January Cure #20 Out with the old

Remember the outbox? And lightening the living room? It is time to revisit both of these ideas and make som decisions. 

I removed quite a few items from the living room to lighten it up, and today we were asked to evaluate and decide if anything should go back. I have to admit, I don't miss any of it, so the candle holders can stay in the cabinet till I actually use them. 

The second task of the day was to empty the outbox. Earlier this week I took all the clothing (2 full bags, in addition to 5 from our closet cleaning) and dropped them off in the Salvation Army delivery box. It is right around the corner, and very handy. For all the other stuff I need to figure out if there is anywhere within walking distance that would want to take it. If not, we need to get help from a friend with a car... Or! Writing that last sentence prompted me to look up a local second hand store, and it turns out that they can pick up donations! I will have to call them next week. Perhaps they will take the mattress and chair we are trying to give away on Finn as well, that would be perfect.

During the Cure I have kept a suitcase for books and a box for things in the living room for things that we don't want to give away, but can be stored for later (when we have more space). So what we actually did today was to put those away in our storage loft. It is only accessible by ladder, so I wanted to make sure I  was done with the purging before moving them. Now, the hallway closet and the loft room are still not finished, but it felt so good to get those messy items out of my sight, so I am happy with today's progress. 

January Cure #12 Media fast

I knew I needed this. Every year during the January Cure there has been one night to enjoy your home without electronics, and for some reason I don't look forward to it, even though I know it will be both fine and fun. I might be addicted to my phone a little bit, so when I try to limit my screen time I usually fail (except from organized events like this one and Skjermfri uke).

When I came home from work yesterday I was very strict, put my phone away and reminded Mike that there could not be any TV-watching that night. And then I did so much! I read for probably 2 hours (not the books above though), I made granola and a DIY bathroom spray, prepped smoothies and worked on a knitting project. It was a lot of fun, but the impulses to check my phone were quite strong at times. I only looked at the screen once to check for messages, but without unlocking it. Even before going to bed, I just checked my alarm! Today on the other hand... lets not talk about it.

Any suggestions for how to implement more screen-free time in your daily life?

PS. These old bound newspapers were observed in the Skien library archives. I love looking at all the old books in there!

January Cure #4 Set up an outbox

An outbox is an essential part of the Cure philosophy. The outbox is a clearly defined area; a box/bag/area/room where items can go before you decide their final fate. Perfect for all those things you wonder whether you should keep or not, the outbox comes really handy.

Here is what Apartment Therapy says about this tool:

OUTBOX RULES 
1. Anything can go in the Outbox
2. The Outbox is allowed to get messy 
3. Everything must stay in the Outbox for at least one week 
4. After that time you have several choices:  Take anything back out / Leave anything you are undecided about for one more week / Dispose of the rest by moving to the recycling bin or giveaway pile 

Once you get used to separating first and disposing of later, you'll find that clearing clutter gets easier and easier.

Closet redesign is on our list and I hope to find a good solution for an outbox there, as it is the only closet and storage out of sight in the whole apartment. The outbox objects are already in there, but I do wish there was a little more room for it. Since participating in my first January Cure, I have made a habit of having 1 bag for clothes and 1 bag for other things to be donated, that always sit in the closet. It makes it a lot easier to part with someting when I know where to put it temporarily. My job was therefore really easy today, I only found a larger reusable shopping bag that can hold both of the bags I already had, and then some more. Then I added a few books to it after going through the bookshelf.

When it comes to actually donating I have trouble finding places to do it. Well, apart from clothes that can be put in a container right around the corner. The closest second hand stores are only open limited hours on weekdays here. We don't have a car either, which makes it harder to get rid of bigger items. Since my husband is a student with a flexible schedule, this part of the process might have to be his task.

Mike got us a new bookshelf yesterday, and he put  it together while I was at work today. Then it was a fun task for me to organize and decorate the shelves. The room looks quite different now, and I am impatient for some good lighting to take picture of it!


