More on Kitchen Minimalism

Besides the dishes the family eats off of, there are dishes made by making foods. You know what? I only use a few favorite pieces over and over again. You probably do too.

Much of my cookware are pieces of a really nice set my mom got me for Christmas one year. I went through and tossed everything that wasn't the set. That helped a lot. The set was pretty large- including a family size wok, that we use all the time.

Then I went through our bakeware. Now, I do bake a lot, and that was harder, so I thought about how many cookie pans I use and actually ended up buying a few more nice ones while getting rid of the abused ones. That was such a nice addition/change.

I looked at the small appliances, the kitchen tools, cleaned out everything I don't use. I still have my two waffle makers. I could imagine the riot if the kids were told there would be no more waffles :)

Then I went through the plastics cupboards- matched everything to its lid- got rid of the rest. What was left was some newer glass bowls with matching lids, a few large mixing bowls with matching lids and just a few storage containers- perfect. It all fits neatly in my cupboard/shelf with the lids on. Talk about saving time!

Everything from top to bottom was scrutinized, decided if it was worth to keep and if it passed that test, it was reorganized. I, of course, did this with a damp rag to remove dust and residue.

Then I went through the food. Old stuff, unused stuff, things I bought for something specific I never made- tossed or put into use.

My kitchen has so far endured 2 major cleanouts in my quest for minimalism. I think it is due for another. Each time I am better able to decide what it worth holding on it (ie cleaning again and again) or is not.

Kitchen for 10- with less dishes than ever

We have never gotten a dishwasher to work well enough to make it worth the noise and smell.
Or the fact you have to wash dishes before you wash the dishes. So we got rid of it.
We also decided to do shelving rather than cupboards when we built our house. So nothing hides and nothing can get gooey without being seen.

Everything is seen. This helps me not to collect things I already have, sitting just out of sight behind some pretty wooden doors.

But it didn't solve the washing dishes problem. In a single day, we can easily use enough dishes to fill 3 sinks.  And every time I get a pretty dish set, things break until we are out of enough to set a table.

I got tired of sweeping up broken dishes. Then Target got this 99cent per dish thing. Plastic-like, solid blue (matched my kitchen), dishwasher and microwave safe and with nice smooth edges and large enough bowls to eat a serious bowl of chili. So far they have held up a year, and Target still has them in stock- not that I've needed to buy any more.

Right now, we limited the dishes we have out to 1 set per person. Every person has 1 plate, bowl, and cup. We have extra we can bring out for guests. But it limits the number of dishes in the sink at any one time.

One of the nice things about the open wire shelving I have in the kitchen is the automatic over the sink dish racks I can stack my freshly washed dishes on, and leave them there.

Also, I always am looking at the tools in my kitchen. Are they really being used enough to justify having them there? Or are they just clutter?

And If I have tools I actually value in that kitchen (which should be all of them, or else they are given away). I will wash them immediately and get them ready to use again. That way they don't rust in the sink waiting for one of my kids to do the dishes, and they are ready to use when I want to use them.

Family Laundry- minimalism approach

Have you ever packed for a trip?
I have a family of 10. We love to travel the country in our big silver van. Once you get 10 people in there, there is not a lot of space left, so everyone is allowed only a small bag of stuff.

And it works and is simple and glorious.

About 3 days worth of clothes (and laundry quarters) and we can just about go anywhere for as long as we want. Gee, why can't we simplify at home like this?

Well, it so turns out, we can to some degree.

In Minnesota we do deal with distinct seasons, you can not wear summer clothes in the winter or vica versa.

So to simplify life at home, each child has 1 tote of clothes, that fits on a laundry room shelf. I change it out to keep them looking decent and warm/cool enough. The clothes that is out of season (but still worthy of another season) goes in a storage room, organized by size.

Most totes can hold 3-4 pairs of adult sized pants, 3-6 T-shirts, 2 hoodies, and no lack of socks or undies. For little kids, who often needs to change more often, more clothes fits in the same size tote, so it works out well.

The other advantages of this simplifications are that it gets the clothes out of the bedrooms- imagine only a few stray pieces on your child's floor rather than a whole closet full. And it makes laundry as breeze- dirty clothes drop on the laundry room floor (is it really that hard to put it 12" away in the laundry basket?) so I pick it up from there, pile it into the washer, dryer and then throw it back in the totes. When I have time to kill I may actually fold it first.

