Clearing Out

After Coco and her family left today I started thinking about 

things that Coco and I were talking about.

I need to get my self organized. 

 I needed to do this anyway that the conversations were a boost in the right direction. 

I no longer need all these socks and nylons. Nor did I wear them. 

 This is what I have left  

2 pair of nylons, 2 pair of church knee highs, 1 pair of  fuzzy soft socks and 9 pairs of my everyday socks. 

 I have lost enough in inches that I decided it was time to get rid of my underwear that are too big. 

This is them in the trash can. 

Here is 2 bathing suites, 3 under tanks, 4 blouses and my comfy pair of gray lounge pants that make me look horrible. 

I am loving this move to get rid of the larger clothing.

YEAH!!!

Hugs, Bobbi Jo 

Time To Clear Out

For the last couple months I have been wanting to get rid of things. 

Yes the minimalist urge to have less clutter.

It hit me again when Dallas & Sara asked to move in. I started looking at things differently.

Seeing that the house has gotten some clutter built up, not terrible but making me uncomfortable. 

I am going to be working on getting rid of things that I no longer use.

I was reading this blog post on Minimalist Mom

"what if I get rid of something I may need again?"

I love that she says"From experience you will come across things that you may need to buy or borrow again but it isn't as bad or stressful as you think it will be" 

This has helped me to decide on getting rid of more things that I know longer use or need. 

So here I go. 

I will take pictures as I go and keep the blog posted.

Simplifying for Fall Day 4Th Day

Today is all about the cleaning out of the Bedroom & Bathrooms. Since I have cleaned out and de-cluttered a while ago things have pretty much stayed the way they were.

However 2 weeks ago I  did a major clean up in Faith and Gabby's bedroom. 

Now brace yourself this is not a pretty sight

This is the before:

 Closet floor

Other side of the  closet 

I spent a full day working on this scary mess

This is now: 

I didn't take pictures of the closet but believe me they are so much more organized and clean.

Even though it took a good portion of my day I was so happy to get it cleaned up and ready for the school year.

 Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Simplify For Fall Day 3 Toys & School Supplies

Boy do I feel lame I have no toys at this time to de-clutter. This will come when I show you the girls room on tomorrows post. The toys that I keep for the grand kiddos have already been gone through a while back. 

School supplies hmmm...... well I have some notebooks that I bought for the girls for school when they went on sale this year. They really needed a lot of the composition notebooks I had over 12 of then and now only 2 left. Plus the two younger girls love to write stories when we are traveling or they are just relaxing so I am guessing that is where some of them went. Time to stock up again.

 Then I keep a box of extra pencils, erasers, pens, staples and other such desk supplies in a clear box with a lid in the garage on a shelf with our extra paper. 

As you can see there aren't very many supplies due to the girls already taking most of it with them to school or in their backpacks. The container WAS the larger size but it looked super sad when I took the picture so I switched it over. So now I know that when I see items on sale that are depleted I can stock up on them. That is the great thing about this Fall Challenge. 

Hope you are doing well on your challenge. Please let me know! 

Hugs, Bobbi Jo

  

Simplifying For Fall Challenge Day 2 Kitchen & Meal Plan

As you can see on Day 2 of the Simplifying For Fall  challenge we are working on our Kitchen & Meal Plan. 

My kitchen has pretty much stayed the same since I worked on it a couple months ago. There was however one area that got a little out of control and that would be the small pantry in the kitchen.
This is the before

 This is the after

The shelves starting at top are:
#10 Food storage items I use maybe once a week,
2Nd shelf oatmeal, Nutella, crakers for snacks or baking, coco powders for baking
3Rd shelf is spaghetti squash, onions, bananas, popcorn, bread & buns
4Th shelf is some baking items, my herbal teas and cereal
5Th shelf is the #10 cans of food storage that are used more frequently.
I just included that because I am always curious or nosy of what people have in there pantries.


 This is my cool door organizer(shoe holder) that holds smaller containers of things that are used frequently.
This way I can store my extra stock of items in another place but have these items easily on hand.
Coco had shared this idea with me when they lived down here in the valley. I have one in both of my pantries.

So other than some regular cleaning up in the kitchen this was the only area that scared me. he he
The rest of my day has been working on Menu Planning I am still working on this today. It is Wednesday yes and it is taking me forever. You may ask why and so I will tell you. I am figuring out how I can cut the grocery bill down to $100 or below for the next couple of weeks. This past week was done on $120.
I am currently reading this book

It has so many wonderful ideas and I am taking notes so it is taking me a little longer to get through this book than it normally would.
So my challenge for this coming week, I go shopping on Thursday normally is to spend less than $100 this includes everything including paper products, toiletries and food. We will see how I do. We do have a bit of supplies built up so I think this is a big advantage.
 Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Simplifying For Fall Day 1 Kick Off

 As you can see on the above picture Simplifying For Fall Day one KICK OFF. Being that I was awaken a half hour before I actually had to get up my kick off day started out ahead of schedule. 

