Week Four: Year of Less

Last week, I wanted to:

• Weed out too-small Charlotte clothes and put them in a bin.
• Empty out my car. 
• Go through my socks and get rid of/rag the threadbare ones.
• Make breakfast cookies on Sunday and experiment with freezing for the week.

I really need to work on my discipline. Truly, I'm getting much, much better about leaving the kitchen relatively neat every night; I STILL have clean clothes in a basket from Saturday, though. 

It's not all grey clouds and rain puddles, though - I did a few things off-list that helped the house feel more open. Matt even got in on it, and went through his dresser. I dropped several bags of clothes off at a church thrift store, and I'm embarrassed to say that two of those bags had been sitting in our hallway for probably five months. Shameful. Still, they're out of the house, and I'll take any victory I can get.

I don't think I mentioned that I signed up for this Slow Home BootCamp, have I? I haven't actually done any of the tasks, but it's a nice idea and I am feeling compelled to do Task 6 (declutter bookshelves) this weekend. Over the course of the year, I have done pretty well with getting rid of books that don't hold some sort of value to us, be it sentimental or educational or entertainment. But now that Charlotte is moving around and getting curious, I think this is a good time to really be honest with myself/ourselves about what we're keeping and why. 

This week, I want to: 

• Make a meal plan that uses freezer food.
• Declutter the bookshelves - there are four five six in our house, plus a few deliberate piles. 
• Make a hugelkultur bed (this is not related to simplifying, but it's a major goal that will hopefully help me do more  with less money, so it's allowed because: "year with less" is pretty close to "year of less").
• Finish last week's goals.

Seven months

To recap:

And now:

 This was literally the only photo I got of her laying on her back.

She was much more interested in walking the perimeter of the basket. She looks so grown-up here, to me.

And in standing up inside the basket.

Seven month likes:
crawling!
playing in water
eating

Dislikes:
holding still
diaper changes (see above)
teeth

Charlotte got her first tooth ten days after she hit seven months. Her second followed 3 days later. She loves eating solids: eggs, meat (particularly steak), veggies, fruits, Cheerios. She is figuring out finger foods, but she takes a chipmunk approach and shoves it all in her mouth at once.

Helping

I had to work from home yesterday, because my car lost a steering belt. Charlotte stayed home, too, because I had no way of getting her to daycare.

I barricaded us in the living room. Charlotte mostly played with toys, but she was very curious about what I was doing.

Week Three: Year of Less

Last week's goals:

• Put clean clothes away with 24 36 hours of washing (must. be. realistic.). 
• Make a donate box and put something in it every day.
• Gather up things that belong to our friends and return them.
• Put the pot lid organizer we bought 2 months ago to use.

I am awful at putting laundry away. I don't know why. I hate it. I hate it even more than I hate putting the dishes away. It's boring and stupid, and maybe I just need to recognize this and institute a no-dresser policy so that I can just live out of a laundry basket.

Right.

Really, what I need to do is reduce the sheer amount of clothing I have. Especially since I only wear about 2/3 of it. Because MAYBE if I had SPACE for the clothes, putting them away wouldn't be such a chore. 

I kept up really well with the goals from week 1. I think it's safe to call those habits now. 

This week, I'm going to:

• Weed out too-small Charlotte clothes and put them in a bin.
• Empty out my car. 
• Go through my socks and get rid of/rag the threadbare ones.
• Make breakfast cookies on Sunday and experiment with freezing for the week.

Wish me luck!

Mini me

Me.

Her.

Dear Charlotte,

You are something else. You are such a happy kid! I can't get over how much you do. I wish, though, that you'd go back to routinely sleeping through the night.

You're starting to freak out a little when I'm around but not paying attention to you. In order for you to be happy with dada, I have to leave the room. That's how this photo happened:

Yes, he was singing Red Solo Cup. It's not entirely appropriate for your wee little ears, but he changed the lyrics around a little. Red Solo Cup, I build you up, Baby knocks you down. I really should have recorded it!

Love you to the moon!
-mama

It's been one week (since you looked at me)

Because a little Barenaked Ladies never hurt!

It's been one week since I posted about my problem with Stuff and Things. I wanted to accomplish the following:

• I'm going to leave my office desk tidy every night. 
• I'm going to pick out clothes for me and C, and pack lunches and diaper bags the night before.
• I'm going to continue to strive to have a clean sink before bed.
• I'm going to cook one weekday meal on the weekend.

I have succeeded! Wahoo! I'm creating a new night-time routine that has worked for the last seven nights, and I'm so pleased about it. I'm a little bit surprised by how free I feel, given that I am working with 'more' restrictions. It means that I don't go to bed quite as early, and I may even be a few minutes late leaving the office, but it's less to worry about in the morning. That is always a good thing.

In the next seven days, in addition to continuing to make a habit out of the earlier goals, I'm going to:

• Put clean clothes away with 24 36 hours of washing (must. be. realistic.). 
• Make a donate box and put something in it every day.
• Gather up things that belong to our friends and return them.
• Put the pot lid organizer we bought 2 months ago to use.

This is going so well that I feel inspired to make this Year of Less thing a weekly feature. So, join me as I try to simplify a little!

PS. This whole thing started because two weeks ago, I cleared the books out of the stereo stand that we use for an entertainment unit. Someone was beginning to pull them out and eat them... So, I boxed up the ones I want to keep:

And in their place is a diaper box that makes a mighty fine toy box (and toy, itself!).