Sandi

... some items around the house will help with my downsizing. Hoping to find 43 things I can replace with a smaller version or reduce the quantity of other items.

1. Laundry baskets: Four baskets take up a lot of room. Will use the liner bags that are inside my clothes hampers to transport the laundry downstairs and a couple of folding laundry baskets for clean clothes.

2. Sweater dryers: Folding mesh dryers instead of bulkier drying rack.✔

3. Outdoor clothes drying rack: Need to replace soon and will get a smaller rack that can be used indoors.

4. Water cooler: Replacing with water filter.

5. Bedroom lamps in guest room. Will replace with wall mounted lighting.

6. Sheets (Reduced)✔

7. Bath towels (Reduced)✔

8. Beach towels (Reduced for now, will replace soon)✔

9. Kitchen towels (Reduced)✔

10. Microwave cookware: Got rid of all microwave cookware and using pyrex instead. ✔

11. Photos: Scan and return most of my family photos.

12. Yearbooks (got rid of mine, kept hubby’s)✔

13. Outdoor furniture. Not replacing most of the broken furniture.

14. Books: Will get rid of at least a dozen books on paperbackswap.com in the next month.

15. Water Bottles: Got rid of 4 old Sigg water bottles we never use. Kept 4 Sigg bottles, a larger Kleen Kanteen and purchased a new S’Well bottle. ✔

16. Plastic Insulated Cups (Reduced)✔

17. Cups/Mugs: 10. Got rid of promotional mugs and some cups from a dish set I gave away.✔

18. Note cards: kept less than 25%✔

19. Cake Takers (will reduce from 8 to 4)

20. Tupperware cookie containers (reduced from 7 to 5)✔

21. Magazines

22. Trade Publications

23. Business Papers

24. Personal Papers

25. CD’s

26. DVD’s

27. Hubby’s Books

28. Gift Wrap Organizer (smaller size)

29. Clothes

30. Hubby’s clothes

31. Shoes

32. Hubby’s shoes

33. Jewelry Box

34. Fabric Stash (will reduce soon)

Will update this as I replace more items. 4 days ago

It’s difficult for me to get my freezer organized with a large assortment of Tupperware. Will try using glass canning jars for broths, soups and sauces. Having uniform sizes should help organize a shelf or two and use less space.

It’s going to take a few months to use up my freezer and switch to the new containers. 4 days ago

Extra sets of king size sheet sets take up a lot of space – especially deep pocket sheets that aren’t folded very well.

I refolded all the sheets, kept 3 sheet sets and got rid of three sets. Will eventually only keep two sets of sheets and avoid buying the deep pocket sheets.

A smaller amount of folded sheets only takes up about 1/4 of the space needed for five sets, and now fits in the armoire instead of the taking up a large shelf in the closet.

I also removed 18 shirts from my side of the closet. Hubby got rid of winter jacket, a sweatshirt, several promotional T-shirts and a pair of sweatpants.

Haven’t boxed everything up for donation, but it’s at least 7 cubic feet of things removed from our bedroom closet. 1 week ago

.. inside the upper cabinets of my pantry area has helped organize kitchen notes. So much nicer than a pile of papers in a drawer and parts of packaging taped to the outside of Tupperware.

I added the cork board several weeks ago. Just needed some flat thumbtacks for this project. (Cleaning the inside of the cabinets is still on my list of things that need done.) 1 week ago

... able walk on the beach again after waiting months for a foot injury to heal.

This morning’s walk was nice. The marine layer kept the beach cool and was able to finish a 75 minute walk before the day warmed up.

(Walk 12/43) 1 week ago

... we haven’t had much time to do projects around the house, and the list of things that needs done is growing. Some weeks it’s challenging just to get laundry and light cleaning done.

Trying to get back on schedule with home maintenance.

• inside of refrigerator (removed all parts to clean)
• behind and under refrigerator including vacuuming coils
• stovetop grates (with vapor steamer)
• barbecue (with vapor steamer)
• flagstone (power wash)
• bullet trashcan (with vapor steamer)
• cabinet knobs

• tightened screws inside of glass inset cabinet doors (a couple have fallen out lately)
• tightened cabinet knobs

Need to get a lot of small projects done before we can start the bigger projects. 1 week ago

... of my two favorite cooking magazines really doesn’t take up that much space but it’s easier to find the recipe on their website than in my stacks of magazines.