I was able to take kiddos to school (my turn this week in the car pool) then go to Wal-Mart & Fry's to get the needed groceries for this weeks menu and drop a book at the library all before 7:10 this morning. 

I came home started some wash, did other house chores, ate breakfast and started in on the laundry room.

Today's Simplifying starts off with Clothes and Laundry Room

 I apologize for how yellow the pictures are. I think this is due to my laundry room being a bright sunshine yellow and very little lighting in there. 

I must first explain that a little bit of remodeling is going on here. It started when i saw on another blog that the lady got her washer & dryer stacked. I didn't now you could do this with these washers. So  I showed Alan the pictures and made such a fuss about it . He started to do some thinking, then asking me questions. Well it was much later like a couple months that he said we could do it sometime.

I don't remember other than it was after my Birthday that he did get it done. He pulled out a shelf that was built there and patched it. It still has yet to be sanded and textured. 

This is my laundry room before

Not terrible but messy. 

Other side is my book shelf with cook books, dish towels, clothes, flour sack towels, Sham-wows, dirty kitchen linens basket, cookbook binders. 

The drawers that go under the washer and dryer that were on them when we had them side by side are in the garage. Alan is going to make a shelf that will go on the left had side of the washer and dryer with a rod to hang clothes on (this will hopefully save me some ironing.) and the drawers will come back in and be put on the ground underneath. So the boxes to the left are full of our items from those 2 HUGE drawers and on the top of those are rags .

This is the box with dog grooming  shampoo, conditioner, brushes, leashes and decorative scares. 

Also put in the extra items until the drawers come back in. 

Washing items, stain remover and special detergent for Hubs hunting clothing

 Extra items 

And now the After 

And the other side after 

 Now don't worry I did find the homes where all of those other things that were in here belonged. I am thinking that this is much better (at least until my drawers come back in! ).

Now for the second part of today's challenge

CLOTHING

Some people might find this odd but I don't have a dresser.

Instead I keep my socks and unmentionables in these containers.

 The clothing is folded and organized to keep them neat.

The rest of my clothing is hung up. It goes my shorts (more like capris but my legs aren't too long so they are longer), camis for under shirts, t-shirts for everyday, nicer shirts, cover ups, dresses, skirts, then lingerie. I had cleaned my close out a few months ago so there really wasn't much to go through here. 

Above my clothes are my boxes with my shoes in them. To the left you see the distilled water that is for the Netti Pot. Just for those curious minds out there. 

This wasn't too bad of a challenge today. 

I hope if you are joining in you will share with me your successes or the link were I can check them out. 

Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Simplifying For Fall Challenge

I am joining in on the Simplifying For Fall Challenge how about you? What you haven't read about it? Well head on over to Home Your Way. Sweet MANDI explains what will be going on. 

I will be posting before and after pictures (no matter how embarrassing it is for me.) 

My goal is to become minimalist and enjoy life like never before. 

Hope you will join me on this journey! 

Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Book Review "Living With Less: An Unexpected Key to Happpiness"

I have been privileged to read and review the advance book "Living With Less: An Unexpected Key To Happiness'" 

 The book can be purchased through For the Kindle Amazon 
Or for the paperback version Amazon

If you want more information on the book check out the blog: Becoming Minimalist 

 As you know if you have been reading my blog I started my minimalist journey back in April. One of the biggest things that help me to get motivated besides my sweet daughter, Coco, was a blog called Becoming Minimalist . Reading this blog inspired me to reach where I am right now and answer some of the questions of how to clear out things, the feelings that come with getting rid of clutter and the amazing journey of becoming a minimalist. 

 When I got chosen to read this book I was ecstatic to have this opportunity. I enjoy the writing of Joshua Becker. The heart felt words and things he shares are uplifting and reassuring that  I am heading in the right direction of being a minimalist. 

Living With Less: An Unexpected Key to Happiness 

The book is geared to the teenage or young adult audience but even though I am up in the years I enjoyed it very much.

Joshua Becker has served as a youth pastor for 14 years.

This is a religious book that hits straight to the heart.

The writing is simple yet straight to the point of what consumerism does to a person. So for this reason I feel it is a great read for all of us. Who doesn't need help controlling the impulse to spend money on things that are not needed or just one more thing to take care of. 

As I am reading the book I find the writing so entertaining. There are things that made me giggle, really ponder about the questions that he asks.

One of the paragraphs that made me think a little deeper about where I live and what I have is the following:

We are called to give financially to the church

and we are called to lay up treasures in

heaven, true. But in the exact same breath,

Jesus warns us not to hoard treasures here

on earth—unless two-story homes filled with

overflowing closets and garages don’t count

as stockpiles. Personally, I’m not sure what

else we’d call them.

I love that he references the scriptures to get the message across.

 One of the quotes that I loved is this:  

We can

choose to follow our selfish desires brought

on by sin and the Evil One and encouraged

by this world. Or we can choose God. We can

choose to follow Christ. We can choose his will

for our life and his plan for our actions.

