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!
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.
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