My husband and I have our clothes in our bedroom- but I do keep mine simplified and off the floor :)

Prepareing For Austerity

Governments and nations are facing Austerity measures, and many families are routinely running out of cash before their next pay check too.

Here is a list of ways to help prepare for low/no cash times.

Eating

Have a food storage built up- every time you go to the store buy a little extra, store this for when you need it. Kidney beans were on sale this week for $.69/can. I bought 2 dozen because I know how often we use them.

Use basics- learn to cook from scratch using basics as flour, sugar, and oil. These basics store well and are way cheaper then mixes or prepared items from the store.

Long Term basics - learn to love beans and lentils and whole grains. I would recommend storing whole wheat and using a grain grinder. This is way more cost effective and healthy than using white flour.

When you have a pantry full of food because you planned ahead it is a lot easier to eat when cash is low.

Same thing goes for clothing- for yourself make sure you have good basics in your wardrobe. For most of us I am referring to a couple pairs of jean/work pants and a few sweaters and t-shirts, undies and socks, good work shoes and work gloves, and a sun hat. .... these are clothes that are good for physical labor, which gardening and milking cows and walking everywhere is way more fun when you are dressed for it.

For kids- have a few good basics in the next size or 2 up.

Garage sales and second hand stores are great for good basics in clothing, it also helps you not to spend when you shouldn't.

Keep a cash "spending budget" Budget your money when it comes in and figure how much you can spend total for the month or however long until your next payday. Everything you need to write checks for like electric and rent

kicks out of little things

It is amazing how happy you can be when you choose to get kicks out of the simple things in life
like a dog chasing after the ball- it is hysterically funny

Origins of personal minimalism

One day, while picking up the living room, I realized if I threw away that ripped up paper (recycled), or a broken toy, I would never have to pick it up again.

A new day dawned in my sanity and I have been fighting it ever since.

Now, whenever I find something where it doesn't belong and my life would not miss it- it is gone.

Gone, sweet gone!

It keeps me from drowning in stuff.

Next came Marie- I went through pieces of my house- 1 little section at a time and removed anything that didn't spark joy, (dusted with a wet rag too) or that I wouldn't have to go out right out and repurchase. And little by little things got more organized.

I learned to thank things before giving them away or saying goodbye (even my poor old dog, got thanked as he was slipping out of this world). It makes it easier and turns any negative thoughts into gratitude.

Now, I am not the esthetic minimalist. Everything is out and visible. We have kitchen selves instead of cupboards and purposely build the house with little storage space. So I can not stick things away without seeing them. The whole intent was to keep it easier to see how much we had so we would have to think twice about buying/keeping/storing things.

There are many sections of stuff, I have gone through several times, and will still go back and reduce.

The reducing of stuff begin with a way for me to cope with living in a busy house with 10 people and being a master's student. Now it has allowed me to clearly see stuff as tools, and like tools, they do no good if you can not find them or if they are not in working condition or if you have more then you need, It has helped me become non-attached to stuff.

I have become more attached to experiences, people and memories. And I am grateful for google docs, and pics and blogger to store much of those memories for me.

Changes

A lot has happened since life got too busy to blog here.
I am now a master's student a BSU, and have 8 children, and I teach there to pay for tuition.
Going back to school has caused me to simplify my life in almost all other ways.
I have had to focus on what is important.

What is important?
1. Family- my spouse, kids, parents, grandparents, siblings, ect
2. My spiritual growth- I take time every day to prayer and study and realigning myself with my Heavenly Father.
3. My school work/teaching. I feel called to teach- to reach out and show love and belief in another through instruction.
4. My health and physical maintenance- using and enjoying the awesome body I have. It is a gift that is useful to me now and for eternity and I try to treat it well, and learn to work with it. This means things like eating right, exercising and using it in every good way, and being thankful for it.

Everything else is secondary-

Time to talk about mimalism

yeah- I forget I still had this blog. Now I am going to use it to talk about my favorite sustainable habit- Minimalism.

What is minimalism? A habit of being happy with less, of needing less, buying less, but being more.

stay tuned. Perhaps we will discuss something useful to you.