by kathilipp | Jan 7, 2014 | Home |
Week 1 The 2014 Things Challenge What Counts as Things?
Yes – we’ve survived the first week of The 2014 Things Challenge. Some of you have practically completed the challenge in the first week (this usually involves a huge garage clean out,) while most of you have had a week like mine – back to work and all that end of the year enthusiasm has gone the way of the wrapping paper and the New Year’s ham no one finished.
So I’ve had some questions about what count as Things in the Challenge. My goal is for you to feel significantly lighter January 2015 than you do now, so while the challenge is hard, it really is to make your life significantly better and show you progress along the way.
Here are some ideas on how to count your Things:
From Carol: Help! Serious question proposed by a friend wanting to take the challenge: how many pieces of paper count as “one thing“? Inquiring minds want to know!
Answer: I think that every “decision” is a THING. If it’s a magazine, it’s one. A folder? One. But ten pages with ten different decisions? Ten. Just don’t get into the trap of letting junk mail come into the house and then counting each of those as one. Have a way to stop junk mail from coming through the door.
Debbie: Is it just getting rid of stuff we don’t need, or is there more to it?
Answer: Yes – it’s getting rid of stuff you don’t need, but it’s also about getting rid of things that you are holding onto, “just in case” or “someday”. One of my big downfalls is book. I love ’em. And I love to reread certain books. But I have so many that may never be read for ten years, and in that time dozens of people could have read that one book. A lot of this challenge is being generous with what we have. Is it better for me to save $14.99 by keeping dozens of book, only one of which I eventually will reread, or by letting all those books go, and then having to buy that one book again. (Or borrow it from a friend or the library.) I’m allowing myself to keep a certain number of books that I love and have a history of diving into again, but will be giving away the rest on here so all of you can enjoy them.
Tammy: What about toiletries and cosmetics – do those count?
Answer: Yes – most of us have way too many shampoo bottles from hotels, lotions we don’t love, etc. Get rid of all of it and start fresh with those things you use and love. It will make getting ready in the morning a breeze.
So here is my list of what we donated, trashed and recycled this week. (If you need help keeping track, check out this post
.)
Donated
2 Sweaters
5 Jackets
8 Shirts
2 Leather Jackets
4 Glasses
4 Hotpads
1 Cheese Board
17 Hangers
Recycled
4 Plastic Bottles
Trashed
11 Dead Pens
Total 57 items (we’re keeping the cat…)
And your chance to win…
In the comments below, tell me what item has been the hardest for you to trash, recycle or donate so far. One of you will win Holly Gerth’s book You Were Made for God-sized Dreams. You must enter by the 9th. (Again, cat not included…)
by kathilipp | Jan 6, 2014 | Home, Uncategorized |
Over the weekend, Roger and I had my step-daughter, Amanda, and her boyfriend Shaun, over for dinner and a movie. Both these kids are over at our house on a pretty regular basis, so Amanda was understandably taken aback when she walked into our kitchen.
“Wow! It’s so clean!”
“Amanda!” Shaun was a little shocked at Amanda’s comment.
Amanda backpedaled just a bit, “No, I know it’s always clean,” (which, by the way, God bless her for thinking that…) “But it’s more, I don’t know, clear?”
I knew exactly what she meant. I’d spent the first part of our weekend taking a critical eye to the kitchen and why I didn’t like it anymore. And now, she was seeing the results.
I love a clear counter and an uncluttered kitchen. I’ve written about how to do just that in The Get Yourself Organized Project book. But over the past several months, our lives, and our kitchen, have taken a dramatic turn, and the cluttered counters were showing the results.
- We added a juicer. As I’ve recently had gastric sleeve surgery, I have to be careful to get as many vitamins into me as possible in as little food as possible. One of the things we’ve purchased is a Breville Juicer (like the one in the movie, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead). Now we are juicing away and Roger has become a real mix master making great combinations. But let’s be clear – that puppy takes up a fair amount of space on the kitchen counter.
- We’ve upgraded our blender. Roger and I spent a lot of time deciding between a Vitamix and Ninja blender. In our case, the Ninja won. (We have a trusted friend who swears by his, but I’ve heard equally great things about the Vitamix.) Since my whole goal in life seems to be getting enough protein, I now blend up fruit smoothies and add loads of protein powder to get what I need each day.
