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NO BUY/LOW BUY FEBRUARY INSIGHTS

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Hey friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday, it is the last Thursday of the month, so I want to give a recap on how my no buy/low buy year has been going so far. I did want to report at the top that I was successful for another month! Well, I know we still have a few more days in February as I type this, but I don’t anticipate having any slip ups the next few days.

The first realization I had this month was noticing my tendency to overbuy multiples when I like something. I guess I kind of already knew this. But going through the process of decluttering on a new level and not bringing in new items, I see it more clearly. My leather earring collection is a perfect example. Now, to be fair, I have been collecting these earrings for over 10 years, and there was a time when I was wearing them everyday. But, I don’t need as many as I had. I think before decluttering I counted around 30 pairs? Which is really quite ridiculous! I could wear different earrings every day of the month! I did declutter a handful of them, giving them to a friend who also really likes that style, but honestly could probably declutter more. The earrings are not the only category of items I have this struggle of overbuying. I know I have several pairs of shoes that all look very similar as well. I need to be more mindful of this when purchasing items moving forward after my no buy year. I think this was just a sign of the habit of shopping, and always wanting the new and shiny! 

I know I have shared this in the past, but I will share it today as it is relevant to this conversation. There was definitely a time when I had unhealthy spending habits and used shopping as a way to cope with anxiety and stress. Early on in our marriage I was very frugal and a lot more intentional about what I purchased because my husband’s income was modest, and we were living solely on his income. But looking back, I see that as he progressed in his career and his income grew, our spending just kept creeping up as well. Regardless of how much we make, I want to be very intentional with how we spend our money, and in particular what comes into our home. It’s honestly not just about the money anymore, it’s about my desire to live with less. I shared a Joshua Becker quote over on Instagram this week that said, “We don’t buy things with money. We buy them with hours from our lives.” And this really resonated with me. As someone who has primarily been a homemaker for most of my adult life, I am weary of taking care of stuff and I am just wanting to simplify!

Another thing I have been thinking about this month is wondering if this no buy year has been a springboard for me to implementing other healthy habits. I mentioned in last month’s recap that I am also doing a challenge each month this year in addition to the no buy year. Honestly, the challenges seem so simple because I know it’s only going to be one month as opposed to the entire year! In January I chose to eliminate alcohol and I decided to roll that into February. And then in February I chose to give up sugar for the month (which has definitely been more challenging!) But overall, I feel like doing this no buy challenge has given me more of a desire to make healthy choices in life all around. In March, instead of eliminating a possible vice from my life, I am going to challenge myself to walk every single day in March. I have been walking more often, but I would like to make it a daily habit. Walking more is one of the goals I wrote down for my year, so this is a way to build that habit into my daily routines. We’ll see how it goes!

But I did want to talk about something that surprised me a little even though it should not have. In February with the  no buy year, no alcohol, plus no sugar, I realized I had eliminated a lot of my go to vices if I was having a rough day. It was a good thing that I was almost forced to experience those negative feelings without covering them up with something else. It forced me to choose a more healthy or positive way to deal with these feelings – like talking to friends, journaling, or taking an Epsom salt bath at the end of the day. It has been good to learn to replace these negative coping mechanisms with more positive ones.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I did not fail this month BUT I did experience some temptation. Remember last month when I said I told myself to scroll past the ads on Instagram. Well, I have not been listening to myself! Those Instagram ads just get me! They are always showing me ads for clothes and that is for sure my main vice as far as spending goes. So I need to get back to being disciplined about scrolling through ads!

The last thing I wanted to share is that I really feel like my creativity is in overdrive! I think this is because I have that extra time and bandwidth that is no longer focused on shopping. I have been working on fixing up our home and while I should be getting some practical things done around our house, I just can’t help but come up with different design ideas! Last month I shared a little makeover in our back entryway, and I have some other ideas for other areas of my home, so stay tuned if you like that sort of content!

Okay friends, that is all for this month’s recap! I am shocked and also so thankful for all of the insights I have had so far this year, month two into my no buy year! If you are doing a no buy year, I would love to hear how it’s going for you! Or just let me know your thoughts on my thoughts today!

