organized with joy

DO YOU WANT OPTIONS OR FREEDOM

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday I wanted to talk about something that I have been thinking about with regards to minimalism. I have talked frequently about my quest to simplify my life. I’m sure many of you who have been around for a while know that I have spent several years decluttering our home. I’m finally getting to a point where I have reached maintenance mode.

One big lesson I have learned from this process is the idea that we have a choice between options or freedom. What I mean by this, is we can have a lot of options in any given personal possessions category, or we can have freedom from those items. Take clothing as an example. We can have a closet full of clothes, which offers us lots of options, but it comes at the expense of freedom – of time, choosing what to wear can be more difficult with more options, and it also takes more time to maintain a larger wardrobe.

You might have heard people talking about how paralyzing making decisions can be these days because of our options. The internet offers us so many options – from different types of jeans to purchase, to job opportunities, to dating partners. Having endless options can be overwhelming and take up a lot of mental capacity to sift through all of the information presented to us to make a decision on any given thing.

I have been thinking about how as we pursue minimalism, we must decide which categories are important for us personally to have options and which it’s important to have freedom. This will be different for each person since we all have different interests and passions. Maybe you don’t cook or bake much, so you can have far less kitchen and pantry inventory on hand – giving you more freedom to spend time on other things. There are some people who find that freedom is more important than options in most categories of possessions. But we must each decide what works best for us and for our families.

For me, I used to have lots of extra decor on hand. I loved decorating for each season and rotating out different decor, but as I age I’m realizing I would rather own a smaller collection of items I truly really love and rotate them less frequently. I choose the freedom of not switching out decor often and having that time to pursue other things.

Everything we own will cost us. It will of course cost us the initial monetary price, but then it will cost us time and energy to clean, maintain, organize, and store these items. It will also cost us the mental energy of one day perhaps deciding to declutter that item. 

I was especially thinking about this as I put away my Christmas decor this year. I realized it really was quite simple to put everything away because of how much I have pared down my holiday decor. And I have several transitional pieces that can stay up through the winter.

Stuff can own us, or we can own the stuff. I have learned that it is a balance trying to decide what’s important enough to have options and where I want freedom instead. The longer I pursue minimalism and simple living, the more I become drawn to freedom over options! Each of us must decide what works best for us, our lifestyles, and our families!

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

LISTENING TO YOUR BODY

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to encourage you to listen to your body. This is a time of year where it can be really easy to run ourselves ragged trying to get everything done for the holiday season, but we must listen to our bodies and eat when we need to eat, and sleep when we are feeling run down.

It’s inevitable that we will have more to do during the holiday season probably than any other time during the year. There are presents to buy, wrap, and potentially send. There are Christmas cards to send (if you’re still doing those!) There are parties to attend, kids’ holiday concerts or events, extra food to prepare, and of course decorating our homes! It can all be a bit overwhelming.

If you are finding year after year you feel overwhelmed and run down, perhaps evaluate all of the commitments you make this time of year. It is okay to say no or to scale back. I know that is not always easy for sure! But we need to create margin in our lives this time of year to have down time and time to take care of ourselves – either special self care type time or just time to get proper nutrition and rest!

Earlier on in our marriage we would get gifts for all of our siblings and the nieces and nephews. As we added more and more nieces and nephews we decided to do a gift exchange with the adults and buy for all of the kids. Then as the kids got older, we decided to do an exchange with all of them as well. Over time I realized that it seemed like we were essentially exchanging money as everyone would send wish lists with specific items – especially as the nieces and nephews got to be teenagers and a little more challenging to purchase for. I decided that it was silly for us to continue doing these exchanges because we live far from both sides of the family and do not get together for the holidays, so I not only had to purchase and wrap gifts but also stand in line at the post office to send them. It was so freeing to step away from those gift exchanges.

Next I decided to quit sending physical Christmas cards. This has been a relatively recent decision. I believe the last one I sent was in 2019. It was a big ordeal and I understand that I could have simplified it instead of quit all together. But we would get our family photo professionally taken in the fall, I would order the photo cards, write a family letter updating everyone on the happenings during that year, print those out then stuff envelopes. I am really thankful for the years we did it and I have kept those for us and for each of our kids to have for memories, but as my kids got older I felt like there was less to share in those letters. You could choose to quit sending physical cards all together, or you could just simplify the process.

