Condensing, decluttering, and renewing, OH MY!

I am not the person who likes to hold onto stuff. Stuff, in general, doesn't have a lot of meaning to me. Now, there are things that may represent a moment, or gifts that were given becasue someone thought of me. That stuff I don't mind. However, I have found myself overwhelmed with things. I tend purge my home. I will go through it like a crazed tasmanian devil pitching everything in my path. I don't stop to think about the things I am tossing into the donation bin, and instead, just go with it. Then, sometimes months late, I sit there scracthing my head wondering where that thing went that I really need in this moment. 

I found myself overwhelmed with just stuff. I have never been one to get too caught up in consumerism, almost everything I own is second hand, but I have found as the years have gone by, that decluttering has been at the bottom of my priority list. My son hasn't played with Thomas toys for 2 years now, yet there they all sit, still waiting to be played with in the basement. It just became too much. I had become really good at hiding the stuff because I had no idea where to start with getting rid of it.

Then, the other day, I had a couple of quick projects to finish, so I put on Netflix for some background noise. I chose some random documentary that I didn't expect I would pay much attention to. It was called "Minimalism". This is not an all together new concept by any means! Though the people in the film were a bit more extreme than I am ready to be with their minimizing, I found myself 100% sucked in. So was my daughter. She was just sitting there saying how much she loved this idea! 

Then, this woman told her story and touched on her 333 concept. This was to wear 33 articles of clotheing or less for 3 months. This included shoes, jewelry, and other fashion accessories (hats, sunglasses, scarves, etc.).This is where Haliegh went kind of crazy. She says "Let's do this mom!!" There was a bit of an awkward silence here as the throughts were processing through my head. Then it hit me, this could be PERFECT for Haliegh. She is currently working with the school and a psychitrist to test for ADHD. She easily gets overwhelmed, and she ends up with waaaaaay more laundry than she has time to do. She becomes obsessed about if her shoes are matching her shirt, and if it's ok to wear jeans with a particular blouse. This really could be the perfect start to decluttering. I agreed (and then I maybe had an oh shit, what did I just agree to moment).

Today came, and we began the process. You see, what I am learning is that, minimalism isn't about just purging everything in your path, It is a process that takes thought, consideration, mindfullness. In our case, we live in a climate that sees some extreme weather. Today for example, our high was 4 and it felt like -11. This summer, it could be 100 degrees warmer than it is now. That means, we needed to lay our own ground rules so that we weren't stuck wearing winter attire during extreme heat. Here are what we came up with together:

• We get 1 coat, hat, glove/mitten pair, and scarf as a freebie. Anything after that counts towards our 33 items.
• There are a few items in our closets that we still sometimes wear, and a few we don't, that hold meaning. This included my high school band jacket, my class hoodie, the shirt Rich and I designed and wore to our Disney races and the Minnie Mouse shoes Rich gave me to run the Disneyland Half marathon. For Haliegh, it was a shirt she earned from a cheer camp, a few onsies myself and some family decorated before she was born, and her softball camp shirt. We allowed these to stay becuase these are things that hold sentimental value to us. These are things we earned. They do not count towards our 33.
• My engagement and wedding ring and jewelry gifts do not count. Rich has given me some beautiful necklaces, and recently, one of my sisters gave me a necklace and bracelet that I adore. These are not the types of items you just donate. Haliegh has a beautiful Pandora style bracelet from my mom, it is one of her most prized possesions. They do not count.
• After the 3 months, we will go through the 3 huge totes and 2 luggage bags full of clothes to reevaluate (yes you read that right. Between the 2 of us, we really did have that much). The weather will start to get warmer by then, so we will need to change our wadrobe a bit.
• During the reevaluation process, we will stick with 33 winter items, but we can swap out articles if we so choose. Everything else will be donated or sold. 
• If we are given clothing as gifts for Christmas or Birthday's we can swap out some old stuff for the new stuff.

This all seemed fair enough, until we set to work. At first, it was exciting! 2 years ago I ran a 1/2 marathon and a full marathon back to back with Rich, then later that year another 1/2 marathon. I've gained some weight since then and most of these clothes were screaming at me to get my butt in gear. I have been, but I don't want to feel bad about myself while doing so. I started quickly realizing that it felt really good to get rid of so much clothing. I have 3 sections in my closet, and one of them I haven't even touched since June! 

