Shall We Play The Minimalism Game?

Who doesn't love a good challenge!?!  In keeping with getting rid of stress from my life, I decided to play The Minimalism Game.

Now, the rules are for 30 days, you eliminate items from your home.  On day 1 you get rid of 1 item, day 2 you get rid of 2 items, day 3, 3 items, all the way through 30 days.  Every day, you must get rid of your items by midnight.  Hmm...challenge accepted!!!

Day 1

This is easy! 

I learned I am a natural at this game.  I was eagerly waiting day 2.

Day 2 was harder than I thought it would be.  I dug deep and let go of a leather bag that was custom made years ago.  it was a great sentiment and was made with amazing quality leather it just didn't fit my lifestyle.

I decided that I would ask myself if the item truly gave me joy and added value to my life.  If the answer was no, it was going to be donated to someone who might find value or joy in them.

Day 2 was a bag and a red kimono sleeve top that didn't hold it's shape.

I became addicted at that point and couldn't wait to get rid of the clutter and the things I didn't truly love.  I was ruthless.  I had to be.

D3, D4, D5 and D6

I even got my kids involved. I had them play the game too.  They are 15 1/2 and almost 17 so not an easy age but they were troopers.  Day 1 for my youngest was a sad one.  She got rid of her Rasta Banana she won at the State Fair when she was 7.  It was sad to see him go I admit but we took a photo and now he will always be with us just not taking up the whole corner of her room.

Rasta Banana

The oldest started pulling her stuff from under her bed, closet, drawers, etc.  It's not for the faint of heart mind you.

I know, scary!

The rest of the challenge was going smoothly until it got to 15 items then it gets hard.  Try to find 15 items to get rid of after 14 days of getting rid of stuff already.  Where can I find 15 of anything?! That's where imagination comes into play.  Husband's hats, old tv cables, bathing suit of my daughters that was stuffed in a ziploc and mildewed, too small sports bra, kid invites and napkins and dog sweater!

I was back, I was tossing cds, dvds, socks, wine corks and it just keeps going!  By the end of the game, I had gotten rid of 518 items from my home just from the game.  My girls had got rid of 6 trashbags of just their things!  I have taken 4 trashbags to donate already and they informed me they were overwhelmed right now so I kept everything else until after the New Year.  There are bags and bags and bags of big black trash bags in the garage including a sofa, excess Christmas decorations and garage spillovers.

This is the best feeling ever.  Getting rid of things that do not add value to your life is freeing and life changing.  I have a difference aspect on things now.  I don't buy on impulse and make it a challenge to NOT buy items.  I have to need it instead of wanting it.  

How to Simplify, Declutter and De-Stress Your Wardrobe

I've mentioned that I stress over what to wear to work.  After I took things into my own hands, I decided to minimalize my apparel.  I don't think the capsule wardrobe will work for me but I may try it in the future.  I like the idea of classic like Audrey Hepburn and Jackie O.  By sticking to neutrals, it makes choosing what to wear easier and not to mention makes you look put together and chic.

After clearing my closet from things that don't fit that idea, I was left with solid black, camel, grey, white and olive.  No I'm lying, I do have a pair of burgundy jeans.  All my clothing is solid except for 2 long sleeve striped shirts and 1 short sleeve striped shirt.  I also decided to go for quality and clothes that not only look good but last as well.  Buying quality can be costly so to save your bank account, don't be afraid to buy pre-owned clothing.  Sites such as Poshmark.com and Swap.com and of course EBay.com contain treasure.

I have bought Neiman Marcus brand cashmere sweaters on both Poshmark and Ebay.  I purchased my gorgeous camel cashmere blend winter coat on Poshmark. The coat was brand new with tags still attached.  New, the coat retails for $248.  I paid $60 after shipping.

Finding clothes that fit when you are considered "plus size" and that look nice and not frumpy is a challenge.  I know my measurements and when I purchase online, I purchase based on measurement, not size.  I'm very picky when I shop.  I can never find the navy sweater I after or the right pants. By buying pre-owned, you can have your pick.  Most times, you'll find better quality clothing pre-owned cheaper than you would for a less than quality item in a retail store.

I'm not opposed to retail.  Quality v-neck tshirts are so hard to find but if you look long enough, you can find them.  I bought 3 t-shirts.  1 black v-neck, 1 grey v-neck and 1 white crew neck from Old Navy from the men's department that are so soft and that hold their shape well.

