Game Changer

In November I started the Minimalism Game - it was excellent.  With with all of the activities of the holidays, in December the game and posting lost momentum and I came to this conclusion this week:

If I continue to count every single thing that I'm getting rid of - I will go insane. 

So it's a new adventure now. I've been donating, trashing, recycling, shredding and cleaning and will continue to do so. This continues to create space in our home and in myself. I have found treasures and instead of keeping all of my collections, I am keeping only favorites and passing on the rest to someone new.

My observations? 

I recommend everyone do one 30 day round of it every year, because it really changes your focus about what is truly needed. I am planning on December in 2014.

The excess has been overwhelming. (storage, upkeep, clutter, etc.)

I don't need to purchase a single thing in the new year - other than consumables.

I have everything I need to create crafts, music, stories, memories, gifts, and adventures.

If I lost everything I possess and still had my friends and family - the previous statement would remain true. 

There are great tools that assist in life, but all that is fun and interesting - and every great adventure - must begin within us. It has nothing to do with what we own and everything to do with who we are.

This process has shown me the generosity of the people around me and brought generosity toward others to the forefront of my mind and heart.

Here's to less stuff and more adventure in 2014!

Back to the Minimalism Game

Days 11, 12, 13, 14 & 15: The Minimalism Game

With the parties over and the holiday winding down, I begin vacation and am back to the cleaning out.

At this point, there really aren't a lot of stories to go along with the things I am getting rid of. At least, the story isn't different. Too much stuff kept for "someday" or "what if" or just stored and never used.

Some will be passed on, thrown away or donated.

Day 11:  Old games and software - and the worst movie ever made :)

Day 12: Miscellaneous brass, candles, mugs

Days 13-15: Empty containers  - kept "just in case" 

(we would need them for the garden, we would need them when we have quail/chickens for eggs, etc.)

As I go through the holiday decorations and begin emptying of storage bins, I look forward to beginning the new year in a house without clutter and only things that have function and meaning - less things to care for and more time to work on projects and goals.

Here's to 2014!

Days 9 & 10: The Minimalism Game

Days 9 & 10: The Minimalism Game:  Thinning out my morning routine: 

Day 9 - Extras around the bathroom

Day 10 - old and extra make-up

The only observation I have from this is that I am always surrounded by excess. 

Things I don't need or use. Things I wasted money on. Things I don't pay attention to.

December 1st - 8th: Minimalism Game

Round Two - Days 1 through 8

And so begins December and another month of The Minimalism Game...

 With December holiday decorating - I will be going through the many storage bins of decorations and cutting down on what we keep for next year.

Again, what is worth keeping will be donated or passed on to someone who will use it.

Day 1:  With all of the stuff I deleted from our house in November, there is an empty (old and falling apart) cart that was between the washer and dryer and often collected items that didn't belong there. Although many those items are also gone for good, less shelves completely removes the possibility of things piling up.

Day 2: A Couple of unused things (yes - ice bucket from a refrigerator we no longer have)

Day 3: Two Dead iPods and case to ebay

Days 4 & 5: Odd Extra Stockings to fill and give away

Day 6: Old Wreaths and Garlands

Day 7: Odds and ends out of a cupboard - empty, dusty, unused

Day 8: From when we used paper plates...

I am looking forward to December and the changes this game is creating in our home - and even more importantly in me!

Day 30: The Minimalism Game

The Minimalism Game: Day 30!  "Medicine" Cabinet

There's a little closet with shelves in our kitchen - one of the charming aspects of buying an older home, but one of the drawbacks of keeping things clean. Small house + shelves behind a door = cluttered shelves.  I took out the medicine, beauty/health products, etc. Sorted everything out and got rid of a pile of stuff. To cut back on the number of boxes with bandaids, gauze, etc., I made a first aid kit and threw all of the boxes out. Everything is individually wrapped and labeled and doesn't need to be stored in a box.

We need this supply of first aid, because of the type of lifestyle we are living. There are cuts and burns and things happen when you have a wood cooktop and work in a garden regularly. Again, the clutter is moved to reveal the real things we need to have and now it will be easy to access what we need.

 So I'm not even counting this pile - it's definitely 30.

With each of these days, the recycling, cleaning and donating creates physical space around me, but also creates mental space. Each item I can pass on for someone else to use or enjoy makes me happy!

I am starting again on December 1st for another round.

These are gifts to myself this holiday season:

Space - the volume of items gone has created space. Slowly, the things that are special to me are coming to the forefront and clutter around me is going away.

Time - I don't have to search for the things I use.

