Food for Though

These are some quotes I ran across this week that I enjoyed:

"There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less." G.K. Chesterton

"Everything we own owns us. It takes time to use it, dust it, paint it, maintain it, build space in a house for it, and work to pay for it." Richard Swanson

"My joy comes from clothing myself with the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. It is joy because it is so precious to God." Cynthia Heald

Enjoy!

Bad Day Box

We all have those bad days when we want to write the word "fail" on that day of the calendar. I can become consumed with my mistakes, people's negative opinions of me (whether perceived or real), and wonder if what I am doing with my life.

Instead of crawling under the covers with a tub of cookie dough, searching online for jobs in Hawaii, break open the "Bad Day Box."

The Bad Day Box is a box where I keep encouraging notes, cards, emails, or keepsakes that people have given to me that are full of words that touched my heart. It is a reminder of the all the good things that people have to say to me and about me. It takes a few minutes to open it up and remember that "fail" might have described my day, but not my life.

Put together your own Bad Day Box:

1. You can pick up a fun hat box at the store, decorate your own box if you are crafty, or pick up a photo storage box.



2. Tuck the box away in a place, where it's easy to access and you will see it often in case you need it. Mine is in my home office in a cupboard with office supplies.



3. Every time you get a note or email, pictures, or something else that has encouraged you, stick in the box.

You can even do this for a friend, loved one, or your kids and fill it with notes and words that you want to encourage them with!

Organizing the Glove Box

I feel like opening the glove box is done at my own risk as receipts, napkins, travel mugs, and who-knows-what-else comes billowing out. I stuff my glove box with whatever, and then of course, when it becomes important for me to find those important pieces of paper: registration and proof of insurance, I am buried in years worth of oil change receipts.

Then I came across an idea in Real Simple magazine. Take of those accordion files made for receipts or coupons and use it to organize the glove box. I found a small, plastic accordion file at Target for about $4. It even has a little zip lock compartment in the front! So, here is how I cleaned out the glove box:

1. Pull everything out of the glove box.



2. The first thing to go back into the glove box is the owner's manual to the vehicle.



3. In the VERY FRONT of the accordion file, place your current proof of insurance and registration.



4. Then, in the different sections, put the receipts of any car work done



5. Throw away any trash, and file any car work over one year old in your home with other home records--but get them out of the glove box.



6. Stick $2 change in quarters in the zip lock pouch for those unexpected tolls and parking meters.



7. Decide on the other 3 or 4 important items you want in your glove box. I have a tire pressure gage, napkins, phone charger, and an emergency poncho (because my parents gave it to me. Yes, I live in the desert and have no need for an emergency poncho, but I feel like as soon as I toss it, I'll find myself in a situation where I'll inevitably need it)

The $5 Jewelry box

I have to credit my friend, Kat, for this stroke of brilliance. I was getting the tour of her house when I encountered the way she stores her jewelry in her closet. She had taken a peice of foam core, hung it in her closet, and hung her jewelry there for storage and display. And here is the brilliance of it:

• Everything is neatly displayed, making it easy to decide what to wear.
  
• Necklaces are not lost in a nest of knots.


• Takes up no shelf space, like a clunky jewelry box, and clothes can be hung in front.


• It's cheap

So, I decided to copy my friend and bought the supplies:

• A piece of foam core ($2.50 at Target)


• Push pin tacks ($1.99)

One added perk is that I had to go through all of my jewelry, and I ended up finding pieces I had forgotten that I owned. I cleaned out old and outdated jewelry, untangled necklaces, and set aside the pieces I wanted to keep. I really was limited to the space on the board, so it is actually a great way to limit how much jewelry I am hoarding.

I laid the board down on a flat surface, arranged my jewelry on it, and then placed the push pins where the jewelry is to be hanging from. Then, I removed the jewelry from the board, placing everything in the same order on another flat surface, so I didn't forget where I had placed all the jewelry. Then, hung the board in the back of the closet with a hammer and three small nails. Finally, I hung all the jewelry up. The foam core may not be as thick as the push pins, but it works.

When to Ebay, Craig's list, or Buffalo

Ahhh...the classic dilemma: How do I sell my stuff? It's a great way to make a few extra bucks while ridding my life of the excess and clutter that is around me. But, when do you use what resale service? Here's my quick guide to when to use what service:

1. Ebay

• This is where you make the most money.
• Items that are like new or slightly used.
• Items from brand names and stores that are sought after.
• When you have 1-5 items to get rid of.
• Useful if you have the time to sell each; about 30min-1hour for each item to set up, sell, and mail.

