Hanging Clothes

When I got up this morning I had a list of things to get done today. I am still in the throws of that list but I looked in my closet and felt like there was still too many clothes that I don't love or wear hanging on my side of the closet. So I did what any person that is on a major minamalization kick would do. I went through my clothes and asked myself as I looked at them: Do I love it? Does it fit? When did I wear it last? Then as I went along I started tossing things into a donation box for Goodwill. 

This is what I ended up with.

Left to right of my closet 2 sets of clothes for work (2 shirts & 2 pants), 3 cami's (white, tan and gray)

Charcoal T-shirts (4 short sleeves and 1 long sleeve) these I wear daily. Boring I know but that is how I roll. 

Then I have 5 dress blouses for church or dates, 3 dresses, 1 nightgown, 1 pretty nighty, 1 set of P.J's. then skirts. I have a lot of skirts that I might still pair down in the future but I am not ready to do so right now.

I then loaded up the car to take a load to Goodwill while I was out running errands. Of course I forgot to take pictures but I had a trunk full and then 3 items in side on the back seat. 

It felt good to donate these items they weren't beautiful to me cluttering my house/garage and they were no longer useful to me so good bye to the items. 

Well off to my to do list I am knocking off the items quickly today.

Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Clear It Out

 So I have been gradually working on clearing out my emails. Yes 5 emails! That is FIVE different emails that I was checking almost daily. I narrowed it down to 3 now, personal one, my business one and my Google ON SNAP I just remember one that I never check. Holy cow!! I will get rid of that one too. How embarrassing is that?

 I also have been unsubscribing from site, blogs and other such things that fill up my email to over 200 daily. Now it is much better to go check email and it get's cleaned out quickly. Happy dance over here.

 This morning I thought of an area that I don't look at too often and that is in our T.V. cabinet. There are doors on the bottom half that are closed a majority of the time but I know that even though you can't see it, it is still there taking up energy from our home. So I pulled over a box that I got from the Pet Club that they were happy to let me take and talk to the girls about what games they like & played with.

 This is the cabinet when I first opened the doors 

SCARY! 

 And after! Much better. 

I was reading about getting rid of your VHS videos and player but we still use and watch the movies

and I don't have the financing at this time to get the movies on DVD so I am keeping the VHS movies that we love and watch for now. 

 Considering my day was a little busy I was pleased with getting this done. I had a girls camp certification to do with the Beehives and Mimaids in our ward. There was 17 girls and 5 leaders. It was fun, nosy and I am so glad to check that off my list today too! 

On Sunday E'lyse, Faith and Gabby made red velvet cakes from scratch and decorated them. 

I am not sure who's cake is who's I just know that the pictures where on my camera when I loaded this on to my computer tonight. 

They are so pretty! At Fry's they have this amazingly terrible for you great tasting icing for .99 cents with a Fry's card and they girls were so excited to get to use them for other than squirting them into their mouths. 

 Hugs, Bobbi Jo 

Goodbye Tomato Stuff

Over the weekend I was reading articles and blogs and came across this article 7 Foods That Even Food Safety Experts Won't Eat on the blog ecokaren Smart Ideas For Green Living and Handmade Life. Well this morning I got rid of my canned tomato items.
Guess what I forgot to take pictures again! Snap! Sorry!!
So not worth keeping them and I like cooking from scratch most of the time anyway. So now you know why the post title is what it is. No I am not donating them.
 What is your victory for the day? Small or big I would love to hear what you have going! Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Quote

“Any half-awake materialist well knows – that which you hold holds you.”

                                 from Still Life with Woodpecker  by Tom Robbins, 1980

Take My Clutter Away

So it is Friday and it has been a long week of a lot of waiting. I am not a patient person and my family can verify that fact. 

This morning I got tired of looking at the mess our garage that I have made due to the minimalism journey I am on. 

This is the back of my van. These boxes are full of books that I am taking to 

Half Price books to sell.  I still have some more shelves I need to go through in the house but I have always loved books and so this is a big step for me to let go of these.

I went into my closet this morning and saw this box that has been under my clothes for a while. Obviously due to the embedded ring on the carpet to the left of it.

Anyway I was reading an article on a blog yesterday about getting rid of clothes that you are hanging on to for "SOMEDAY". You know that some day when you wear that size again, some day when that comes back in style again." Well I got rid of my someday things today 

 This is the bag of the "someday" things that I got rid of. 

Feels so good to empty out a container that you don't have to look at to remind you of that "fantasy you ". 

More talk about the "Fantasy You"

I had read a blog post (I wish I could remember what blog it was to give credit where credit is do) that was talking about letting go of the fantasy you. The post spoke to me so clearly that I thought the writer was talking to me directly. You know the you that you thought you would be! Still confused let me clarify. One Fantasy Me was the great chef. So I bought all these amazing cooking gadgets, pans and tools to cook with. Yes I have to admit I am a good cook but I don't use have the stuff I bought or have.

The Fantasy You fitness buff: the weights, the yoga mat, the gabillion DVD's, the treadmill that collects dust in the garage or you hang clothes from.

 Or the Fashion Diva Fantasy You: Great clothing that is form fitting, shoes & purses to match each outfit, along with the costume jewelry to got with each outfit. 

How do I know about these ones? Well guess what they were the Fantasy Me but NO MORE!!!

I am who I am and I am loving being simple and getting clutter free. Mentally, physically, and even Spiritually.

It is feel great and I still have so much to do.

 I then loaded things into the back seat of the car

 closer look of what was on the floor board

I had already packed up stuff in the trunk of the car. 

I should have taken a picture of all the stuff in the garage before I took it out but once I got started I didn't want to stop the flow of energy on putting it in. 

