Simply Simplifying

I decided to start simplifying, but I decided to do it in very small steps. So my goal is to simplify a drawer or a cabinet/cupboard or shelf or a tub five days a week until I've made it through the house. Peter Walsh writes in his book, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life:

How does your home serve your notion of the life you wish you had? Do the things you own help you achieve that life or distract from that vision? Is there room in your bedroom to sleep peacefully? Does the front hallway welcome you when you arrive home after a tiring day? Can your family gather for meals, fun or relaxation without the interference of piles of junk? Every item filling your home should move your life vision forward and serve a real function, one that you can explain without making excuses. Remember, 'Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.' Do your things meet these standards?"

So I'm going to take a look at each item and ask myself does this item serve a real function? Is it useful? Do I believe that it is beautiful? And of course, the obvious, do I use this item? I also want to make sure that I don't have more than necessary. There will be times when I can't get rid of an item yet because I don't have the money to replace it with something of better quality, but I am going to begin a list of things that I want to replace so that we can use our surplus $$ (well, hopefully if we budget better and are more frugal, there will be surplus $$) more wisely.

An exception to the having more than necessary to this rule is food storage, but even there, I only store what we eat/use. No use have 500 cans of tuna since we don't enjoy it that much. 4 cans upstairs in our monthly pantry and 12 cans in our three month storage is plenty of tuna for us.

I'm going to start with my pots/pans & small appliances cabinet in the kitchen. I figure that it will probably take me about nine months to get through the whole house. I'm going to store the items that don't make the cut out in the garage, and next May, I'll have a yard sale. Anything that doesn't sell will go to Goodwill.