Hanging Backwards Update

The other day I turned my closet upside down and tried on almost every piece of clothing I owned. You might remember this post where I hung all of my clothes hangers backwards in order to see what I was wearing. While that method was very helpful a few things (my shape) changed and my clothes were not fitting as well as they used to.

I was getting frustrated with not having anything to wear so I went through all of my clothes in order to see my wardrobe better. I'm also trying to simplify everything so I figured I might as well start here. One of my new years goals is to have a closet of only clothes I love by the end of 2013. Anything that was still on a backwards hanger because I didn't like the item anymore got immediately put in the donate pile. Then I tried on everything else to see if it fit, cut & color were flattering and to decide if I love it.

This is what I ended up with.

The far left is casual clothes I would wear in public, which is sweatshirts and track jackets. Next is winter things, cardigan sweaters and long sleeve button-ups. After that is things that fit me right now (note, it is the smallest section.) Last, is when I get skinny again clothes. I know that many people say that you should only have clothes that fit you right now in your closet, but these are pieces I really love so I want to hold onto them for a little bit longer (with hopes that I will drop a few pounds and be able to fit back into them.) I will note that the winter and casual sections of my closet do indeed fit me right now as well, but considering it's been in the eighties the past few days they are not clothes I want to be wearing.

The clothes-hanging-on-a-backwards-hanger method can be great, but my closet needed a more drastic change.

Have you ever tried the backwards hanger method? How did it work of you? Anyone else doing a big clothing purge?

Five Ways to Make Life Simpler in Five Minutes or Less

 As I am working on turning our house into our home I have been keeping simplicity a priority. Today I'm sharing a few quick ways to make life simpler, even if it's just for the moment.

1. Unsubscribe from all those emails you get for every sale under the sun. Many of the email lists I was on were for companies I've only made a purchase from once. If and when I want to buy something from them again in the future, it's not hard to search for coupon codes. Plus, this helps curb the temptation to buy things just because they are "on sale." Because chances are they will be on sale again.

2. Go throw something away. It's trash so just pitch it.

3. Clear off your kitchen counter or table (or both) if you need it. It usually takes less time then you think to clean up the clutter.

4. Fluff the sofa cushions and straighten the pillows in which ever room your family watches TV. If there are blankets out put those away while you're at it. A tidy family room always makes me happy.

5. Sort through your mail. Divide papers into keep, toss and shred. Toss the junk mail right away but if you don't have enough time to shred or file the rest, simply put them next to the filing cabniet or next to the shredder. It's not perfect but you're one step closer then you were before.

Now go! Even doing just one small thing will help make life feel simpler.

Sunrise

Today I am thankful for sunrises

and sunsets

In all our busy rushing it's important to stop and appreciate the beautiful world around us. Even if it just a quick glance out the window.

What Does 'Home' Mean?

I shared my house with you on Monday and I'm planning / brainstorming / scheming about what I want to do to make our house our home. I started thinking about what 'home' in the past has been for me. Two apartments, two houses (this is the third house I've lived in) and one dorm room (for an extremely brief time.)

One of those houses is what I call the-house-I-grew-up-in. I lived there for thirteen years and I don't remember much of the apartment we lived in before that, and I only lived with my parents for two years after we moved. (Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it on this computer to share with you.)

When I think of home, I think of people first. My husband, and then my parents and sisters. But besides people, what about the physical house / apartment / condo makes it feel like home.

The house I grew up in was on the smaller side for the amount of people (+ one large dog) we had living in it. I had my own room (most of the time) and my sisters shared. I loved my room. It was my place were I could hide away. I always wanted to put an armchair in there but there was not enough space so when I was thirteen I set up a collapsible camping chair in corner by the window where I would read Harry Potter. This was home.

When I was in love with a new song I would play it on full blast and dance around the kitchen with my little sister. This was home.

At Christmas time, my mom put Christmas lights everywhere, on top of kitchen cabinets, on the piano, over the window frame. I'd sit in the living room and listen to Christmas music with only the glow of these lights. This was home.

The main living space was always filled with sunlight from a big glass door and lots of windows. I loved how bright and cheerful it always was This was home.

All of these memories are elements of home that I can bring into my new house. A nook to read, good speakers to play music and dance, lots of holiday decorating and soaking in the sunlight.

I am very blessed to have such a great place to call home growing up. I love my current house, I want to turn it into an equally great place to call home now.

House Tour!

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of the house! These photos are from when we were cleaning pre-move in (so please ignore the cleaning clutter and lack of furniture.)

 Family Room

 Dining Room

 Kitchen

 Half Bath (and me!)

 Living Room

 Living Room (again)

 Bedroom #1

 Hall Bath

 Master Bath

 Master Bedroom

Bedroom #2

We haven't done anything to our house yet, except set down our furniture and continue living life. I can't believe we have been here for nine months already. I've been working on a plan and I'll be sharing that within the next few weeks, along with thoughts about "home" and what it means to me.

In Honor of Mother's Day

I would like to say 'thank you' to my mom.

Thank you for choosing coloring with me over dishes in the sink.

Thank you for letting me plant sunflowers and marigolds.

Thank you for tucking me in and saying prayers with me every night (thanks to dad too on this one.)

Thank you for being so kind to all my friends in and for always having a seat for them at the dinner table.

Thank for staying up until four am helping me finish my government project senior year.

Thank for understanding when I wanted to move home for college.

Thank you for making Christmas such a special holiday for us.

Thank for answering all my questions, even if they're silly. (Like phone calls about questionable ground beef and other impossible things to answer over the phone.)

Thank you for hang-out days :)

Thank for loving my husband like he is your own son.

But most of all, thank you for being you. I'm so thankful God matched you and me to be mother and daughter.

An Idea Person

Lately, I have been listening to the Simple Mom Podcasts and one called From a Land Down Under  Tsh was speaking with Darren Rowse of ProBlogger. He said something that really stuck with me. "I just love coming up with ideas. If I could get paid just to come up with ideas, I'd be a millionaire."

My first thought was 'oh me too!" and I realized that is what it means to "be an idea person" and in fact I am an idea person. I literally have so many ideas I don't know what to do with them. After hearing these words of wisdom, my husband and I had a good conversation about how sometimes I get frustrated that I don't follow through with my ideas. When my interest in an idea slows, I get bored and jump to the next one.

This made me think of a past post from Haley at The Tiny Twig. When she finished her eBook The No Brainer Blog, she posted about how it was a challenge for her to finish the project when it started losing momentum. I am totally the same way, the finishing part of a project is definitely the hardest part for me.

This realization that I'm an idea person made me see that I'm not a lazy or a failure because I haven't finished all these ideas/projects (which is how I sometimes feel). I simply have more ideas than I can possibly pursue. What I need is an idea filter. Not all of my ideas are not good so I don't need to waste my time working on the not-so-great ones. Filtering out the bad ideas would leave more time for actually completing the very best ones. The husband suggested I write out a mega list of ideas so I can work on the best ones and cross them off as I go. He is brilliant. I love him.