Artwork "This is the worst" by Ashley Elander.

More gratitude in 2014

I finished my year of living simply/stop shop (shop stop? stopshop?). In October I wrote an evaluation, and two months later I don´t have much to add to that. It hasn´t been that hard really. My closet is still full of clothes: while packing for my Christmas break I filled a large suitcase with things I thought I would need for the next week. Not only did I bring way too much, you could hardly notice a difference in the closet after packing. That was the moment I decided to continue this project.

Over Christmas, my sister decided to join the project, so I have someone to support, and confide in. The main area for improvement is my gift giving. It might have been easier for me to buy gifts for others this past year, without considering any of the limitations I put on myself. I will start off well this year though, with a knitted scarf for my sister in law´s birthday in a few weeks.

2014: A new year to read books from my shelves, wear all my dresses and be crafty.

New rules for 2014:

- I will by no new clothes, shoes, accessories, books, things, etc from 1st of January 2014 till 1st of July 2014 unless it is directly related to the wedding.
- I can buy yarn/fabric to knit and sew/redesign clothes, and buy used clothes/things. I will try to borrow or buy used/vintage for some of the wedding stuff as well.
- Items that are worn out or broken can be replaced if truly necessary (kitchen appliances, umbrella and other needed things).
- When giving gifts I will consider the rules above, but I will receive any gift given me. (Like the three pairs of rain boots I got for Christmas. Don´t worry, I only kept one.)

Stop shop: A White Dress

When I started my Live Simply project I had a hunch I would be engaged before the year was over, and in my mind, there was allowance for a white dress on my exceptions list. (Obviously I didnt share that with the rest of the world.)

To keep in with my project, I looked at vintage dresses, but trying them on can be very tricky when they are on the other side of the country (or planet!). I do think it can be a great alternative, and there are several small shops on Etsy that specialize in vintage wedding dresses. If you live in a big city, this might be a lot easier.

One evening, after a few to many episodes of "Say yes to the dress", I found this video where a girl goes out to find why wedding dresses are so expensive:


I am not sure if I agree with her. Perhaps the dresses are worth their price, considering the fabric, labor, advertisement and so on. The questions is rather if the price of a wedding dress is worth it to me.

Another issue is that most wedding dresses, with layers of tulle and ball gown silhouettes, seems designed to make girls feel and look like a princess. And while I guess it is okay to be a princess for your wedding day, after trying on a lot of these dresses, I realized I didn´t like to wear them. They were heavy, stiff and not very much like me.

Personally I do not feel comfortable spending a huge amount on a dress that will definitely only be worn for one day. That might be the reason I ended up buying a white dress from a small non-bridal store in Tallinn, because it was comfortable, pretty and had a decent price. They didn´t have my size though, so now I am reading tutorials on "How to sew lace", and blogs by brides who made their own wedding dresses. At least there will be one major DIY project for this wedding!

Living Simply in 2014

It is already December, and when I consider my project it seems silly to stop at the end of the month. Why not continue? I am however considering changing my rules a bit.

One obvious obstacle for no shopping is the wedding. I will try to use local, used or handmade, but that is not possible for everything. I have decided to not be so strict with everything that falls into the wedding category, but my budget automatically limits me in the spending department. This way I have to prioritize and source fun alternatives. Trust me, there are hundreds of wedding things you can buy, like soap bubble bottles shaped like cakes, flip flops that leave "just married" foot prints, and monogrammed anything!

For everything else shopping related, I am considering to only shop used/vintage, which means no new books or stuff at all! I can miss the shopping, and doing a lot of wedding research online can be a temptation for the things I don´t need. This needs a little more thought before I decide, but I will be back with details at the end of the month.

Stop shop: What about Christmas gifts?