The YouTube video I created in conjunction with this blog post.

DECLUTTERING CONFESSIONS

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday I wanted to share a few confessions about my decluttering practices. One thing I have been thinking a lot about is authenticity online. I think it is okay to have some boundaries online, but it is definitely a tough balance to keep some things private while still being authentic. There are parts of my life that I keep private because it has nothing to do with the content that I share. My aim with my blog and YouTube channel is to inspire and motivate people. My content is about cleaning, decluttering, and organizing. SO, with that said I want to share my confessions about decluttering as I think sometimes I think I can make it look simple.

My first confession: there are some items that I do not remove from my home right away. For the most part I actually remove all items I declutter from my home after collecting enough to take to a thrift shop. BUT, sometimes I have items that I am struggling to let go and I will stockpile those items in my laundry room cabinet. Typically these are items that I have a sentimental attachment to, but I do think it’s best to get rid of them. It does help to separate them out and keep them down there because I think it begins to break that attachment.

With regards to the stuff that I have decluttered, but really ends up in quarantine, I have a story to share with you. Recently I decluttered quite a bit of jewelry. This is one category that I really struggle to truly let go of it so I have quite the pile just quarantined in my laundry room. Unless I give it away to someone who I know will enjoy it. In this last round of decluttering I sent several pairs of large leather earrings to a friend who wanted them! But the other pieces I added to the growing pile that was still left in my laundry room. I decided to go through the jewelry really quickly to see if I was still feeling okay with letting it all go. I came across this bracelet that had the phrase “Choose Joy” inscribed on it. I actually purchased this bracelet along with a similar one that read “create” many years ago at a local boutique here in Austin. In general, I do not often wear bracelets. I find they just get in my way when I am trying to do everyday chores. I believe that is why I chose to declutter these bracelets. I was not wearing them often enough to warrant keeping them. But when I came across that “choose joy” bracelet, the meaning hit me a bit differently than when I purchased it. The artist who created this bracelet probably intended for the meaning to be a reminder to choose joy everyday. But this time when I read the message I thought to myself “choose joy” huh. Choose myself. Once again my name provides a double meaning for me.

I feel like one thing I have learned over the last several years is to quit putting myself last. Quit constantly putting everyone else’s needs and desires ahead of my own. Not in a selfish way, not in a rude way, but recognizing that it is okay to have needs and desires. Suddenly this bracelet’s message meant more to me than it previously did. AND, you guessed it, I did retrieve this bracelet from the declutter pile and I’ve been wearing it! So if you are really hesitating to follow through on decluttering something, or a category of things, it’s okay to wait until you are fully ready to let go!

My next decluttering confession is that I have had regrets on items that I have decluttered. But, honestly, it is only one category of things that I truly have regret for decluttering and that is the physical copy of Bible studies I have gone through. Usually after I am done with a Bible study I just recycle it unless it was something really meaningful and I thought I would revisit the information later. I wish that I had kept these as it might be a neat thing for my kids or grandkids to look through one day. I especially regret all of the inductive Bible study materials I got rid of. If you’re not familiar with this type of study, it is looking at the words used and cross referencing the Hebrew words for the Old Testament and the Greek for the New Testament. I have done this type of study for 15-20 books in the Bible over the years. I really wish I had kept all of those materials. BUT, I guess I can start over and save them moving forward!

My last decluttering confession is that I do experience guilt about the wasted money I spend on items I am decluttering. I have spoken about this before, but I recognize that it really is a privilege that I can declutter. I recognize that some people are more hesitant to declutter because they can’t easily financially replace items if they change their minds. I know that at one point in my life I used shopping as a way of coping with stress and anxiety. This is exactly why I chose to do a no buy year back in 2019, to reset these toxic habits. And I saw this habit creeping back in, especially over the past year, so I decided to do another no buy year this year. I do wish it had not taken me so long to learn that this was a coping mechanism. I don’t like how wasteful I was in the past, and I don’t like that I was on that consumerism hamster wheel. But all I can do is make better decisions moving forward!

I hope you found these decluttering confessions interesting! Let me know if you have any decluttering specific questions for me and I can address those in a future blog post. But as always, I would love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts today! Let me know down in the comments!

