Spring Cleaning

It finally feels like spring here in Idaho! As we are starting to get longer days, I've noticed that I've actually had more desire to do things like organize my home, garden, and just in general, haven't needed to take as many naps. It's made me curious why exactly is that? So I did a little research and found that your body produces more melatonin when the sun is not out, which explains why in the winter I don't really want to clean my house and take more naps, overall, I'm just a lot more lazy in the winter.

This makes some sense when talking about why we do a "spring cleaning." But that got me curious, where did that phrase come from? Is it because we have more motivation to clean out our dwellings when the sun comes out? It's possible. So I looked up where does that saying come from? I found a few traditions from around the world. One of my favorites that I found is that supposedly, the Chinese traditionally believe that all of your misfortunes from the previous year pile up in your home. So after the new year, to make sure that you start out your year right, they deep clean out their spaces.

Now the reason for this being one of my favorites out of the traditions of where the spring cleaning phrase and actions that takes place comes from, is because I am a big believer that our possessions say a lot about who we are. Owning too many things and not being a conscious consumer hinders our growth to become the greatest version of ourselves. So I say, that now is the time to look through those things around you and ask yourself, "Does holding onto this benefit me in anyway? OR does it make me feel heavy possessing it?" Here is a list of 101 items that you can read over and maybe find some that you don't need. The next step that I encourage you taking after your have cleared some items out would be to try and be a conscious consumer here on out. Think through all of your purchases. Where the items come from, if they are good for us or hindering us, will they soon (5-10 years) end up in the dump? Alright here is the list:

1. Glassware
2. Cookbooks
3. Kitchen gadgets
4. Kitchen appliances
5. Pots and pans
6. Mixing bowls
7. Tupperware
8. Water pitchers
9. Magazines
10. Newspaper
11. Books
12. Over-the-counter medicine
13. Make-up
14. Barretts/ hair clips/ ponytail holders
15. Cleaning supplies
16. Personal beauty appliances
17. Bottles of shampoo/ conditioner
18. photos
19. Photography supplies
20. Photos
21. Craft supplies
22. Scrap-booking supplies
23. CD's
24. DVD's
25. Decorative items
26. Candles
27. Figurines
28. Crystal
29. Vases
30. Audio/visual components
31. Audio/visual cables
32. Computer equipment
33. MP3 players
34. Furniture
35. Video game systems (yes please, get rid of them!!!!!!)
36. Video games
37. Video game accessories
38. Shirts/ shorts
39. Pants
40. Coats
41. Dresses
42. Hats
43. Clothes hangers
44. Winter gear
45. Shoes
46. Jewelry
47. Purses
48. Coins
49. Pillows
50. Towels
51. Linen sets
52. Candle Holders
53. Televisions
54. Items on your bulletin board
55. Magnets
56. Artwork
57. Mirrors
58. Home office supplies
59. Pens/pencils
60. Old batteries
61. Tools
62. Hardware
63. Rolls of duct tape
64. Coolers
65. Manuals
66. Phone books
67. Coupons
68. Sporting good supplies
69. Sports memorabilia
70. Aluminum cans
71. Glass bottles
72. Automobile fluids
73. Automobiles
74. Scrap pieces of lumber
75. Brooms
76. Rakes
77. Shovels
78. Garden tools
79. Plant containers
80. Empty cardboard boxes
81. Board games
82. Puzzles
83. Decks of cards
84. Unused wedding gifts
85. Baby clothes
86. Baby supplies
87. Old schoolbooks/ papers
88. Army men
89. Bath toys
90. Toy balls
91. Toy cars/trucks
92. Toy musical instruments
93. Stuffed animals
94. Plastic toys
95. Childrens' old school papers
96. Suitcases
97. Soda
98. Alcohol
99. Processed foods
100. Christmas/ seasonal decorations
101. Cable or satellite TV

Alright so here is my list! Hope you all have a great day, where ever you are! I'm going outside to enjoy the sun with my daughter.

Original list: http://www.becomingminimalist.com/101-physical-things-that-can-be-reduced-in-your-home/
Spring cleaning origination:http://prudentliving.com/blog/secret-histor/

Virtual Cleanout

I have finally finished decluttering my virtual life. What I mean is that I have paired down the amount of e-mail addresses I have and got rid of e-mails that I don't need or look at. It was taking me forever to do this so finally last night I said forget it to looking through everything single e-mail or draft and just erased it all. Deep breath. I feel so much better. Now you may think, how many e-mails did you really have? Well I went through college with no computer of my own or USB drive. I would save everything as a draft in my e-mail. Plus if I ever saw a cool website or pictures of something I really liked, I would copy and paste it to my e-mail as a draft. So...I had a lot of cleaning out to do. 

Maybe some of you could take sometime to clean out all the things that you have online, e-mail accounts, subscriptions to websites you don't really care about, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Or maybe it's not that you need to clean out and minimize your accounts but maybe you could make a commitment to not be on the internet for extensive periods of time in a day. Whatever it is, I'm sure we could all do something to clean out our virtual lives. What do you think?

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Photo by: http://ideallifevision.com/small-big-results/

The Material Possession De-clutter

Do you remember my posy about getting rid as a way to gain more meaning in life? Though I could have posted about it last week because I did the majority of it, I still hadn't look through every drawer, every nook in my closet, etc. Now I still feel like I can do more, but I feel at peace with the state that my house is in. I didn't take any before pictures except for my storage unit because that was the last place I de-cluttered and by then, I thought a before and after shot would be good. After two trips to D.I. with our tiny car, I still found more stuff to get rid of and probably still will. Here is just a small peak into my de-cluttering.

Before....

After....

So I am done with my material possession de-clutter, now onto my virtual de-clutter. I have 4 e-mails including my school one! Lots of stuff in my inboxes, and that doesn't even count my Facebook, blog, etc. So here is to the next place to focus on for mental clarity. I feel a little de-fogged but not completely.

Getting Rid, As a Way To Get More

I'm a big believer that if we declutter our lives, then we have space for better opportunitites to come and to become our true selves. The type of decluttering I'm talking about is our physical objects we own, decluttering our bodies from extra weight that's weighing us down, decluttering our minds by forgiving and letting go, decluttering our time that is wasted on things that don't matter. I'm tired of feeling tired, weighed down by things that don't matter. Physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, I want peace in my life, the kind of happiness that doesn't go away.
Though I believe in this, addiction plagues my everyday choices. From the amount of sugar I eat, to the amount of times I have to check my Facebook in a day, to the everyday nap I've been taking almost my whole life. Is it normal to be so tired?! I don't think so, I think it's an option, but change has to take place.
This change won't be easy. Even part of me doesn't want to because I know it won't be easy. There's what society says is a need and will make you happy, and then there's truth. Most of us our in denial and instead we keep stuffing our faces in front of the TV because then we don't have to deal with real life. We make our lives complicated to please, to look "normal", because we worry about things that may or may not happen in the future, and the list goes on! Mostly everyone I see including myself is a slave to something. Things we're not even aware of.
So here's to decluttering, here's to letting go, to making concious choices, and changing my life.

To be continued...