Category Archives: Minimalism

Downsizing the Drawers

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Last week I showed you some of our furniture restoration projects.  Like everything we do they did not come to fruition quickly.  In fact, The Duke found the receipt for the new hardware for the drawers which was dated May 2012!!

The drawers are finally finished (apart from the mirror) and have been moved into our bedroom.

This is what they have replaced.

Chest of drawers
The first step was to remove the contents from the existing chest of drawers.
As per any good decluttering guide, the first step is to remove everything from its existing location.  Even though it was completely necessary to do it in this instance,it is certainly sobering to see the entire contents piled on the floor.  I was amazed at the things that I ‘found’ that had not been worn for some time.  After carefully sorting the items I managed to toss 2 pairs of socks  and an old t-shirt.  There probably should have been more but it is a case of small steps.

My clothes
I also removed the drawer liners and cut the pieces to size to re-use in the new drawers.

Drawer liners
It took a bit of judicious re-arranging but the clothes all fitted in.  This was mainly because the drawers in the new dressing table are somewhat deeper than in the previous chest of drawers even though there are less drawers.

Dressing table
This is my new dressing table/clothes storage which is silky oak timber.  The silky oak tree is native to the local area in which we live.  We bought this about 2 years ago and The Duke stripped all of the paint from it, sanded and stained the piece of furniture.  All of the drawer handles are new reproductions of a style similar to what would have been on the drawers originally.  All that is left to do is to get a new mirror cut and place in the oval frame which will be suspended between the 2 timber uprights that you can see in the photo.  We are taking the old mirror to town tomorrow to get it done.

I am really pleased with how this has turned out.  There is a huge degree of satisfaction in restoring old pieces of furniture and bringing them back to life.

Project 333 – Packing

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For those of you who may be new to reading this blog, it is probably timely to explain about Project 333.  It is a concept developed by Courtney Carver in which you commit to wearing a maximum of 33 items for 3 months.  You can read all about it at her blog, Be More With Less.

I first discovered Project 333 in April 2012 and followed the guidelines carefully for the next 3 months.  Since then, I have continued to streamline the contents of my wardrobe.  I am constantly striving to create a small but effective selection of pieces which work for me.  For ease of searching, I have used “Project 333” in the title of all of my clothes-related posts.  If you have not read them all you can search all posts under this topic to gain a broad understanding of what I am doing.

I have been in Sydney for the past 2 days for work.  I needed to be appropriately dressed on Tuesday when I arrived as well as yesterday and today.  I was meeting friends for dinner on Tuesday evening and attending a work-related dinner last night.  The constraints were that I planned to only take carry-on luggage as well as staying in a hotel and no opportunity to wash clothes.

Here is what I packed.

Trousers
Green jeans, denim jeans and white 3/4 trousers.

Tops
Floral cardigan, teal top, red/white striped tee and black pullover.  These all have 3/4 sleeves.  I find these very practical for a range of weather and they can be worn in a variety of ways.

Extras
I also packed a black camisole, black/white checked short sleeved shirt and leopard print scarf.

Shoes
2 pairs of flat shoes completed the selection.  I try not to wear the same shoes every day.

I chose the items with a specific plan in mind but sufficient versatility to change the choices if my mood or the weather dictated it.  The plan (which I adhered to) was:

Denim jeans, red/white tee and red flats on Tuesday flight.
Green jeans, black pullover and scarf with pewter flats for dinner on Tuesday.
Green jeans, black camisole, floral cardigan and red flats – work on Wednesday
Denim jeans, black camisole, teal top and pewter flats – dinner on Wednesday.
White trousers, checked shirt with black pullover (if needed) and flats – work on Thursday and flight home.

I really only wore each item once , however, the combinations are almost endless.  The only ‘no go zones’ as far as I can see were the green jeans with the teal top, the red flats with the teal top or the the striped top and floral cardigan together!  My maths is not good enough to be able to calculate all of the possible permutations but I know there were plenty of choices.  All of this confirms what I have often said, “You need almost as many clothes for a couple of days as for a few weeks”.

How do you decide what to pack? Have you ever travelled for an extended period of time with only one bag?

Culling the Cookbooks

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Today I decided that it was time to bite the bullet and seriously consider what cookbooks I really needed to keep.  I did not have a large collection but I knew that there were some that had survived previous attempts to reduce the collection.

CookbooksI did not photograph the shelf before I removed all of the books but here they all are on the kitchen bench.

I sorted through and recycled lots of loose sheets of paper – scribbled recipes or ripped out of magazines.  If I had not made them up till now it is unlikely that I will.  Most did not fit with our current eating plan which is mostly gluten-free.  Quite a number of the books were very easy to let go of as they were quite dated and the recipes are simply not to our taste any more.

Ready to go
The pile on the right are ready for the op shop bag.  The 3 books on the left each have 1 or 2 recipes which I would like to try, so rather than keeping the whole book, I am going to type them into my recipe file on the computer and then the books will be added to the op shop pile.

I keep two binders with plastic sleeves which are for loose recipe sheets but even these had go a bit out of hand so I spent some time refiling them into the plastic sleeves.

