My Last Birthday...Ever

If I title my post The Last Birthday...Ever, do you know what I mean?  I'm sure some of you women do.  29.  That's me today.  Today I turned the last age I will ever admit to.

The day was in some ways off to a great start, and in others, not so good.  At 4:57 AM, I awoke with a sore throat, a stuffy nose, and a puppy intruding on my sleeping space.  First of all, that is way too early.  Times that start with a 4 should be off limits for waking up.  The other things were just 'icing on the cake', shall we say?  When the alarm went off at 5:25, I was welcomed to my 29th year by presents from Byron.  He did very well.  He gave me a yoga video that I had been wanting, a really cool book by one of my favorite fabric designers, Amy Butler, and this really cool print we had seen on Etsy.

I love it so much.  (It can be found here if anyone is curious.)  I can't wait to find a frame for it and find a wall to hang it on.  I have the perfect place in mind.

At work, my coworker made two pans of brownies for me.  Since I don't care too much for cake, this was so awesome.  And the two pans left one for me and one for me to share.  Kidding.  Sort of.

And now a little Chinese take out and relaxing to end the night is just what makes the perfect birthday.  I was hoping to go out to a nice restaurant, but since I'm feeling so crappy, we'll just save that for another day.  And for anyone who read my recent post, birthdays don't count as shopping.
I am a little sad to be hitting the big 2-9.  Mostly because I just don't want to be 30.  I want to be young forever.  Too bad I didn't ask for the fountain of youth for my birthday this year!

Purge #2

Another purge.  I'm patting myself on the back right now.  This purge claimed victim to another 23 items.  For those keeping score, that's 24 + 2 + 23 for a total of 49 items so far.  I had said that I would like to purge 100 things in the first few months of the year.  To give myself a firm deadline, I have actually chosen the 100th day of the year, which, by my calculation, is April 10.  (If I'm wrong, just go with it.)  So anyway, I am almost halfway there on the item count and I know there hasn't been 50 days yet in 2011, so I'm feeling pretty good.  Hence, the aforementioned back-patting.
This time it wasn't just clothing that fell to my clutter busting hand, but a random slew of things.  Let me break the photo down.

• 1 candle - love it, but can't get it to burn.
• 4 old magazines
• 2 pairs of jeans - one with grease stains and another I'm pretty sure I'll NEVER fit into again.
• 1 old bra
• 1 pair of character shoes - from show choir...in high school...enough said
• 1 picture frame
• 1 Christmas ornament
• 1 package of paper wine coasters
• 7 used gift bags/boxes
• 4 tank tops

I can't say I'll miss any of it, either.  Which begs me to ask the question, why keep this around in the first place?  I have no idea.  It's a problem, folks.  Some of us are just more cluttery than the next.  Some of these items are getting put in the Goodwill pile, but the rest are getting recycled or tossed.  Somewhere in this house there are 51 more items just waiting to fall to my decluttering mission.  What do you think they will be?  You're guess is as good as mine.

February is the month of...

Remember my 30 before 30 list?  I think I only have one item crossed off so far (hey - several more are in progress!), and this month I turn 29.  So...basically time is ticking away and I need to start making progress.  So here goes one.  February is the month of NO SHOPPING!
What this means to each person could be different, so here is what it means to me.  Expenses like gas, groceries, bills, and other necessities are not included.  I need to live people.  Although we say we are going "grocery shopping" it is not quite the same as a Target run, just to pick up a few things...then you end up with 20 in your cart.  Can anyone relate?  One thing I will try to do this month is to focus on real, healthy food, and not some of those extras we don't need but sometimes come home with.  What else does no shopping mean to me?  No breakfast runs to the cafeteria at work or mid-afternoon runs to the vending machine.  And absolutely no spending at the mall, the craft store, the home improvement store, etc.  I will admit, I haven't exactly figured out if this means no going out to eat.  If it were just me, I would say that absolutely is out, but my that means my poor husband is stuck at home for an entire month.  So we'll see.  I also have a few gift cards from Christmas, and I haven't decided if those are off limits, either.  I am leaning toward just not going there.  Although I wouldn't be spending real money, I would still be shopping, so those will likely stay tucked in my wallet for at least another month.
Another question I ask myself when doing this is what am I trying to accomplish?  Well, I guess I have two main reasons.  The first is an issue of discipline.  I just want to tell myself that I can do it, and then prove to myself that I was right.  The second reason is that I'm already a pretty frugal person in general.  But I love to talk about budgeting and saving money.  Sometimes I read articles and books for fun about how to save for the future or get out of debt, and the strategies are usually talking about cutting expenses that I don't generally have.  So I just want to use this as an exercise to see where the excess is in my life, and if I had to cut something out, I would know that I could.
That seemed like a long explanation.  So far, I am 5 days in, and although the smell of a breakfast sandwich tempts me every morning, I am surviving the challenge.  I have just over 3 weeks left.  Sometimes that seems like eternity, and sometimes it is no big deal.  I will check back in when the month is over to report on how I did.  Until then, wish me luck!