Creativity - I had originally thought I would do the 50K words in November, but decided this project, this game was more important to me. I envision a place of great writing when I am finished.

Observations: By default, what we are doing here on our little lot, the Permaculture projects, gardening, and wood stove, etc. create the need for tools and storage for many items. Because they all serve a purpose, I don't even consider them for this game. However, with less to maintain inside and keep track of, I hope to work on more projects and in the spring and introduce some animals to our little urban farm. I couldn't see how to do this before I started this game - my time was consumed by keeping up with a bunch of things and there wasn't any room to add to my day.

There is room now!

Day 29: The Minimalism Game

The Minimalism Game: Day 29!

I was continuing the game and found yet another pile of linens that completed sets I already got rid of, so that was several of the items. I also looked around the basement and found some old books (some are being returned to their owners) old candles, jars, etc. etc.

I cleaned up these two cast iron candle holders and a gave them to a friend who would use them!

The only observation I have at this point is that I am not even close to being done, so I will be going into December and longer if I need to!

Days 27 & 28: The Minimalism Game

The Minimalism Game:  Days 27 & 28 - Work Space

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and spent time with some of our family and friends, and I headed to work on Friday morning knowing that it would be slower than usual. So my plan was to see if I could do one of the days of the game cleaning up my desk.

It turned out that I was able to declutter 55 things off of my desk and out of drawers for days 27 & 28. I had been keeping copies of magazines and newpapers for accounts of mine that had advertised over the past couple of years, however, most everything we sell advertising into can be viewed in a digital format, so no need to keep paper copies.

I returned extra office supplies to the cabinet they came from. 

I securely disposed of account folders and information that is no longer relevant. 

I consolidated notes to one place, and information I use daily into a binder.

I brought home the holiday decorations I use at work - to store in the Autumn/Halloween decoration tote. 

I washed off my desk and this is no longer in my little space to distract me.

Goals: keep only what is needed - keep my space current at work

Observations: I have decided is that I am fine with getting rid broken and unused decorations, but I am keeping the things I use to decorate the house, etc. It's one of my favorite part of the holidays! I need some connection to home when I am at work, and small decorations keep me connected.

When I looked around my space after clearing it, I knew where everything is to do my job physically and digitally: information I need to answer calls and sell advertising. Basic quick answers are at my fingertips and I feel less stressed about going to work tomorrow.

Days 25 & 26: The Minimalism Game

Days 25 & 26: The Minimalism Game -  Linens & More Clothes


I don't have a profound statement to make about these two days - it just took about 15 mins. to come up with 51 items - sheets, blankets, pillowcases, etc. and yet another stash of "clothes I'll wear someday" to fill four large trash bags.

Not attached, nothing has meaning, don't remember the reason I kept and stored these things...

Day 24: The Minimalism Game

Day 24:  The Minimalism Game :  Card games and more office supplies

I continued the sorting through office supplies, notebooks, journals and cards games, along with miscellaneous stuff.  More of the same gone.

It feels great to be getting rid of things that are incomplete, unused, unusable, and no longer relevant for me or for my family.  It is starting to make a difference. Shelves are emptying, drawers are cleaned out.

In the past, I would sort and organize - buy more containers to sort and organize and store things. At the end of this there will be a stack of storage bins to donate because I won't have anything to store in them!

And so the game continues - one week left until the 30th, and then I will decide about continuing into December and starting over again on the 1st. One more month would take me deeper into things that are difficult to let go of.

In addition to the number of items I was able to throw away and donate, I also shredded a large black trashbag of paperwork I thought at some point was necessary to keep.  Turns out, it really isn't that important.

Days 22 & 23: The Minimalism Game

Days 22 & 23: The Minimalism Game Office Supplies and Miscellaneous

For this day, I ditched old journals and magazines, office supplies, old toys, and some miscellaneous stuff from drawers. The magazines are the issues I never went back to read again.

Goals: I made a decision to start using one style/size journal for everything. I asked Santa for Moleskine journals and cleaned out and got rid of all the others I had.

I am using up as many of the crafting supplies I can to make gifts and cards for the holidays.

As I sort things out, I am keeping the crafting together for easy access.

Observations:  It is getting easier to throw things away and donate.

I am less attached to things than I thought.

Day 21: Minimalism Game

Day 21: Minimalism Game - Bags and Binders

The discovery of a storage container of yet more bags prompted Day 21. I didn't remember I had them, and never use them, and had forgotten them in the depths of the basement.

So, twenty one bags and office supplies - primarily binders gone.