Food preparation and decorating are other big commitments this time of year. Again, we can choose to scale back. Perhaps instead of making eight different types of Christmas cookies you could choose your favorite four. Perhaps you could go through your Christmas decor and declutter items that you don’t love, only keeping your favorite items that you love and are meaningful to you. Having a smaller collection of Christmas decor will simplify the decorating process making it less overwhelming.

Something else that I am still learning to do is to enlist help. If there are tasks you can delegate to your spouse or children, find ways they can help. It’s great to get the whole family involved in prepping for the holiday season! I admit that this is really not easy for me. I struggle in general to ask for help, but I recognize that sometimes it’s difficult or even more time consuming to delegate tasks – explaining what needs to get done.

I share all this with you to give you ideas or help you think of ways you can simplify or streamline responsibilities during the holiday season. This time of year can become so overwhelming and busy, but there are ways we can simplify so we have time to enjoy the season!

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

CONSTANT STIMULATION + DIGITAL DETOX

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Okay friends, for this week’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to talk about something I have been thinking about recently. I have been thinking about how easy it is for us these days to be overstimulated. We are exposed to constant stimulation and therefore are prone to frequently multi-tasking. I know for me, when I have a day where I am doing multiple things at once all day my brain gets more easily tired. In addition to that, sometimes I feel like I’m not as efficient or producing quality work when I multitask.

For me, my anxiety causes me to easily get overstimulated. As a mom of three, I got used to constantly multitasking to make sure everyone’s needs were met in a timely way. Over time this took a toll on my mind. I can still multitask, but I feel like I have residual effects from that time period in my life when my kids were younger and I was trying to do so many things at once.

I recognize that we sometimes need to multitask, especially as moms. But I have been thinking about some intentional things I wanted to start implementing into my life in order to live at a slower pace and train my brain to focus on one thing at a time, and really enjoy what I’m working on and being present in the moment. If you have been around for a while, you may have heard me say don’t wait until the new year to make a resolution towards change. As we approach the new year, it could be easy for me to just wait until January to implement these new habits, but I am choosing to start today. I encourage others not to wait, but to start once you realize a new habit needs to be incorporated into your routines. So, that is what I am doing today.

I have talked before about how I use Sunday as a true Sabbath – a day off of work. I don’t do housework, or YouTube work. I mostly stay off social media on this day (with the exception of talking to people in Instagram chat). I really think this social media detox, or digital detox one day a week has been beneficial for me. I want to continue this practice of getting on social media apps very minimally on Sundays. I would like to incorporate more prolonged periods of staying off social media, which I do plan to do in the new year. I’m still in the process of figuring out how that could look as someone who shares creative content.

Something I implemented today is to sometimes eliminate background noise. I have this habit of constantly putting in my ear buds – watching Marco Polo videos, watching YouTube videos, listening to podcasts, or listening to music. I do these things as a passive activity while I’m doing some other somewhat passive activity – like cleaning, doing laundry, cooking, checking email, or even some parts of editing a YouTube video. This week I have started to take out my ear buds more and experience the thing I’m doing. Even if it is a “boring” thing, I want to learn to enjoy these boring mundane tasks that need to get done. Also, when I’m constantly ingesting input, it’s hard to process everything fully. I’m doing everything in a passive way, not fully experiencing it. I have found that when my mind is not overstimulated it has time for creativity, meditation, presence, and processing.

Something else I plan to implement is a night time routine that doesn’t include my phone. I have always had a night time routine, but I want to focus more on slowing down and unwinding. Putting my phone down, taking a hot shower or bath, drinking some herbal tea, reading or journaling, and applying all of my nighttime facial products! I think it helps to get better sleep if we slow down at night, don’t expose ourselves to blue light, and do activities that are calming and don’t overstimulate us.

Moving into the new year I definitely want to be intentional with my time and energy. I don’t want to just go through my days on autopilot, but I want to enjoy the everyday things that need to get done. Let me know if any of this resonates with you and what are your ideas to prevent constant overstimulation? There are certainly more things I could do to prevent constant stimulation, but I want to focus on just a couple things right now to make the habits lasting!

