Striving For Simplicity, Part 1

Several years ago I chose striving for simplicity as my email address. I was going through a time where I was overwhelmed with life. I was doing so many things that didn't improve my life or support my values and goals. It was frustrating and negatively affecting my spiritual and mental health. I felt so out-of-control.

One thing I've learned on my journey is that striving for simplicity is a process and life long goal. I won't arrive at simplicity--total simplicity in my life time. But, I'll make many steps toward that end. For a few years now I've been taking baby steps. But, recently I've been re-energized. I've discovered some blogs and Pinterest posts that helped motivate me to make a big push in my efforts.

Joshua Becker's blog, Becoming Minimalist is a God send. I bought his e-book, Living With Less: An Unexpected Key To Happiness, and started reading is last night. I think it's geared toward young people but the reviews say it's good advice for all ages. It's also a bonus for me that he writes it from a Christian perspective.



Living with less weaves together several of my ideas and values. My heart yearns for this state. It yearned for it when I decided years ago to simplify Christmas and make it more meaningful. It yearned for it when I research information for simplifying life. It screams at me when I look around my home and see such a mess.

I have too much stuff and stuff needs to be maintained, cleaned, organized, and put away. I don't want to spend time doing those things. I'd rather spend time doing things that speak to my heart such as crafting, gardening, baking, and spending time with family and friends.

Another thing that's spurring this current round of purging is my desire to buy a house. I want a simple, 1,500 square feet homestead to call my own. I've been wanting this for a couple of years since my divorce in 2010.

Events leading to my separation and eventual divorce left me in financial ruins. It wasn't pretty. I didn't think I could ever buy a house of my own any time soon. I prepared myself for a long and hard road to recovery. I was middle aged and starting all over again.

My life began this spiral back in 2002 when my husband and I built our dream home. You can see the sales video of it here.  It was a 5,000 square feet brick front colonial with three levels, five bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms in an upscale neighborhood. I loved that house. It was perfect. We entertained and enjoyed many extended family gatherings there. But, something was not quite right. Something wasn't quite right for years. It finally came to the surface while we were living there and my life unraveled.

As I've learned, things happen for a reason. This was a BIG wake up call for me. I wasn't living an authentic life. I wasn't following God's calling for me. I wasn't happy and I needed to make some changes--BIG changes. My problem is I seem to wait until my pot is boiling over before I take action and that's what happened back in 2008.

One of the things I've learned from that experience is that bigger isn't better. More isn't better. Having lots of things doesn't make you happy. And, ignoring this was detrimental to my health. I was terribly unhappy on so many levels. But, I pushed through. I kept going. I had to maintain for the sake of my family, my children. I did this until I could not function anymore.

I realize this is going to be a long post so I'm ending it here. You can read the second part in Striving For Simplicity, Part 2.

Aloe Vera

I keep an aloe vera plant in my kitchen to treat any burns that may occur while cooking. I don't have any natural light there. But, it seems to thrive under a fluorescent light which is mounted under the cabinet.

For more information on how to use aloe vera, check out the Discovery Channel's article.

Handmade Christmas

For a long time I've felt that Christmas has become too commercial here in the United States. We seemed to forget the reason why we celebrate Christmas--which is celebrate the birth of Christ. 

About 10 years ago, I had a strong urge to put more meaning into the holidays, simplify, and produce less waste. I read several books, including this one

which helped me make the transition. I wanted Christmas to be less about things and what the children got as gifts. After some extreme negotiation, I got my husband to agree to scale back the number of gifts we gave our children down to two and some stocking stuffers. We also decided to give gifts only to a few extended family members and close friends.

Fast forward six years...Continuing on my path to make Christmas more meaningful and less commercial, I decided to give my children handmade gifts. I consider myself quite crafty and they seem to appreciate what I make. Last Christmas I gave them custom clipboards with mini calendars which they could use as clipboards or hang on their wall to use as a calendar and memo board. 

My youngest daughter got this one. She's going through a stage where she's determining who she is and her place in the world. Being accepted is important. I wanted her to know that no matter what, she is loved.

My son is a no fuss, no color, no pattern kinda guy. He would have been happy with a plain, solid blue clipboard. But, what fun is that? I tried to keep the design simple so that he could as least tolerate it.

My older daughter is quite the social butterfly. She is also on the cusp of leaving the nest--at least for a few years--to continue her education and journey. This was her gift.

I think they all liked these gifts. (At least they were gracious about it and told me so.) I enjoyed making them and I can't wait to see what I'm inspired to make them for next Christmas.

My Junk Drawer

Right now, I have one junk drawer. Surprisingly, it's organized. Here it is.

What's in your junk drawer?

Spice Organizing

I love to cook. I enjoy trying new recipes, including international dishes, many of which require unique spices. So, I have a large collection of spices which I decided to organize. I had spices on the counter top, in a spinning organizer, in three drawers, and on two shelves. (Sorry, I don't have before pictures.) One goal was to clear my counter top. Another goal was to organize them somehow. Finally, I wanted them all in one place.

I had this spinning spice organizer on the counter.



It holds 24 spices, with pre-labeled tops, in 2" glass jars which look like this:



One would think that 24 spice jars were enough. But noooo. I had more than 24 spices. Plus, some of them were in large bottles and others were in packages. I had to find a solution that would work, for the most part, to include different sizes.

While wandering the isles of a store, I impulsively bought this spice rack.



I liked how it would fit different sizes, was compact, and didn't sit on the counter. But, I decided I wanted to save money and use whatever I already had on hand. So, I returned it to the store.

I went through my spices and threw away unidentifiable ones, grouped duplicates, and came up with a strategy. I was going to decant as many spices into the 24 little bottles that came with the spinning spice organizer. Then I would use other little spice bottles for what was leftover. I washed and dried all of the bottles before refilling them.

I decided to store all of the remaining spices in three drawers which are to the left of my stove.

The top drawer is shallow and would fit all of the short bottles. The second and third drawers are deep and can fit the tall, large, and odd-shaped packages.

To fit more bottles in the drawers, I decided to stand them up so that the tops would show and not the labels on front of the jar. This meant that I had to identify the spices that weren't in jars with pre-labeled tops. I also wanted a consistent look for all of the tops.

One thing I have a lot of is paper crafting supplies. I decided to go with a low tech solution using my paper crafting supplies. Here are the supplies I used.

I decided to label all of the jars using white card stock cut into circles that cover the tops. I hand wrote the spice names on the card stock and then adhered it to the tops using Glue Dots. Here is the results.

I keep extra blank labels already cut into circles, a roll of Glue Dots, and a black marker inside the top drawer along side of the bottles.

The middle drawer looks like this.

The bottom drawer isn't organized yet. I ran out of steam after finishing the second drawer. It'll do for now.

It's snowing and cold.

The current temperature is 18 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sneak Peek

Do you remember the side table I bought from the thrift store?

Well, I was thinking I'd paint it a bright color in a Moroccan-inspired design. It ended up being in a softer color with a kinda-Moroccan design. Here's a sneak peak.

I think it'll be a night stand for my youngest. I'll let you see the rest once it's done. I still want to make a bright, Moroccan table. 

Did I show you the pedestal dining table I bought at the thrift store?

I'm thinking I'll paint this an off-white or the same gray-blue that the base of the side table is painted. I already have dining chairs that are black with white polka dots and solid black in a sleek, modern design similar to this:


but the legs are shiny metal. So, my dining table will be a juxtaposition of modern and traditional. I'm thinking that by painting the table white or some other light, solid color, it'll make it feel a little contemporary. You know the best part? The table only cost me $59.59.