The remaining cookbooks have been returned to the shelf.

Cookbook shelf
Some of these books have barely been opened, let alone actually used so I have promised myself that I will use them.  In order to achieve my goal, I am going through each book and making a list of the recipes that I would like to try and the relevant page number.  I plan to create a spreadsheet of all of the recipes with a reference back to where I can find it.  Today I went through 4 of the books but still have quite a number to go.  It will be an ongoing project.

The Duke suggested that I just scan the recipes that I want to keep and then get rid of the books completely.  That may be an option for the future but at the moment my goal is to actually try out some of the recipes instead of having a shelf full of books that I do not use.

I have a new cookbook on my Christmas wishlist.  It is a gluten-free cookbook.  I have made a couple of recipes from it and if the rest are as good it will be a worthy addition to my pared-down bookshelf.

Project 333 – Making it Work 3

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As promised, here are the next 3 outfits based on the black camisole.  This is the one from yesterday where I teamed the camisole with an overshirt and white 3/4 trousers.

Striped shirt 3
Outfit 2 – a completely different look by teaming the black camisole with a black/white check skirt, lacy gold bolero and metallic sandals.

Black camisole 2

Outfit 3 – a simple, summery combination with the addition of a lightweight Hawaiin-print skirt and black slides.

Black camisole 3
I made the Hawaiin-print skirt from fabric that was given to me.  I love the skirt but it is very different to most items in my wardrobe so I have really set myself up for a challenge by choosing it as my base item for tomorrow.

Will I meet my goal of 3 different ways to wear it?

Project 333 – Making it Work 2

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Now for the next instalment, using the striped shirt as the base for 3 outfits.

Here is the one from yesterday which I will call Outfit 1.

Green jeans2
Outfit 2 – black trousers, teal/black/white striped collared shirt with 3/4 sleeve and zip front, turquoise cardigan and black mary janes.

Striped shirt 2
Outfit 3 – white 3/4 pants, black camisole, teal/black/white striped collared shirt with 3/4 sleeve and black leather slides.

Striped shirt 3

Because we live in a temperate climate I have the luxury of being able to wear some of the more versatile items in all seasons.  This shirt is a perfect example.

Tomorrow I will show you 2 more ways I wear the black camisole.  There are many options for this piece but I will use the opportunity to introduce a couple of the more challenging items.

Project 333 – Making it Work

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As promised the other day, here is the first of a series about my small selection of clothes and how I make them work.

I read recently that someone expected that every item of clothing needed to be able to be incorporated into 3 different outfits to justify having the item in her cupboard.  I decided to test this theory and here are some of the results.

The first item I chose was my green jeans.

Green jeans1
Outfit 1 – green jeans, red/white striped 3/4 sleeve tee and red flats.

Green jeans2
Outfit 2 – green jeans, teal/black/white striped collared shirt with 3/4 sleeve and zip front plus pewter flats.

Green jeans3
Outfit 3 – green jeans, white camisole, charcoal denim jacket and black mary janes.

The great thing about this exercise is that it actually makes you think outside the box.  I have actually worn outfits 1 and 2 but outfit 3 was created purely as a result of this exercise.  I like the look of it and will definitely try it out.

Some items will easily give you 3 or more options while others will be a bit more of a challenge.  I am not just going to showcase the easy choices.  Each day I will select one of the pieces I used as my next base.  Tomorrow will be 2 more ways of wearing the striped shirt which you saw in Outfit 2 today.

I look forward to hearing your comments on my choices and if you have any strategies for making sure that your wardrobe items earn their keep.

Finally, I want to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for my sister-in-law.  Her condition remains very serious and we continue to pray for her.

Project 333 – Wardrobe Orphans

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While I have been busily writing about some of the strategies you can use to reduce your stuff, I have been reviewing the contents of my wardrobe.

Wardrobe

As I have said before, I do not have a bulging closet.  Nevertheless, there are still items that get overlooked when I am planning an outfit to wear.  Why?  They fit and there is no good reason but they just tend to get overlooked.  They are the wardrobe orphans.

Blouse

This sleeveless shirt is an identical style to others that I wear regularly but although I like it the top it does not really work with other pieces.  My skirts are all patterned and therefore I wear plain tops with them.  My shorts are white, black, red and khaki.  I don’t get excited about any of those combinations.  I think it needs denim or navy shorts or skirt.  I don’t have either nor am I planning on adding them to my wardrobe.  The final straw is that it obviously requires a white or nude bra and the 2 white bras that I have are too big and really past their use-by date.  So, the shirt has to go.

Shirt

Another white shirt.  This time it is a 3/4 sleeve one with light blue metallic pinstripes.  Unlike the other one I have never really loved it.  I bought this when I needed another ‘business’ shirt but it generally gets cast aside in favour of others that I prefer.  It is just not right for me.

I am going to move both of the shirts out of my wardrobe and was planning on putting them in the op shop bag.  However, my first option is to offer them to any of my readers who are interested.  You may have one or both if you wish.  I am giving them away on the understanding that you will pay for any postage costs.  I am willing to post overseas if required.  They are best described as an Australian size 10 – 12.  The sleeveless shirt was made by me and is cotton.  The 3/4 sleeve one is Jacqui E cotton/nylon/elastane.

