A simple life = a clutterless life?

Lately we've been talking about and trying to make some pretty huge life decisions.  Our big dreams in life all involve being debt-free, owning significant acreage, growing things, making things, and generally living a simple life.  We've realized that in order to make the first two dreams reality, we need to move.  Much as we LOVE where we live, it is just too dang expensive.  And the third part of our dream would be a lot more fulfilling and easier in a somewhat milder climate.  So while we haven't made final decisions on where and when, I've realized no matter where or when or how, we have way too much stuff to move out of this house.  I think about moving into a new house, and no matter if this hypothetical new house is larger or smaller than our current house, the thought of dealing with all the STUFF we have accumulated over the years makes me want to throw it all out in a pile in the backyard and light it all on fire.  Just get rid of everything, and start over from scratch!  Tempting as that might be, it wouldn't be very economically efficient.

Speaking of economic efficiency, I am a collector.  Not so much of nicknacky things anymore (though I definitely was as a kid, and couldn't possibly part with a small collection of my favorite childhood nicknacks that have special sentimental value), but of things that could some how, some day, be useful to me.  As a crafter, I think it's in my wiring to save things that I could use at some future date in some project, some piece of clothing that with a little tweaking could be just right, some scrap of fabric or bit of hardware or, well, you get the idea.  The intention behind it is always genuine, and if I would ever get around to using said item, would be very frugal of me, since I could make something out of it, rather than need to buy the finished product new, or the parts for said finished product.  But as wonderful as the intentions might be, my closets and cabinets and storage boxes would probably think otherwise.  Red is a culprit as well, but on an even larger scale, but fortunately the things he brings home for future use can generally be stored outside up at his shop (lumber, building materials, stove pipe, scrap metal, you name it he can find it for free).  This isn't all to say we don't eventually use this stuff- we do, and quite happily, just not at the same rate as we collect the stuff...

And not all our stuff is things for future projects- We of course have things like Wyatt's baby clothes and toys, books and old magazines, three drawers full of VHS movies we'll probably never watch again, all sorts of things... Our house is fairly small, and our closet and cabinet space is seriously prime real estate, but no matter how hard I try, it seems like all the flat surfaces in our house end up covered in STUFF.  Usually it's transient stuff, a box of things to be stored, papers to be filed, clean laundry to be folded... But it drives. me. nuts.  I am not a neat freak by any means, and generally I'm a pile person, but the clutter on the counters, tables, dressers, wherever, gets to me after a while.  It's so easy to just toss something on the counter or table, deal with it later, but when later comes around it's just like UGH... Clutter!

Getting rid of clutter is not easy for me to do.  I can totally understand how people turn out to be hoarders.  After all, everything has SOME value.  It might only be a few cents, but that's a few cents you wouldn't have to spend if one day you find you need that something and don't have it.  But it's not very condusive to a stress free and clean house... I am slowly but surely reteaching my brain not to get attached to objects as easily anymore.  It's not easy, but I'm working on it.  And one of the main ways I'm doing it is by thinking about moving.  Not only the physical part of packing it and hauling it and unpacking it (even paying someone else to do all that), which is enough to make me want to throw almost anything away, but also, I pretend that our future house is half the size of our current house.  That would be one heck of a small house!  Where on earth would you put everything?  While most small houses are pretty ingeniously designed to maximize storage in every possible nook and cranny, the thought of living in such a small house with all this stuff makes my skin crawl.  If we downsized our house by half, we'd have 650 square feet to eat, sleep, play, live, and bathe (Small as 650 square feet might be, I will not give up indoor plumbing just to save space).  To be able to do all that in such a small space really makes me question the value of every object I would bring in the door.

So with all that in mind, I am cleaning out our house.  I have gone through my closet and set aside all the items of clothing I haven't worn in a long time, or that don't fit quite right, or that aren't flattering or comfortable, or have holes or stains, and it's an impressive amount of clothing (and I don't have a very big wardrobe to pull from to begin with!).  I'm using up all the half used bottles of shampoo and conditioner and stuff I've stashed under my bathroom sink before buying anything new.  I'm going through all of Wyatt's toys, and eventually I'll go through his old clothes too (though I'm willing to bet that will be the hardest part for me).  Even going through our kitchen items and asking myself do we REALLY use this utensil/baking dish/pot or pan?  Even if we do use it, is it really worth the space it takes up if we only use it once or twice a year?  If we didn't have it, can we use something else in its place or is it really a specialty item?