Here is the video I posted in conjunction with this blog post!

GRACE IN HOMEMAKING

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to address something that some of my girlfriends and I were talking about this week. We were talking about this idea that there are different seasons in life that allow for different abilities and different bandwidth for homemaking.

I wonder if some people come to my YouTube channel and see my organized spaces, see my tidy home, hear me talking about my disciplined homemaking schedule and think to themselves: I don’t have the bandwidth for that. Guess what, I have not always had the bandwidth for the way I live now! We are all in different seasons of life, have different responsibilities and obligations, and we all have different abilities. Some of you may have a chronic illness, or depression, or other health conditions that limit what you can do in this season in life. You may have young children with busy schedules, or you have other priorities and commitments outside of your home – whether that is a job or an organization you’re involved in. I just want to let you know, if you visit my YouTube channel, you are seeing one stage in my life. You are seeing the stage of life where I have more margin in my life. My kids are older now and more independent, and in addition to that, ever since Covid I have not been involved in as many things I once used to be involved in. I have enjoyed this slower pace of life, and so have been more intentional with my schedule and what commitments I will make moving forward.

Check out my YouTube channel if you have not already!

Thirteen years ago I went through some health issues that affected my ability to be productive. I had pretty severe anxiety and debilitating acid reflux for quite a while before I learned about my food sensitivities and some of my hormonal imbalances. During that time in life, which was also when my kids were in middle and elementary school, and my husband traveled a lot for his job often leaving me essentially to be a single parent, I had to evaluate realistically what I could do. It’s in these more difficult seasons of life that we must give ourselves grace with regards to homemaking. Sometimes just keeping people alive is enough!

While I have always had a schedule, even when my kids were very young, I have also allowed myself flexibility based on what commitments we had in each stage of life. While I have always incorporated deep cleaning and decluttering in my schedule, it certainly didn’t happen as regularly as it does now. There were some weeks when my kids were younger that I just didn’t have the bandwidth to get it done. In those seasons I had to prioritize other things – like my kids activities, volunteering, and other obligations outside of the home. 

If you have watched my channel over it’s lifetime (which by the way I officially had my four year YouTube anniversary on November 1st!), you will have seen the transformation of my home. While I did my best to keep our home clean, organized, and tidy while my kids were growing up, that wasn’t my priority then. But since starting my channel 4 years ago, with my kids older and more independent, I have done a lot of organizing projects and a lot of decluttering, which I only now have had the time to be intentional about. It took us 27 years of marriage to accumulate all of the things we have today, and it has taken me the last 8 years or so of prioritizing decluttering and organizing to get my home to where it is today. I organized and decluttered our spaces little by little over time, it didn’t happen overnight.

I did want to share this with you to let you know that anything I share on my YouTube channel or my blog comes from a place of where I am in my season of life. I share with you tips and things that have helped me as I get my home decluttered and organized, but I fully understand that not everyone is in a season where they have time to devote to these things. This is why I am such a big advocate for doing things a little at a time, and being intentional about what comes into your home! 

I hope if you are in a season where you don’t have as much bandwidth for homemaking, that you would give yourself grace today. I truly hope anything I share is inspirational to you and doesn’t make you feel discouraged because you can’t do things the way I do them. I only share to inspire and motivate! If you are in a more difficult season, where you don’t have as much time or energy – just be encouraged that seasons change! They always do!

Check out the YouTube video that I shared in conjunction with this blog post!

BEING THANKFUL FOR THE LITTLE THINGS

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I thought it was fitting to talk about thankfulness since it is the first Thursday in November! I wanted to kick off this season of thankfulness by sharing my thoughts on the importance of being thankful for the little things in life.

No matter what challenges you face today, I am sure there are little things in your life that you are thankful for. Sometimes the little things are overlooked because we tend to take them for granted over time. If you live in a western culture and have running water, you have something to be thankful for!

I think especially when we are in a difficult season in life it can be easy to focus on all the things that are going wrong. It can be overwhelming as we try to problem solve to resolve whatever is going on, and that can take up a lot of energy. I certainly don’t want to minimize anything challenging you may be experiencing in life right now! I simply want to encourage you to also focus on the positive things in life and the blessings you have even if it’s something small!

