10 Things Challenge Week 4

I am a little late this week in posting this but here are my 10 things I am donating! I think all the stuff this week is going to be donated to friends so they are for sure going to get good use out of them.

1. Georgia Rule- A movie I have watched once and its was a good one timer but not worth keeping on my shelves
2. Rumor Has It- I love Jennifer Aniston but this is not the best movie on the planet
3. The Terminal- I cannot even figure out where I got this movie from
4. John Tucker Must Die-Super cute movie but I am not a teenager anymore... Time to move on
5. She's The Man- Once again cute movie but a little to young for my taste now
6. Tristan and Isolde- Was a good movie but not one I reach for when I want to watch something
7. Startsky and Hutch- I think I have worn out this movie enough to say I can donate it without feeling bad
8. Red Glitter-I had two things of red glitter that I will never get all the way through using so one of them is out
9. Blue Glitter- Same story
10. Green Glitter- Once again same story

So there you have it my ten things. This is getting much tougher now. I haven't even decided on the theme to look for things to donate on next week.

10 Things Challenge Week 3

Happy Monday!! I am already onto week three of my challenge. This week is a jumble of things so lets dig in. I decided it was just easier to donate everything to the salvation army. I know I could go and make money off of some of these things. To me however that's not the point of why I am doing it so I am choosing not to do it that way.

1. Quilt Set- I have owned this since I was living in my getto apartment in Bellingham and have decided that in reality the purple is not the right color for me so out it goes with its sheets and all!
2. Towel- I can't figure out where I even got it from but its not soft and I enjoy the extra big towels.
3. Clothes- I cleaned out my closet yesterday and came through some of these clothes that I wont ever wear again
4. Mariners Stuff- I use to be a huge Mariners fan when I was young but I do not think I have watched baseball since I was in High School and I know someone is gonna come along and get excited about seeing it.
5. Winter Wear- There is a scarf from the 2010 Winter Olympics that I have never worn and I am not a red color person and a pair of gloves that I like but once again don't think I have ever worn
6. Books- Came across about four books that just don't look like they are worth reading with all the other things I want to read.
7. Photo Albums- I found two photo albums that were brand new but they are not my style
8. Scrapbooking Albums- Once again they were brand new but just not my style anymore. I must have bought them back in high school
9. Senior Fun Album- I bought it when I graduated high school but never put anything in it. Its a classic black and the year isn't on it so it will work great for anyone that finds it and that makes me happy
10. Tinkerbell Journal- I bought it when I went to Disneyland and I do think its cute but I don't need another journal.

So that't it for this week. I am learning a few things about myself as I am going through this process. The first is that I don't really need to buy journals anymore. I hardly use them and I am becoming so inclined to write on my blog then on paper that I think its going to be a new rule. The second is that I find it easier to get rid of things when I think of how happy it will make someone else when they find it.

How To Become a Minimalist

"Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breath more,talk less, say more; love more, and all good things will be yours." --Swedish Proverb

I am breaking down Leo Babauta's book The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life into a post per chapter. This weeks post is on chapter three and its about how to become a minimalist. In Leo's book he gave us four main points for us:

1. Start by realizing you already have enough
2. Start cutting back on the clutter and possessions
3. Start simplifying your schedule
   
4. Slowly edit everything you do

To me how I am becoming a minimalist is slightly different but I do find that it is also very similar. I started realizing that I wanted to become a minimalist in late December 11 while I was at work one day. I still can't figure out where the inspiration came from but I just decided I owned way too much stuff. And so this is how I am becoming a minimalist

1. I realized that I already had enough (1 for 1 with Leo)
2. I am starting to cut back on my clutter and possessions (I am doing this in a few different ways which I will explain in a moment)
3. I am also trying to simplify my finances
4. Then I shall try simplifying my schedule
5. And I am sure eventually I will be able to keep editing (But I am a long way off from being close to done with my decluttering at the first stage)

Now going back to cutting back on my clutter I am doing this in a few different ways

1. I have for the most part already done my first round of decluttering for my clothing and scrapbooking items. The next step for my clothing is going to be looking at every piece and making it work as an outfit and if I can't it has to go. As for my scrapbooking I think I will do another round of decluttering to see what I am left with.
2. I am in the middle of doing a 10 Things Challenge on this blog where I get rid of 10 things for 10 weeks. This is helping me declutter the things I know I can get rid of now without thinking in all the different category's I hold within my "Stuff"
3. I will also of course be following Leo's guidelines once we get further into the chapters.