What to do with all this stuff?  Like I said, it all has some value, and rather than toss things or give things away on freecycle or to the thrift store, first I'm going to try to squeeze as much of that potential value out of it all as I can.  I have set a goal for myself, to hold a yard sale on Memorial Day weekend.  Setting a concrete goal like that is really helping me stay motivated, and the thought of getting money (even if it is just a few cents or dollars) for all this stuff is really helping motivate me to find as much stuff to sell as possible!  In the meantime, all the things I find to get rid of, I'm storing out in my craft shed, since I can't really use it in the winter anyways, and since it probably wouldn't be warm enough to be out there a lot until after Memorial Day weekend anyways (specifically warm enough at night, since my sewing machine can't get too cold).  Any stuff that doesn't sell at the yard sale will go on freecycle and/or to the thrift store, cause there's no sense in not giving all this stuff a second chance with someone else!

And to all future items I might think would be useful somehow sometime in the future, I am making a firm 'what goes in must come out' rule with this house-  Besides food, any item that comes into this house must earn its spot here by some other item (preferably of equal size/type) giving up its spot for the new one.  This means, for example- any new clothing item must earn its hanger/drawer space by me getting rid of an old clothing item.  Fortunately (or unfortunately, however you want to look at it), we haven't been in much of a financial position to be buying any new anything, but this rule stands true even for items received for free, hand me downs or freecycle items or anything.  And I'm also doing my best to have a "touch it once" policy, where instead of just tossing the mail on the counter to deal with later, I sort it and deal with it right when I bring it in the house.  Hopefully, with a little luck and a whole lot of effort, when we do come to the time to pack up and move, the job will be a lot less stressful and a lot easier, and the time between now and then will be spent in a much neater, less cluttery house!  Wish me luck!!!

Project catch-up!

This morning I was archiving photos on my computer, and discovered photos of a whole mess of projects that I haven't shared on here!  And I also realized that I failed to take photos of about 90% of the Christmas gifts I made this year, and that that must be remedied!  I'll go in the order they were made, going way back to July 2010!

Probably one of the largest projects I've ever taken on (in yardage, at least) was this bivy sack for Red!  (A bivy is a waterproof cover for one person, in place of an actual tent)  I was ecstatic to find an excellent resource for outdoor fabrics, Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics, which has everything you could need to make tents, packs, etc.  Including the pattern for this bivy!  It was fun to make, but the design needs some tweaking.  It's difficult to get in and out of, so it needs an opening running along the side or across the top.  Also it's VERY warm, which is good some of the time, but without better ventilation could be rather uncomfortable... But the important thing is it's very lightweight and quite waterproof!

 My next project was this quilted casserole carrier that I made for Red's Grandy Jean.  She handed down to me a huge stash of fabrics, and this fabric was in the stash.  She had sent me photos of a friend's casserole carrier, and from that I came up with the pattern for this one.  It was a bit of an experiment, and I ended up tweaking the construction for a carrier I made my mom for Christmas (which is one of the projects I need photos of, cause it came out AWESOME).  This was my first project that I did freehand machine quilting on, and while the quilted swirls were by no means perfect, I'm still pretty proud of it ;)

My next project was a wee one, a fabric covered business card display holder.  I actually made two of these, the first didn't come out quite as well constructed, but this one is now currently in use displaying my cards at the Country Market!




This year I made Wyatt's Halloween costume, he was a Garden Gnome! (Specifically, David the Gnome, though I didn't realize I had made a nearly exact David the Gnome costume until after it was already made!  But even the colors are just like David's outfit!)  At the Vallecito Service League's annual kids Halloween party, his costume won Most Original Costume!  Yay!  I had a lot of fun making it, and Wyatt had a lot of fun wearing it!  (If only I could get him to wear the beard!)

Next up came the Christmas gift rush.  Despite having made nearly all the gifts we gave this year, I only have photos of one of them!  Whoops!  I made Red this apron, which he actually requested (so it's not weird that I made my husband a cooking apron, right?)  For other gifts we gave, there was the aforementioned casserole carrier I made my mom, which I really must get photos of because it is probably the first larger-scale project I've ever sewn that I didn't have to rip out a single stitch on!  (Hopefully you can appreciate how big an accomplishment that is!)  Also, the quilting on it came out SO well, if I do say so myself!  I also made everyone embroidered fleece hats, neck tubes and scarves, and they came out awesome!  Hopefully I can convince my family to take photos of themselves wearing their goodies?  Hint hint! ;)  

This winter I also started a quilt for Wyatt, and though it was originally intended as a Christmas gift, it isn't anywhere near finished yet, since it got backburnered in favor of the fleece things and other gifts.  It's a crazy quilt, made of about 22 miscellaneous fat quarters I had in my stash that I finally decided to do something with!  Though you can't really see what fabric is what here, it can give a sense of just how involved even a simple square patchwork quilt can be!  There are somewhere around 400 patches to be sewn, just for a twin sized quilt!  Fortunately it's pretty easy going, as they're all square and I'm not following any particular pattern, and no funky angles involved or anything. 

And that's the rundown of all my sewing projects since last summer!  :D