Here is the YouTube video I created in conjunction with this blog post.

FUN MINIMALISM GAME: SILENCING A ROOM

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For today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to talk about a concept I recently learned about from another YouTuber. In her video she talked about the idea of silencing or quieting a room. I have been on this journey towards minimalism and decluttering for almost 10 years now and I’m always looking for different ways to level up in order to challenge myself further on this journey. The basic idea of silencing a room is to remove everything from the space (or most things) in order to reset it to square one, and then bring items back into the space as necessary.

I decided to try this technique for the first time in our living room. I know this might work better in a more functional space, like a bathroom or bedroom, but I decided it was a good space to start in our home since this space was fairly minimal to begin with. I did challenge myself to remove items from this space and to live with it for about a month to see how I feel. 

As I pursue minimalism, one of the challenges I have faced is finding the balance between creating spaces which are minimal and easy to maintain while also feeling cozy and inviting. Our living room is definitely one of those spaces I have been working on to create that perfect balance. I was surprised by how much I was able to remove from this space and as I have lived with it for a few days, I still feel like it feels cozy and not sterile.

I do think when we are pursuing minimalism it can be a slow process. I know for me I have decluttered our home slowly and in phases over the last 10 years. I have been married for almost 30 years, so I decided it took 20+ years to accumulate all of our possessions, so it might take a while to declutter them. Doing it slowly and in phases has helped me to not feel as overwhelmed. However, when we are slowly decluttering we may not notice our progress. I highly encourage you to take photos or videos of your spaces as you are on a decluttering journey so you can chronicle your progress. I’m thankful that I have a YouTube channel which has organically allowed me to keep track of this progress as I have so many videos on my channel of how my home has transformed over the past 5 years.

Here is one item I removed from my living room. I am not quite ready to declutter this piece, I was just removing it from the space for now.

Sometimes we can feel like we are not making much progress and that is why documenting with photos or videos can be helpful. But I wanted to share a story with you of something that really made me recognize my progress. Over the holidays I was at a friend’s home for a party. I always viewed this friend as being minimal and she and I have similar home decor taste. Granted I know her Christmas decor was up, but sitting in her living room I realized how minimal my home and home decor was compared to hers. Don’t get me wrong, her home is beautiful, clean, and organized, but the difference was striking to me. I had never noticed how much more decor she had than me being in her home before.

One of the greatest benefits of decluttering and pursuing minimalism is having less to take care of. Less to clean, less to organize, less to manage. When we have less to manage we are able to pursue other things. We have more time to invest in hobbies and relationships, which I find to be far more fulfilling than taking care of stuff.

I am excited to implement this concept in other spaces around my home in order to challenge myself to potentially declutter even more! The more we declutter, the more we build those muscles, and it gets easier! I shared a video over on my YouTube channel of the process of silencing my living room. If you would like to check it out I will link it below!

Here is the video I shared in conjunction with this blog post.

ORGANIZATION MAINTENANCE

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For today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to talk about a couple of things. First, I wanted to share how important organization maintenance is and I also wanted to talk a little bit about my plans for 2025 for food purchases in light of my no buy year. Of course we have to buy food, but I am just going to be more intentional about it.

So first I wanted to talk about how one tip in keeping your home organized is to maintain your organized spaces. Maybe this is an obvious point, especially for spaces like the pantry that have a high turnover rate. But we can sometimes neglect maintaining our organized spaces after we have done the initial process of getting it organized. Having an organization framework with organization tools will definitely help to make it easier to keep your spaces organized, but they do need to be maintained, and sometimes revamped completely like I did with my pantry as your individual or household needs change.

Our homes and possessions are ever evolving, so we need to recognize how we organize should evolve as well. As we transition through different life stages our needs change. We have different possessions based on what life phase we are in, or based on our hobbies and other needs. When my kids were younger and we had very busy schedules I relied more on processed or pre packaged foods for packing lunches or even to make a quick, easy dinner. My pantry looked very different 10, even 5 years ago based on a different life stage and different needs. Keeping our spaces organized is just one of those homemaking tasks that will be ever present! Like dishes and laundry!