So that's it. I wanted to keep this one focused on only what The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life said this chapter because I think there is a lot of great advice out there that kind of all ends up equaling the same thing when you are cutting down the basics.

Simplify Your Life

It's Monday so its time for my weekly blog review (I just decided last night that I was gonna do my reviews on Mondays) I take a little time every week to look at other minimalist blogs to see if I find them useful or inspiring to my own journey. This is very much a personal review for myself and I believe that everyone who writes a blog is very inspiring in just getting their thoughts out there.

This weeks blog I really enjoyed looking over and it is going to become one of the blogs I think I will follow most often. Its called Simplify Your Life (http://simplifyyourlife.tumblr.com/). Its written by a guy named Danny who is in his thirties. He has been on his simple living journey for two years now and I really enjoy the way he has set up his blog. Here is what I like

• His info is right there on there in front of you so its known right away who is writting the blog which gives you that personal connection that I seem to crave when I read blogs
• He is a very up to date blog writer. He seems to post daily
• He gives you great ideas of further info for you to look up or other blogs to look into
• Its a clean and simple blog
• There are only four options on his side bar and its gives you everything you want in a blog

So all in all I really enjoy this blog and it is going onto my blog roll as soon as this post is published!

10 Things Challenge Week 2

Shoes Shoes Shoes! That was my main focus this week when I picked my 10 things to donate. Everything is going to the salvation army this week so I wont add that more then right here... The saddest part of all is that picking these ten pairs to get rid of wasn't even hard... LOL!

1. Green Old Navy Sandals- They cause blisters and I have a navy pair that I wear way more then these ones.
2. Champion Running Shoes- I wore them when I worked at the job I had before my current one and they are just not comfy anymore to me because of the bad memories that are attached to them.
3. Purple Flats- They are super cute and I do love them but I never wear them and they are not worn in enough to be comfy
4. White Crocks- I love the idea of owning crocks but I just never wear them
5. White Flats- They give me blisters and I never wear them
6. Black Flats- Too small for me
7. Blue Flats- Once again super cute but I never wear them and once again they give me blisters
8. Grey Flats- I like these shoes except they are clicky when you walk and I don't actually like flats that have a slight heel to them.
9. Roxy Brown Boots- They are cute but pointless for me to own with all the other boots I own and love to wear
10. Brow Slippers-Once again super cute and I have had them for a couple years but I don't hardly ever wear slippers and when I do I use my other grey flat slippers

So out with the old and absolutely NO in with the new... I do not think that I will be needing to buy a new pair of shoes for a long while because I still own plenty... I have learned from doing this though that I tend to be way more of a boot girl then a flat girl. So we will see if this changes as summer comes closer but if not I will know not to buy any more flats for myself!

The Minimalist List

I have decided to spend every evening this week going through one new blog that is based obviously on simple living. So I really love the concept of the blog I looked at tonight. Its called The Minimal List (http://www.theminimallist.com/) and its the coolest thing. Every post title is a single word and then the post goes into detail on why that word was chosen... Here is what else I like about it

• The format is super simple and you can either look up her posts by the month or by the category you are wanting to look into
• The posts are not super long but still long enough to make you feel like you understand where she is coming from
• There is not a lot of searching that needs to be done and I am realizing that to me that's a major plus in me wanting to follow a blog or not...

So yeah all in all tonights blog find was fun and I think it will be added to my blog roll. On a side note, I wasn't able to do a review every night this week so instead I think I am just gonna make it a once a week thing until I run out of bogs to look up...

Minimalist Principles

I am breaking down Leo Babauta's book The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life into a post per chapter. The second chapter is called Overall Minimalist Principles and here are the principles I am choosing to live by from now on:

• Say Goodbye to Needless Stuff
• Keep Only the Essentials
• Make it Worthy of Keeping
• Keep it Going

These principles will be put into more use and explanation as I continue through this book and journey. I also found a great statement in The Simple Living Guide

"The bottom line is if you can become self sufficient in the basics of life, which are shelter, nutritious food and clothing... If you have these things covered then all you have to do with the rest of your time is make yourself a peaceful person rather than spending that same time buying things you don't need"!

I feel like these are very good foundational principles and have seen them repeated in multiple blogs about simple living so why mess with a good thing!