40 Fast Ways To Clear Clutter

Fast Ways to Clear Clutter
We’re all #busy and sometimes cleaning is the last thing on our minds. I get it. But when we have less things, there’s less to clean. That’s why it’s important to periodically weed clutter from our lives. Taking the time to clear clutter can be time consuming, but if we do just a little bit each day, we’ll have less stuff in no time. Here’s 40 fast ways I’ve found to clear clutter.

  1. Use Unroll me to get clean up your inbox.
  2. Challenge yourself to get rid of one thing per day for a week.
  3. Challenge yourself to get rid of one thing everyday for a month.
  4. Send yourself a daily reminder email or alarm to declutter just one area of your house.
  5. Get rid of something as soon as you wake up in the morning.
  6. Don’t let yourself go to sleep without getting rid of something.
  7. Set a no-buy day. Don’t allow yourself to buy anything on Mondays.
  8. Before you bring anything new into the house, get rid of something old.
  9. Before every birthday or gift-giving holiday, donate something.
  10. Ask for experience gifts, like massages or movie theater gift cards for birthdays and holidays.
  11. Have a “no gifts” policy.
  12. Challenge everyone in your house to get rid of three things.
  13. Go digital! Start scanning old pictures and documents.
  14. Get rid of duplicates in one room or area of your home.
  15. Set a timer for 5 minutes, challenge yourself to get rid of as many things as possible.
  16. Cut cable– it clutters up your mind!
  17. Fill one trash bag with junk to be thrown away.
  18. Fill one trash bag with things to be donated.
  19. Clear off your kitchen counter.
  20. Clean out one drawer.
  21. Begin placing what you wear to one side of the closet, after 30 days clear out the things you haven’t worn.
  22. Put five things in their place.
  23. Straighten your bathroom while brushing your teeth.
  24. Clear your desk at the end of each day.
  25. Get rid of previous issues of magazines.
  26. Throw away expired foods.
  27. Throw away expired medicines.
  28. Go through your mail and throw the junk mail in the recycle bin.
  29. Sort through your sock drawer, throw away your holey socks.
  30. Label your spice drawer.
  31. Donate something you haven’t used in a year.
  32. Get rid of something from the most cluttered place in your home.
  33. Clean out your pantry.
  34. Make a meal with rarely used pantry items.
  35. Donate something you’ve been meaning to donate.
  36. Put the donation bag in your car so you don’t forget about it!
  37. Get rid of one “someday” or “just in case” item.
  38. The next time you “need” something, challenge yourself to make do with something you already own.
  39. Put a note in your wallet to remind you not to make unnecessary purchases.
  40. Make a gratitude list before your next shopping trip. You’ll be reminded that the best things in life aren’t things.

What are your favorite fast ways to clear clutter? Talk to me in the comments!

2015 Garden Report

George tilling

I’ve had a few people ask about the results of my garden–which is super flattering. I still love gardening, I just didn’t keep statistics like I did last year. It can be time consuming to log everything you grow.

Beginning Garden

This year I planted zucchini, cherry and heirloom tomatoes, crookneck squash, peppers, potatoes and carrots. I planted the zucchini and carrots first. Too much rain washed all of the zucchini out of my garden and the carrots were washed all over the garden. The carrots ended up growing in chunks instead of neat rows. I was very disappointed about the zucchini because it was a huge crop for me last year. And it makes great noodles!

Mature Garden

Since I planted more tomatoes this year, I had a great crop. The cherry tomatoes have produced for months and are still producing! (I don’t expect this to happen for much longer.) The heirloom tomatoes did well, but I think I had a slight case of blight and they didn’t reach their full size potential.

potatoes

On a funny note, I must have bought the wrong pepper seeds. I thought I bought sweet peppers, but the peppers ended up being so hot that we couldn’t eat them! I managed to put a few into salsa and chili, and give some away, but most of the peppers ended up uneaten. I hate waste, but when I bit into one, I couldn’t breathe. They were that hot.

squash and tomatoes purple potatoes

The squash bloomed and produced for a good two weeks, then died suddenly. But for those two weeks, it was a stunner! My purple potatoes were the biggest surprise. Since they grow underground, I felt like it was a huge gamble. The flowering part of the potato plants looked great, but I had no idea what was going on under the surface. When I finally dug them up, I was so relieved. I ended up getting pounds of potatoes off of two starter potatoes!

IMG_2362

Although I spread nutritious soil on the surface of my garden, next year, I will probably dig deeper or use raised beds. The soil where I live is incredibly sandy and I think it has resulted in poor growth and small veggies.

Every year I learn something new with this little garden.

Did you plant a garden this year? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

love,
melanie

9 Ways to Reduce the Stress of Technology

Ways to reduce the stress of technologyI feel like I have the physical stuff part of minimalism down pat. Give me clutter and I can conquer it! But the mental part, that part for me is much harder. I constantly want to fill my day with emails and websites and checking Instagram and Pinteresting ALL THE THINGS! Those things add little value to my life. Those things only add stress. To live a simpler, happier life, I need to let some technology go. Maybe one day, I’ll let all the technology go, but for now, here’s some ways to reduce the stress of technology. Continue reading →

How Much Money Can You Save by Living in a Tiny House?