Goals? Not to buy another bag or office supply. I am fairly sure I only have the bags I use now, but I have to say, I'm not 100% sure that it's all gone - until I empty every shelf, storage container and box in this house, I will not be able to say they are all gone.

Observations:  I thought I would be reaching to meet the goals during the 20+ days and I am just now making a dent in the excess that is around me.  Also - I am only dealing with my own stuff.

Day 20: The Minimalism Game

Day 20: The Minimalism Game - Old Tupperware

Short and sweet post today - a five minute exercise and 20 pieces gone.

Not usable, can't donate, so recycling it is. 

( I actually have to check that this plastic can be recycled)

Just a pile tucked in a cupboard out of site, and now gone.

Observations: It's getting easier to let go of things that serve no purpose.

We have changed over the past year to store and serve in mostly glass containers because they are easier to clean and you can see what's inside.

The most important observation is that this is just starting to make a dent in what is in our house. I will need to continue into December!

Days 18 & 19: Thirty Minutes and Thirty Seven Things Gone

Days 18 & 19: The Minimalism Game: Kitchen 

It only took thirty minutes. 30!

Upstairs and downstairs, 

opening cupboards and drawers ad 37 items are gone. 

Recycled, donated and given away.

Some of these things are so old an unusable that I made the picture sepia to make them look better...also, it hides the dust!

Goals: Keep only what we use.

Replace the ancient crock pot and cookie sheets with a better quality.

Observations:  I thought it would take longer to find 18 things, yet 19 more was easy.

Everything I am donating and giving away is out of excess. For the most part unused.

The space each day of this games creates is amazing.

Day 17: The Minimalism Game

Day 17: The Minimalism Game:  "Reusable Bags"

During this month I have been led by events to go through stuff and get rid of what isn't needed or useful. Today I was cleaning out an old bag I used for work and it led to a pile of bags - many of which were reusable, but never reused.

So we don't use plastic bags, but what is the point if we don't reuse all of these bags? It's the same amount of waste.  I donated and recycled what we don't use.

17 bags we don't use

What did I keep?  Insulated and reusable green bags for our shopping and for the days we pick up food from Mass Local Food.  I kept a tall cooler bag for drinks/wine/etc. for when we bring wine or other beverages to cookouts or BYOB dinners.  I also kept the blue square hot/cold bag for cookouts and pot lucks because a crock pot fits inside it.

What we do use

I am assuming I will find more bags as I continue, but this is a great start!


Goals: keep one of the cloth bags with us so we don't need to purchase more.
Store in a place the whole family is aware of so we can use them.
Shop less!


Observations:  Even a good thing, like reusable bags can become a money and time sink and waste producer. Planning, less impulsive shopping, and just being aware of our actions will prevent the pile from returning.

Day 16: The Minimalism Game

Day 16: The Minimalism Game  - Halloween / Autumn Decorations

Over the years I have collected decorations for the holidays and seasons that are all sorted in bins. As I was putting Halloween away today I realized that 2/3 of what I had in the bin was old and useless. I am planning to donate the decorations still in boxes and the rest: dried up make-up, broken decorations and ripped costumes will be thrown away.

16 items - I counted the pile of paper decorations and the pile of glow in the dark skeletons as one item each...

Donations and trash

What I kept:  a few favorites that we use every year - some large pumpkins and some metal and ceramic decorations. If the time comes that we no longer use these, I will donate them also.

Goal:  this is the end of decoration purchasing. 

Observations:  I find that I have been pushing aside a bulk of items to find the few I use. All stored and organized nicely in a rubbermaid - out of sight, but still a time sink when I wanted to find something specific. The few things I have kept, I use every year.

Days 14 & 15: The Minimalism Game

Days 14 & 15: The Minimalism Game - Catalogues

 I thought that it would be one day, and I could scrape together 14 catalogues to recycle - it's that time of year and catalogues are just about daily in the mail. I was surprised to find 35 of them when I gathered them from the pile in the kitchen and the desk in the front hall.

Clothing, Gardening, Emergency preparedness, Tools, mailing lists from different holiday shopping stores. I have to pay better attention to mailing list options and opt out of the mailed catalogues.

So, I am working on getting off of the mailing lists and going to paperless statements for the last few things we get paper bills for. We don't get as much junk mail as we used to, and most of the catalogues are from stores we have purchased from in the past. However, now that the garden is mostly set up, we don't need anything else from these places, and other decisions about spending less and making memories rather than giving impulsive gifts have reduced the need for shopping at all.

It's halfway through and I am thinking it may take more than one month of this game to really get to all of the storage bins and hiding spaces where things are put for safe keeping.


