Organization

I'm about to let you all in on a little secret. I learned it from my mama. This secret has the potential to change your life. Or at least your gift giving routines. If your child has received a gift from my family in the past 10 years, it has come from my a stash of toys in my hall closet, aka the gift closet. The box in the gift closet is filled with puzzles, play-doh products, art sets, baby outfits, and popular candles. I even have gifts for specific people - my nieces and nephews and my own children - stored in this closet. All of it was bought on sale. "But wait", you say, "The biggest gift giving...

The holidays for our family, like most families, are a little manic. From the time we carve the turkey on Thanksgiving day until we cut the King Cake on 12th night, we are filled to the brim with family events, eating, running from here to there, more eating, staying off schedule, not keeping up with laundry, opening presents, still more food, and lack of sleep. By the time mid-January rolls around (I'm a resolution procrastinator), I'm ready to get my life in order by de-cluttering, refocusing, and de-stressing. This is usually when I detox. I don't mean the celebrity detox where you drink cayenne water for 3 days. I'm speaking of a life cleanse. To cleanse means to rid yourself of things that...

A year or so ago, I was at my moms house going through boxes and containers of our old "stuff" that she had saved over the years.  She needed more space in her closets and asked me to take what I wanted to keep.  I threw out old trophies and pictures and love notes, keeping only a few things.  When I told friends about this, they were shocked.  Don't you want to save that for your kids? Doesn't your mom want to save that? You really just threw it all away? You see, I've always been something of a minimalist when it comes to excess stuff. And clutter makes me a bit twitchy. We moved a lot growing up, and...

My 3 year old is a lot like most 3 year old girls, obsessed with all things dressy, and sparkly, and princessy. As the tutus and crowns started to pile up, I found myself needing a good storage solution.  Her dress-up box was bursting at the seams. Of course, I started by scouring the internet.  After checking out all of the options, I decided that DIY was the way to go.  I found examples made out of old entertainment centers and dressers. Despite my best Craigslist skills, I couldn't quite find anything that met all of my criteria.  Then it hit me! The perfect piece was already in her room.  Her bookcase was exactly what I was looking for...

First thing's first, I did not set out to become a minimalist. In fact, I’m still not completely certain that I am a minimalist in the true definition of the word. I can claim two things though: clutter stresses me out, and I like simplicity. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I did like most first time mothers do. I went to Target, got one of those lovely registry guns, and shot the crap out of that thing. Literally, if something was in the baby section and had a barcode, it was going on my registry. I registered for everything from bottle warmers to Baby Bjourns (yes multiple, even though I was only having one child), a Rock 'n'...