The other thing I wanted to talk about today is how I’m being more intentional with the food I purchase in 2025 as a part of my no buy year. There were a lot of items I used to purchase at Costco that I will no longer purchase. I want to focus on primarily having whole foods on hand and not as much processed and pre packaged foods. This is why I decided to transform pantry into a primarily ingredient pantry so that it was easier for me to see the healthy snack or food options in general at the front of the pantry, or as I like to call the prime real estate area.

The other thing I am going to change is to not purchase so much back stock to have on hand. I don’t mind having a certain amount, but I would like to be more reasonable than I have been in the past. Currently there are four people living here, so I see no need to have a ton of extra food on hand. In general, as I pursue minimalism, I’m realizing the value of not having a bunch of back stock on hand – whether it’s food, cleaning products, toiletries, or beauty products. It’s easier to maintain our organized spaces the less inventory we have on hand! I am being really conscientious about using up what we have on hand before purchasing more and making my meal plans around what I already have on hand. This will require me to buy less. Also, if I want to try a new recipe that calls for an obscure spice or ingredient that I don’t keep on hand, I will see if there is any substitute that would work that I already have. Lower inventory equals less to take care of equals more time and more peace!

Okay friends, that is all I have to share for today’s Thoughtful Thursday! I hope you enjoyed hearing what I had to share today! Please let me know your thoughts on my thoughts down in the comments!

Here is the YouTube video I shared in conjunction with this blog post.

 

5 BENEFITS OF MINIMAL HOLIDAY DECOR

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday I wanted to share with you the 5 benefits of having minimal Christmas decor. I thought this was a great topic for this time of year as we all begin to get our holiday decor out! And before I get into that, just want to make a disclaimer and say I fully appreciate people who like to go maximalist for the holidays! If you enjoy having an abundance of decor for the Christmas season and it works for you then go for it! I just wanted to share the benefits of less!

The first benefit of minimal Christmas decor is that it saves you time! It takes less time to put up the decor and it also takes less time to take it down. Around the holidays is such a busy time of year with extra obligations and events to attend. There is shopping, wrapping, filling out Christmas cards, holiday parties, and end of the season children’s events to attend! Not to mention the extra baking and cooking this time of year! Having extra time is always a good thing, but especially around the holidays!

The second benefit is that you are able to fully enjoy the items you have to display. With a curated holiday collection of decor, you are able to appreciate each piece fully! You are able to focus on quality over quantity, and each piece becomes that much more special. For me, an extra side benefit of this is that you are more intentional about what you purchase for holiday decor, not overspending on decor during a season where there is more financial burden than the rest of the year.

The next benefit of minimal holiday decor is it prevents overstimulation. The holiday season can be a season of overstimulation! This season is a time where excess seems to be acceptable – eating, drinking, socializing, gifts, and of course decor! All of this excess can be very overstimulating. We all have a different bandwidth for how much we are able to handle before we feel overstimulated. I admit that I think I have a lower threshold than most. But with less to visually consume each day, the less you will be stimulated. This is honestly true for decor year round! Overstimulation can lead to stress as well, so this also can prevent additional stress in what can be an already stressful season.

The fourth benefit is that minimal Christmas decor promotes creativity and personalization. With minimal decor, it affords you the opportunity to get creative. I like to arrange my holiday decor differently every year. This helps me to not be as tempted to purchase new decor each year. I like to find not only a different space to style my items around my home, but also styling them in a new way. I chose to style the white ceramic trees on my coffee table this year, which lead to me coming up with this whole white theme idea! Last year I styled these trees on my mantel {{see photo above.}} It also encourages personalization and uniqueness as you curate your collection intentionally and style it in a creative way. There is something to be said for being intentional with what you purchase and collecting unique pieces over time. 

Lastly, with minimal Christmas decor we are able to focus more on the holiday spirit – spending time with loved ones, enjoying holiday gatherings and traditions, or cooking and baking special holiday treats and meals. Focusing more on the essence of the season – family, friends, and memories, instead of getting lost in excessive decor will be more meaningful in the long run.

Here is the YouTube video I shared in conjunction with this blog post.