How much money can you save by living in a tiny house?

Today I’m going to address the question: How much money can you save by living in a tiny house? This answer is based on our own experiences and our own finances. The amount of money could vary for everyone.

We originally began living in an Airstream because we needed to save money. (At 188 square feet, we consider the Airstream a tiny house.) After we got married, George and I started to look at our finances and it wasn’t pretty. Individually we’ve each received 6 years of higher education. This gave us a bit of a later start in life.  During our college years and even into the beginning of our professional careers, we saved nothing. Yes, we probably didn’t spend as wisely as we could have, but there wasn’t much left after paying our bills to save. George was a teacher and I am a librarian. We made (and still make) less than the national average wage index, but we are above the poverty line. We knew that we needed to do something that would dramatically improve our finances.

Living in a more affordable place seemed the answer. We looked around at apartments in the new area where we were going to live. We were instantly discouraged. The apartments that were clean and safe would leave us with nothing at the end of the month. We’d be fighting the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle for the rest of our lives. We wanted out.

One day I stumbled across this Featured Seller story on pollenArts— a creative couple who work and live in their Winnebago! One night while lying in bed looking at adorable little properties we couldn’t afford, I mentioned it to George. I didn’t put the pieces together, but George started searching for RVs on Craigslist right away. He knew we could do this. Airstreams had the most appeal, although they were a bit pricier than other RVs. Our Airstream cost $5,000 and it took about $1,500 to fix up. (You can read the whole buying story here.)

Now that you’ve got the history of our story, on to the good stuff! We spend about $700 on living expenses each month while living in the Airstream. (More about our expenses breakdown here.) This includes food, electricity, life, etc. In the past, our rent payments varied widely. Our most expensive rent payment was $1,000 a month– that’s what we were paying before we decided to move into the Airstream. That doesn’t even include the life stuff. When we were renting, we were spending everything we made.

This past year while living in the Airstream, I also went on a Spending Diet for the website I write for, And Then We Saved. I attempted to spend only $100 a month on “extra” stuff. Extra stuff included makeup, haircuts, clothes and stuff that I needed but didn’t really need to live. (You can read more about my Spending Diet here.) I didn’t succeed every month. It was much harder than I expected it to be! But I succeeded about 75% of the time.

With the help of the Spending Diet, I saved $12,441.99 in a year! I was hoping to save $15,000, but considering that I saved about half of my paycheck each month, I consider this a huge success. I also don’t plan on going back to my old ways, so I think I’ll hit my $15,000 goal in a few months.

Prior to the Spending Diet, we had lived in the Airstream for about a year. We went spent much of our “extra” money going on trips, but I don’t regret that at all. We could definitely save more if we didn’t go on vacations, but traveling is one of our priorities. George and I have been able to travel to Portland, Memphis, Austin, Canada/Niagra Falls and we took a road trip to Florida. I now also have emergency savings, a 401k and a Roth IRA. I didn’t even know what those things were a few years ago! Now that I’m off the Spending Diet (but still on the savings train) we just booked a trip to Iceland! So crazy.

Yes, we’ve been able to save more money by living tiny, but we’ve also been able to travel and explore the world outside our tiny home. That is priceless.

That being said, the longer we stay in the Airstream, the more we can save and the more we can travel. If we stay in the Airstream for another 5 years and continue saving at the same rate, we could save $60,000. That’s insane. I don’t know what our life will look like in another 5 years, but with that kind of savings, we could do something big.

Have you ever thought about living tiny to save money? Talk to me in the comments!

love,
melanie

The Small Life: Dre’s Free-Spirited Airstream

The Small Life: Dre's Free-spirited AirstreamHey ya’ll! Today I’m excited to share the Airstream of my friend, Dre. Dre is an incredibly talented artist whose work I have long admired. She lives and works out of her 1975 Airstream Sovereign! Take it away, Dre!

Please introduce yourself (name, occupation, current location, etc.)
Hi!  I’m Dre!  I’m an artist with a day job (the day job is visual merchandising).  I have been actively working towards being a full time artist for about 3 years.  I work with textiles; making quilts, tapestries, embellished re-purposed clothing, and other things!  I currently live in West Virginia.  I grew up in WV, and moved away to Savannah, GA for college when I was 18.  I was there for 4 years then I moved to Los Angeles where I lived for 5 years and I returned to WV about 2 and a half years ago. Continue reading →

Living in an Airstream: A Two Year Update

 

living in an airstream: a two year update

We’ve been living in an Airstream for two years now… two years! Sometimes it feels like no time has passed and other times it feels as if we’ve been living there forever. Most days it just feels normal. I go to work and come home. I come home to a home that is much smaller than average, but it still feels like a very conventional life.