- We updated our rice cooker. Our last cooker was a wedding gift – from my first marriage. (20 years ago.) While it still cooked white rice like a champ, Roger and I now eat only brown rice and it would fail each time. Our new Aroma rice cooker rocks the brown rice every single time.
All of these appliances, along with our standing mixer, toaster oven, slow cooker, bread machine, knife block and coffee maker were cluttering up our counters and making it impossible to function in our kitchen. I got to the point where I started to dread cooking, and wanted to avoid the kitchen all together. I knew I needed to get ruthless in my kitchen declutter. Here are the things I did to get the “stuff” under control.
- Remember that your kitchen counter is your most valuable square footage in your home. No other area is used as much, and ever item on there needs to earn the right to stay.
- Under-mount whenever possible. Our microwave is mounded under our cabinets, and so are the CD player and paper towel rack. All of these save valuable inches of counter space.
- If you have a small kitchen, only keep what you use daily on the counters. The old wisdom is to keep what you use weekly, but if you want to have an easier time cooking and cleaning up, and space is at a premium, get ruthless. Now the only things on our counter are the coffee maker, coffee flavorings, the knife block, spices, and the toaster oven. Everything else is stored under the butcher block in the kitchen.
- Pitch what you don’t use. My friend Cheri has a few of these Presto Pizza Ovens. Cheri is a teacher at a sleep away school and she and her husband love to have the students over to make their own pizza nights. I was tempted to buy one because the seem so cool, but it would be another thing for me to store, move, and clean. Makes perfect sense for Cheri – not so for me. Get rid of all those appliances you used one and never saw the light of day again. The meat slicer, the George Foreman, the chocolate fountain. If you are going to keep your fondue pot for your annual New Year’s Eve “Fun-do” celebration, and space is valuable, store it outside of the kitchen with your turkey platter and Christmas dishes.
- Use what you have. I love my Keurig Coffee Maker that my kids all went together and got me for Mother’s Day a few years ago. As soon as I got it, I went out and got the accessories that went with it – including the holder for all the little coffee pods. While it was convenient to have all the pods sticking out where I could see them, I didn’t like how it looked in my kitchen. When I started to clear away my extras in the kitchen, I realized I had three beautiful canisters that I wasn’t using because they would have just taken up more space on the counter. I put all of my pods into the biggest canister, and got rid of the holder I didn’t like. Now when I walk into my kitchen, I only see things that I love. (Well, except that half of my appliances are stainless steel, and half are white – we’re in transition.)
Now that my kitchen is clutter-free, I actually don’t resist going in there to prep a meal or wipe down the counters. Since I have less stuff to move, I actually ENJOY cooking again. That is worth getting rid of every unused pasta maker on the planet.
I would love to hear in the comments below how you’ve simplified your kitchen – what have you gotten rid of, what have you simplified? What appliance have you learned to live without?
by kathilipp | Jan 1, 2014 | Home, Uncategorized |
So you’ve decided to do it. You are going to get rid of 2014 Things in 2014. Or maybe you’re feeling super desperate, and in addition to the 2014 Things, you are also getting rid of one thing for every thing you bring in.
I’ll be honest – I was shocked at the response to this challenge. I’m thrilled that so many of you are making living with less a priority in 2014. Welcome to the madness that is living lighter.
After posting the challenge the number one question I got was “How do I keep track?”
Well our team has been busy pulling together some forms for you to use to help you stay on track for the next twelve months. But if none of these forms are to your liking, feel free to use a notepad, the back of an envelope, any way that will make it easier for you.
2014 Things – For those of you taking on the big challenge of getting rid of 2014 Things in 2014, this is the tracker for you! You can either print it out, (PDF) or keep track on your computer (EXCEL). Either way, you’re a superstar because you’re getting rid of the things that are dragging you down. (If you are printing this out, consider doing it double sided as it’s 41 pages!)
In and Out – Maybe you just want to make sure you don’t accumulate more than you started with. Or you need to go hard core and not only get rid of 2014 Things, but make sure you don’t shop your way back to the same place at the start of 2015. Here is the In and Out Sheet – for everything you bring in, something else must go out. If you are doing both challenges, that’s called being All In. (Only do the All In option if your clutter makes you cry on a regular basis or you fantasize about leaving your house and starting over.)
The Super Geek – Created by my husband Roger – this is for the analytic in you. If you get a thrill with charts and graphs, this is the plan for you.
All of these can be downloaded on the 2014 Things Challenge Home Page.
