Continuing with my series on decluttering your clothes and creating a wardrobe you love, here’s a detailed look at my winter capsule wardrobe! On February 1st I put together my first capsule wardrobe. I shared my process to create it here. Initially, I planned to try living with a capsule wardrobe for a month. For a variety of reasons, I’ll explain further in an upcoming post, I felt nervous about committing to a capsule wardrobe. I worried I wouldn’t like it or feel too restricted by having fewer clothes. However, once again I have learned intentionally living with less is […]
How to Make a Capsule Wardrobe: A Simple Guide to Dressing Better with Less
Welcome to the third post in my series about decluttering your clothes and dressing with fewer items. It’s all been leading up to this: creating a capsule wardrobe. Related posts: The Best Trick to Purge Your Closet + 6 Questions to Help You Purge, 12 Reasons Why We Keep Clothes We Don’t Wear & How to Move Past Them What is a capsule wardrobe? A capsule wardrobe is the ultimate form of a simplified and clutter-free closet. But what exactly IS a capsule wardrobe? It’s really not as complicated as it sounds. A capsule wardrobe is a small collection of […]
60 Clutter-Free Easter Basket Ideas for Kids
I’m taking a break this week from the clothing decluttering series to talk about Easter. Specifically, clutter-free Easter basket ideas that are still fun for kids to receive and fun for the parents…I mean the Easter Bunny, to give! Although Christmas and birthdays seem to be the times when the biggest influx of new toys and “stuff” for the kids come in, other holidays can add to the clutter as well. Easter is one of those times. Kids love finding a basket full of surprises from the Easter Bunny. And it is fun for us as parents to fill a basket […]
The Best Trick to Purge Your Closet + 6 Questions to Help You Purge
**Be sure to sign up at the bottom of this post to get your FREE printable guide with the best trick to purge your closet + 6 questions to help you purge your closet and create a wardrobe you love!** I have been working hard to reduce and remove the amount of excess stuff in our house in order to improve my life, especially as a mother. One of the big areas I’ve been working on is my own clothing. Throughout the process of purging my clothes, I have found the best trick to purge your closet. First, a little […]
Tips to Declutter When You’re Short on Time: Small Actions that Add up to Big Results
**Be sure to sign up at the bottom of this post to get your FREE printable decluttering tip sheet. It is a handy list of tips to declutter, even when you are short on time!** Life can be busy. Sometimes you want to declutter your house and start living with less, but you are struggling to find the time. The good news is decluttering doesn’t have to be done in one big purging session. If that works for you, and you have the time, it can be a great way to see progress fast. But if you don’t have the […]
Decluttering the Toys: 6 Ways to Encourage Kids to Minimize their Toys
My daughter, Emily, was five when I started really reducing the amount of stuff we had in our house. One area I really struggled with was decluttering the toys. Too many toys can be a big source of clutter and stress in many households. But most kids struggle with letting go of and decluttering the toys. Since Emily was old enough to understand what I was trying to do, I felt it was important to involve her in minimizing and decluttering the toys. My son, Gavin, was only two, and a bit too young to grasp the idea of decluttering […]
7 Benefits of Minimalism: Why I’m choosing to live with less
I’ve already talked about what motivated me to start decluttering our house and our lives. As I’ve continued to declutter and simplify, I’ve realized there are more benefits of minimalism than just having less stuff for your kids to make a mess with. Some of these benefits are impossible to miss, some are more subtle. But I have learned the benefits of minimalism and simplifying are huge and make the work of decluttering worth it. There are so many benefits of minimalism and simplifying your life. This list is the most important benefits I’ve experienced as a result of choosing […]
Contradictions of a Grieving Heart
Originally written in 2015 for Still Standing Magazine: Our son Aiden would have turned five years old this month. It was a hard birthday for me this year. Not only is five years a big milestone, but I also felt a lot of emotional turmoil this year. I know that grieving is not a linear process and “grief bursts” are a normal part of the process. So I shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that this birthday was harder than some have been. But there was something different this year that took some time and reflection to come to […]
Time Doesn’t Heal…But it Helps
Originally written in 2013 for Still Standing Magazine: Early after losing our son Aiden at 19 days old, I remember feeling very angry when I would hear ‘time heals all wounds’ or similar sentiments. I remember thinking, no amount of time will ever heal my broken heart. My child has died, his short life was filled with pain, suffering, surgery and hospitals. There was nothing I could do to make any of it better, nothing I could do to save him from it, nothing I could do to change the fact that he died. No amount of time will ever […]
Why I Became a Minimalist: My Story of Life with Less
Growing up I loved stuff. All kinds of stuff. I even had a box in my childhood room full of junk mail I collected from the post office recycling bin! I always had collections and special things I was saving. In the last few years, I have completely changed directions. Now I find too much stuff stresses me out and makes me feel overwhelmed and stressed out. Over this time I’ve discovered there are many benefits to a simpler, more minimalist life. But before I realized all the benefits a more minimalist lifestyle could offer, two specific events in my […]