Note:  I know that money and spending habits are extremely personal and I am in no way trying to impose my beliefs and habits on anyone else.  Please read this with a grain of salt and know that this is just something I wanted to do for myself.

A Small Switcheroo

We are planning some changes around here, and in the process, ended up with an extra bedroom nightstand.  The side table in the living room was never a conscious choice we made, it was just what we had, and it fit.  But now, if you put two and two together, we go from this:

to this:

It's a spur of the moment change I really like.  Of course, now, the picture which was once hung at the perfect height for the lamp, is now covered up just a smidge, but I think we can learn to live with that.  I also like the fact that we can use the drawers to store stuff.  I'm not quite sure what yet, and I'll have to clear the stuff out that had accumulated in them since being in our guest room, but I'm sure I'll get to that on my organization rampage here in the next month or two.  (I can't decide if that was a joke or the truth...)  But since we occasionally have a "clutter" problem around here, extra drawers will come in handy!

My First Purge

First of all, let me just say that purge is not a very pretty word.  But it makes me feel so good.  It makes me feel so good when I get rid of things, that is.  I cleansed my closet.  This is something that is not very easy for me, because for some reason, I think that if I get rid of an item of clothing, even the ones I never wear, I feel like I am severely limiting my clothing options.  To write that down actually sounds silly, and I don't know if the point is really coming across or not, but for whatever reason it's how I feel.  So anyway, I went through my closet with a serious goal of purging, and here is the result:

What felt like a huge pile to me ended up being only 24 items.  These items were either things that didn't fit right, weren't my style, or were worn out.  And even though they were extremely hard for me to part with, in the end, it made me feel much better about what I got to keep.  And on top of that, I started to organize my closet, and could actually see what was in it much better.  I bundled these items up and will be dropping them off at Goodwill on my next trip.  Woo hoo!
And...just for the record I tossed/recycled two other items (my husband would definitely call them pieces of junk) that were taking up space in the guest room closet.  I am definitely counting this as a small victory, too.
So chalk this up to the first move toward making my new years resolution a reality.  I only need to repeat this process like 50 more times and I might just consider myself on top of things!

My Resolution

Now that we are a week or so into 2011, I'm going to announce my official 2011 resolution.  I have actually known what my resolution would be since mid-2010 and I've been saving it just for the new year.  I know that sounds silly...if I already knew what I was going to resolve, why didn't I just make an August resolution or something like that?  I don't know.  Maybe because I procrastinate.  But anyway.  The time has come NOW.  My 2011 resolution is to...BE MORE ORGANIZED!
In my life, I definitely put out the "I'm organized" vibe, but open some of my closet doors and kitchen drawers and you will see a big mess.  I am a magnet for clutter.  I just can't stay on top of it.  I want to be in control of the goings on of my home, and honestly, my life.
So how will I be more organized this year?  Here are some ideas that represent organization to me.  I may not stick to all of these 100%, and some more ideas will be added to the list I'm sure, but here is where I'm at right now:
* Sort through mail regularly and don't let it pile up
* Reduce clutter - I would like to get rid of at least 100 things in the next month or so
* Clean more frequently (and take the burden off my wonderful husband who does it now!)
* Plan meals in advance
* Finish the projects that I start
* Be more prepared for holidays
* Do not store junk in the guest room closet
* Sort through our moving boxes that are still packed in the basement
So that's it.  This is the year that I will be organized.  Think I can stick to it?  I hope so.  Time will tell, but for right now, I'm off to sort through my closet.

Merry Christmas