I was having a difficult day the other day and I was sharing with some friends on the Marco Polo app that whenever I’m having a hard day I like to stop and think of the things I’m thankful for! (Side note, check out this app if you aren’t on it! It is a fun way to stay connected with people!) On that day I shared with them that I’m thankful that I have a flexible schedule. For those of you who don’t know, I have been a stay at home mom/wife for over 25 years now. I did have a couple of part time jobs and I ran my own organizing business for a while and now I’m managing my YouTube channels and social media content, but all of these things afforded me flexibility in my schedule. I’m thankful for my husband who works hard for our family to provide for us financially, which allows me to pursue content creation and to be there for my husband and kids (yes, even adult kids need you from time to time!) 

This is something that I can definitely take for granted at times. It is good to stop and recognize this blessing. There might be days where I don’t feel well, or I don’t want to do what is on my to do list that day. I have the freedom to rearrange my schedule as needed, within reason. I do have deadlines I create for myself, but that is just to help me to stay organized and to stay on top of the household chores and administrative things that need to be done for our family.

It can be easy to overlook the small things that we may take for granted on a day to day basis. Even something as simple as a cup of coffee can allow us to feel grateful! I hope this chat inspired you to be grateful for something little in your life!

When I was talking to my friends, I asked them to share what they were grateful for. I think hearing what others are grateful for can remind us of blessings in our own life that we may be overlooking or taking for granted. It was so fun to hear all of their responses! I would love to hear what you are grateful for if you want to leave that in the comments! I hope your holiday season is off to a great start!

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

POSITIVE MINDSET

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to talk about having a positive mindset. I know that I often talk about positive self talk as a technique to keep a positive mindset. But I realized that when I share that I may make it sound like it’s a simple solution for negative thoughts or beliefs. I wanted to talk today about how I recognize this is absolutely not an easy thing to do.

Like any other healthy habit, positive self talk takes practice and repetition. I sometimes liken it to exercising. It’s not easy, but a necessary part of staying healthy. There are some days when I don’t want to workout, and the same is true for positive self talk. There may be days where I am struggling more to have a positive mindset, but I discipline myself to speak the positive, just like I discipline myself to do a workout on days when I’m feeling tired or just not in the mood to exercise.

The first thing we must do to get to a positive mindset is to be aware of our self-talk. Many of us talk to ourselves all day long unconsciously, not even really thinking about what kinds of things we are telling ourselves. Once we start becoming aware of those times when we are talking negatively or putting ourselves down, then we can start replacing those things with positive things. For a general example: if you recognize that you say to yourself, “I’m not good enough.” When you hear this, negate it by saying something like, “I am trying my best everyday.” Like I said, I acknowledge that this is not an easy practice. Anything we do that is pushing against what we naturally want to do is hard, it’s work. But I think it is worth it to do the work to get to a place where you have a positive self image and feel good about who you are.

Now I’m not suggesting you say something that is completely untrue about yourself with positive self talk. I’m just encouraging you to focus on the good in you, your character, and your talents. If we have a habit of focusing on the negative about ourselves, that is what I am suggesting to break. We still need to be accurate. It’s about creating new pathways in our mind so that we are in the habit of speaking positive to ourselves instead of negative.

I know some days can be really tough – for whatever reason. Maybe it’s a life circumstance, or maybe it’s just hormonal, but there are days that we may feel more down on ourselves than other days. I encourage you to reach out to a family member or friend who might encourage you through those moments. When we can’t speak kindly to ourselves, we may need to rely on others to remind us of the positive. 

I hope you have someone in your life who would speak positively to you, but if not there are a lot of positive affirmation videos on YouTube that could also help you! I actually like to make it a practice to listen to positive affirmations videos either before bed at night or first thing in the morning before getting out of bed. I have found this helpful for me to just maintain that positive frame of mind!

When you’re going through something really tough in life keeping a positive mindset can be extra challenging, so I don’t want to minimize whatever you might be going through that has caused you to struggle with a positive mindset. Like I said at the beginning of this chat, it’s not always easy. I have found that working hard to keep a positive mindset IN SPITE of difficult circumstances has truly helped me during those dark days! 

