You can be well assured that when you post your junk for sale on Ebay or Craigslist and wonder, “Who on earth will buy this?” that SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE is going to think it is just perfect.

And THIS is precisely why I typically don’t buy the things I see late at night online. I bookmark them, but then I have to wait until morning before I pull out my credit card or reply to an ad on Craigslist.

Online late at night is when I am at my most vulnerable to used furniture or something vintage, the most likely to say, “Gold flowers and butterflies? This will be perfect for my daughter’s room.”

And it will be. She will love it. But the time comes that you’ll receive the package that has been shipped to you with delivery confirmation, and you’ll wonder if spending $12 on wall art that no one else wanted was maybe a little crazy, or at least uncharacteristic.

Avoiding shopping online late at night and waiting until the morning to see if I still want to buy something is one way that I prevent clutter from coming into my house in the first place. It puts me in a better frame of mind to make sound decisions about what to buy, and most of the time I decide not to buy something after all.

This is the vintage butterfly art I bought, with the photo taken right before giving it a new coat of spray paint. I don’t regret buying this, but it does seem kind of random.

See the comments for this post: Clutter Prevention Tactics

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Hi Rachel,
I have been married 23 years and have three teenage children and have accumulated A LOT of stuff. I love your idea of simplifying everything from wardrobe to Tupperware, but I have no idea where to begin! I need some guidelines, please!! -C

and this one too…

Hi Rachel,
I have four small children (ages 2, 4, 6, and 8), I homeschool (love it!), cook mostly from scratch for dietary and budgetary reasons, live on one small income in a little-ish house in the woods out of town, and have never been naturally organized or tidy. I want to devour everything in your blog, but I tend to start things with a bang and then fizzle out. So I was just wondering if you had one or two things you recommend starting with, what would it/they be? -J

If I had to think of one answer that could apply to everyone’s circumstances, it would be this: start by getting a cardboard box or a grocery bag, fill it up with some of your old stuff, and then donate it.

Otherwise you’ll spend most of your time moving your stuff around.

I don’t know what it is, but it’s more than symbolic; there’s something about getting rid of old stuff that works in a loosening, break-the-chains, release-the-baggage, make-space-to-breathe kind of way. Looking at something and being able to say, “I don’t need this anymore” can set you free. And focusing on sending stuff out of your house can help slow the incoming flow of stuff.

I know it’s tempting when you live with a spouse and kids to view them as the source of the clutter and ignore yours, but it’s better to start by cleaning out your own stuff. Focus on your closet or some general kitchen stuff instead of trying to control or change other people.

As you find stuff to donate, you might need a moment for a last look or a memory, but once it’s in the donation box, that brief hard part is over. Afterwards, you’ll like the stuff you decide to keep so much better. When you clean out your closet, you’ll feel like you just got a refreshed wardrobe. It’s practical and emotionally satisfying, all at the same time.

Rachel, HELP! I would love your suggestions. We just moved from a 2500 square foot house with good closet space to a 1800 square foot house with almost none. The furniture fits okay, but we are severly cramped. We have taken twelve boxes of stuff to Goodwill but still have too much stuff. My biggest problem is what to do with our clothes…the drawers are full, the closets are 99% full and we still have no place for our clothes. We also have no place to even put extra furniture to hold clothes. Under our beds have things like the leaves to the dining table and extra pictures that do not fit on the wall. Do you have any suggestions?? -D

It’s really normal to reach the point of, “I’ve given away so much, how is there so much left?”

If you’ve lost 700 square feet of living space, but you’ve only given away twelve boxes of stuff, two words:

Keep going.

You’re going to need to make several more trips to Goodwill over the next year. The good news is that the number of trips eventually decreases, as long as you don’t buy a bunch of new stuff to replace it. When I was living in an apartment I would make a donation run to Goodwill four times a year or more; now I probably do it once or twice a year, and it’s not because I have a house with more space, I just don’t buy as many clothes as I used to, or other stuff.

I sympathize about not having closet space though. Perhaps you will find some storage ideas here: 7 Ways to Add More Storage Space to Your Home.

