Paring Down - Week 3

Down to the wire this week! 4 1/2 hours to go and I just hit 100. This week I finished going through our room, and then focused on (but didn't finished) the study. This might be the room in our house with the most excess crap. It's truly ridiculous, like I was sorting through magazines that were 5-10 years old. And thanks to the mags, I hit 100 things in no time (which was good because it meant I got to share a bowl of Starbucks java chip ice cream sooner with my hubby). So this week I got rid of:

15 items of my clothing
33 of my books
3 more of Riley's books
49 magazines

Those items make a nice round 100 things for the week and 313 things total. 87 things to go (though I think the study will provide more than 87 opportunities to chuck stuff).

Paring Down - Week 2

The quest is still going well! I tackled the bathroom this week, and thanks to a friend's post, got rid of 67 things (not that you would notice unless you regularly look in our cabinets because we probably still have too much stuff, but it still feels good). In total this week, I trashed, gave away, sold, or traded:

67 toiletries
4 linens
32 infant/toddler clothes

Which makes my total 213! 187 things to go before the end of January. Whatever doubts I had about the ease of getting rid of this much stuff are now laid to rest. Don't tell Ryan, but I should do this more often.

Paring Down - Week 1

As I mentioned in this post, one of my New Year's resolutions is to get rid of 100 things every week in January. This week, I started in the kitchen and moved on to Riley's room and, quite easily, got rid of 110 things!

Gone:
utensils - 45
small appliances - 9
food - 10
food magazines - 13
Riley's clothes - 20
Riley's books - 13

Gone: 110
To Go: 290

New Years Resolution - Paring Down

I spent one evening last week reading blogs about minimalist living. I already feel like we have too much stuff (even after a big garage sale purge last summer), so reading about the advantages of minimalist living was a "oh yea, that's another good reason" experience. I know that we will never be a family that truly lives minimally, but paring down would be nice. Less stuff, less cleaning, more reusing. It all sounds nice.

So, while reading the story behind Rowdy Kittens, I decided that instead of only keeping 100 things (which is what they did and what we will never do), I could at least get rid of 100 things. So, one of my New Years resolutions is to get rid of 100 things every week during the month of January. My math whiz of a husband responded, "Wow, Jen. That's like getting rid of 400 things! Can we really do that?!" I think so, but we'll see. I just had to promise him that I wouldn't get rid of any of his things.

So my plan is to go room by room and sort things for keeping, next summer's garage sale (which I know isn't really getting rid of them yet, but at least they'll be in a box in the attic rather than out and about in the house), resale (used children's clothes stores, Buffalo Exchange, etc.), and Goodwill. Can we do it? 400 things? We'll see.

Baby 2

Thoughts on my second pregnancy ...

1. It's WAY better to NOT be surprised by that second blue line. Makes for a much less emotional first trimester. I can focus most of my energy on managing my tired body rather than my going-crazy mind.

2. 1st trimester yuckiness is much better managed by real food, including lots of raw milk, instead of lots of packaged food simply because it's quick and easy to cook. I definitely feel better this time around.

3. But, that could also be because NOT working is WAY better than working during pregnancy. Not that I'm not working. I'm taking care of the Bean every day and usually subbing one day/week as well. But still, naps are important. Very important. And now I get one almost every day.

4. Like all one-kid moms say, I can't imagine loving another child as much as I love Riley, but I'm so excited to meet him or her (hopefully there's just one). If they're half as interesting as the one dancing down the hall with toilet paper right now, I'll be a crazy lucky mama.

5. I feel like there's something about the second that's going to transport me into a whole other level of being a mom. It's still pretty easy to balance being a mom of one pretty easy kidlet with other things I enjoy. I still get predictable breaks during the day. I'm not outnumbered. But with another one, I think parenthood will feel like a bigger, more consuming part of my life. I will be MOTHER. Ryan will leave to teach in September and I'll be at home all day with a 6 week old and 2 year old. And that kind of mothering I am unprepared for, and honestly a bit frightened by.