From my experience, overall I feel like once you experience that mindset shift, it is easier to continue on in it. It is like any other disciplined habit, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. And like I mentioned, you will still have those days that are a little more tough, but once it’s a habit it’s easier to bounce back!

CHANGING SEASONS

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to encourage you, if you are in a difficult season in life, it is only a season. I have been thinking about seasons as we are finally changing seasons here in Austin! We are finally having some fall weather where the mornings have cooler, crisper air. When people talk about challenging times in life they often refer to an analogy that the winter was long and hard, but the spring is coming. For those of us in Texas, an analogy that resonates more is the summer was long and hard, but fall is coming! By late September, I am SO tired of the hot weather and I’m just longing for the crisp, cool mornings of TRUE fall!

Sometimes when we are walking through a difficult season in life it can feel so long and like it will never end. Somewhat like summer feels if you live in the southern states! Just like it’s hard to imagine the weather being cooler at the end of summer, in hard seasons of life it’s hard to imagine that things will feel positive and hopeful. I want to assure you, no matter how long you have been walking through a tough season, there is hope on the other side. You will one day feel the crispness of fall! 

I myself have been walking through a pretty tough season that has lasted quite a long time. I am just now seeing glimpses of hope that remind me that we will not forever be in a difficult season. There is hope for a change that is coming! I know more than anyone the perseverance it takes to live in a season that is challenging, so I can assure you that you can make it out on the other side!

While it can feel refreshing to exit a season of hardship, change is really never easy. At least for most people! Even when things are changing for the good, it can be scary to deal with the unknowns. Being aware and realistic with ourselves as we head into that new season can really help with this transition. While I was so excited for the cooler weather to return to Austin, I realized I had to change my schedule and go for a run a little later in the mornings now because it was not as comfortable first thing in the morning. It made me realize that we do need to be aware that change, even if it’s good, is not always easy.

Leaving a difficult season of life can bring so much opportunity for personal growth, finding purpose in life, and embracing a new perspective from what you learned in the season of darkness. So often it is in the difficult seasons of life that we actually grow the most – learning empathy and compassion, becoming more strong and resilient, and becoming more self assured. Also, in a season of hardship we may learn the value of self reflection as we process the difficulties we have endured and the value of acceptance as we may have had to learn to accept the way things are for that period of time. We must take these lessons with us as we move into a brighter and more hopeful season! This can be a great time to reevaluate your life because of the new outlook and potential new opportunities!

Well friends, I hope this Thoughtful Thursday was inspiring or encouraging to you today. As always, I love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts! I hope you might share your thoughts on this topic of changing seasons down in the comments!

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

IF IT FEELS LIKE A NO, LET IT GO!

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to talk about a quote I recently heard from Joshua Fields Milburn. If you don’t know who he is, he is one of the two men who make up the content creators, The Minimalists. They have a podcast, YouTube channel, and they even have a documentary on Netflix. I have been following these guys for several years as inspiration on my journey towards pursuing minimalism. Recently in one of their podcasts, Joshua said something that I think is actually a catchphrase that he says often, “If it feels like a no, let it go!” I am sure I have heard him say this before, but on this day it just hit differently.

This may sound a bit dramatic, but I feel like for whatever reason when I heard this phrase on this day, it was a breakthrough moment for me. So often with my things I have looked at items and think that I don’t love it, but I like to have it around for an option. I especially struggle with clothes and home decor in this way. But as I began looking around my home, I started noticing a lot of “no’s.” There were several things that I was just holding onto to fill up a space or just in case. I have even said to clients before that “just in case” is a dangerous saying when it comes to making progress in decluttering. If I truly want to get to the place where I am managing less things, I have to quit saying “just in case” and I have to start saying “if it feels like a no, let it go!”

There is this cactus print I had in my bathroom for the longest time and it is a great example. It is something that I don’t really love anymore, but I was just keeping it to fill the space. I realized that it is okay to have spaces more simplified, and that is actually what has been more appealing to me lately. I purchased that print several years ago and I have displayed it in different places around my home. I’m beginning to realize that it’s okay for my tastes and style to change. Something I purchased 5 or 6 years ago may just not really be my style anymore. I am also realizing that if I purchased something and a year later decided I don’t really like it, that is okay too! It was not necessarily a waste, because that item taught me something. It taught me more about what my style is, or maybe it taught me to be more intentional and cautious when I make purchases.