Reading Irina Lee´s book "Shoppingfri" got me thinking about my plans for Christmas presents this year. Irina and four of her friends had a year of complete stop shop, which gave them very clear boundaries for gift shopping as well. My project is slightly different from theirs (read my rules here), and so far this year, I have given clothes and things to several people for birthdays and other occasions. But to stay true to the spirit of my project, perhaps I should consider other gifts for the upcoming season.

I am not a stranger to making gifts, this includes sewing, knitting, baking and more. I also prefer to give people something they would enjoy and like and are useful as well, and those things can't always be made, at least not by me. 

Do you have any good ideas? Or do you have any gift wishes that could serve as inspiration? At the moment I have no clue ...

PS. Gift wrap idea by Jeanne and the Moon.

A longing fulfilled is a tree of life

Many many moons ago I joined a book club, and when I convinced my friend to join as well, I got a cooking kit from said book club as a thank you gift. I still use the pots and pans, and they work fine. This must be at least 9 years ago, since I remember unpacking and using these things in my apartment in Oslo as a student from 2004-2005. There was also a hand blander in this kit (or perhaps it was from the baking kit from the same book club? I cant remember.)

While cleaning my cupboards earlier this year, I got rid of this mixer. The blades were dull and I never used the handheld whisk since I had another (better) one for that purpose. Since I had an ordinary blender I thought I would be fine. That was until the end of May, when my cheap 4,5 year old blender suddenly died in the middle of making a smoothie...

Fast forward 5 months, and imagine my excitement when unwrapping a brand new Braun hand blender at my birthday party! It is such a joy to have friends who know me well and give good gifts. It also a greater pleasure to receive something I have been wanting for a long time. If you haven´t made a wish list yet, I warmly recommend it.


Illustration of Proverbs 13:12 by artist Kyle Steed.

Live simply: How much does a girl really need?

Almost 10 months into my Live Simply project, it might be time to evaluate and look at my goals:

- Be more conscious of my spending and save money
I spend less money on clothes, but without having the full overview, I might be spending more on things like good food and fresh flowers. None the less, I have money saved in the bank. With a wedding coming up, there is an even bigger incentive to keep up with this goal in 2014 as well. PS. I have bought tea only once.

- Deep cleaning
To some extent I have cleaned and purged, and I think I have gotten better at parting with things. For example, the other day I successfully threw out a whole bag of sewing/mending projects that honestly wouldn´t be worth the time it would take to get a mediocre result, and scraps of fabric too small to use for anything at all. This stuff have been taking up room for years, so it was time to let it go.

- Free time
All the cleaning and organizing has taken a lot of time actually, but it is nice to walk through the mall and not even consider stopping in a store!

- Contentment and use what I have

October wishlist

October is my birthday month, and inspired by one of the Stop Shop bloggers I am making a wish list. Christmas is right around the corner as well, and if I am very lucky, I might be the owner of one of these pretty/useful things:

- Yarn to knit this pretty sweater from Pickles. If only I could decide on a color... 

- A pretty letter in the mail.

- Low rubber boots. 

- A new book on food and cooking, for example this one by Ann Mah.

- Earrings for my bunad (Norwegian folk custome).

- Good coffee.

- Coffee pot for my Moccamaster. The one I have has mysteriously cracked.

- A Kelim or other rug for the living room/dining room.

- A blender

An autumn giveaway

To celebrate the new season I have decided to have a giveaway. Fall has been really warm and pretty so far, and I look forward to wearing knits and tights soon!

The prizes in this giveaway are two gift cards of 200 kr and 100 kr to my online bloppis shop. Bloppis.no markets itself as the best Norwegian online flea market, and my store has a variety of vintage and newer clothes.

To enter, leave a comment on this post with your favorite item from my shop. You can earn an extra entry by sharing this giveaway or my shop in any social media.

The giveaway is open to all readers, but keep in mind that shipping prices will be higher for deliveries out of Norway. Last chance to enter is September 23.

And in addition I will give a discount of 15% for the next week on everything in my store, just contact me before checkout.

