When we moved into our 996-square-foot home, I was elated to finally, finally have my own washer and dryer — but I faced a dilemma: Where do the laundry baskets go?
Our appliances are stacked into a closet that's just barely big enough for them and for socks to fall down the crack between them and the wall. The hallway the closet's in is narrow enough that with the bifold door open, there's barely room to scootch by. There's room on top of the closed washer to fold some clothes but not to fit a basket. Our two bedrooms are petite for a family of five, containing just the requisite furniture without a lot of spare floor space and with minimal closets. Our bathroom is laughably teensy, with room for just a toilet and tub and no extra floor space whatsoever. Yes, even the sink is elsewhere.
Long story short, we got rid of our laundry baskets and our hamper once we realized they fit nowhere and were just being tripped over.
Have you ever tried to pare down your belongings when you have no money?
It takes a steady hand and a brave heart, that's for sure.
I came across Marie Kondo's book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, a little over a year ago, when Karsten was still quite small. I started implementing some of the techniques — picking up objects and determining whether they sparked joy, and even folding my socks the KonMari way — and immediately enjoyed the increased serenity that came with less clutter, less crowding, less need to organize and cram and put away. I am a declutter-o-phile and reforming packrat, and the KonMari options clicked with me.
Some examples:
How I redid the kids' drawers. I love how visible everything is.
My mismatched socks before. I'm NOT KIDDING. These are all SINGLE SOCKS with no mate.
HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? These all went bye-bye.
My sweet little socks and undies afterward, with socks organized and separated by color family.
But … it was around this same time that we realized how little money we had coming in. Sam and I work for ourselves, which means our "paychecks" are unpredictable, so things can sometimes coast for a bit before we realize there's been an income swing. We've always had a dip like this when we've had a new baby, but this one was perhaps deeper because the pregnancy itself was hard as well and we have — count 'em — three children now to care for and homeschool. I don't worry about telling you this, because I trust I've been honest that being self-employed is only for those who can handle some degree of risk, and we are such people. Our income has always been cyclical, so we tightened our belts while we devoted what energy we could to earning more money, and we have pared way, way, way down on spending.
And this is where the KonMari giddiness took a nosedive.
Welcome to the January 2015 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Household Chores
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared stories, tips, and tricks on tackling household chores. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to tidy up easily, because everything had a dedicated place to stow neatly away?
This is the dream we have for our small space, and it's one we're slowly (slooowly) achieving. As a consequence, this post is still somewhat in the "do as I say, not as I do" category, so fair warning. But we're getting there!
If you don't have a lot of space (like us), or if you have a lot of stuff (like we have had), or if you just plain have more stuff than room for it (like many) — and assuming acquiring substantially more space isn't a viable option at the moment — you'll breathe more easily if you reconfigure your stuff to fit your space.
Save your energy
Having a place for everything means — hard truth here — having less stuff than absolutely fits. In other words, don't cram your space; get rid of things instead.
Back when feng shui was "in," I read a bit about it. I know, I know — ancient Chinese wisdom as a fad! My heartfelt apologies to anyone who's an expert and a believer. But it was quite popular a few years back in Western home decorating, so I was curious what feng shui was all about. I didn't embrace the concept of energy as a mystic force, but I did take away a huge lesson in psychology. To wit: Clutter steals energy.
In the spirit of Earth Day this month, I'm sharing 10 simple changes you can make to create a more eco-friendly environment in your home. Some of you might have done all these and then some, but for those of us who need a nudge in a new direction, here are some baby steps to pick and choose from, according to where you are on your environmental journey.
1. Replace paper towels with cloth dish towels, sponges, and rags.
It can seem daunting to discontinue paper towel use when you're accustomed to grabbing one several times a day for all manner of cleaning projects. If the idea of going cold turkey scares you, keep a roll at hand but gradually increase the number of reusable options you have as well.
Welcome to the Sunday Surf, a tour of the best blogposts I've read throughout the week.
Does anyone else feel like the Christmas season is racing by? Stop, stop, stop! I want some of that kid-perspective of Advent-lasts-foreeeever-and-when-is-it-going-to-be-Christmas-already, because I can't believe it's almost here and we've done about … oh … 5 things on our list of 100 possibilities. I'm trying to slow down a bit and just enjoy it, regardless. We have our tree and stockings up now, so that's nice!
I thought you'd want to enjoy this epic bedhead from Alrik's nap.
I also gave him a haircut that day. You'd think that was because of or after the bedhead, right? Nope, the haircut came first and apparently unleashed even more volume. But the back of his head's pretty much always like that. We got off easy with Mikko and his self-styling locks.
Of course, not that we do much at all to keep this kid looking this cute.
Having unrealistic expectations, for example expecting your toddler to sit quietly during dinner for an hour, sets parents up for frustration – thereby undermining gentle intentions. Imagining malicious intention can be even worse. Imagine your 11 month old throwing food off of their tray. If you imagine she is doing it intentionally to annoy you your reaction will be very different than if you imagine she is having a great time learning about her power over objects.
Thank you for making me feel bad challenging me to be less lazy, to pick a few things up and to try a new activity. To switch off the TV and hand over the glitter pots.