Now suddenly as I am walking around my house I am seeing a lot of things that “feel like a no.” I was joking in one of my recent YouTube videos how I could have anything left to declutter, but the reality is over time I am just building my decluttering muscles and learning what actually is important to me! In addition to that, I have now been married for over 27 years and we have three kids, and had two dogs – and that is a lot of years of accumulation. So, it will likely take a lot of years of decluttering.

Over time I have learned that the decluttering process is kind of like an onion, the more layers you peel away the more is revealed. You don’t truly know how much stuff you have until you begin that process of hard core decluttering. The more layers you peel away, the more you learn to let go, and the more you realize what is truly important to you – what you really want to spend time caring for, cleaning, storing, and organizing.

I think more than anything, as I age I realize that relationships and experiences are so much more valuable than stuff! The more stuff I own, the more time it takes away from relationships and time and energy for experiences as I have to take care of that stuff. Slowly but surely I’m getting there! Well friends, I hope what I shared was inspirational or encouraging to you today. I always love hearing from you in the comments, so I would love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts!

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

8 TIPS TO KEEP YOUR PANTRY ORGANIZED

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday I wanted to share some tips with you on how to keep your pantry organized. I was having a conversation with some friends on Marco Polo where we were all talking about our pantries and what works for us and what doesn’t and it inspired me to share these tips with you!

My first tip is to have bins and containers with broad category labels to store your food. Storing food according to like categories is a great way to easily find what you need in your pantry. When you choose broad labels it makes it more flexible if you’re not purchasing the exact same things every week. These bins act as drawers in your pantry making it easier to keep things contained. It’s also a more efficient use of space to take things out of the original boxes or packaging to make your pantry more streamlined. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to achieve this look. You could use bins from around your home, or even cardboard boxes to contain things. Honestly, there are a lot of affordable bin options out there these days, including the white bins I have in my pantry (pictured below). I purchased them from The Container Store and these are the large and medium sizes, costing $6.99 and $4.99 respectively.

My second tip is to invest in uniform bins if you can. Having uniform bins will not only fit more efficiently, but will also make your pantry look more aesthetically pleasing. You might notice in my pantry I have a few different styles for different types of food. I like using the white bins to store broad categories of food, the plastic storage boxes with the white lids for snacks and other categories we are getting in and out of regularly or taking with us to different rooms, and the glass jars are great for staple dry goods such as rice, pasta, and quinoa. I really love those glass jars for storing baking items as well, which I don’t store in this pantry.

With all that said, tip number three is to only purchase containers if you have the time and are willing to decant your food. It will be more disorganized if you have the containers and packaging in your pantry. I actually find it very cathartic to decant my food, so I really enjoy it, but I know it’s not for everyone.

My fourth tip is to spend time regularly tidying your pantry. I usually give our pantry a little tidy each week when I pick up groceries and decant all of the food I purchased. Even though my family members know the system I have in place, they don’t always put the snack boxes back exactly where I would, so I take that time to just put everything back where I like it. I also like to take everything out every three months or so to wipe everything down in order to get it clean and back in shape!

Another tip I have is to inform your family of your pantry system. Like I mentioned, my family knows the general system I have set up for our pantry. If family members know the basic system, they can help stay on top of putting things where they belong making it a more effective system. You could add labels to the bins to make this easier for family members, and I find labels also aesthetically pleasing.

The sixth tip I have is to use the back of the pantry which is more difficult to get to for back stock. This is obviously for those of you who have a deeper pantry like I do. If you don’t have a deep pantry, maybe there is another space in your home where you can store back stock. In addition to storing things in the back of our pantry, we also have a secondary pantry where I store things that have a longer shelf life that I can purchase at Costco.

Another tip I have is when decanting your food, dump out old product into a dish before adding the new product to the container so it can be on top and used up first. Whenever I’m decanting dry goods into a jar or storage container, I like to be sure the older product is on top so it gets used before the newer product. When decanting liquids, I only add more into the uniform bottle if I’m adding from an already opened product. Once that product is gone, I use it up fully then wash out the uniform bottle with soap and water before opening a new product and adding it.