There are struggles to wearing solid neutrals.  I was challenged with finding something to wear to a holiday party.  Normally, I'd go to Target and buy some kind of red or green festive sweater.  I decided to try a different approach and paired my black cashmere sweater, with a plaid shirt that is in my other closet.  Maybe I'll keep that for holiday options and added a rhinestone statement necklace that I did buy at Target 2 years ago.  The bling gave a basic black sweater a festive sparkly feel that lent itself to compliment after compliment.


By minimalizing my closet and acquiring the essentials in solid colors, it has upped my style game and lessened my stress.

Minimizing Your Social Life

Do you ever just get overwhelmed with your online life?  I'm talking about all of it.  Noise comes at us in so many forms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email, etc...you get the idea.  Don't get me wrong, I love social media.  My professional job requires me to be social online and that's ok.  My problem is that I have ADHD.  So. A lot of people do right?  The problem I have realized and I'm sure some others have to or if they haven't, maybe this post will give them insight.

I have realized that I tend to go full force into whatever I'm into...for the moment.  That means if I'm into cooking for example, I find myself following famous chefs Facebook profiles, blogs, Facebook groups, Instagram and Twitter not to mention sign up my email for every white page or free e-book there is known to man.  But, that moment is fleeting.  My attention is short lived.  I have had several side hustles including photography, stock styled photos, marketing coach, etc...you get the idea.  Whatever it is..I'm all in.

I'm an advertisers dream. I am who they target online. I click on ads if it's signaling the message of what I'm into.  I follow the Pinterest boards, the Twitter profiles, the every thing.  I am committed to that moment but what I'm left with is hundreds of emails, Pinterest boards, Twitter profiles, Facebook pages and Instagram posts that fill my feed so much that I don't see what I truly want to see.

 I have started the task of unsubscribing, un-liking, unfollowing and deleting all the noise that is not adding value to my life.  I removed myself from 52 Facebook groups!  As they come across, I unlike or unfollow accounts that I really don't want to follow.  Not everyone.  I stay loyal to the accounts that provide value to my life.  The others are just noise and clutter just like clutter in your home.

Drop a comment below of how do you manage your online life!

Decision Fatigue is Real Ya’ll

Ask me how I know?  Everyday we make thousands of decisions.  It is estimated that the average person makes 35,000 decisions a day!  That seem excessive but it’s not.  You start with deciding to get out of bed decided how to wear your hair, what clothes you’ll wear, what shoes you’ll wear, what to eat for breakfast. Do you want Cinnamon Toast Crunch or do you want Cookie Crisp? All day long your brain is making decisions.  When you are in marketing, decisions never stop.  I am exhausted and stressed out about what to wear to work everyday much less deciding what font I want on the campaign ad. I would try something on only to pull it off and move on to the next thing. It never ended which also made me late to several events.

One night I was on Pinterest and something came across about a capsule wardrobe.  I was intrigued.  The basis of the capsule wardrobe was to only have items in your closet that mixed and matched with other items and to have a smaller amount of clothes.  That was cool then I found a post on minimalism.  I had heard about minimalism and I conjured images of Art gallery owners in black Prada suits and perfectly straight sleek blonde bobs and the Karl Lagerfelds of the world.  I kept reading and the more I read, the more I was intrigued.  The message was simply living with less gives you more. Then I found the Parisian wardrobe which was simple. 5 or 10 essential items to be mixed and matched. Think Audrey Hepburn.  It was a little extreme but I decided enough was enough.  

I took everything from my closet and just went HAM.  Anything I didn’t like initially, it went.  Anything with blemishes, gone.  I took out everything that I had not worn in 2-3 years.  I had just went to Target and bought clothes in patterns and colors.  Those, I decided had to go back and be exchanged for more “essential” type clothing.  It was emotional, it was exhausting and it was awesome.  I didn’t throw anything away.  I placed them in another closet to live for 3 months.  If I don’t retrieve them after 3 months..gone.  

Here is my closet before.  Be nice.

And here is my closet now.  It’s been 4 weeks and it still looks like this and brings me joy.

I didn’t have everything I should have and the quality I should have so I have been obtaining those items piece by piece.  That’s another post.  Ciao!

OMFG FU Stress and the Horse You Rode In On!

I have a problem.  My problem is I don’t know how to let go of stress and the thing that caused the stress.   The problem is to a point where I ended up in the ER with chest pain.  Not the heart kind but close to the heart.  I have Costochondritis.  