I have decided to go through one magazine a day until I get rid of them. Won’t take long to go through a 30-50 page magazine. 120 magazines = 4 months. Our local library will accept magazines up to 5 years old, so half of my collection will be donated to the library.

It will be easier to access the recipes on my iPad and by getting rid of them, that will be two cubic feet less of things to keep organized.

Update: 2/120 ready to donate. 1 week ago

T-Shirts are something we wear often and take up quite a bit of room in the dresser and closet. I decided to fold my shirts vertically, so that I see every shirt without digging through the drawers looking for my favorites.

There’s so much more room in the dresser and a pile of shirts on the closet floor were also folded to fit in the drawer.

Still need to work on hubby’s area of the closet or teach him how to fold his clothes. 1 week ago

It’s been a while since I have entertained at my house and haven’t spent much time in the dining room. I cleaned out the hutch this evening and surprised how much stuff I no longer need.

A lot of gifted items from decades ago. Bread basket liners, cloth cocktail napkins, silver bowls, tablecloths, place mats, plus dozens of napkin rings, several serving bowls and tapered candles. Now that I have more space in the hutch, I can store the dishes that I still use. 1 week ago

... I organized my pantry, I am ready to start using up some of the baking and cooking ingredients. My main focus will be sugars, pastas and rices. The goal is to shrink the pantry so that I no longer need the overflow cabinet and switch brands so I avoid most foods that contain GMO’s.

Rice (4 types): We have rice about once a week, so we don’t need to buy large bags of rice. Will try an organic brand once current rices are used up.

Pastas (20+ packages): Will reduce to ten different pastas and only one brand of each type. Only eat pasta once to twice a week, so it will take a while to use up.

Sugars and sweeteners. Too many types. Switching to more organic sugars once I use up the basics. Can reduce the amount of sugar/sweeteners by at least six. Also getting rid of the dried milk powder and malted milk powder that’s stored with the sugars.

It’s probably going to take me at least six months to use up the pantry staples. Will use some of the sugars for sugar scrubs instead of baking with them. 2 weeks ago

... probably has a lot more interesting ingredients to organize and use up.

Getting organized makes me want to go shopping. There’s enough room to add a jar of powdered Tahitian vanilla and replenish a few baking ingredients like chocolates and cocoas. 2 weeks ago

Checked for Open Houses when I was at the beach yesterday and was able to view a 3-bedroom condo in a high rise building. I have always admired the building. After viewing the unit and common areas, it’s now my favorite building. I now know where I want to move. The floor plan will work for us with just a few changes to the layout.

I still have a lot of downsizing to do while we stay in our current house for a while. Reducing our living space by 1,000 square feet, not including a 3-car garage will be challenging. Touring the condo helped me focus on my downsize goals and reinforced the plan for what needs to go

One thing that we loved about the condo was floor to ceiling windows and the openness with all the natural light. Our goal is to scale back enough before we move so we can fit and maximize the storage areas so the condo won’t feel crowded. The biggest challenge will be figuring out how to make a 70-square foot kitchen work for us.

Now that I have adjusted to having my office/sewing room in one room of our current home, it will be much easier to plan a multiuse office/guest room. I don’t use my office on weekends and we seldom have guests during the week, so it makes sense.

There’s plenty of time to research our options as we continue to downsize. 2 weeks ago

... complete with 100 days of organizing. I am trying to do more than one project a day when I have time so that I can skip the busier days.

The house is staying much cleaner since I have focused on getting organized. The small desk near the kitchen is usually messy. Now that there is enough room in the drawers for everything that belongs, nothing has been left out and no longer a place to leave other things.

Breaking projects up into smaller tasks is helping me accomplish more instead of waiting until an entire project can be completed. I organized part of the freezer and will wait a month or two until we use up more food to organize the rest. I found five containers of chocolate cookie crumbs, seven containers of parmesan cheese, 2 1/2 packages of raw shrimp in the freezer along with homemade ravioli (2x), homemade tamales (5x) and way too many containers of homemade chicken broth, soups, frozen milk, cream, cubes of Greek yogurt and a large assortment of frozen fruit. There’s not enough space to organize right now or to use one color tupperware on each shelf.