We can do this!!!
by kathilipp | Dec 29, 2013 | Home |
The 2014 Things Challenge – Are You Ready to Live Lighter?
Robin commented: “We’ll start purging again in Jan. The goal is for 2014 items to leave the house next year!” Oh Robin doesn’t have any idea how she’s messed up my life…
The above was a comment that she left on my Facebook Page after I posted this picture of twelve bags we were donating of good usable clothes and household items. But I was getting tired of the “things” merry-go-round. Every year we accumulate all these “things” and every Christmas season, we spend days getting rid of stuff.
So, once I read Robin’s comment, that’s when the insanity took over.
I let myself imagine a home where we only had things that fit, were used, and were loved. Yes!
To be able to give good and valuable things away to those who not only need them, but would appreciate them? Yes!
Being free from needless possessions so that if God decides we need to live in Seattle or Denver, we aren’t tied down to our stuff? Yes!
And I broached the subject carefully with Roger (Being the “Project” in The Husband Project, my husband is used to being subjected to my crazy ideas.) He had his concerns, “Do you really think we can get rid of over 2000 things?”
Um – have you seen our garage? Yes, yes I do.
5.5 things a day.
38 things a week.
168 things a month.
Are you on the THINGS merry-go-round? Constantly fighting the influx of things coming in, and then dealing with having to get THINGS out of your house? Are you tired of talking about living simply and want to really feel lighter as the year goes on? Do you want to be able to close your closet and not be afraid the door is going to pop open and attack the next person walking by? Do you want to be able to park a car in your garage. Come – live the dream with us…
2014 Items less by December 31st than we started with January 1st. That is our challenge.
Here are the rules that we’ve set up for ourselves for the coming year:
• 2014 items less by the end of the year means that every new item we bring in, an additional one goes out. (So if we buy 100 things over the year, we will be donating/getting rid of 2114 things.) That means we need to be very careful what we buy for the next year.
• Consumables are not counted. (Doggy waste bags don’t count – the plastic doggy waste bag holder does.)
• If a piece of a set can be used on its own, it’s counted. (In other words, each piece of silverware counts, but a 1000 piece puzzle counts as one “thing”.)
• We will donate or get rid of things in the most responsible way possible.
Each week, I will post pictures of what we are getting rid of and who (if anyone) it’s going to.
Is it going to be hard? Yes (especially since I just did a big purge.) Is it going to be marriage testing – Roger and I think so… But we are looking forward to the trade-offs.
If you are interested in joining us, there are a few ways you can do it:
1. All In You are going to follow all the rules above. (Share that in the comments below and I’ll be happy to send you a badge for your Facebook/website/blog.)
2. 2014 Things Only Just concentrating on getting rid of 2014 (without worrying about what you will be bringing into the house,) will significantly lighten your load.
3. Win One of My Cast Offs Each week, I will ask you to post some of the items you are giving away. Post, and you will be eligible to win one of my books that I’m giving away from my challenge. (New, used titles every week!)
4. Take the Team Approach Get together with a buddy and between the two or three of you get rid of 2014 things in 2014.
by kathilipp | Dec 11, 2013 | Home |
When It Needs to be a Simple Christmas – When You Have No Time
There could be a million reasons you are time crunched this Christmas – family obligation, a huge project at work, etc. One of the things I would ask you to consider – do you feel a time crunch every Christmas? If so, I would strongly recommend that you not only make some accommodations this year, but really take a hard look at your own expectations for the holiday season.
Fellow author Jill Davis, was forced to look at every area of her holiday celebration after her life took a decidedly different direction:
“When I got divorced 8 years ago and had to make huge changes in life with my four children, I asked them what was most important to them. We chose two traditions – the advent calendar and sugar cookies, plus their favorite gifts of pajamas and a book on Christmas eve. Since then each year I make the same offer, so far it remains the same traditions. So much easier than all the shopping, baking, cleaning, decorating I used to do. Instead of having a beautifully decorated home, fabulous things to eat and lots of Christmas presents and a frantic mom, they now have an easy going, low key, lightly decorated Christmas with a very present mom. Life is better. Christmas is easier. We are all happier.”
Sometimes we are so afraid of making changes because we’re sure that everyone is going to be so disappointed by what we’re not doing. The reality probably is that we’re doing a lot of things that are only important to us, and possibly only for tradition’s sake.
I did an advent calendar every year. It was big and cute and had 24 pockets at the bottom, each holding a wrapped ornament for my kids to take turns placing on the big felt tree.
