VHS tapes.  There's definitely plenty of room for downsizing in this room too!  (And I'm starting by burning some of my many candles when it's 85 degrees outside to give the house a nice, yummy smell).  I should be putting things on eBay next, but instead, I'm going to relax and read one of my magazines so I can pass it along to my mom and get it out of my house/off my inventory.

Tuesday - Day #18

My husband bought me concert tickets for my birthday to see a band I grew up listening to - Alabama.  They were playing at the state fair, so I went with my sister to see them.

My sister and I don't get to see each other that often since we live about an hour apart, so it was great to catch up and take a little trip together down memory lane.  (Even nearly 30 years after my first Alabama concert, they still sounded great too)!  

And then I made what should be considered a bad choice, but I don't feel bad about it.  Many years ago I outgrew all my concert t-shirts I'd collected over the years.  I had my eye on this shirt they were selling the entire night.  (I've mentioned my love of long sleeve comfy shirts before in my posts).  I decided that since I may never get to go to an Alabama concert again, I could have this last souvenir that I'll wear for years to come.  Is it worth the $50 I spent on it?  No!  Did I need it?  No!  Will I wear it for many years to come - ABSOLUTELY!!  (I'm wearing it as I'm typing actually).  

Total cost of going to the fair:  $5 parking, $8 (hot dog and a Coke), $50 for my shirt, $12 for Dippin Dots for my sister and I.  Making memories with my sister - PRICELESS!!

Wednesday - Day #19

Today I went back to my old company that I worked at for nearly 10 years for a training.  It felt so odd to be back there.  (I've said before that I thought I'd retire from that company and I'm still a bit sad that I felt I needed to move on last year).  I was looking forward to having lunch with my friend, Angie, (who currently works there) to chat.  However, she wasn't able to go.  Luckily though, my best friend, Shayla, who lives 2 hours away (and works for the same owner I do now) called and said she was in town and wanted to know if I wanted to meet for lunch.  We met and had a great lunch (and it helped take my mind off my old company).  I wish we lived closer to each other!  This is apparently "friends and family week" and I love it!!!  I needed to see her today!

I came home and photographed some more tops to put on eBay and then watched a baseball game on TV w/my husband and updated my inventory.

Thursday - Day #20

Started the day off by pulling a few more items out of my closet to put on eBay.  Then I dropped off my donation of 111 items to Goodwill on my way to work.  Who-hoo!  Getting things I don't use out of my house!  LOVE IT!!  It felt so good to hand everything over!

One more day of work (tomorrow) and then I'm off all next week and can focus on finishing my household inventory.  I still have to do my home office and the downstairs den, hallway, laundry room, deck, and garage and then I'll be finished!  

The office (part of which is pictured above) is definitely going to be the biggest undertaking remaining!  I organized it about a month ago and threw away three bags of stuff, but there's so many little things.  (Hello!  My name is Stephanie and I am a hoarder of office supplies & ink pens).  I wonder if there's a support group for office supply lovers like me!  Ha!  I have a hard time throwing away packaging too b/c I always think I'm going to need it to ship things I sell on eBay (and I do recycle/re-use packaging).  It saves money and it's good for the environment.  That's still no excuse for the inventory number this office is going to rack up!

Friday - Day #21

I could tell the change in the way I'm thinking today.  I had $4 in Extra Bucks (basically a $4 coupon that can be used like cash) to use at CVS and besides dish soap (which we're totally out of), I couldn't think of anything I needed.  I stood there for several minutes looking around the store trying to come up with something.  Normally I would've gone straight for the make-up aisle, but not today.  I have plenty of make-up already!  I finally remembered our milk was expired, so I bought a gallon of that and the dish soap and got them for free with my $4 of Extra Bucks.  Who-hoo!

When I got home, I began working on inventorying my desk.  Got thru the top 2 shelves tonight and will keep working on it this weekend.

Totals for this Week:

Current Inventory - 5890

Items Purged - 529
Items Donated - 198
Items Used - 155
Items Sold/Returned - 40 (This number doesn't include the 22 items currently listed on eBay)
TOTAL ITEMS ELIMINATED = 922

(922/6812) = 13.5% of items inventoried have been eliminated so far

Next week's goal:  I'm off work this week for a "stay-cation", so I want to get my inventory finished.  This includes the rest of the office, the downstairs den, hallway, laundry room, deck, and garage.  It's going to be a lot of work, but once everything is counted, I can focus solely on eliminating.