Declutter like a Minimalist: Books & Movies

I loved decluttering our home. I know - that's weird!

I'm weird. I'll own it.

And now I'm sharing how I decluttered my home with you in bite size pieces. I'll give you directions on how to declutter different areas of your home and how to keep them decluttered forever - like a minimalist!

Today's Topic: Books & Movies

Donate almost everything to your local library. You can get a tax deduction and still have access to these items - its a win win!

Devotional & Library

Step 1: 

All adult books go except for Bible/Daily Devotional.

Step 2:

Keep only 5 treasured children's books. The rest can go to the library or recycled if falling apart.

Right: Library Books    Left: 5 Favorites

Step 3: 

All adult movies go. You don't need them!

Step 4: 

3 Girls = 3 Favorite Movies

Have each child pick their one favorite movie and donate the rest. You can reassure your kids that they can always get them again through the library.

Step 5:

Going forward don't buy books or movies. Rent them from the library. If the library doesn't have a book you really want to read, consider buying it and donating it after you read it.

By filling your donation box with your adult stuff, you will be setting an example for your kids - you are in this together. Also, start regularly getting books from the library. We also get a kids movie each week. I think our girls have forgotten we even own any movies!

Have any decluttering topics you want me to address? Let me know!

Becoming a One Vehicle Family

Can a family with 3 kids, living in the suburbs, survive happily with only one car? That is the question and most people would say - IMPOSSIBLE!

But I am here to say it is POSSIBLE. 

We experimented with being a one car family in the summer of 2014. You can read about it HERE. At the end of our experiment we stayed a two vehicle family, but knew that one day we would want to make a permanent change.

Time went by and we continued to talk about selling our PRIUS - some day. Or maybe our mini van when our kids are out of car seats. Then the most amazing this happened while talking to a friend from college. I was sharing our decluttering stories and our experiment with almost selling our Prius. 

Her first question: Are you still looking to sell it? We are thinking of buying a Prius!

I  was shocked and at first I said: I'm not sure. I loved our Prius, but after my shock settled I realized that is was an answer to my silent prayer. We could become a one vehicle family, sell our beloved Prius to friends, and the transaction would be easy for both of us. It was a win win.

I haven't missed the Prius since it left our drive way and I am so happy that we have friends who are able enjoy it.

But how are we doing it? 

Monday/Wednesday

The girls and I drive my husband to work.

I drive my twins to Preschool (not walking distance).

We pick up my husband after work.

Tuesday/Thursday 

If its nice, I walk my oldest to school (no preschool these days). 

If its not nice weather, we drive my husband to work and pick him up.

Friday

My husband works from home - no car conflicts.

Saturday/Sunday

My husband doesn't work weekends - no car conflicts. This is usually when I grocery shop & run other errands (we rarely have other errands).

Do you think your family could live with one car? What do you think limits your family's ability to downsize to one vehicle? Comment below - maybe I'll have an idea for you.

Spending Less Money On Books & Movies

My oldest girlie came home from school yesterday with a stack of Scholastic Reading Club Order Booklets. Four to be exact! While each purchase supports your child's school, I would rather save my money on books and make a donation to the school at a later time. 

Last year I got sucked into buying Scholastic books. It's great and all, but it was money I didn't need to spend. We regularly reserve books for myself and for my girls at our local library. The girls are excited to read new-to-them books and old favorites (like Fancy Nancy) that we borrow repeatedly.

When my daughter came home with this packet of order forms, my first thought was - CRAP! NOT AGAIN! And then I came up with a great idea! 

My daughter was so excited about all the books and I wanted to support her enthusiasm for reading. I told my daughter to circle all the books that she wants to read and that we could then borrow them from our local library. She was thrilled about going through all the pictures and circling her favorite books. 

Even better, I didn't have to limit her excitement to 1 or 2 books to keep the cost down. Her excitement about books could grow as much as she desired! 

In addition to the cost saving of utilizing our local library, I am also avoiding throwing the order forms in the trash by holding on to them for the next birthday present/christmas present and reusing these colorful papers as wrapping paper!

I love supporting our local library and the benefits we receive from utilizing their service. In addition to borrowing books, we've transitioned to borrowing movies for family movie night with the girls - this Friday we are going to watch Disney's Robin Hood for free.

When I went to the library to get our next batch of books and our Friday Night Movie, I started thinking about our movie collection. I went through a phase of buying movies for the girls every time I saw a good Disney Movie for sale. Now I have a stack of movies in my home. I decided, why not donate our movies to the library so that other kids can enjoy them as well. 

I knew getting my kiddos to agree with parting with all their movies at once was not going to go over well. So I had them each pick one movie to donate to the library. Next month I will ask them again to each pick a movie to donate, getting rid of our movie pile 3 at a time!

