Day 17: Decluttering the Makeup Bag

The Task: Dispose of expired makeup!

The Why:  I read yesterday that makeup actually expires. A quick Google search of the matter confirmed it.  Make-up doesn't last forever.  Duh.

I mean, it makes sense.  Ingredients break down over time.  Moisture breeds bacteria.  It just never occurred to me before.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that I acquired at least one of the lip glosses in the photo above when I was in college!  I'm not going to tell you how long ago that was, but I assure you, it was far more than the recommended one year shelf life of lip products. 

The How:  I just threw it all away.  I'm not a big wearer of makeup, as evidenced by the fact that the picture at the top is my entire makeup collection and that not one of those items was purchased within the last year.   Given all the undesirable ingredients that go into makeup, I'm not in a frenzy to run out and buy more.

The Verdict: Like I said, I'm not a big makeup wearer anyways.  If I really miss any of these products in the future, I will do some research on the Skin Deep Database or the GoodGuide to choose a product that I feel is safe and ethical. I know that giving up makeup altogether is not for everyone, but I really do recommend you dive into your makeup drawer and consider disposing of anything that may be older than your student loans...

Also, right now the idea of having a few less items to stash somewhere makes me giddy!  

We are doing one small thing every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Day 16: Minimalizing the Bath Toys

The Task: Reduce our children's bath toys to a few small items.

The Why:  Okay, so I've been reading this book, The Joy of Less by Francine Jay.  It's basically a complete guide on how to get rid of all of your junk and become a minimalist.  While reading I am constantly torn between reading one more page and jumping up to dispose of half my house.  In fact, where I live it is a holiday today and my husband asked me yesterday "What do you want to do on the Civic Holiday?" and I said "Go through the entire house from one side to the other and get rid of....nearly everything?"   And in his profound wisdom and deep desire to relax and barbecue something, he said "um....no." 

Anyways, all this to say that I am really coming to see the whole "less is more" thing come to life in my home.  The more we declutter, the more we enjoy what we have. All my stuff is shaking in it's boots right now.

The How:  I kept three rubber duckies.   And got rid of 2 toy boats, a plastic frog, 4 more rubber duckies, a bunch of fishy toys, a plastic Winnie-the-Pooh and a set of washable bathtub crayons (oh, how I loathe those "washable" bathtime crayons!)

The Verdict: Honestly, I don't think my kids have noticed yet.  We boxed up the extra toys and put them in the basement weeks ago and my kids have been playing with the duckies and washcloths and the soap.  They pretend the duckies are boats, or sisters, or see monsters. They dip rubber duckies under the water and squeeze them to fill them with water and turn them into loaded water weapons. I will often sit on the bathroom floor and read to them from the Little House Series or my husband will read to them from whatever organic gardening tome he is currently reading.  Bath time is fun and relaxing and the extra toys are definitely not missed, which means that today that little box in the basement is making it's way into the donate pile.

Also, three little toys are easy to tuck away in a cabinet, easy to get out at bath time, and if they accidentally get left out on the edge of the tub they look cute, not messy!

We are doing one small thing every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Day 13: Ditching The Microwave Oven

The Task: Get rid of the microwave.

The Why:  Why-oh-why would anyone in their right mind (that's debatable) get rid of their microwave?  We have a number of reasons!

1. We rarely use it.  With the exception of frozen veggies (which I've always cooked on the stove anyways), I can count on my fingers the number of times we've bought something with "microwave directions" printed on the package.  I want to get away from the notion that we have to have something just because everybody else seems to.  We don't.
2. I read once that you will use more energy in the life of your microwave powering the clock than actually heating things.  It doesn't really make sense to us to have an appliance that is sucking energy in standby mode for 23 hours and 58 minutes every day. Especially since our kitchen doesn't need another clock.
3. There are some serious reasons to be concerned about the health consequences of using a microwave oven.  My friend Beth has a post on her blog listing a bunch of articles that swayed her, and eventually our, opinion of microwave ovens.
4. And finally, food is not supposed to be fast.  Part of simplifying for us is to see food for what it is and appreciate it in it's natural forms and to take the time to prepare it correctly and healthfully. The microwave oven just doesn't seem to mesh with our goals anymore.

Plus, the top of our fridge looks so much happier and tidier and pleasant now that there isn't a big ugly microwave on top of it! 

 

Here are some of the things we formerly used our microwave for and how we are getting by without one:

• Melting butter or chocolate for a recipe:  We will often use a small pot for this instead, and it isn't difficult or time consuming. My oven is electric and has a heat vent under one of the back burners, so if I have the oven on for another reason I can melt or soften butter in a bowl placed on that back burner without using any extra electricity at all!

• Reheating coffee:  Reheated coffee really isn't stellar anyways.  I'm trying to just drink my coffee while it's still hot, which with 5 kids demanding my attention isn't always successful.  Sometimes, if our french press still has quite a bit of cooled coffee in it we will put it in a pitcher in the fridge and later make iced coffee with it.  Yumm!

