I promised I’d be sharing each room as we work on purging/organizing and living with as little as possible. With what we have gotten rid of already, it’s been so freeing and there is still SO much more to go. I had no idea how long the process would take. At first I’d be like “Today during naptime, I will do the kitchen!” Well 3 hours and 2 cupboards later….not so much. But then again, I was not only purging things but also transferring spices, cereals etc., to different bottles and containers as well as labeling them so it was quite a time consuming task. But SO so worth it you guys. I’ve found that as we’re purging, organizing at the same time has been KEY. I don’t want to just slowly replace the empty space from the things we purged with new stuff. That would totally defeat the purpose. The idea is to live with LESS going forward so if everything has it’s own spot and we have everything we need, it will be easier to not buy anything more. Make sense?!

So here’s what we organized/got ride of:

Cereals: Storage containers can be EXPENSIVE but you’d be surprised how much the dollar store has! Most of my mine are from there! 🙂 Putting our cereal, oatmeal, rice, etc., into containers has been so helpful! Just love how organized it is and we can easily see what we need more of for our grocery shop each week.

Tons of mismatched glasses and mugs. How many do you REALLY need?! We each have our fav mug that we use on a daily basis, so why do we need like 10 more each? We basically cut our collection in half. And I got rid of like 20 mason jars that had just been collecting dust in another cupboard. I used them for punch for parties and such in the past but haven’t used them in so long and I don’t plan on pickling or jamming anytime soon so off they went! (Don’t worry, we have another cupboard beside with all the dishes we KEPT, not pictured! But those empty shelves in this photo were filled with all the ones we never used!)

Tupperware. As you can see we now have a small stash in the photo below. It used to be stored in the huge corner cupboard. We had SO much we never used and a lot of it was mis-matched but we were just keeping it in case we found the right lid? Ron’s the only one that takes food to go on a daily basis and we just need a couple containers for packing away left overs. NOT a million.

Canned goods/boxed foods. We had a lot of stuff that was sitting in our pantry cupboard that was expired and a ton that I knew we would never use. So for a clean fresh start, we donated the good stuff to a local food bank and got rid of the rest.

Again, all the jars and containers are from Dollarama and the plastic white bins on the bottom shelf actually come with little scoops! Perfect for flour, sugar, etc., 

And this is so super embarrassing but just to be real and show you what things looked really like BEFORE…maybe it will be a little relatable or maybe we were just living like complete slobs. Either way, below is the very same cupboard before we made the spice drawer pictured below and got rid of so many things.

Extra serving dishes/pots and pans – we didn’t have a huge over supply of these but there were a few things we have never used sitting in cupboards collecting dust so off they went.

Dish rags and towels – don’t need a hundred of these. Thats what our washing machine is for. We kept a minimal stash in a small drawer. Spices – Our spice collection was so out of control. We had them all in the bags they came in stuffed in baskets in a cupboard (as pictured above). I used to actually think that was organized because they were all in one basket (the spice basket) but it was not a good system. We had quite a few doubles because we never knew what we had and would often accidentally re-buy things for new recipes. I had to do a lot of combining/throwing some of it out and Ron made this awesome DIY spice rack that literally took 20 min to put together. It’s in the drawer right beside our stove now so easy and accessible for cooking! The bottles are from the Dollarama!

The kids dishes – ok this was a big one! We had like 30 plastic spoons. What?! We run our dishwasher daily so we definitely could afford to lose some of those. Same with plastic cups, bowls, and plates. I don’t how that collection piled up so fast! (I blame it on all the cute dishes at Target when it was still here!) We kept the twins 3 plates and bowls each. Enough to go around if we have a play date with friends and enough to get through all meals and snacks on an average day. Same with the cups!

This drawer used to be our “mismatch drawer” All this stuff was just in there loose and things were always getting stuck or tangled together. Now, everything has a spot. A basket for cookie cutters, a basket for clips, and two baskets for measuring and other cooking tools. 

Appliances you’re not using – There were a couple big things we hadn’t used in YEARS that were taking up so much space in our cupboards. One of them was a portable grill Ron used in university but never once since then (it took up a third of the space under our kitchen sink). We also had a old blender that still worked but was cracked (not sure why were keeping it…again, just in case? We have a brand new one!) Also a couple gimmicky items that had been given to us around our wedding or showers and we had never touched. Getting rid of those larger things gave us so much more SPACE!

Our kitchen makes me so happy now instead of stressing me out! I would always get so flustered when cooking dinner because I could never find things or nothing fit when I was trying to put it back. I was convinced we had outgrown it and I needed a much bigger one. But nope, just needed to get rid of a whole lot of un-used items and make sure that EVERYTHING has a spot.

Sooo if this has inspired you in the least bit, happy kitchen purging/organizing! Thanks so much for reading!

I love our cozy little bungalow. It’s small but during this season in our life, it’s been just right for us. I love how close it forces us to be as a family. We always know what the others are up to. We try and keep it organized and tidy for the most part but we do have twin toddlers, after all.