For more ideas:

• 10 Ways to Simplify Without Becoming a Minimalist
• Undo the Mess (nearly 100 good ideas in the comments)

See the comments for this post: Want to Simplify? Start Here.

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Pantry Clutter: 

When your pantry is full of food, but you look in there and decide “you have nothing to eat.”

When your pantry is full of food that you would rather not eat as long as there are other choices available.

When your pantry is full of food that is “good to have,” but your family doesn’t eat it, and you won’t use it in a normal week.

As we clear the clutter, this week we’re focusing on pantry space. When you look inside the cabinet where you store your food, you don’t want that organized space to be taken up by food that you don’t eat. Think of ways you can incorporate some of that food into your meals this week.

If you have an excess of food, save yourself grocery money this week and use up some of what you have. We’ve been trying to see if we can make it for one more day before a trip to the grocery store each week, so we can reduce some of the food that’s been sitting in the pantry for a while. I don’t know why we have so many canned goods; we don’t use them very often, but they’ve been around for a couple of months already. We’re also using up some of the ingredients that I bought when I was trying to get creative at the grocery store.

The idea for a pantry is that you will be ready to cook dinner, you’ll save money, and you’ll save yourself from last-minute trips to the grocery store. It works better when it’s organized and everything is used regularly.

I use serving platters and bowls to organize my pantry, instead of storing them away and only using them for parties. Try consolidating packaged snacks into a snack basket, and clearing out the almost-empty boxes. The canned goods are on a lazy susan so I can access all of them. (more pictures)

Some people use a pantry as food storage for emergencies. When I showed how my fridge gets rather empty before I go grocery shopping, some expressed concern about what we would do in emergencies. I don’t store emergency food in the fridge or freezer. If the power goes out, it would all be lost! I count more on dry or shelf-stable foods that we normally eat such as dried fruits, nuts, beans, rice, pasta, and peanut butter as part of my back-up plan for emergencies.

I think the foods you plan for emergencies should reflect your grocery list. This way you’ll use them regularly instead of storing them all year and letting them go to waste. So yes, in case of a blizzard, the food storage in my pantry usually looks more like peanut butter, wine, beans, and cereal, not MRE’s.

May is the beginning of moving season, so if your house is on the market or you’re moving soon, definitely straighten up the shelves and use what you have instead of moving it.

If you stock up on sales, take a week off from shopping and use what you have so you can fully realize those savings. If you’ve bought extra to have some to share and donate, drop off those canned goods and clear up some room.

See the comments for this post: Use Up the Pantry Clutter

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“You should write about how to organize all of these plastic food containers,” my dad suggested as he stacked up the lids in his kitchen cabinet.

“I can’t write about that.”

“Why not?”

“The whole article would only be two lines long.”

I don’t know a list of ways to keep all of those plastic containers nicely organized in neat stacks or the lids from getting lost, especially all the little ones, but I can show you an alternative instead: have fewer empty containers, and reuse what you already have in your kitchen in new ways.

I used to have two small Tupperware containers, but I lost them in the move, and then I realized I didn’t need to replace them. I decided to make do and repurpose what I have.

I most often make my two glass baking dishes (pictured above) pull double-duty to hold leftovers. The glass lids don’t provide an air-tight seal, but they do fine in the fridge for two or three days.

I also have a set of pyrex with two small containers that nest inside the larger dish (photo below). I’ve used this small set for years; it was perfect when my family lived in a one-bedroom apartment. I didn’t have space in my kitchen for storing a surplus of empty containers. Now I have so much space that some of my kitchen cabinets are empty, but I still don’t need more containers. I like that the glass doesn’t get stained, though I heard sunlight will bleach tomato sauce stains from plastic.

I have an open kitchen pantry with glass jars to hold all the ingredients we buy from the bulk aisles, and I use an extra jar to store soup in the fridge. (I make soup once a week and then eat it for lunches all week long.)

Jars are useful when I take soup to people: a quart size is enough for one person, and the half-gallon is more of a family size. They’re inexpensive or free, so I don’t have to worry about getting them returned. Canning jars can be found at Ace Hardware stores and certain grocery stores. The quart sizes cost about a dollar, and the half-gallon jars are about two dollars each, sold in sets of six or twelve.