 ---- Giveaway closed ----

The Stop Shop Crisis

Keds, worn once, MIA.

New Minetonka moccasins.

My luggage has been missing for 11 days now, and I have to confess - I have been shopping. On my way back from Denver to Atlanta, AirTran (Yeah, I had never heard of them either. Not a good sign I guess...) failed to bring me my luggage. Fortunately, I had a hunch that it might happen, so I packed some extra clothes and my make-up in my carry-on. I guess I could have managed, doing laundry every other day, but I just wasn´t up for that, and I gave in. At least now I am thoroughly sick of shopping.

What I bought:
1 pair of moccasins
1 pair of flip flops
2 t-shirts
1 tank top
1 long sleeved shirt
1 cardigan
1 pajama shorts
socks
underwear
a set of earrings
bobby pins
hair ties

I also got a few things second hand at Goodwill here in Augusta:
1 dress
1 shirt
1 skirt

Outlet malls in Gatlinburg gave me good deals at least, and my insurance company has been very helpful, but I still would really like to get my stuff back. If I only could a few tiny little things back, I wouldn´t care about the rest. I know that´s not how it works, and I have learned my lesson of never checking something I would hate to part with, including my cell phone charger. And my camera charger/chords, which is the reason for only instagram photos on here.

A great temptation ahead

  


In a couple of days I am off to America for the summer. And though I am very excited, I believe this will be the greatest test for my stop shop/live simply goals for the year.

I still haven´t bought any new clothes, shoes or accessories for myself in 2013, but it is hard to keep the "one item in, one out" rule for other things... I went to a thrift shop last week, and couldn´t resist some summery yellow glasses. I justified it by thinking I will need more glasses when my new roommate moves in this fall, and consequently didnt get rid of any of the ones I have. During the year I have got rid of various other items, books I have read and other things, so all in all, I am pretty sure I am in balance.

But being in a travel mode, surrounded by cheap shoes, pretty summer dresses and fun stores we dont have in Norway, I dont know how I will manage.

So, when evaluating my closet, I have given myself a couple of exceptions from my regime:
- A new bikini. 
The one I have is several years old, and since I will be in hot weather for 5 weeks, I dont even know if I can manage with just one swimsuit!
- New underwear
I stocked up on socks in December, but not on underwear. I should have.
- A pair of summer shoes (maybe)
I have two pair of canvas shoes, and both have holes in them. In addition, I have a couple of ballerina flats, but with paper thin soles, those are not good for walking. Can I get a new pair then? What do you think?

In addition, I can shop 2nd hand clothes, and other things like books, paper goods and more!

PS. The second picture is self-grown spinach! I am already enjoying the fruit of my gardening labor :)

Learning generosity

In March I had a screen free week, arranged by Familie og Medier. It was a week of of cooking, parties for good friends and a lot of reading. As one of the participants of the project, I was drawn to be the lucky winner of a gift card to the online store Stormberg.no. There was only one issue, and if you have read my blog this year, you know I am not shopping new clothes this year. If I was though, this would be a good company, since they have high ethical standards for their production and are also a climate neutral company.

I could have saved the gift card for 2013 and used it then, but decided it would be even better to give it someone that needed it more. This could technically pass in the "gifts" section, and I could have spent it on myself, but I looked through what they had and compared with what I already own, and decided I don´t need anything right now.

I think my "live simply" goal is helping me to be more generous. It has been easier to give things away, because I think stuff matters a little less to me. If that is a lasting effect, I will be very happy!


PS. Here is an article written by a man who left the internet for a year, and what he learned about himself and the internet from that. Pretty interesting.

A spring giveaway

To celebrate spring and the fact that I have not spent a single krone/cent on clothing, shoes or accessories so far this year, I have decided to have a giveaway.

The prize is a gift card of 200 kr to my online bloppis shop. Bloppis.no markets itself as the best Norwegian online flea market, and my store has a variety of vintage and newer clothes.