[…]
Thank you for helping me realise that you doing what you do to the very best of your abilities isn’t an indictment on me. It’s just you celebrating your strengths as I compare, identify and then celebrate mine! And also for showing me that you can’t make me feel anything, and I own my feelings and should take responsibility for them rather than blaming you for being great.
I want to think of arranging my house as if I live in a hotel. One of the best experiences in my life was living in England for a summer during college and having a whole bookshelf for about 10 books and a whole closet for half a dozen outfits — it felt decadent and right. And it was SO EASY to clean up!
But the best thing about the Firelight Lodge (or any hotel for that matter) is that we each checked in with only 1 suitcase each full of our favourite things.
And that has to be the single most compelling reason for getting rid of clutter that I can think of. Seriously, have you ever walked into a hotel room and thought:what this place is missing is a whole lot of my crap?
Sure, sometimes a comfortable bed or a sharp knife would be a pleasant addition, but do you miss your 46 tea towels or your laundry day underwear? Do you ever get a hankering to fix that broken flashlight you’ve been hanging onto?
Welcome to the Sunday Surf, a tour of the best blogposts I've read throughout the week.
These two handsome and independent young men were my companions yesterday.
They sat by themselves on the bus, but we all played together on the beach and at the toy store.
Even if a relative is offended when a child does not want to kiss or hug them, this is an important time to keep in mind the bottom line—kids need to learn from an early age that touch or play for affection and fun should be the choice of BOTH people, safe, allowed by the adults in charge, and not a secret.
Respectful script here, too, for what to say in situations when relatives demand or expect hugs and kisses.
Very helpful article on helping kids let go of stuff, the perfect article in response to my own swirling questions about minimalism & kids & the stuff stuff stuff that’s invaded our kids’ lives.
It's fruit fly season. Time to keep our kitchen compost bin's lid closed and keep control of Rainier cherry pits and other fruity detritus!
If you're suffering from light infestations of common household pests, here are a few natural remedies to rid your home of critters you'd rather stay outside: fruit flies, fleas, and ants, to be specific.
Warning: If you are the catch-and-release type, don't read on. These methods are harmless to humans but not so much to the bugs in question.
FRUIT FLIES
Fruit flies always make me feel like a bad housekeeper, even though we've had them often enough that I recognize they're more of a seasonal certainty. Summer brings ripe fruit, and lots of it, and fruit flies piggyback on all that lushness.
Keeping fruit flies at bay involves diligently removing their food sources while setting out simple traps to diminish the population. Otherwise, they reproduce like … fruit flies!
Take away their food.
Be ruthless about putting away or throwing out fruit and fruit bits. I can't tell you how many cherry pits and stems, apple cores, grape halves (spat out by the little one), and orange and banana peels I've had to sweep into the kitchen scrap bin … because apparently everyone else's arms are broken. No matter. If you don't put them away, the fruit flies will … into their stomachs. See what I did there?
Keep kitchen scraps in a closed container, or do what Teacher Tom recommended to me (genius!) and keep a compostable bag of scraps in the freezer. If you've reached the overflow point (or, preferably, before), walk those scraps on outside to the yard-waste bin or your yard's compost pile.
Clean, clean, clean.
Sticky dishes need to go immediately into the dishwasher or the sink to soak or be cleaned. Fruity rags or napkins need to go into a wet bag or the laundry (or trash … if you're still using paper, you destroyer of trees, heh heh heh). Wipe down counters to get rid of crumbs and juicy puddles. Be sure to regularly clean out your kitchen scrap bin with hot, soapy water.
Trap them.
There are a couple traps that work for fruit flies. They require ingredients you already have around the home plus a measure of patience.
Take a small bowl and fill it with no more than about an inch of apple cider vinegar. Place cling wrap over the top (unless you're not using that anymore — good for you; you're ahead of me with that one) and secure with a rubber band. Use a knife or scissors or a fork or whatever to poke tiny little holes in the film. The fruit flies are attracted to the smell of the ACV and will fly into the holes but then not be able to figure out how to fly back out. Or so goes the idea. If they do get back out, try again with smaller or fewer holes.
Take a jar and put a piece of fruit in the bottom. Roll up a piece of paper (scrap paper! recycled and reused! you didn't catch me there) into a cone shape and stick it into the jar. Ideally, the top unfurls to the size of the jar top, and the bottom is a tiny hole just above the fruit. Again, flies will go, "Oh! Yummy rotting fruit!" and fly on down, and then buzz around there until they die. Which they do rather quickly, because their life span is very short. I feel like this is a peaceful end, because they got to eat something delicious before they go, but they didn't get to reproduce quite as much. Win, win!
You can obviously switch the baits for each trap. Knock yourself out. I've found the fruit works better, personally, and you can just use whatever scraps you have. Who wouldn't take fruit over apple cider vinegar, though?
This paper was picturesque but stank as a trap. I recommend
something thin: (recycled) notepaper, newspaper, or computer paper
Welcome to the July edition of the Simply Living Blog Carnival - With Kids cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children, Laura at Authentic Parenting, Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy, and Joella at Fine and Fair. This month, we write about keeping things simple with our kids. Please check out the links to posts by our other participants at the end of this post.