The eighth and final tip I have to share is to be realistic about the space you have for food and intentional with only purchasing what you can store. If you don’t have a deep pantry, or a secondary pantry, you will not be able to keep a lot of back stock on hand. The less space you have means the less food you will be able to have on hand. Being realistic about your space boundaries for food will help you to not have a cluttered pantry, which will make it easier to keep organized.

Well friends, I hope these tips helped you today! I love hearing from you in the comments, so share any tips you have to keep your pantry organized!

This is the video I shared in conjunction with this blog post if you would like to check it out!

5 THINGS MINIMALISTS DON’T TALK ABOUT

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For today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to talk about something I was wrestling with and thinking about during the process of decluttering old fall decor, and adding in the new pieces this year. If you missed it, on Tuesday I shared a video on my YouTube channel with my fall haul and old fall decor declutter. But I wanted to share with you what was going on behind the scenes in my mind. It did take me several days processing with friends and evaluating my reasoning behind why I decided to purchase new fall decor before I felt confident in my decisions.

If you have been reading my blog posts for a while, I am sure you have heard me talk about how I have been pursuing minimalism for several years now. As I processed through my decision to add new fall decor this year, I thought of 5 things most minimalists don’t talk about. I wanted to share these with you if you are on your own journey to become more minimal, or just on a decluttering journey. 

The first thing I wanted to share is that minimalism looks different for everyone. As a matter of fact, I wrote a blog post about this very topic. Because minimalism doesn’t have hard and fast rules, it can be difficult for me to navigate becoming more minimal. To be honest, I am the type of person who works better under rules, but I do appreciate the fluidity of minimalism. Everyone is in a different life stage, requiring different things. Everyone has different passions and hobbies, and different things are important to them. For me, I love making our home cozy and inviting. I do that with home decor, pillows, blankets, and art.

The second thing I wanted to share is you don’t stop purchasing things altogether when you are pursuing minimalism. One of the most difficult things for me is making decisions on bringing new pieces into my home. I like to be very intentional about what comes into my home, so I know I tend to overthink and overanalyze every purchase. It makes it difficult for me to make decisions, and I often feel guilty when I buy something new. But, I know logically that this is not healthy. I don’t think when you begin to pursue minimalism that means you will never buy anything again. That’s just not practical. For me, since home decor and styling is a passion and hobby of mine, that means I will be removing old decor that I don’t love as much as I once used to and replacing it with new items.

The third thing most minimalists don’t talk about is how decluttering is an ongoing process. Like I mentioned, there will most likely be new items coming into your home regularly. I am sure there are a small percentage of minimalists who purchase nothing new, but for most decluttering is just a part of the process. This is why you will see a monthly declutter with me video on my YouTube channel where I share everything I decluttered for that month. Decluttering is an ongoing habit I have incorporated into my routines. This is how I can keep our home minimal.

The fourth thing I wanted to share is that pursuing minimalism helps you to be more honest with yourself when evaluating your purchases. When I first started pursuing minimalism, I didn’t realize how this would cause me to be really cautious about the items I purchase. One of the things I spoke with a friend about regarding my new fall purchases was the idea that I might just be doing this for content and would I do this even if I didn’t have a YouTube channel. She wisely encouraged me, even if I was doing it for content, that would be okay! It is my job after all, and creation is part of the job! Even if that didn’t bring me solace, ultimately I do think I would have still replaced my old decor even if I wasn’t sharing it on YouTube. I am hyper aware of sharing on YouTube in an authentic way, while still creating aesthetically pleasing content.

The fifth and final thing minimalists don’t talk about is the struggle to remain balanced. It can be a challenge to fight against consumerism. Many people in Western culture buy new home decor every season! I think this is why I overanalyze my purchases. I wonder if I’m getting sucked back into consumerism, or if I am truly being thoughtful and intentional with my purchases. It can be difficult to remain disciplined about what you bring into your home. I think most minimalists don’t talk about how difficult it is! I hope one day I can get to the place where I’m confident in the balance.

I do find it a little comical in hindsight that I was feeling bad about replacing fall decor that I have now owned for almost 20 years! I remember purchasing a good portion of that decor when my son was a baby, and now next month he turns 20! So, I think it’s okay to replace it!