As I narrowed eveything down to one section, Haliegh was asking "do earrings count as 1 item or 2? What about extra gloves?" Valid questions, they count as 1. As she came closer to narrowing down to her 33, I began to almost panic a little. Holy shit....33 items isn't a lot! 2 pairs of boots, one black one brown, 2 pairs of yoga pants, "oh but wait, I could get away without counting these since I can technically sleep in them too." Then then other half of me chastises "Of course you can, but you know damn well you wear them more than anything else in your closet" Now I am at 4 items. Tennis shoes, 5. Shirts to work out in, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Two pairs of jeans, 11 &12. A hoodie for cool but not burn your face of cold days, 13. This was incredibly hard! I really had to stop and think about the things I need vs. want and learn to layer well. 

Haliegh quickly figured out her 33 and came into the room to chat with me while I tried to narrow mine down. It got to a point though, where I couldn't have her in there talking. I need to concentrate on not giving up. To her, this was really important, she got her closet down to 26 items and was so proud of that. I was proud of her too, but I had to focus. One of the things that really got me through was thinking about Rich moving in in the not too far off future, and needing room for him. He has said in the past that he doesn't know where all of his stuff will fit, and I told him I would make the room. Here I was, making room. That felt good! That got me through. After an hour of narrowing down one section, I had it figured out. My 33. Here goes nothing!

This section now houses some jewelry I have set aside that are not in my 33, shoes, clothing, and a few items that were allowed to stay such as my band jacket.

This is my 33

There is something freeing about this photo. Look at all those empty hangers! Those were once full! It did break my heart to put aside my Dr. Who boots though. Those were a gift from Rich, but I have literally worn holes in them. I have only worn them once since the weather turned cold. It came down to those, or a pair of hard soled house slippers that can also double as boots to run to the store with. Practicality won for this experiment. 

Blingy Socks

I have been working on a HUGEMUNGUS order of beaded bobby socks. I struck a deal with a neighbor. You see, I hate....no....loathe yard work. Really, I will scrub toilets all day if I don't have to mow the lawn. It just so happens she enjoys yard work and needed something special for baby shower gifts. 2 ladies in her life were expecting little girls, and after showing me a photo of some beaded bobby socks, I knew I could make them for her. She requested 2 dozen socks in return for mowing my lawn until the first freeze. Done deal!

I have been working on these socks for a couple of months now in between Etsy orders. I have fallen in love with the look of these socks, and I wanted to share with you how easy they are to create. These socks are meant for photo props only, under supervision since they are made with beads. Here it is! One of the easiest projects you will ever create!

What you'll need

*Aunt Lydia's crochet thred

*1.5mm crochet hook

*Bobby Socks (these are gerber brand)

*beads of any sort

Aunt Lydia's comes in a varity of colors that you can use to match your socks. It is small enough for the beads to slide onto easily, as well as small enough to fit through the gaps of the knit on the bobby socks.

A small hook is perfect for pulling the thread up through the gaps in the socks

Bobby socks are exactly what you need for this project. They are knit, which means the lines you can see visibly will have little gaps where you can insert your hook.

Colorful beads of any sort that will easily slide onto your thread. You can get creative too! I was given some beads to you, and I picked up a few of my own as well. Big, small, and everything in between. 

Now, lets get started! The first thing you will want to do is string the beads onto the crochet thread. You should add about 20 beads for one sock. I always add a little more.

When you unfold and stretch the sock, you will see the little gaps I have been speaking of. You will want to make sure you are not crocheting around the top hole. You want to reinforce it......

That means you will be inserting your hook in the 3-4 gap down from the hem. 

You are going to attach the thread to the back of the sock, then chain. The number of chains is up to you. The more you have, the longer the bead will lay on the sock. In this instance, In this case, I used 6 and 3 chains.

Next, you are going to pull the first bead towards your chains. I like to measure the loop I will create by pinching the 6th chain with the top of my thumb, and holding the bead about mid thumb to make a loop. You are going to slip stitch into the 6th chain to make the loop that the bead will lay in, then chain 6 more.

Here is the loop

Then, you are going ot stretch the sock enough for you to see the gaps, and you are going to slip stitch into the fourth gap from your previous join. Next, chain 3, and repeat the loop, chain 3, and slip stitch again into the fourth gap. This will create a verigation in the beads. You will repeat this all the way around the hem of the sock, and tie off when you are done. 

Here is the finished prodct. See! It is really freaking simple! All you have to do is chain, slip, and create that loop. 

Here are some examples of some of the other socks I have made. Once you figure out how to make them, you can do all sorts of fun things! I have experiemented with fun fur, as well as crocheting through the beads rather than stringing them onto the thread first.

Fun fur turned out to look like Tinker Bell

These are triangle shaped beads that I crocheted around rather then stringing onto the socks I was able to get this wavey shape by crocheting in every gap rather than skipping 3.

I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial! If you have any questions, please let me know. These make fantastic baby shower gifts!