Looking forward to getting organized so that my life is a little calmer and I can focus on other projects. Lots of home improvement projects to finish once everything is back in place. 2 weeks ago

...like flavorings are difficult for me to keep organized. I had the smaller bottles in a couple containers and decided to merge everything together. 4 weeks ago

...is always a challenge to keep organized. A few years ago I added pull-out shelves to the baking area of my pantry and switched to glass storage jars. Fewer containers means I need to reduce my basic pantry staples instead of placing some tupperware containers on top or behind the glass jars. This project has taken several days, but think it’s finally organized.

There’s limited space for baking chocolates and cocoas. No space for the white chocolates, mini M&M’s, Mexican Chocolate discs or a pound of Gianduja (hazelnut) chocolate. No more 11-pound blocks of chocolate. Will buy some items seasonally and use up instead of storing the extra ingredients.

I got rid of a few items like specialty flours that had been stored in the pantry and used up the oatmeal. Most of the flour and oatmeal is stored in the freezer. Moved the dried fruits to the breakfast area of my pantry. Will go through my sugars later.

My baking pantry:

Shelf 1: Flavorings, Sprinkles (limited to 6 glass jars), baking powder, cream of tartar, gelatin, sure-jell, arrowroot, malt powder, coconut milk powder, coconut cream powder plus a jar of coconut manna.

Shelf 2: Twelve jars. Table salt, kosher salt, sea salt flakes, baking soda, cornstarch, cinnamon sticks, muscovado sugar, Demerara sugar, date sugar, coconut sugar, pearl sugar, sparkling white sugar.

Shelf 3: Eight jars: Sugars (organic, light brown, dark brown, bakers sugar, turbinado x2), powdered whole milk and malted milk powder. Also have cans of coconut milk, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and a container of dried egg whites.

Shelf 4: Twelve jars: Chocolate (unsweetened, bittersweet, semi-sweet & milk chocolate). Baking chips (bittersweet, semi-sweet, milk chocolate, mini semi-sweet). Cocoas (black, Dutch-Callebaut, Dutch-Valrhona, natural)

Shelf 5: Six Jars: All-purpose flour (2), sugar, powdered sugar, unsweetened chocolate & semi-sweet chocolate feves. Also keep my liquid sweeteners next to jars – agave, honey, blackstrap molasses and Steen’s cane syrup.

I still need to organize my freezer where I keep nuts and all flours except all-purpose flour.

Once I get more organized, will try to consolidate my baking ingredients to four shelves and only use the larger jars during holiday baking. Maybe 7 or 8 sugars instead of 14 and a smaller quantity of flour in the pantry. 4 weeks ago

While cleaning this weekend, I came across foods and beverages we will never use. Shared a few items and tossed the opened and expired stuff. Still have the freezer and pantry area to go through to reclaim more space.

Also got rid of all the trial boxes of daily disposable contact lenses that are the wrong size and give me a headache and a broken pair of eyeglasses. 4 weeks ago

... was getting rid of 1,001 things a few years ago. It was amazing how different my house felt. The rooms became brighter with less items blocking the light and sounds were louder without all the packed closets and cabinets insulating the noise.

It’s difficult to remember how much stuff I once had and don’t miss anything I got rid of. Still have a lot to downsize.

Good luck on cleaning your attic. I am ignoring the rafter area of my garage for now because it’s out of sight. 4 weeks ago

... takes a lot of space and slowly getting rid of things we no longer need.

(Updated)

1. Small wine rack and 6 bottles of wine. I only use wine for cooking or for guests and the store is only a mile away. I would rather have more available cabinet space under the wet bar sink. Also got rid of some food, a few boxes of tea plus a couple tea cups and a creamer and sugar set. At least 3 cubic feet total.

2. Desk Lamp, small picture frames and a stack of catalogs/brochures. 1 cubic foot.

3. Bottled Water Dispenser. Ordering a water filter this week. Will reclaim 4 cubic feet indoors plus garage space for the water bottle storage. 10+ cubic feet.

