Motivation to Organize More!

I love organizing and the feeling I get from organizing, but as I organized there were several more things that really pushed me to organize than just the good feeling I got.

1. Getting Money
I started to make money off of clothes, furniture, and other things I simply didn't need anymore. I really had success with the online yard sale pages on Facebook and the Letgo app. I decided to keep track of the money I made and made envelopes for what my husband and I wanted to save the money for.

• Christmas Presents 
• Vacation
• Date Night 

We decided that most of the money we got from selling our unwanted stuff should go towards a fund for Christmas. Our budget always gets tight around December with the traveling and Christmas presents that we decided to put all of the cash in the envelope we had labeled for Christmas. Our goal is to use only money we made by selling our stuff for Christmas. This is what we had decided to do, but you could make an envelope for anything! A new car, paying off loans, or a nice vacation.

2. Blessing Others
I was able to cut my closet size in half if not more since I started to organize. Some clothes I was able to sell but most of my clothes I gave to a family with teenage girls who do not have much. When the girls get my clothes they would describe it as Christmas morning. I think that is so neat that I was able to make these girls so happy! After hearing their stories of how happy they got by getting my clothes, it really motivated me to do a second round of organizing my closet. Since I am a stay at home mother I really do not need as many clothes as I had when I was working full time. My new goal is to reduce my closet to a capsule closet and donate my clothes to bless these girls!

3. Getting Compliments
It seemed like every week I had a pile of things sitting at the door because I had a pile for Goodwill, selling, giving away, and so on. Whenever I come across something that I do not need or do not want I immediately put them in the appropriate pile. After about a few weeks people really started to notice how much stuff I had gotten rid of. The living room looked neater, more organized, and more spacious! I was getting compliments from people and it definitely encouraged me to keep up the organizing!

4. Saving Time 
After getting rid of I don't know how many bags and boxes of stuff I noticed how quickly I could clean up before guests would come to our home! It was amazing to me that I could get my living room cleaned up in less time than ever before. By having less stuff the less you have to clean and more time to do what you want to do!

5. Feeling happier
Another big motivator was that I felt happier since I started organizing. I would consider myself a pretty happy person overall, but as I got rid of stuff the more lighter and happier I felt! It is as if every single item you own weighs you down, but you do not notice that it is weighing you down until you get rid of it. Maybe that is why the tiny houses and the minimalism movement is becoming more and more popular.

I hope this motivates you to organize more! :)

XO, Hannah

Minimalism Challenge

As I have been reading books and watching documentaries on minimalism, I kept hearing about getting rid of one item each day for a year. I decided to do the challenge for 1 month to see how it goes! I started March 1st and these are things I got rid of just in 1 month.

So here was my March Challenge!

Day 1     Candle
Day 2     Pen holder
Day 3     Dog dish (Brand new so I decide to sell it online)
Day 4     A little bird decoration
Day 5     Dog clothing (10)
Day 6     Plastic dish
Day 7     Soccer Ball
Day 8     Pajamas (1)
Day 9     Magnet
Day 10   Movies (7)
Day 11   Mugs & cups (11)
Day 12   Baby bouncer
Day 13   Necklaces (3)
Day 14   Old College Textbooks (5)
Day 15   Lap desk
Day 16   Jewelry organizer
Day 17   Desk shelf
Day 18   CDs (8)
Day 19   Glue sticks (5)
Day 20   Note pads and stationary
Day 21   Craft things such as stickers and scrapbook stuff
Day 22   Bag
Day 23   Shoes (4 pairs)
Day 24   Skirt
Day 25   Shirts (5)
Day 26   Jackets (2)
Day 27   Binders (2)
Day 28   Board games (2)
Day 29   Flower vase
Day 30   Brooch
Day 31   Hair ties and cosmetics (3)

I had gotten rid of a lot in just 31 days. Some of the things I sold online and got some money for them which is a huge score! Since these were most things that I wanted to get rid of anyways I didn't list them online for that much money. People love getting deals so the items got snagged quickly! After doing this challenge for only a month I feel happier and lighter. Because I have less stuff now there is less to clean and I felt like I saved myself some time and really focus on things that were important to me.

I know I still can get rid of more things and I haven't reached the point where I feel satisfied, but I am definitely getting closer to that point! My closet size has been cut in half since I started my journey of organizing, and I know I am almost there with getting to the clicking point (Konmari method).

♡ Hannah 

The Best Book on Organizing

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo

I mentioned a little bit about the book I read from Marie Kondo in some of my older posts. I amt thinking about doing a book review in the future on my blog about her book. I read her book twice because I enjoyed it so much and I am currently reading her second book called Spark Joy. One thing she really emphasizes on in her book is to keep the things that only spark joy. When I first started my organizing process I kept the items that I love which is pretty much the same as items that spark joy. By just going through my items and keeping things that I truly love and use had lead me to getting rid of a bunch of things and resulted in my closet size getting cut in more than 50%. It's such a good feeling to only be surrounded by things you love and use on a daily basis. I have found myself to be happier and calmer after getting rid of stuff I do not need. As I would get rid of things I felt lighter and lighter.

I had seen such amazing results and change in my own life that I recommend this book to anyone! Especially to those who live in first world countries ;)

Have you read this book and if so what did you like about it?

XO, Hannah

Tips on Selling Your Stuff

After decluttering a category of stuff, I would separate my things into categories of donating, giving away, selling, and trash. To be able to bless someone else with things you no longer need or want is a huge blessing to me!

Donating / Giving Away

Person in need - I give away my clothing to a teen girl who doesn't have a whole lot and she gets really excited when she gets my clothes. I love that I am able to bless someone and make them happy! I would much rather see her excitement than to have clothes that I don't wear sitting in my closet.

Family & Friends - My mom is a teacher so if I have some little knick nacks that are kid appropriate I put them in a bag to give to her so she can use them to give away as prizes.

Goodwill - If it's something that I know won't sell I usually donate the items to Goodwill.

Women's Shelter - I personally have not donated to a women's shelter yet, but I heard they really like getting things like make-up (new) and purses and such! I sell Mary Kay so I am thinking about getting some discontinued make up items together to donate!

Selling

For each category of things I organize, I toss everything I do not want in a box to sort through once it is full or I am done organizing. I take pictures of each item and post them on online yard sale groups and pages. I usually start off a little high with the price but if a week goes by and there are no offers I mark the price down about $5 or so.

For name brand clothing I like to consign or take to Plato's Closet. I prefer Plato's Closet more just because I get cash right away.

Things that do not sell on the online yard sale pages I keep for yard sales. If items still do not sale after a yard sale then I donate them to Goodwill.

I hope these tips help and hopefully you can make some extra cash! :)


XO, Hannah

TED Talks on Minimalism

Other than reading some books on organizing and reading articles, I came across a documentary on Netflix about Minimalism. I enjoyed it so much I decided to see if there were any TED talks on minimalism. Sure enough I found a page with 8 Ted talks all in one spot.

Here is the page with the TED talks
http://frugaling.org/8-ted-talks-will-inspire-become-minimalist/

Also the documentary on minimalism I had just mentioned is on Netflix!
http://www.theminimalists.com/netflix/

The guys who made the documentary also have a TED talk and a website. The documentary and TED talk pretty much had the same information, but I enjoyed both of them. If you only want to watch one I recommend the documentary.

Check out their website below!
http://www.theminimalists.com/



♡Hannah