If you are interested please email me.  gandy79atgmaildotcom

Are there any orphans lurking in your wardrobe?

STREAMLINE – Everyday Maintenance

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After you have worked through all of the other steps in the ‘STREAMLINE’ process, it is important not to lapse back into old ways.  Just like changing eating (or any other) habits, if your version of minimalism is to be successful it needs to be an ongoing process.  You will have to work at it constantly and be vigilant at every turn.  Clutter in all its forms is insidious and will soon overwhelm you if you do not have strategies in place to stop it at the door, the mailbox and even your email inbox.

Well-meaning friends and relatives may feel sorry for you when they see your empty spaces and want to give you stuff to fill the gaps.

You did not set out to create a cluttered, over-burdened life – it just happened.  So, it could easily happen again.

“No, thank you” is one of the most powerful things you can say in your quest to keep your stuff at the level which suits you best.  Whether it is a freebie bag at a conference, a loyalty card from a store, a copy of recipe or your great aunt’s tea-set – if it does not fit your goals you can politely refuse the offer.

Dining table

I have refused, decluttered and minimised for several years and still know that there is more to go.  I keep a bag/box in the spare room and as I find things to go they are moved to the box which then goes to the op shop when it is full.  Sometimes it takes ages to gather enough to send off and other times there is a flurry of activity and I take several bags in one weekend.  Having a dedicated receptacle for things that are to be re-homed helps me to keep focused.

I hope you have enjoyed this series and would strongly recommend reading “The Joy of Less” by Francine Jay for more inspiration.  Please share your thoughts on decluttering and minimalism in general and as well as your personal achievements.

STREAMLINE – Narrow it Down

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This is where it starts to get really challenging.  Now we need to ask ourselves the question, “What is the minimum that I need to live?”  Francine notes that you do not need to worry that you will be expected to sleep on the floor or live in a tent but you do need to challenge yourself.  It is not enough to wave your magic wand and say that you need everything that you have.

There is no magic number of items or even a formula that you can apply.  Everyone’s ‘enough’ is different.  It can depend on your location, family, children, hobbies, upbringing and experiences.

Embracing minimalism is a personal choice.  It is not about depriving yourself but giving yourself the freedom to live and enjoy the moment.  There is a liberating lightness which comes from letting go of possessions so take the time to look around you and decide what you can live without.

Contents of cupboard

Some of things you could consider when attempting to narrow down your possessions:

  • Duplicates – these are easy – you don’t really need 2 (or more) do you?
  • Sentimental stuff – Francine suggests ‘minituarising’ as a way of dealing with these – an example could be a place card, photo, swatch of dress fabric and a dried flower from the bouquet all in a simple frame as a wedding memento rather than keeping a wedding dress and all the trimmings.
  • Digitising – scanned photos in files on the computer rather than shelves full of albums that gather dust.  If the digitised files are well catalogued they are actually more accessible than hard copies.  You can also keep back-ups in different locations in case of disaster.

I do not purport to be perfect in any of these ways but am certainly working on it.  What about you?

STREAMLINE – If One Comes In, One Goes Out

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This is a fairly simple strategy – for every item that you welcome into your home another one needs to leave.  Whilst this strategy will not turn you into a minimalist overnight, it will certainly maintain the status quo.

One of the most popular applications of the ‘one in, one out’ rule is clothes.  Buy a new shirt and then choose one that you can move on.  If you are having trouble letting one go, perhaps it is time to ask yourself why you bought the new shirt in the first place.  Did you really need it?  The last time I looked, we can only wear one shirt at a time so why do we need a wardrobe bulging with clothes?

Appliances are another area where we can tend to buy a new version yet retain the old one.  It is usually consigned to the back of the cupboard or the garage ‘just in case’.  Just in case the bright new shiny one breaks down?  Do we really buy things expecting them to fail?  If the previous one needed replacing it is time for it to go.

We recently purchased a new refrigerator.  After a considerable time spent looking and debating the various options available this is the one we bought.

RefrigeratorOf course, there was the question of what to do with the old one.  The Duke briefly canvassed the option of keeping it downstairs as a ‘beer fridge’ but we realised that it was completely unnecessary and would use up space and electricity.  I advertised it on Freecycle and am pleased to say that it has gone to a young couple who were trying to set up a home with very little in the way of resources.

Old refrigerator

Most of us live in relative affluence and virtually everything we buy is an upgrade/replacement/newer version of something we already own.  Therefore, there will be something to move out of your home.  If the previous item was broken it should be consigned to the rubbish/recycling.  If it is still functional someone else may benefit from having it.  No-one benefits from it being stashed away to deteriorate in your garage or basement.

As an aside, I find this principle of ‘one in, one out’ a fantastic disincentive to shop.  “Why spend my hard-earned cash on something when I have a perfectly good one at home?” is the question I often ask myself.

How effective are you at ‘one in, one out’?