4. Tupperware (again). 4 cubic feet.

5. Pantry (again). In the process of using up ingredients that are seasonal or aren’t pantry staples. Should see some progress in the next 1-2 months. Bake/Cook/Toss

(Will update this as I get rid of more things around my house) 4 weeks ago

... should help me get caught up with this goal. I haven’t had a lot of spare time lately but will find a few minutes every day to do something. 100 projects by July 28th is a good start.

(Updated)

Kitchen & Dining Areas

• Wet Bar Cabinets
• Kitchen island
• Kitchen closet
• Cabinet above refrigerator
• Baking section of pantry
• Cooking section of pantry
• Snack section of kitchen cabinet
• Breakfast section of kitchen cabinet
• Small desk downstairs (nook)
• Chest of drawers (nook)
• Kitchen sink cabinet
• Produce bags folded (for kitchen scraps)
• Drawers next to dishwasher (3)
• Corner kitchen cabinets
• Freezer

• My bookcase
• End tables in family room
• Basket at bottom of stairs

• Nightstand
• Shoe organizer in closet
• Dresser drawer (3 sections)
• Armoire (3 sections)

• Box of books (donate to library)
• Box of books (add to paperbackswap and remove from hubby’s office)
• Box of CD’s (donate to library)
• Box of CD’s and cases (recycle)
• Boxes of documents (take to shredding company)

• Medicine Cabinet (downstairs)
• Medicine cabinet (upstairs)

• Laundry room cabinet (beach, bath & kitchen towel shelves)
• Shoe rack in garage
• Fold grocery bags (triangles)
• Freezer (door)
• Freezer shelf #1
• Freezer basket

Soon:

Bathroom cabinets

Bathroom medicine cabinet

Cabinet upstairs

First aid kit

First aid kit in car

Laundry room cabinet – bottom half

Spice drawer + small cabinet next to stove

Freezer shelf x2

Business magazines (recycle)

Cooking magazines (donate to library)

Desk drawers (scan papers) 4 weeks ago

Although I have downsized quite a bit in the last few years, I still have a long way to go before we move.

It’s easier for me to have a five year plan and tackle about 20% each year. If I havent downsized the 20% at the end of the year, I will just catch up the following year. We aren’t planning on moving by a certain date, but each year we stay here, I will be 20% more ready to move.

Books: At least 50 books a year (3 cu ft/yr.)

Fabric: Use up at least 3 cu ft/yr.

Office: Use up paper/office supplies. Reduce at least one file cabinet drawer of papers + 2 banker boxes of office stuff every year. (3-4 cu ft./yr)

New Merchandise: Sell 20% every year

Clothing: For every item purchased, I will get rid of two items plus purge every season. Twenty clothing purges will, reduce my wardrobe enough. (4 cu ft./yr)

Linens: Fewer replacements (two sets of sheets instead of three and reduce towels. Also plan to replace bath towels with thinner microfiber towels that will save some space. (1-2 cu ft./yr)

Kitchen: Fewer purchases. Give away more items. I will get rid of toaster, slow cooker, coffee maker and a few other small appliances before we move. Also need to replace water dispenser with a water filter system. (1 cu ft./yr + 10 cu ft. before moving)

Furniture: Will probably keep most of the furniture for now because it fits in current house. New purchases will only be items we can use in a smaller condo. (About 700 cu ft. before moving)

Home improvement materials: finish projects. Give away any extra materials we no longer need.

Camping Trailer: Will get rid of before we move. It takes up a garage space and seldom use it. (350 cu ft.)

It will be easier to part with things gradually. Should get rid of at least 100 cubic feet of stuff every year + 1,000 – 1,500 cubic feet of things before moving. 1 month ago

... I enjoy more than a sunny afternoon is the warm evening that follows. It’s currently in the mid-70’s and a perfect evening to barbecue and dine outdoors. 2 months ago

... to enjoy lunch (and homemade lemonade) outside today. Ninety degrees this afternoon was a nice break from last week’s cold and rainy weather. 2 months ago