Sometimes conventionality is good, but if I’m being honest, I am getting the urge to switch things up a bit. I get this urge every couple of years. We’re not planning on moving out of the Airstream, but we’d love to get a larger plot of land where we can do more gardening. George and I are also thinking more about the future of our family and what that looks like. We don’t know what the future will hold, but it’s good to question your priorities every few years.

Anyway, on to more shallow things! I’ve been getting some questions about how well the Airstream has held up after two years. The answer is: surprisingly well! We’ve actually switched very little around since we moved in. We did have to replace the hot water heater and the AC unit. Both were costly, but both were original to the Airstream, so it wasn’t a huge surprise.

The paint on the walls and on the storage units has held up well. (You can see what products we used here.) It looks mostly the same, but slightly less white from use. We’re big fans of Magic Erasers for getting dirt and marks off the walls. The paint on the counter and the paint in the shower has begun to chip a bit. (Pictures below.) We used oil-based paint on the counter (not something like this product for counters), so it is to be expected. I also put a hot French Press directly on the counter every day for two years, so I’m not surprised about that one either. This fall, when it cools down, we want to do a big repaint and clean. It’s surprising how dirty a tiny space can get.

This is the kitchen countertop. It's seen the most wear and it is the worst of the paint chips.

This is the kitchen countertop. It’s seen the most wear and it is the worst of the paint chips.

The bottom of the shower.

The bottom of the shower.

The bench in the shower.

The bench in the shower.

The bathroom sink.

The bathroom sink.

Since living in the Airstream, we have accomplished our goal, which was to get ahead with our savings. We have jumped ahead savings-wise, but we’re still not at a place where I feel comfortable. (Will I ever feel comfortable? I don’t know.) I’ll have an in-depth savings post on how much we’ve saved on Friday.

Do you have any more questions about how the Airstream has held up? Talk to me in the comments!

love,
melanie

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Living in an Airstream: An Interview with The More We Explore

It’s  video-mania! Yesterday we took a tour of our Airstream and today we’re interviewed by a cute couple, Steve and Tess, also know as The More We Explore. They are interested in living in an Airstream and reached out to us to chat. In this video we’ll talk about how we minimized, our daily life and the best and worst parts of living in an Airstream.

You can read more about Steve and Tess on their website, The More We Explore and see more of their videos on their Youtube page.

Do you like these videos? Should we do more? Talk to me in the comments!

love,
melanie

A Video Tour of our Airstream!

We’ve been living in the Airstream for two years now! TWO YEARS! I can’t believe it’s been that long. Anyway, we had friends over last weekend and they commented that it was hard to visualize how the Airstream looked from the pictures. I had no idea, because I live in it every day! So, yesterday, George and I filmed a video tour of our Airstream. The video isn’t the best quality and it was filmed with an iPhone and I am super awkward, but, I think it gives you a good idea of the layout.

I hope you enjoy!
love,
melanie

September’s Book Club Pick

The not so big life

September’s book club pick is The Not So Big Life: Making Room for What Really Matters by Sarah Susanka. Sarah is an architect and is best know for her “Not So Big house” books. I’ve had this book sitting beside my bed forever and this will force me to read it! Read it with me and we’ll discuss on September 1st. Let’s get to readin’!

love,
melanie

This post contains affiliate links. By clicking on the links and purchasing the book, you help me keep this blog running!

Ask Melanie: How Do I Reduce My Books and Art Supplies?

Desk closeup in Airstream

Today’s question is from Grazia. She wants to know some tips and tricks for reducing books and art supplies. Today I’ve got George, my husband, helping me out. He’s the artist in the family. Take it away, Grazia!

Hi Melanie, happy to see you go on with your blog and thanks for doing it, it’s always a good reading. I know it’s hard to do it with a full time job and a life, thanks so much! I’ve read all your last posts this morning (it’s 5:30 am here in Italy, my time for reading peacefully) and want to thank you for your commitment in telling this life choice of living simply and small…

I’ve two questions for “Ask Melanie” – ok, I’m pretentious! But they aren’t anything urgent, I hope only to inspire one of your good articles.

1) You’re a reader and I’ve read you use library and ebooks. But is it enough to reduce the number of books? I’ve this trouble in living small… I’m a writer and a painter, so I have a lot of books that I need for my jobs. I tried to reduce them, especially huge art books, but I still have a full big bookshelf. I can’t find them at the local library and they do not exist as ebooks (in example Taschen art books). How do you manage this in the Airstream? I’d like to hear all your “techniques” to reduce the books space!

2) This question is mainly for George: how does he work in a so small table? I’m really impressed! 😀 He has a secret, I’m sure! I’ve a table for Mac and 2 monitors, another table for painting, a shelf for all the ‘minimum’ I need for painting, a big bookshelf and a big, old bedroom 4-drawer dresser to store my paintings and papers, with the printers on it. May he share his “tips and tricks” in working from home in a small space? Thanks!

-Grazia

Continue reading →