 Gabby and I then drove to Goodwill and dropped off the items for some other people to buy, use and hopefully love.

So much more I want to go through but I must get other things done in my life but there will be more. 

 If you are inspired or have something you want to share I would love to hear from you.

 Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Quote

Read this on the blog "Becoming Minimalist" and love it. I will be using this repeatedly as I go through every nook and cranny of our house inside and out!


Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. — William Morris


Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Food Declutter

Minimalism has been on my mind a lot lately. Not only because I talk with Coco about it , not because I read about it, but because I am seeing a difference in not having some of the clutter that I did 3 weeks ago. 

Now my garage looks like I am the biggest hoarder in the world. (I will post a picture before I start donating things just for you). 

I have so far 6 fruit boxes full of books that I am taking to Half Price Books to sell and many more on the way. 

I have been busy with work and life in general but this has been the main thing that is on my mind. 

Not only am I thinking of physical clutter but also mental clutter and my bodies physical clutter.

So after this thought what do you think it is time to do but DE-CLUTTER and minimize what I can do when I can do it !  

Boring food containers

Well there is a closet that is under our stairs that Kyle first claimed to be his room when he saw our house for the first time because it reminded him of Harry Potter.
Before we moved in Alan had shelves put in to each of the closets for me for extra storage. I love our house but never has had enough storage until this amazing minimizing. I truly think that sometime in the near future there will be more than enough storage space in our beautiful home.
Boring food containers NO MORE!
Avery company has labels in all shapes and sized you can print on your computer.
 I just love these. Sorry the picture is so dark. But you can see the labels have made it easy to spot what I want in the closet.

 A little pretty touch for the laundry room

 Pretty laundry soap container . Much prettier than that ugly bucket you see to the left of it.
Makes me smile when I see it.

When I started labeling things this past week my kiddos were getting a little concerned that I was going to start labeling them. 

 After a lot of discussions with Coco and reading on blogs of all the different additives in food to give it a longer shelf life. It has really started to gross me out. Plus with trying to clear out the physical body clutter I don't want all this garbage going into my body or my families.
I am steering towards a whole foods eating way.
After a couple days of working on clearing out the 4 closets that were used as pantries this is what I have so far.
Picture #1

Closer view of picture #1

Picture #3

All of this is stored in Dallas's old room for right now. 

I was going to donate this to our church but when I told Dallas and Sara about it they said they would take it all. Being newlyweds with tight finances I can understand this. So glad it will go to a home that needs it. 

Someday I will get them on the healthier band wagon too. But for now I need to work on those that live in the same house as me. 

This is the closet under the stairs. Still has some work to be done but this is a slow process at times.

As you will notice I do have a good bit of food storage. I have been the canning specialist in the past 4 words I have lived in so I try to practice what I preach. he he  

 Pantry in the kitchen. True not all the canned items are gone. As I said this is a very slow process I need to ease the family into.

 Hallway closet. 

 Another dark picture (sorry) this is the closet in Dallas's room The hanging area is in front of all these cans.

This is more of our food storage. I am done clearing this area I just need to dust up a little bit more. 

 This is the top part to the above mentioned closet. These are our sleeping bags and Dallas's emergency back pack. I haven't gone through these yet but it is certainly on my list.

I don't like the sleeping bags out with the rest of the camping items due to spider or bug factor. Personally it creeps me out! 

So this is where I am at so far. I will try to remember to take pictures are blog a little more frequently to keep you up to date.

 Feels good to get rid of stuff! 

 Hugs, Bobbi Jo 

Mormon Prom Invite

One day while E'lyse was at school her guy friend Geordan came over with his Mom and decorated (or should I say made a mess with Sweedish Fish and this sweet poster. 

There was fish EVERYWHERE! It was so fun. 

Geordan had called the night before asking permission from Alan and I to ask her to the LDS or Mormon Prom of course we said yes he is a very nice young man.

This is the poster that was on her bed

This is just a little chunk of the floor that was covered. They were all over her book shelves, in the closet and everywhere they landed. Too fun!! 

So then of course E'lyse had to give her answer. So Monday she went his house.

She made this poster & a giant fish bowl full of what else but gold fishes.

 So there on the yellow fish is her answer to him.

So E'lyse has been looking for a dress to wear and is so excited to go.
There will be pictures to follow of this special occasion.
Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Sara's Birthday

Our new daughter in love Sara had her 20Th Birthday on April 16Th. Due to the craziness of getting ready for her and Dallas's wedding we put off her Birthday dinner till this past Sunday night.

Dallas, Sara and E'lyse lighting the candles. 

 Sara patiently waiting........still lighting them

 She finally got to blow out the candles after a really bad rendition of Happy Birthday by our off key family. Then a picture of our newest family tradition of shoving all the candles in your mouth. 

CUTE! 

Great picture with the thumbs up. Ya done good there Sara!!

 Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Special Day

On May 20Th, 2012 our son Dallas married his sweetheart Sara Palmer. 

The wedding was planned in 5 short weeks and came together so well. 

It was beautiful. The bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome and we had fun.

Sara & Dallas's hands. 

You can't tell in this picture but Dallas's wedding band is camouflage. ( I borrowed these pictures from the photographer, Coco my oldest daughter). 

Mr. & Mrs. Dallas & Sara Nichols

 Dallas's grooms men from L to R: Chord, JoJo, Talmage (ringbearer), Dallas, Brandon, Dusty and Kyle

 Sara & Dallas right after the ceremony

The wedding colors were yellow and blue. The evening was beautiful weather, yummy food and a lot of great friends and family came to show their love and support to this wonderful couple. 

So happy for them and Dallas is truly happy and that makes him Mom very, very happy. 

 Hugs, Bobbi Jo 

( P.S. When I get pictures that are in color I will post them. )