You can freeze soup or stock in glass jars, but leave off the lid until it’s completely frozen, and don’t fill it up all the way or the jar will crack. I haven’t been freezing food as much as I used to. We try to eat up leftovers in the next day or two instead of freezing them.

If I really need an extra jar to hold a little something for a snack later, my glass tumblers come with matching lids. The tumblers are normally our drinking glasses, and the lids go in the utensil drawer. (These are from Crate and Barrel, but the lids are not microwave safe.)

Another option is to place a plate on top of a bowl as a lid.  This way you don’t need to transfer food to a plastic container or use saran wrap or foil, but your food will stay covered in the fridge.

See the comments for this post: An Alternative to Organizing the Tupperware Cabinet

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Photo by Joelk75

Carlie asks,

“I was wondering if you had any advice on how to simplify or recycle award ribbons, athletic trophies, and plaques. I was big in athletics from childhood through high school, and have acquired quite a lot of things over the years. All they do now is take up space and collect dust. I feel bad throwing them away, but don’t want them hanging around in boxes forever.”

It is okay if you decide you don’t want to keep your old trophies and awards. I threw away mine a few years ago. I had trophies from dance and piano, and my mom stored them for me. It surprised her when I went through and tossed out the old stuff, but I said, “Look, they’re just made of plastic.”

The biggest accomplishments of my life will not be represented by gold-painted plastic trophies.

The experience you gained is valuable, not the trophy. The trophy was a token for the moment.

It’s also okay to throw away ribbons and recycle certificates. I had a certificate from high school that told me I was “worthy of joining the Learning & Liberty Wall of Fame.” What does that even mean?

Here is how you can judge whether you can get rid of something that could be sentimental: If as the years go by, you care about something less and less, then let it go. You won’t regret it.

With a quick Google search you might find a local organization that wants to reuse your trophies, but if not, put them on the curb. If saving one makes you happy, choose something small such as a ribbon that can be tucked away in an album.

Photo by SDASM Archives

If you have a silver trophy cup, that I would keep so I could put flowers in it.

See the comments for this post: It’s Safe to Get Rid of Old Trophies

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Last year at the end of summer I had the idea that I was going to trim the overgrown hedges in our front yard.

We have hedges on both sides of our front door, and I started down one side making cuts with my pruning shears until I had a pile of branches behind me.

It was a million-degrees hot outside and my arms were covered in itchy scratches, so I stopped trimming after I worked on just one side.

Now as the trees are sending out new leaves and the grass is growing greener, I see a major difference in the two hedges. The hedge that I didn’t prune looks very much the same as it always did. (That’s it in the photo above.) The hedge where I cut off the old growth is now covered in blossoms!

Pruning precedes growing.

I usually post something practical on Mondays–a way to clear out the clutter, but I’m going to set it aside this week because truthfully it’s not about the pruning projects, it’s about the growth.

See the comments for this post: Bloom Where You’re Planted

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A couple of months ago I lost the small point-and-shoot camera that I usually carry in my purse. I didn’t realize I had lost it. I thought it was in the house somewhere and it would turn up eventually.

Out of the blue I got an email from someone who had my camera! It was at the front desk where my daughter takes ballet lessons. Weeks had gone by with no one claiming it, and she was trying to find the person it belonged to.

I am so grateful to the woman who made the extra effort to return my camera. I realize this whole situation would have been easier if I had put my name and phone number on it like I know I should.

This got me thinking about simple things I know to do but haven’t done yet.

Therefore, I promise to:

1. Label my camera with my name and phone number.

2. Memorize my husband’s phone number instead of relying on automatic dial.

3. Hide a spare house key.

(There are more things I need to do, but I’m only committing to three this week.)

See the comments for this post: Help Your Future Self

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A Reader’s Question:

I find it hard to clean out my kids’ toys too, mostly because I’m sentimental about things from their childhood. What if I give away something they like? It’s hard to make decisions for other people.