To enter, leave a comment on this post with your favorite item from my shop. You can earn an extra entry by sharing this giveaway or about my shop in any social media.

The giveaway is open to all readers, but keep in mind that shipping prices will be higher for deliveries out of Norway. Last chance to enter is May 22nd.

And in addition I will give a discount of 15% for the next week on everything in my store, just contact me before checkout.

Giveaway closed. The lucky winner was Ida! 

Stop shop update

Two and a half months into my stop shop project, and it is time for a real update.

It is still easy to not buy new clothes, but I have acquired a few things in other ways: a pair of jeans handed down from my sister, some earrings my mom found in her jewelry box, and a second hand sweater. I ask myself the question: are these gifts or not? And in borderline cases I will still try to practice my "one item in, one out" rule.

The jeans from my sister was easy, I just replaced them with an old washed out out pair in the same color, even from the same store! The sweater is more of a head sore, and I have a hard time choosing which one to part with now. Perhaps this is the bigger struggle for me, actually parting with some of my things. I think I just like them too much sometimes.

There hasn´t been too much time for DIYs and projects yet, but perhaps now that spring is knocking on my door. One of the sewing projects I hope to finish this year is a top in the vintage pattern above. The half finished 70s tunic has been waiting for way too long, and I want to wear it soon. Maybe this spring?

PS. For updates from my Latvia outreach, check YWAM Skiens blog.

For sale: from my closet

My project of living simply combined with the January Cure (that looks like it will extend into March...) gave me the kick to do something I have been thinking of for a while: selling vintage clothes online. I have bought stuff in second hand shops and flea markets and vintage boutiques, and some items are loved and well-worn, while others fail to make it out of the closet. Some times it is because a restyle never happens, other times the pattern just a little too crazy, even for me. 

Now I have a shop on the Norwegian site bloppis.no. The items above, and more are listed, and I will  continue to update it. 

PS. I can also ship abroad, just contact me for prices. 

The January Cure

Moving chaos in 2011. 

I decided to join Apartment Therapy´s January Cure rather late, but now I am deep into it, and loving it. The cure is a month devoted to cleaning, organizing and improving your home, with a project or task for each day. What I needed some encouragement with, was mostly deep cleaning some areas (especially those kitchen cabinets) and organizing my spare room. Don´t worry, my apartment is not in the state of the picture above, or even near that, but who does not need a good cleaning once in a while?

So far I am quite inspired. I have made lists for things that needs to be done around the house (not all will happen in a month, and thats okay), organized and decluttered my books, rearranged my living room, and started cleaning in all those crafting supplies. While cleaning, I have found some clothes that I will donate, and some vintage, fun items I will try to sell online. Check it out if you´d like.

For books and media I will host a book swap/book sale next week where people can bring their own books and we can benefit from what others have previously owned.

As you can imagine, there is lots of house stuff going on! I think my plans for living simply this year is affecting more and more areas, and it is fun.

A cup of tea dear?

The other day I realized how much tea I really have.

Black, green, red, mint, roiboos, Earl Grey, Vanilla chai, lemongrass, the list goes on and on. 

I reorganized it all, and decided to try drinking more tea in the afternoon instead of coffee. I am not sure  if that will work though, my coffee habits are strong. Food is not on my no-shopping list this year, but since I am already more conscious of my spending, I get more aware in all areas of spending. And lets just say that if I need to buy more tea in 2013 I will be very surprised.

What is your cup of tea?

Restyle: Patch him up!

This vintage thrifted Benetton sweater is a favorite. The softness and comfort is no surprise, since there is 22% angora in it. 

Unfortunately it had lots of tiny little holes, and with no shopping in addition to my love for this garment, mending was in place. I decided to add elbow patches (found in my sewing kit), and lots of stitches later, I am happy with the result. I am very grateful I know how to use a needle and some thread! 

PS. I added a category and page for all resolution related posts: Live Simply.