Movies donated to our local library!

Experiment Seven: A Less Convenient Way To Clean Dishes

I'm not much of a cook. I really don't enjoy cooking. I am happy with my regular steel cut oats and frozen blueberries in the morning, a simple lunch, and a simple dinner. If a recipe has more than 4 steps I usually don't bother because it's just not worth it to me. The plus side to eating simple - you end up with a lot less dirty dishes!

Goodbye Dishwasher

This past January, my husband broke our dishwasher after trying to fix our dishwasher (haha).  I decided to hold an experiment: How long can we go without our dishwasher? I am happy to report that it has been about 4 months and I haven't missed the dishwasher. I am use to hand washing and don't ever think about the inconvenience of it.

Having simple meals and left overs keeps our dirty dishes to a minimum.

Another thing that helps is that we have simplified out dinnerware/glassware. We are a family of 5 with seven bowls, 10 plates, 4 little bowls (great for fruit, crackers, ice cream) 5 glass cups, and 6 coffee cups. This means we have to keep up with our dirty dishes throughout the day to eat our next meal. Sometimes we can get away with 2 meals in a row, but over all we have to stay caught up. The great thing about this is the dirty stack never gets too big. It's easy to stay caught up.

Experiment Six: Less Bedroom Space

I love small spaces. They seem cozy to me. In small spaces you have what you need (and what you love) and you really can't fit more. Seems perfect. Because the space seems complete, I'm not tempted to over decorate or add more furniture. The simplicity of small spaces speaks to me.

A Smaller Master Bedroom

My husband and I decided to start painting the wood trim in our master bedroom. To make things easy, we decided to move our bed and clothes to the spare bedroom while we spend the next few weeks painting.

Our master bedroom is about 168 square feet in size (12x14). There is a small walk-in closet and an attached small bathroom.

The spare bedroom is about 110 square feet in size (10x11). There is a small regular closet and that's it. Our clothes fit the closet space perfectly and our queen size bed fills the room. We have our night stand and my husband's guitar and some hooks over the door to hang clothes that we plan on wearing again. It's cozy and complete. It's simple and fits everything we need and love. 

This little experiment of moving our bedroom to a room with 58 less square feet is refreshing. We are continuing to find that we are comfortable with less space - this is great since we are hoping to move into a smaller home some day. A smaller home that is simple and beautiful, that has everything we need and love and not more. 

Experiment Four - One Less Dresser

I have always enjoyed being creative - coloring, drawing, painting. I have always been drawn to the arts and I see this same joy in my girls. One way I keep creativity at their fingertips is by keeping paper and crayons on our kitchen table. At some point every day I find my 3 girls at the table coloring to their hearts desire.

Four, Three, Two, One, None

Back in 2012 we had FOUR dressers in our home. Two in our bedroom, One in our oldest daughter's bedroom, and One in the twins' bedroom - pretty normal I would say. 

When the twins were born we wanted them in our bedroom for the first few months. Our PackNPlay wasn't big enough for 2 babies, so we decided to set up one of the cribs in our room along with our glider. There wasn't enough space for all this furniture, so we consolidated our clothes to one dresser (took the other dresser out) and we had enough space. Once the twins were old enough to sleep in their own room, we were so comfortable with one dresser that we never brought the second dresser back in our room. And we were down to THREE.

Right before the twins turned 2 years old, we decided to experiment with having all 3 girls share a room. I had recently read about a family whose 3 boys share a room and fell in love with their morning routine. You can find their story here. Our girls have been sharing one bedroom for a year now and I can't imagine it any other way. Our oldest wasn't fully using her dresser, so we were able to use half the drawers for the twins (and get rid of the twins' dresser). And we were down to TWO. 

About a month ago my husband and I decided to experiment with not using our dresser. We moved all our clothes to our closet. We weren't fully utilizing our closet so there was plenty of space. Over the past few months we went through our clothes and consolidated to the items we truly needed and loved. We haven't missed our dresser. And we were down to ONE.

Enjoying sitting at their play table!

My husband's wardrobe:

1 black suit

5 button-down dress shirts

2 pairs of khakis

1 pair of jeans

2 pairs of shorts

1 pair of workout pants

A few t-shirts

2 sweatshirts

and the other essentials

My wardrobe:

2 dresses

3 nice long sleeve tops

2 pairs of nice pants

1 pair of jeans

2 pairs of shorts

1 pair of workout pants

A few t-shirts

2 sweatshirts

and the other essentials

About a week after not using our dresser we decided to experiment with not using the girls' dresser. We moved all their clothes to their closet - fully utilizing their closet now. With the space we gained, we were able to move their play table and chairs to their room (which houses their lamp and music). We were also able to move the rocking chair from in front of their closet to the empty wall. The girls love having their music at their fingertips - much easier for dance parties. And I don't have to move the rocking chair every time I need to access their closet! And now we are down to NONE.