Right after Christmas, there was stuff EVERY WHERE. Piles of new toys and clothes all over the living room, chocolate wrappers, trinkets from stocking stuffers, remnants of wrapping paper etc., etc.,. Pretty typical post-christmas scene I do believe? In a home the size of ours though, it can get overwhelming (for me anyway) when there is extra mess on top of the normal everyday mess.  My husband thinks I’m slightly OCD when it comes to having a tidy and organized house and that particular morning, I was completely convinced we had outgrown our home. Convinced that there was NO WAY we could possibly fit another human in this small space. Convinced that we HAD to get a larger place asap or I would not be able to function on a daily basis. My husband knows how to handle me when I get going on one of these rants. He doesn’t argue my points, but he doesn’t agree. He just helps tidy and clean until I feel better and come to my senses. He’s really the best.

After we spent the whole day cleaning and tidying and putting all the new stuff away,  you’d think I would feel better. But I didn’t. Our closets and cupboards were exploding after trying to fit all the new stuff in. And the strange part is I thought I prepared for this. I purged a “bunch of things” (especially toys) leading up to Christmas to make room for all the new stuff that was coming. Yet, it still didn’t really seem to make a difference. I was still convinced at the end of the day, that we needed a bigger home before baby comes.

A few days later, I picked up a book off my bookshelf that I had bought last year “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” I bet you’ve already either read or heard of this book but if you haven’t, it’s a MUST READ if you’re looking to declutter and minimalize but don’t know where to start. I’m not gonna lie…there are a couple strange parts where she talks about her clothes and items having feelings (not so into that) but for the most part, life changing. I read some of it last year when I first bought it, but I never finished and was much too busy at the time to apply a lot of what I was reading. This time, I’ve been reading it desperately, ready to follow everything Marie (the author) is telling me to do because realistically I know we can’t manage a move before July (when the baby comes) so I have to find a way to make our cozy 3 bedroom bungalow work for a soon to be family of 5. (gah! that sounds crazy to say out loud!!)  I decided I am ready to make some drastic changes. If you read my post back in the summer about minimalizing, I truly did get rid of a TON around that time. Minimalizing has been a goal of mine for the past 6 months or so. But the thing I didn’t realize is that you have to constantly be on top of your game. Stuff accumulates and it accumulates FAST! Especially when it’s not just you but three other people’s stuff as well. And here’s the other problem. When I got rid of things in the past, (even this past summer when I was so determined ) I got rid of all the stuff that was EASY to get rid of. ..clothes the boys had outgrown, clothes that didn’t fit me right anymore, dated house decor that was sitting in the basement, etc., etc., That was the extra stuff that shouldn’t have been there in the first place but I was keeping it in case. That stuff was all (except for a few of the boys baby clothes) pretty easy to take in bags over to the local goodwill.

It’s the stuff that I have in my shelves and closets (the ones I open every day) that I have started to look at differently. It’s because some of the stuff, I do really still love BUT I don’t use it…I haven’t used it much too long for it still to be sitting there. So I’ve started to be completely ruthless with getting rid of things because I’m completely sick of clutter and STUFF.  Anyone with me? When reading through the book, Marie is actually a tidying consultant and tells stories of clients homes and shares some of the most common stashes of things people keep. So for starters I thought I’d share a few BIG piles of things I got rid of right away after reading that part:

• Piles of all old magazines ( you think you’ll go back and look and them but you never do! never. Even the awesome House and Home ones I love. 🙁 I didn’t realize that until I read it. Out they went.)
• Piles of manuals for small kitchen appliances,  tools, etc., (we had a FULL kitchen drawer of these!!!! And Marie said it was ok to throw them ALL away so that I did!)
• Books – she says if you’ve had it for a year, and haven’t even opened it yet, chances are you never will. I had a handful of those! This was HARD because you always have that “what-if?” feeling but I tried not to think twice about it and off they went. I also had a ton of other ones that I didn’t care to keep but was just keeping them because they were all together in my book stash.
• Cosmetics – gah!  I have this huge bin of old lotions, half used eye shadows, body sprays, old nail polish, etc., and it’s ALL going to go. I’ve never reached for anything in that bin for at least a year. No reason for it to be taking up all that bathroom space now is there? I’m just keeping what I use on a daily basis.
• Box of electronic items – random chargers, cords etc., We totally have one of these! Marie says if you don’t know what it’s for, throw. it. out! Ha! Why did I think I had to keep them all in case? I don’t even think we have most of the items they belong to anymore!
• Extra bedding and linen – We had so many spare mismatched towels and extra sheets and pillow cases that we don’t ever use! We just need one extra set for the spare bed and a couple extra towels for guests. Everything else out!

Any of these resonate with you?!

So that’s a start. As I go through my home again,  room by room, I’m going to be sharing more of the types of things we get rid of and why. I’ll share what our minimal bedroom looks like, our minimal kitchen, bathroom, playroom etc., So far, I’m feeling SO MUCH BETTER and it’s only just begun. I’m realizing that we’re really not growing out of our cozy little home quite yet, we just have too much stuff. 

Thanks so much for reading!