2. Buffalo Exchange, Plato's Closet, or other trendy used clothing stores, or Bookman's

• Average $2-$5 per item (maybe up to $10 for bigger items).
• It seems like these stores have a mental block from taking everything, they may take 10%-60% of your items, so you have to come with a lot.
• Good for if you have at least 2 large bags full.
• Items can be from new to more used than items you would put on Ebay.
• Brand names, styles from within the last year, or great vintage pieces.
• Most helpful if you can block out a morning or afternoon and hit all the stores that buy used clothing with the same bags.

3. Craig's list

• Craig's list is great if you just want someone to come and take your stuff more than you want to make a couple bucks.
• Don't expect to make money, maybe $2-5 for a bag of clothes.
• Price items based on what you would expect to pay at a garage sale, because that is what Craig's list is, a giant garage sale.
• Items can be in any condition.
• Should't take a lot of time or energy--it's more like a creative dump.
• One word of advice: never meet someone alone, bring a buddy.

My Closet: The Black Hole of Time

I waste so much time each morning trying to figure out what I am going to where. I sit on the edge of my bed, stare at my closet and try to put an outfit together, while trying to remember what I want to wear later in the week. I also am amazed at how many tops I own, and how few bottoms.

I'm telling you, figuring out what to wear would be a 10-20 minute process.

First step: I had to clean out the closet, and I'll share taht 8 trash-bag story later.

Second step: I spend 30 minutes on laundry day putting together my outfits for the week and hanging them as such, thinking about what I have going on during the week.

Now, I get up in the morning and just grab the next outfit, and this has saved my life in the morning.

It also helped me to figure out how much excess clothing that I had in my closet, realizing that I could go through months of outfits without wearing certain items in my closet.

Bring My Own Bags

Most of us have a cupboard that is a mess of shopping bags. I stuff these bags in this cupboard, where I don't have to see them, and I think I'll use them again. However, it turns into giant cupboard for storing an unnecessary amount of plastic bags.

I finally made the choice to buy a couple of those "green," reusable grocery bags for about $1 for each bag and cleaned our the bag cupboard. Now we have a use for each kind of bag:

• Plastic bags: trash bags for our smaller garbage cans like in the bathroom.



• "Green" bags: for general shopping at the grocery store, Target, etc.



• Large garbage bags: trash bags for our large garbage can in the kitchen.



• Paper bags: bags for donating clothes, books, etc. or for carrying supplies or gifts outside of the house.
  

I also found out that most grocery stores will give you a five cent discount for each "green" bag you bring; Sunflower markets give ten cents per bag.

I helps to keep the "green" bags in my car trunk. Otherwise, I tend to forget them, or when I have an impromptu trip the store, the bags are with me.

Declutter Your Brain

I go through our day making a list in my head; I think we all do.


Take a shower, try to get the squeeze the remaining shampoo out of the bottle. Pick up Shampoo.


Brush my teeth with my electric toothbrush, which is loosing its vigor. Get AA batteries.


Put on my makeup for the day, routing around old eyeshadow containers, mascara tubes, etc. Clean out makeup bag.


This happens all day with burned out light bulbs, needed groceries, piles of mail, and on and on and on. However, most likely, we don't simply take care of the list, so we relive it the next day, and the next, and the next. I just stick an "oh yeah" on the front of my list items.

I learned from a co worker that every time I thought those thoughts in my mental "to do" list, I was expending unnecessary energy and stress. My brain became cluttered by "to dos" that never go done.


Declutter the brain:

1. Grab a pen and paper and stick it by your night stand
   
   
2. The next day, keep this pad with you and write down every "to do" you think on that pad throughout the day (Now the list has become tangible!)


3. Maybe repeat this for a couple days.


4. Now, put a date next to each item. What can be taken care of tomorrow? this weekend? next week? next month?


5. Use your original list and create a list for every date you wrote down. I love the 4x6 post-its for these!


6. Stick these post-its on your calendar or bulletin board and cross items off as you accomplish the task. It will feel so good!

Ultimately, this will help the environment and the wallet because it will help you group your tasks and errands so you do less daily driving around. Instead, you can get into the car with a plan of attack!

How it all started

I would go to bed with the closet door open and look inside as I would fall asleep. I was trying to figure out what I was going to wear tomorrow. And then, when I woke up, I would turn and look into my closet to continue the process of figuring out what to wear.

If I was going to be late, it was because I tried on at least three outfits before finding an ensemble that I was satisfied with. It started to become a running joke between my husband and me as he would often find me standing in towel, just staring into my closet.

It's so silly. Something as trivial as getting dressed in the morning took up so much time, energy, and unneeded stress.

Matthew 6:28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin."

I would finger through my clothes over and over again trying not to forget what I had seen in there.

And then I figured out the problem.

It's not that I didn't have anything to wear, it's that I had too much to wear. Sometimes too many choices is what can clutter my brain.

So it started with my closet. I needed to simplify. Get back to basics, and get rid of unnecessary clutter and stress that can crowd around me in a million small ways.

It was time to start living the daisy life!