Experiment Three - Less TV

Our TV is almost always on. With difficult pregnancies and twins - being able to turn on PBS cartoons or a Disney movie was a life saver. My oldest daughter and I would spend our days on the couch watching TV while I was on bed rest. And while taking care of newborn twins, our beloved Disney movies kept our oldest daughter patient. 

Once the twins were old enough to have an opinion on what was on TV, things got challenging. Everyone wanted to watch something else. Sometimes I would have one movie on one TV, another movie on another TV, and PBS on another TV. Our family would be divided between three floors of our home, watching three different things. 

Finally, enough was enough. I didn't like that my three girls were spread all over our home. I wanted everyone to be together, enjoying time together instead of time apart. 

Winter 2014

At the beginning of 2014 we had three televisions in our home - one in our living room, one in our bedroom, and one in our lower level living room. Within a few months of entering 2014, we sold two of our TVs (they were also our largest TVs) and kept our smaller 32" with built in DVD player. We moved our one remaining TV from our bedroom to our living room and we haven't missed the other TVs one bit.

One thing that has helped this transition is a rule we have during Family Movie Nights: All three girls have to agree on the movie we watch. And now this rule always applies - When the TV is on, my girls have to agree on what they watch. It has also helped develop great negotiating skills! Whenever one of my girls wants to watch something, without hesitation or prompting she will go up to her sisters and ask if they both agree! 

Winter 2015

Now that my girls are a year older, my husband and I decided to try another experiment - Can we go without TV one day each week? We decided to make Sundays a NO TV DAY. After our first No TV Sunday, we realized how fantastic of a day we had - awesome quality family time. We played more with our kids, read more books together, and this Sunday my oldest and I made lunch together! The day seems slower and more peaceful. Our girls have not only accepted No TV Sundays, but are excited about it. This experiment was a total success and I am looking forward to more No TV Sundays! 

Experiment Two - One Less Car

My husband took our oldest daughter, 4 years old, to her first soccer practice this Fall. We thought she would love it, but she didn't. She was relieved when the six week session was over. Maybe she will try again another year and love it, or maybe I'm not destined to be a soccer mom. My girls love ballet - maybe I'll be a ballet mom! 

Summer of 2014

I have never been a car person. I just need a safe vehicle to get me from one place to another. My first car was my Nana's old Eagle with crank operated windows - until my parents deemed it unsafe. My next car was a used Ford Escape - until I deemed it unsafe for myself and my 6 month old baby. (When you end up stranded in a grocery store parking lot because your car won't start - it's unsafe) 

My next car was a Prius - and I was in love. My eco-friendly, gas-savings car was awesome! Then we found out I was pregnant with twins - how do you fit 3 car seats in a Prius? You don't. My husband had an old Nissan Altima that smelled like wet dog (It got flooded in college with record breaking rain fall) - that wasn't going to work. So I handed over my Prius to my husband and we got a Mini Van.

This past summer we decided to try another experiment - Could we live with one vehicle? Going from two cars down to one would allow us to pay off our car loan and save us money on car maintenance and car insurance! We decided to give it a try and experiment once again with living with less.

Since we couldn't fit our 3 car seats in the Prius, we parked it in the garage and I started driving my husband to work (luckily a 15 minute drive one way) on the days I needed the Mini Van. We made it work. We even put the Prius up for sale. We even got an offer, but in the end we weren't ready to part with our eco-friendly, gas-savings vehicle. Our oldest child was about to start Preschool in the Fall and we decided - maybe we want two vehicles a while longer. It was a great experiment. We found out that, if need be, we can live with one car. We also decided that we would rather have our Prius - so maybe once the kids are out of car seats we will experiment again and only drive our Prius! 

And maybe in the end I'll be an Eco-friendly, Gas-savings, Prius driving Ballet Mom!

Picture from when we posted the Prius for sale!

Experiment One - Less House

There is one thing I have never liked having a lot of - shoes. Shoes drive me crazy. Having a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of nice brown shoes were always a conundrum to me - which do I wear with my jeans? Either - right?! So why have both. The tennis shoes are more versatile - so I got rid of my brown shoes and never looked back. This was quite a few years ago, and recently, I have started applying this concept to other areas of my life.

March of 2014

My husband and I got rid of all the furniture in the lower level of our tri-level home. We decided to hold an experiment - Could we live in 2/3 of our home and be happy? We sold the furniture and the TV. Today is December 30 of 2014 - and we haven't missed the other 1/3 of our home. I do have to pass through the lower level to get to the basement where the washer and dryer are - so ideally we would have a washer and dryer by our bedrooms.

Currently Painting Walls and Panelling!