These are our experiences and tips on how our family lives more simply. Some of our experiences are a little fringe, so I don't expect everyone to be able to apply them — but maybe it will give you some food for thought!
How to simplify childcare
Sam and I both are self-employed, so we trade off taking care of our kids and working. I don't think that's all too common, but it's working well for us — we both get lots of family time but also time to earn money and pursue our passions.
How to simplify food
We eat the same things over and over — and like it! Hey, if you know what you like, you know what you like. I've never gotten frustrated by eating something yummy repeatedly. Sometimes I think, Oh, no, that must mean I'm so boring. But when I can reframe it by saying, "We're living in simplicity," suddenly it's something that came out of a gauzy magazine with soft-focus photographs of flowers and a delicious, oft-repeated meal on white plates in the foreground. And then it's in style! What we tend to do is pick meals and snacks we like, then eat them to death for weeks and months. Once we've gotten bored of one or two, we've usually glommed onto another favorite that we then eat and eat until we can rotate back to an earlier one. Easy-peasy! We don't have to menu plan, and we always have the ingredients we need or know what to buy when we're at the store.
How to simplify socializing
We don't do much of it. We're all, so far (Alrik's an unknown), introverts. We need a lot of time to decompress after being social. So we just … don't see other friends all that much. I don't want any snarky questions about how, then, my homeschoolers socialize. We do, and they're not feral, thankyouverymuch, but we limit it to what works for our peace of mind: about one or two playdates or other social outings per week.
I wrote this when I was pregnant with Alrik two-plus years ago and never hit "publish," I guess afraid my pickiness about clothing would come across wrong. I'm feeling willing to take the chance now that it will just spark some interesting discussions.
This post contains affiliate links.
I've been sorting through boxes of Mikko's baby things, trying to find (a) newborn clothes and diaper covers and (b) homebirth supplies. I've been piling things by size, and Mikko has been trying to help me, which has been not as helpful as he intends. "No! Not in that pile, Mama. Here, I do it right."
I'm astonished at how many of his baby clothes I don't like.
Unsnapped one-pieces made for good
boxing robes for our bruiser.
For one thing, his sex was a surprise, prompting everyone to load us up with pastel yellows and greens. Then, once he was born, it was all light blue, all the time.
Don't get me wrong — those are all lovely colors, in moderation. But I lean toward vibrant clothes for kids, and the pastels just look insipid to me.
And beyond the colors are the cuts. We got a lot of onesies and other one-pieces. I know people think onesies are the awesomest thing ever — except that we don't. I was doing elimination communication AND cloth diapering a baby who peed every five minutes (no exaggeration). PLUS, we had a huge baby who was wearing diapers that were on the bulky side — we could barely ever get the snaps closed in the first place, much less keep them that way. I intuited that we would need separates; I put several examples of kimono-style t-shirts and elastic-waist pants on our baby registry and pleaded in the comments that these would be "so convenient!" No one took the hint.
Welcome to the Sunday Surf, a tour of the best blogposts I've read throughout the week.
Mikko and I went downtown to attend the Science Expo and Mini Makers Faire (for mini-inventors) yesterday. It rocked. Since we're unschooling but inventions and science are not my bailiwick, I love that there are resources like this out there that can satisfy him.
This is his typical non-smile for photos, but he was super proud of the light-up pin
he's sporting that he soldered himself. I was proud, too! I've never soldered a thing.
And what do you think all that science-learning did for him?
My little scientist is also a conservationist. He volunteered to clean up
all the trash around the bus stop because it would be "good for the environment."
I hear about {affiliate link} this book from *everyone*, and I keep wanting/hoping we might implement these strategies. But also not wanting to disrupt my own bad habits. Hmm.
But, seriously y’all, I was skeptical at first about whether the tricks in this book would work for us. I have employed some aspects of attachment parenting, and one of them that I associate with the trend is to offer children choices and let them articulate their preferences and control aspects of their food world. If I had to pick one thing I’ve learned in the last week, it’s that the science does not agree; in fact, it suggests children aren’t capable of deciding what they should eat, and these decisions actually stress them out.
I recently outed myself on facebook, saying that my husband and I are wanting to add an addition to our family and will soon begin trying to conceive. I have been telling people for months that I want another child, and overwhelmingly, peoples first response is “WHY???”
I’m a little confused when I am asked this. You’d think I had just expressed my deepest desire to undergo an unmedicated root canal - or contract a sexually transmitted disease.
It’s one of the most difficult parts of parenting - shedding that rough sweater of negative childhood experience in order that you don’t pass that insufferable legacy along to your kids.
I'm Lauren Wayne, writer and natural parent. I embrace attached parenting with an emphasis toward green living.
Riding the rails with my husband, Crackerdog Sam, and our hobo kids, Mikko Lint Picker (born June 2007), Alrik Irontrousers (born May 2011), and Karsten (born October 2014). Trying every day to parent intentionally and with grace.
I came across Marie Kondo's book, 
I'm Lauren Wayne, writer and natural parent. I embrace attached parenting with an emphasis toward green living. 