Goals:  electronic statements, electronic bills, opt out of mailing lists.

Observations: I rarely order anything from a catalogue - and use websites to shop when I do shop. Most of them go unread and get recycled, or put in a pile to "read later" and end up a pile of thirty-five...

Also, I would like to add one thing here: I don't want a system to organize this or any of the other things I am discovered piled around the house.

My goal is not to need a system at all...every pile, every drawer, every bin is a time sync. Time that I would rather spend with people or writing and gardening.What I use every day is already organized...spoons with spoons and forks with forks...baking supplies all in one place. It's the stuff I don't use and pay attention to that overtake me mentally and physically. I just want that stuff gone.

That is why I am playing the game!

Day 13: The Minimalism Game

Day 13 of The Minimalism Game:

Today is a day for recycling 13 Metal tins...

It really surprises me how difficult this is. I was going to MAKE something with these!

I have this voice telling me that I should have found a use for the metal tins, and I probably could have, and my unplanned intention was to use them for some sort of crafty project that never happened.

The reality - each of them were $2-$3 I justified in my mind because I could use the tin for "something" later. Dollars that could be better spent, and empty calories I do not need. Don't misunderstand, I do appreciate that there is the right time and place when an especially strong mint is needed and will continue to be used!

However, I am not going to use the tins someday. More importantly I am not using them now. They are a symbol of - however nicely organized in storage bins - collections of things I do not need or use.

I am setting some criteria for bringing any new, recycled or found "project" items into the house:
- Am I wasting money to get the item in the first place?
- I do have great project ideas and work on them regularly, however I should finish whatever
  great project idea is associated with the items within one month.
- No more stashes of unfinished projects.

The tins are not the only thing taking up space - the unfinished idea takes away something else from me - it drains energy every time I walk by a project unfinished, it takes up space in my mind that should be spent on today, and what really matters. It creates a barrier between me and what is taking place around me,  distracting me from what I want to do, and I use it as a distraction/excuse to keep those things unfinished.

What would a day without "what ifs" and distractions look like, I wonder?
What would a day lived in the moment be like?
My hope is that this "game" will bring me answers to the questions I have.

I sometimes have a very clear vision of what I would like my life, my home, my career to be.
It has to start with taking control of these seemingly small things, like little metal tins...

I don't have any challenge for anyone with this - this is my game to play, and life to live, but if anything speaks to you - I would be interested in hearing about it.

Now I am off to put those tins in the recycling bin for Friday =)

A New Kind of Game: Days 1-7

I really enjoy the writings and attitude of The Minimalists 

and although I missed the first round, 

I am playing The Minimalist Game for November...

Here's how it works - on November 1st, I got rid of one thing, the 2nd, two...

the 3rd, three and will continue on through to November 30th...30 things!

Here is my first week, not difficult to get rid of things out of excess, 

but I expect that it will get more interesting as the days go on...

I think the stories are important - so here they are. 

A bit vulnerable for me, but necessary for this process.  

Day 1: A broken frame, boxed and useless - tucked in between two pieces of furniture 

in the basement for, I would estimate, 8 years.

Day 2: The last of the television graveyard - two 15" televisions that are never used.

Day 3:  The story of FREE - Giveaway metal drinking containers, piled on a shelf, and very clearly collecting dust. My advice is to stay away from the giveaways...

Volunteer, clean up, give your time, but leave the free stuff there.

Day 4:  Four boxed things that haven't been touched since childhood 

or silly whims abandoned them.

Day 5:  Harry Potter Collectibles, dusted off for E-bay.

If they don't sell - they aren't mine and will leave the house another way.

It's important that my November be my stuff, but I can help get things ready for selling 

or donating if other family members want to play too!

Day 6:  Opened a drawer in the basement and found a strange array of empty containers and 

covers to things long gone...I think of this as the "what if I need it someday" dilemma. 

More to come on this as the days go on...

Day 7:  Miscellaneous cookbooks - duplicates or destroyed from use.

Books are being recycled or donated as needed.

Reflection from the first 7 days?  

There are 3 empty shelves and a couple of recycling bins ready to go.

I'm putting the Bagster out in the driveway and bagging stuff up to donate.

I am enjoying the Minimalist Game! I haven't known where to start, 

and even though this is a slow start, 

I expect that I will be changed by the end of it.

I am doing this to make room for people, and stories I want to write,

to simplify what I need to do each day and make my daily routine easier.

Who wants to play?

Start where you are and do what you can...

Less is most definitely more.