• Making microwave s'mores when nobody is looking: Don't judge me, I know you've done this too!  But I've concluded that the inability to do this is probably a good development for my overall health.

• Heating leftovers: For things like soups I've discovered that it is actually much faster to reheat it in a pot than the microwave. Thicker things like casseroles I heat up in the oven, often alongside whatever I am making to accompany the left overs.

The Verdict:  In retrospect, I'm not certain that the microwave was ever actually adding any convenience to our lives at all.  And I really, really like the look of my kitchen without one!

We are doing one small thing every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Day 12: When Decluttering Hurts (for all the wrong reasons)

I want to have less.  Less to care for, less to wash and sort and organize, less to steal my attention away from the things that matter.

And the more I give away and get rid of, the more I want to give things away.  I'm filling big rubber totes full of stuff for a local shelter that helps abused women get a fresh start.  I'm piling things in totes for a good friend's young cousin who is having her first baby. I've carted bags of gently used clothing to the Salvation Army Thrift Store.

In fact, we've gotten rid of so much stuff that I have a stack of empty totes and baskets in the basement.  When you radically declutter, all your organizational strategies and storage compartments start to become useless.  In fact, they turn into clutter!

And then I came across some cute teal polka dotted baking dishes. Collecting dust.

They make my heart swoon.

I've used them once.  Tiny little casserole dishes aren't of much use to a family of 7 (and growing).  They just aren't. The truth is, I bought these on a whim, and I shouldn't have.

There's nothing wrong with owning cute polka dot casserole dishes. But I don't need these, I don't even use them.

And I stand there in the kitchen, wrestling with my own heart.  A heart that wants cute little polka dotted dishes.  A heart that still confuses stylish and cute for what is truly beautiful.

The truth is, decluttering should be hard.  I should be standing in my kitchen with tears streaming down my face, beating my breast and calling out to God over all the times I wandered through stores full of fragile items, justifying myself as I put things I don't need into my cart.   I should be on my knees repenting for caring more about polka dot dishes than starving orphans.  I should be begging God to never let me forget again that we are here for something so much better than spending and consuming and storing up treasure here on this broken earth.  We are here to touch lives. We are here to spend our lives on HIM.

How many more children could we have sponsored through compassion international if we weren't so busy filling our home with trinkets? How many people in our community could we have reached out to if we weren't spending our time trying to find a parking spot at the mall?

But instead I stand in my kitchen wondering whether I want a more authentic walk with the maker of the universe, or some really cute polka dot dishes.

And this realization, this conviction, brings me to my knees.  Lord, break my heart with the things that break yours.

Today, 21 000 children will die because they are in poverty.  Today's task is to commit to take that knowledge with me every single time I stroll through an aisle of pretty shiny things I don't need. I'm choosing to live simply so that others may simply live.

This song has been on my heart all week:

"Give us clean hands,
and give us pure hearts.
Let us not lift our souls to another
Oh God let us be
a generation that seeks
Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob..."

We are doing one small thing every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Day 11: No Dryer Month

It's August 1st and our first month long challenge begins today.  For the month of August we will be choosing not to use our dryer at all.  Are you planning to join us?

I love using my laundry line, but as a mom of a large-ish family, I do regularly depend on my dryer.  On sunny days I often put the first load of laundry on the clothesline and the second in the dryer.  This month will definitely require some extra care and planning on my part.

From comments and emails I've received since announcing no dryer month I've discovered that dependence on a dryer is really a North American thing.  Many people around the world don't even own dryers, and if they do, they consider it ridiculous to use it in the middle of summer. Many of these people live in rainier climates than I do and don't have a backyard. This was convicting.  Here I am taking on this big challenge and it turns out that many people in developed countries all over the world have never even seen a dryer! 

I promised last week that I would share with you how to avoid crunchy towels when you're not using your dryer.  Line drying leaves clothing a little more crisp than the dryer does, but sometimes clothing can end up undesirably crunchy.

Excessive crunchy-ness is caused by laundry detergent left behind in the clothing.  The conventional advice is to add some vinegar to your rinse cycle, which is very useful.  It helps strip clothing of any extra soap residue, and your items don't come out smelling like vinegar, I promise.  But the truth is, I often forget to add vinegar.  My washing machine doesn't beep or anything when it gets to the rinse cycle, and it's not like I'm just standing there waiting for it, so I often miss the vinegar rinse.  But that's okay, because the ABSOLUTE BEST WAY to avoid too crunchy towels is this: use less detergent.

You really don't need as much detergent as the detergent company wants you to believe.  Experiment with less and find the amount that still gets your clothing clean but doesn't leave any residue.  For my detergent, that is a little more than half the recommended amount. Not only does it prevent too crunchy towels, it saves money too!

By the way, I've shared my green laundry routine before, on my other blog.

I know some of you have other questions about line drying, and I am definitely not an expert on the subject, so if you have a question please ask in the comments below, and if you are an avid line-dryer please take a second to answer some of those question if you can! 

Are you taking the challenge? You can get a banner to share on your blog or facebook here.

 We are doing one small thing every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!