Minimal-ish Rules

Totally not my kitchen

Yesterday I told you all about my meandering journey toward minimalism. I know that I can never be one of the people whose kitchen looks an Ikea showroom, but I don’t know that I would want my life restricted that way.
I’m trying my own version of minimalism, I’m going Minimal-ish. In my journey to be minimal-ish, I have been purging unnecessary items from our home, clearing the clutter and trying to make our household live with less. I’m not doing the greatest job of it (mostly because I have a mild sales shopping compulsion) but it’s a work in progress. As promised yesterday, here are the rules and principles I am going to follow to keep myself on my minimal-ish path.

The Rules

Challenge myself – Pinterest has a wealth of organizing and decluttering ideas that I could try. One challenge I think I’ll give myself is to clear the house of 40 bags of “stuff” in 40 days.

Purge til it fits – Laura, the Great Organizing Junkie has great tips on her site. One of her suggestions is to purge excess items until what you have truly fits in your space.

Lead by Example – I can hardly expect Miss A & Miss E to keep their rooms and their toys clean and organized if my fridge is super full, the garage is full of junk and there is stuff on the kitchen counters at all times. I need to clean as I go, happily purging excess clutter and teach my girls the value of letting things go.
Let Go – I’m not good at letting go. I’m better than I used to be FOR SURE, but I am the queen of keeping things “just in case.” I need to realize that the car air fresheners I bought four years ago can just go in the garbage; they probably don’t even smell anymore!

This is actually my kitchen, for about five minutes til the counters get all filled up again

Clear the surfaces! - I need to clear counter tops, tables, shelves and the floor. It makes such a difference. If I let things pile up, I’ll wait until I actually have time to sort it. Instead I should sort the clutter every day and get rid of it before it has a chance to drive me crazy!

Ten Minute Tidy. - Every. Single. Day. I am pretty good at this one. I usually spend ten or fifteen minutes in the evening, while making the hubs his dinner (he works until 10pm) wiping down the kitchen table, the kids snack table, sweeping the floors and running the dishwasher. It makes me happy to wake up to a tidy house, so those ten minutes really make a difference.
There you go, some easy rules to help you clear the clutter, find focus and be minimal-ish. Good luck!