I decided to teach my kids how to clean out their own toys, starting at age 3. The first time I let my three-year-old daughter reduce her toys, I was shocked by how many she didn’t want anymore. She let go of more toys than I would have if I had done it for her.

The kids decide which toys they are finished playing with, and I decide whether those toys go in the donation bin or the storage box.

At ages one and two, I clean out their toys for them when I see the toys are being thrown on the ground instead of played with. By ages two and a half or three, they start letting me know their opinions. I still second-guess them a little, but things can stay in the giveaway basket for a few weeks to give our decisions time in case they change their minds.

The biggest challenge is to not let myself get in the way of their willingness to give things away. When I ask them if they want to keep something and they say no, I stay very impartial in my reactions. I don’t say, “Oh, but you used to love that!” or “But your grandmother gave it to you!” Instead I say, “That’s fine. You don’t have to keep it. Can you tell me why you don’t want it?”

Things to Say:

• “I understand you’re bigger now, so you don’t have to keep the toys that you used to like.”

• “Thanks for telling me you don’t want this toy. That really helps me to know what kind of things you like.

• “It’s going to be a lot easier to keep your room looking beautiful when there’s not so much stuff in it.”

• “Some of the toys will go in a storage box so we can play with them later, and some toys we’ll give away to kids who don’t have very many toys and need some more.”

Stuffed animals are not exempt even though they have names and faces. I noticed my two-year-old son wasn’t interested in two of his bears.

Me: “Tom, do you want this bear?” (What I don’t say: Who gave it to him. How nice it is.)

Tom: “No. Big.”

Just to be sure that he understood what I meant, I showed him a smaller stuffed animal that I know he likes. “Do you want this one?”

Tom: “Yes. Small.” So that helped me  confirm his preference for the smaller ones. Since he’s only two, I didn’t go through all of his toys with him. I just asked him about a couple, and before putting them in the donation box, I offered them to my other kid.

Me: “Do you want these two bears?”

Lane: “No, those bears are boys. All my stuffed animals are girls.” Okaaay then.

The stuffed animals to keep go in a basket, and the ones that don’t get played with go in the giveaway box. I explain to my oldest that we’ll give them to another family, and she lights up and gets excited about that.

I don’t keep all of the toys immediately accessible. The ones that aren’t age-appropriate right now are in a storage bin that I lined with poster board so the kids can’t see what’s inside, and I put it in the closet. The puzzles and games are kept in a cabinet in the living room which helps to keep them organized. We’re trying to teach the kids to get one out at a time and put it back before they get a new one.

They also have a bunch of little plastic toys, prizes, and trinkets, and they LOVE this stuff. I don’t mind if they have it, but it all has to fit in one basket so there’s a limit. They pack their backpacks with it and go on adventures.

Since my kids both have summer birthdays, it’s rare for them to get new toys apart from Christmas and birthdays. At Christmas we buy each kid one special toy, but not a lot else because we know they’ll receive more gifts from relatives.

I also try clutter-prevention by not browsing at Target with my kids and avoiding the toys that don’t give kids anything to do other than collect more.

We try to foster the idea of “family toys” that they share. Most of our toys so far are gender-neutral. When I bought a play kitchen, for example, I didn’t buy the pink one.

When we went to Italy for three months, my kids shared one backpack of small toys. I still had to pick up things every day, but they enjoyed all of their toys, and that was nice.

See the comments for this post: How to Simplify & Declutter the Toys

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Tags and labels don’t take up much space.

They’re visually distracting, though.

Until you stop noticing them, or you forget about them.

 And then one day you realize your vacuum still looks like the store model, and maybe it’s time to take off the tag.

The sign on the fence has been there long enough, perhaps. Maybe it’s time for that advertisement to come down.

And then remove the UPC sticker from the dish rack, once and for all, instead of noticing it yet again.

I don’t forget to take off the tags when I buy clothes, so it was funny how many tags are hanging around my house. Tags aren’t a big deal, but stuff looks better without them, and this is an easy way to visually simplify your home.