In sharing his own story of why he became a minimal list makes you want to go start getting rid of all the clutter and have a more fulfilling life. When we have less stuff we can live more! 

Another quote that I love is: 

"The more stuff you own,

the more your stuff owns you."

This is so true. Just think of all the time you spend taking care of things or storing things that you don't need or use.

"Living With Less:An Unexpected Key To Happiness" is an easy read. Very enjoyable, uplifting and motivating.

 I would say a great read for anyone wanting to simplify their lives and find true happiness.

I would recommend this to all to pick up and get started on a new life with minimalism. You won't be sorry you picked up this book.

If you want a further review on the book "Living With Less: An Unexpected Key To Happiness" please go to Becoming Minimalist  blog.

I would like to thank Joshua Becker for this opportunity to read this fantastic book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book I am so pumped to do more clearing out of clutter.

Hugs, Bobbi Jo   (off to clear out the clutter)

Independence Day

Now that I am way behind on getting this post finished and published. I found the above picture on MomThinking.org. I think it is a great picture.

Our 4Th was different. Usually we will either go up north to Pinetop to enjoy the cool and small town feel of the 4Th or we have a cookout, watch fire works & do our own fireworks. We have been invited to a cookout with family but we really wanted to get a major project taken care of and didn't know how long it would take.

Alan knew he would have this day off work if he chose to so we have been planning the big garage clean up. The garage has been a bit of a mess since Alan had started the major mechanical jobs on our vehicles back at the end of March. It like so many places when things aren't put back when done being used, ended up multiplying  more and more. In the morning Alan wanted to finish putting the rocks in our front landscaping before it got too hot out. So I got busy on my own things inside and then went out to the garage to face the beast. This is what it looked like from coming out into the garage.

SUPER SCARY!  

This is from the front of the house looking into the garage. AHHHHHHHHHHH! 

It seriously was making me sick and get anxious every time I walked out into it.

 I worked on my stuff for less than 15 minutes and got it back into place. So I waited for Alan to get done and ready for my help. 

It took him a little longer to go through, sort and put things back into place. He also had to hang up a cupboard and reorganize our work bench that is in the very back of the tandem garage. 

On Tuesday I went through the refrigerators and freezers and cleared out all the old prepackaged food that was left in them. I cleared out any outdated food too. When I was waiting for Alan I took all the food out of the refrigerator/ freezer in the garage and moved it out to the driveway area and scrubbed it all out. Inside and out was sparkling white again. Then dried it out and moved it back in. I worked around the house throughout the day on other projects. Checking in and helping Alan in between. 

Improvement......yes. Still a lot of sorting and getting rid of things but definitely and improvement. We have items that need taken to their owners such as the mattress and a few boxes that are Dallas's. But it looks much better now.

This is the view from the front of the garage looking in. 

At least now I can walk out without feeling sick to my stomach. 

By the time we were done with this it was around 5. Alan was pretty sore from the landscaping and garage work. I ended up giving him a massage as our neighbors were setting off fire crackers that kept scaring me. Alan then went and got pizza for our dinner. The girls were all asked by friends to go hang out with them or cookouts so they were gone. Alan and I had a restful night watched a movie, ate pizza and enjoyed the time together. I did miss seeing the fireworks but I was tired from all that had gotten accomplished. 

Hugs, Bobbi Jo 

I've Come A Long Way Baby

Yes I've come a long way baby in just almost a months time. I have been clearing clutter, dis-owning things and enjoying the freedom of all of this. I still have so far to go but I feel I have made a great dent in my minimalism journey.

Looking back on a few key areas

Went from this 

To this

Now this no longer exists. 

This scary mess 

To this

This pantry full of canned processed stuff 

To this and then 

To this. There are still cans in here but slowly I am getting rid of them

Glad to have the open spaces and knowing that I am feeding my family with a healthier choice. 

Slow and steady is working out well. 

What have you been up to lately? Would love to hear from you.
Hugs, Bobbi Jo

In 20 min. & Update

Thursday evening everyone was gone. I hadn't been alone in the house for a while. So what do I do in my alone time?

Well I organized kitchen drawers.

This is the way the drawer started out. Not too bad ....

This is how it ended up. I moved things around in several drawers and made homes for things that I use. The other items are being donated. Letting go of the great chef & dinner entertainer that I held on to for so long felt good. Yes I enjoy cooking but I don't need all of the tools that I had. The items in the drawer were in a chicken canister that was on the counter top. 

Better don't you think? 

This is the next drawer. Much messier. 

And after.

Just when you think it couldn't get any worse well check out this one. 

This isn't suppose to be a junk drawer although it holds some odds and ends. 

I think this is way better and more efficient. 

Very happy with the results. But there is so much more to do.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures they are from my phone but, hey at least I remembered to take them. 

Now update on my workout. I have been faithful getting my workout in. Feeling good and enjoying the increase in the energy already. Amazing! 

 Hugs, Bobbi Jo