One year I brought it out, hung it up, and announced to my 11year old, Justen, that it was his turn to unwrap the advent surprise. His response? “Is there money in there?” Um, no… “OK, then just let Kimmy do it.” I was crushed.
Truth was – Justen didn’t care about the advent calendar, and after a couple of years, neither did Kimberly. Yes, we still celebrated advent, at church. But they were past the age of wanting to unwrap knickknacks every morning for a month.
I wrapped up the advent tree and put it away, a little sad, but also realizing that it still had a future: seven years later my brother had a daughter, Elsa, who now does the advent tree, and someday Elsa will outgrow it, probably about the time that my kids will start having kids and the tradition can continue.
Here is what I’ve learned about Time and Christmas:
- You need to ask your family what is important. Immediately stop doing anything that your family doesn’t find important to their own holiday celebration.
- 2. You are the one putting the most pressure on you.
- 3. Everyone gets a pass. Give the rest of the people in your life a pass as well. Have the conversation. I told my extended family that we were happy to host this year, but I would be buying the entire meal. My mom wasn’t in a position to host this year, but was happy to shop and cook for us at my house. Everyone is contributing, but no one is being stretched.
- The phrase, “It just won’t be Christmas without…” must be banned from your vocabulary. The only thing you need to celebrate Christmas is a relationship with your savior. Not trying to get all Pharisee-ish up in here, but we must remember the rest is the fudge on the ice cream that is our true reason for celebrating. Don’t make yourself crazy with ideas like “It just won’t be Christmas if I don’t put all the ornaments on the tree.” Or “It just won’t be Christmas if we don’t see the Nutcracker this year.” Yes – it will still be Christmas – it will just be a Christmas where you aren’t stretching yourself too thin.
- Changing traditions gives you freedom. So you only put up a tree with lights, no ornaments (like we are doing this year.) Think how much fun it’s going to be to see those ornaments next year! Tradition can be a merciless slave driver.
What are your time tips for when you just don’t have time at Christmas – how do you still make it the kind of holiday you want to celebrate?
by kathilipp | Dec 9, 2013 | Home |
When it Needs to be a Simple Christmas
This year we are doing “Simple Christmas” not because we want to create some more space in our lives, or we are intentionally making room to give more to the needy. This year it’s out of total necessity.
As most of you know, two weeks ago I had surgery, but it turns out it was a double-whammy: both a gastric sleeve (elective) and a hiatal hernia (not so elective). We knew the sleeve surgery was a big deal, but it turns out that what we thought was a simple procedure for the hernia, turned out to be just as big of a deal as the sleeve.
And then one week after my surgery, Roger went to the same surgeon and found out that he needed a hernia surgery. This being his third surgery this year with this doctor, if he had it done before the end of the year, we would have almost no out of pocket costs. (Yes, it’s just like buy three yogurts and get the forth one free.)
Since Roger’s surgery would be completely covered by insurance, and it comes just two days before he has a mandatory shutdown at work, we would have been crazy not to do it.
But there is a lot of crazy in the decision to go ahead as well:
- I’m just coming off surgery, and will probably just be fully recovered as Roger goes in for surgery.
- I have a book due in January and another one due in March and planned on using that time to write while my healthy husband handled life for us.
- It’s Christmastime.
I’m sure you’ve had a year just like this. OK, maybe not four surgeries in twelve months, but some other circumstance that has forced you into not just wanting to simplify Christmas, but needing to do it as well.
The need to simplify usually comes from the lack of one of these three areas in your or your family’s life:
- Time – There is a huge time crunch in your life. It could be from a work situation, or something going on in your family, but there aren’t enough hours on the clock to complete the Christmas miracle you normally plan each year.
- Energy – You’ve been sick, or you’re caring for someone who is. Or maybe there are external pressures (like a job change, a move,) or a recent tragedy that has left you drained. Whatever the situation is, you know that the wisest thing to do this year is pull back.
- Money – Job loss, job cut backs, increased expenses, or a firm resolve to not go into debt. There are a thousand reasons why you won’t be spending the same as you have in year’s past.
So I want to spend this week talking about how you do Christmas when it needs to be a simple one. Each day we will discuss one of those areas listed above: Time, Energy, Money.
And if you have any wisdom about how to scale back, please leave it in the comments below. Painful choices you’ve made in the past may give someone else the freedom they need to make hard choices for their family.
“? Inquiring minds want to know!
.)