What the hell is that?  The thing is once you have it, you’ll always have it.  What it feels like is someone is denying you breath.  You cannot take a deep breath or someone will twist a knife in your chest each time you do.  So you take short shallow breaths which also is complicated because I have asthma.  Great…but wait there’s more!  On top of all that, I have ADHD, I’m bipolar which also means I have a touch of OCD.  Awesome combo.  

Costo is inflamed rib cartilage but usually only affects the upper ribs which is why some people think it’s their heart.  It’s not.  Costo is different for everyone.  Some have mild pain and some have OMFG I feel like I might die pain.  Guess which I had.  I had the OMFG pain.  I go to the ER, first thing..EKG which is fine, then blood, then x-rays then more blood then more x-rays.  

What I’m told is that it’s caused by lots of things but a main cause is STRESS.  Awesome.  I have a demanding job which takes alot out of me and has me going in 80 directions at the same time.  Avoid stress as much as possible she says.  Are you freaking kidding me?  How? What? Who? Why? Where? Tell me how to avoid work stress Doc?   

Oh, guess you can’t really avoid work huh?  Try Yoga. Oh and did I forget to mention I also have Depression so YAY ME! 

You Can’t Take It With You It’s Just Stuff

What happened to my sister’s things that she accumulated?  They were given away or donated to Goodwill.  The things she once found joy in meant nothing in the end.  It was just stuff.

What happened to my Dad’s collections he curated or rather hoarded when he passed?  They were sorted and trashed and divided, sold and donated.  Both my sister and my dad’s possessions met the same fate.  It was just stuff.

Of course there were a few things that brought back memories or were items that will be passed on to family and future generations hopefully.

I however, hoarded all their things that were in my possession again scared that if I let one thing leave my house then their memory would slowly piece by piece go along with the stuff.

It wasn’t until I visited Dallas Contemporary Museum to view the Bruce Weber exhibit did I find the truth.  Their were three artists exhibits going on.  One artists was Laercio Redondo.  Redondo’s exhibit “The Glass House” caught my attention.  It was a mixed media piece, a film that was looping.  

The film follows two separate visits to the house.  They say art is in the eye of the beholder so this may not be what the artist intended to be interpreted at all.  To me,  it showed  what meaning our things have once we are gone.  One soon after the architect passes and 10 years later when the house in under restoration. all her items are still in the house since they are turning it to a museum.  The first visit, it was her things.  Her curated style and collections.

The second visit, it was just stuff. The same feeling was absent after time.  

In that moment it was clear to me.  It’s just stuff.  Stuff has no meaning, memories have meaning and are what you leave behind for loved ones.

The Collector

This is my old bedroom at my parents house.  Most parents would turn it into a study or even a home gym.  Mine turned it into my dad’s museum.

After my dad passed my mom started going through his things and was overwhelmed.  She called me to help clear it out.  He collected things he liked. The dream catcher is a symbol of his Cherokee heritage. The deer head wasn’t even a deer he shot, he bought it at a garage sale. The room was filled with car parts, 2 ladders, weed eaters, furniture, old fans, old gas heaters, antiques, tools and random novelty decor like that NASCAR clock hanging on the edge of the door frame.  It didn’t bother me or even hit me that this was wrong because I think I inherited this trait from him. He never threw anything out or got rid of anything.

This is after we cleared it out. The sheet was removed and there lie a whole other room of stuff and a closet that was filled as well.  Still didn’t hit me that this was strange or wrong.  You can see a stuffed pheasant ‘s wing in the left frame, a dolly, numerous containers of oil, a toolbox that my nephew is sitting on, the art on the wall was from a garage sale when I was 4.  It didn’t go with anything, it was just there.  Fishing rods and fishing tackle fill the other room along with old appliances, bedding, a bed frame, air compressors, paint guns and their working washer and dryer.

Still didn’t seem odd to me.  It was his stuff and that was all that mattered.

How it started

After my sister died 6 years ago, I held onto everything I had that she ever touched for fear I would lose the memory of her.  Fast forward 4 years later and my dad dies within 2 weeks of being diagnosed with cancer in the ER.  Again, I held onto his stuff because I thought it was like I was holding onto him and if I didn’t hoard all these things, I would lose the memory of him too.  My mom’s way of dealing with my dad’s death was to give away his things which meant the majority came to me.  I had all his cowboy boots, longhorns.  Not the school ACTUAL LONGHORNS.  The point is if it was his I kept it.  I kept a school project my sister did for my nephew.  The idea of getting rid of anything at all meant I was getting rid of them..so I thought.