See the comments for this post: Clear the Clutter: Remove the Tags

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Thank you for your warm response to the announcement of our new company! While we work more on it, Amanda from Easy Peasy Organic is filling in for me today with this guest post…

Thrifting isn’t as simple as it sounds, and if you don’t consider what you’re doing, you’re going to end up with a closet (or two … and several boxes) full of clutter.

Trust me, I know. I’ve been there.

I’ve bought dresses with expensive labels that didn’t quite fit right; stacks of books I’ll never read (despite my best intentions); and dishes that just look old, rather than vintage – all because I could buy them for a dollar or two. It became an obsession. How much could I come out with, and for how little?

I thrifted with rose-coloured glasses, seeing value where there really was none. And as a result, I ended up with stuff and stuff and more stuff … a lot of it having to be thrown out relatively soon when I abruptly noticed that it was faded or snagged or stained. And that’s not what I’m about. Yes, I like the idea of recycling discarded goods, but I don’t want my possessions to be disposable. I want quality.

(Quality I can afford.)

Over the years, and with significant help from a thrift-averse husband, I’ve honed my thrifting skills to the point where I can actually walk out of a secondhand shop without buying a thing. (This is good. This shows power, and control.) And nowadays when I buy something, it’s quality that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. But it’s been a process.

Here are my tips for crafting a quality, thrifted wardrobe:

1. Have a goal.

Personally, I want my life (all-around) to be simple, uncluttered, and high-quality. And this includes any new acquisitions I make, so when I walk into any store I’m looking for quality.

So what determines quality? I’ll get to that in a second. First, let’s talk about when and where to shop.

2. Some days are better than others.

My favourite-ever Goodwill store has $1 Thursdays, where every tag of a certain colour is $1. I found my favourite sweater (Abercrombie), my favourite workout pants (North Face), my laptop bag (Patagonia) and a gorgeous Calvin Klein dress (with the $180 price tag still on it) for $1 each by shopping on that day. I can’t even buy a coffee for $1.

3. Some shops are better than others.

I focus on particular thrift stores where I seem to do well, because I figure the people donating there must be similar to me in style. Try affluent suburbs. Check out sections of ‘better quality’ clothes. Don’t waste your time — it’s precious.

4. First glance: look at the fabric.

You can tell a lot about the quality of clothing via the look, feel, and weight of the fabric. You know what good fabric is. The point of thrifting is that you can afford the good stuff.

Some features to look for are: uncommon detail or unusual textures; well-sewn seams and buttons; a certain sturdiness in the fabric (even for light fabrics.)

Some features to avoid are: fading (a particular problem for black clothes); pilling or snags; fraying; stains; uneven colouring; or translucency (unless that’s the style). Tears or rips in seams can be ok if you feel comfortable fixing them, but don’t put too much stock in repair jobs or alterations. In my hands, chances are the clothes will go into a ‘to-sew’ pile that will never see daylight again; better not to buy them in the first place.

5. Second glance: look at labels.

Because my goal is quality, I’m actively looking for labels associated with quality — and if I find something in my size, I’m likely to try it on. Of course, just because something says ‘DKNY’ doesn’t mean it’s been cared for properly — it may not even be worth the $3.99 pricetag. But if it has been cared for, it might just mean that it’ll last you long time. Making it very worth it.

6. Finally, how does it fit?

This is the most important of all. You have to be able to critically assess the fit of thrifted clothing, because ultimately it’s the fit that’ll determine whether it ever sees the light of day once you take it home. You want clothes that flatter you; that blend well into your existing wardrobe; that suit your style. If you put it on and it makes you feel good – that’s value. Otherwise, hang it back on the rack. Even spending $5 is a waste if you’re not going to wear it.

So. Thrifting can be a cheap and eco-friendly way to enhance the quality of your wardrobe – but only if you’re discriminating about what you buy. It’s taken me years to learn this lesson, but I think I’ve finally got it. I’m in control. Well. Most of the time …

Guest author Amanda shares organic recipes and ideas for sustainable, simple living at her blog Easy Peasy Organic.

See the comments for this post: Thrifting for Quality Clothes

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