Another year, another #minsgame. January marked the eighth time I started the year with a minimizing challenge. The rules of The Minimalists #minsgame are simple. For every day of the month, you get rid of that corresponding number of items. Toss ’em, donate ’em, or sell ’em — just get them out of your home. So on the third day of the month, you’d get rid of three things, on the 16th, sixteen things, etc. January’s 31 days total 496 items. This year, 149 items in to the challenge, I forfeited #minsgame.

7 years of minimizing

I’ve become a minimalist over the past seven years. I’ve eliminated possessions that aren’t useful or don’t bring me joy, and cut back on my commitments. I spend my money carefully and prioritize relationships and experiences over “stuff.” I have no desire to accumulate material objects that don’t serve a practical or higher purpose. My dream is to be free from the shackles of debt and the burden of clutter. I love the space it’s created not only in my home, but also in my head.

Minimalism is part of my every day life. When I buy something new it’s often replacing something that needed replacing like running sneakers, jeans or make-up. If time goes by and I haven’t used something, I question if I actually need it. I toss things during seasonal cleaning and when I reorganize closets and drawers.

After all these years, #minsgame is more of a tradition; a fun annual challenge I look forward to.

Forfeiting #Minsgame

I felt odd at first about quitting #minsgame 149 items in. If absolutely necessary, I could have “won” by scouring my apartment, but it would have been difficult, not fun. As I contemplated what else I could do without, I wondered why “winning” was important to me. I remembered the spirit of the game that turned me onto minimalism in the first place. #Minsgame appealed to my competitive nature while making minimizing fun. It provided structure and a goal. “Winning” provided a sense of accomplishment.

I no longer need that structure and goal to inspire me to declutter. I do it all year.

Why I love #Minsgame

I’ll definitely play again, I have no doubt! Right now I live alone and have a lot of time on my hands. Hopefully I’ll cohabitate again and life will get full and with it will come the detritus of a well lived life.

I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t benefit from a month playing #Minsgame. It’s especially perfect for people like my Mom who struggle under the weight of the task at hand and have physical limitations. And once you win, you’ve been minimizing for 30 days so you’ve inadvertently created a minimizing habit! The first time I played, I started again the following month — I was hooked (and had A LOT to minimize).

#Minsgame makes minimizing simple and fun.

When and where to start #Minsgame

You can start today (there is zero need to wait for a new month). Get up right now and toss one item and bask in the satisfaction of your accomplishment. Don’t know where to start? Here are some “quick wins” to motivate you and provide some momentum.

1. The fridge

I know you have some expired food in there.

2. The medicine cabinet

I know you have some expired medicine in there.

3. The junk mail pile

Recycle it!

4. The sock drawer

Toss those socks with holes and stains and missing partners. (Count each sock as one!)

5. The junk drawer

Take the whole drawer out, turn on a good show and empty that sucker out. Toss the bent paperclips, the matchbooks with a single match, the loose birthday candles, the old chopsticks and hot sauce packets, the brittle rubberbands… the junk drawer is a gold mine!

Damn, now I’m a little jealous I don’t have anything left to #mins. I could really go for a good junk drawer right now…

After nine months working remotely full time, I found myself drowning in paper. Handwritten notes, lists — so many lists — references, and sticky notes accumulated around me faster than time and mental capacity could process. But with a cluttered desk comes a cluttered mind. The added volume of email, meetings and chat messages weighed me down even more. I had lost the ability to be proactive or think past the most urgent task in front of me. Stressed and anxious, I was afraid I would drop one of the dozens of balls I struggled to keep in the air. I knew I was working harder than I should to achieve less than my workload demanded. Burned out and overwhelmed, I desperately needed a system to help me organize my work. My life raft came in the form of David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity, and Microsoft OneNote.

Distributed Cognition

Lucky for me, I write shit down. I know better than to rely on my memory for ideas, reminders, and action items. Because of this, I’ve been building an external mind to capture and store information. This process of getting things out of your head and into objective, reviewable formats is referred to as “distributed cognition.” By capturing thoughts externally, you free up space in your mind for other ideas. Store thoughts in your mind and you’re likely to forget them or limit the flow of other ideas, ultimately limiting your productivity and creativity.

For example, you’ve surely needed to memorize a long number for a few moments. You repeat it in your head over and over, solely focused on this one thing. One distracting thought and boom, gone. Need to go to the grocery store? Try memorizing the five things you need and most likely there won’t be room for the thought that you’re also low on eggs. But go with an external list and your mind has the freedom to wander.

Thanks to my habit of writing everything down, I had already built a sort of external mind. Unfortunately, my external mind was a disorganized shit show of handwritten notes, lists — so many lists — references, and sticky notes. That’s where David Allen’s book, and Microsoft’s OneNote, came in and saved me.

Capturing Open Loops

Getting Things Done is an organization and productivity system. The book delves into painstaking detail at times and probably could have been shorter, but with thirty-five years of experience as a management consultant and executive coach, Allen knows his stuff. I took what I wanted from the book and left what I didn’t.

The first tactic I implemented that immediately paid dividends when it came to my productivity and reducing my stress was capturing my “open loops.” Allen defines open loops as “anything pulling at your attention that doesn’t belong where it is, the way it is.” Open loops are the thoughts that leap out at you at seemingly random times when you’re least likely to be able to act on them. Everything from planning a vacation, emailing an agenda in advance of tomorrow’s meeting, or picking up milk.

Not capturing these thoughts, to-dos, actions, etc. is like going to bed without an alarm clock. You spring up in the middle of the night afraid you overslept and have little peace of mind. That is precisely what was happening to me, but with work thoughts.

So I set to capture every “open loop” from my mind, scrap of paper or lingering list with Allen’s instruction. The more I captured, the more open loops sprang to mind (a benefit of distributed cognition) and the more confident I felt that tasks wouldn’t fall through the cracks. Already, I felt more in control of what I needed and wanted to do.

I created another document to capture meeting notes after experiencing the benefit of keeping notes electronically. I could keep everything together (in a searchable format) rather than shuffling through notebooks to find that note containing what that guy said in that meeting two (or was it three) weeks ago.

Do you know about OneNote?

I can’t be the only person who didn’t know about Microsoft OneNote. I only “discovered” OneNote late last year and it’s changed my life. In case you’re uninitiated like I was, it’s a digital note taking app where you can create digital notebooks and add sections to the notebooks, then pages to the sections. So long, Word docs! I keep everything in OneNote. I have a work account where I keep a master work notebook and a personal account where I have notebooks on everything from this website to ideas for my Youtube channel, Big Appetite. Small Kitchen., ideas, goals, etc.  It also syncs to all my devices so I can access my notebooks anytime, anywhere as long as I can access my Microsoft account.

Next Actions

Once I formed the habit of capturing open loops and started using OneNote, the quality of my life improved. I’m serious. Despite being an organized, high-performing person, I was wasting a lot of time struggling to get organized, and causing myself a lot of unnecessary stress.

David Allen goes into great detail regarding what to do with open loops once they’re all captured; specifically, how to determine your next actions. According to Allen, the next action is the most immediate physical, visible activity required to move a task or project toward closure. It cannot depend on any other action. For example, if you have an open loop to talk with your child’s teacher, then the next action is most likely to email them and ask to meet.

This way of thinking about immediate next actions has helped me to move so much forward. Often my tasks and projects (personal and professional) are large and feel overwhelming. I sometimes don’t know where to begin. Getting in the habit of identifying immediate next actions has increased my productivity and decreased that sense of dread, and therefore procrastination (which we all know compounds stress and anxiety).

Staying Organized

At the end of any given day I may still find myself with pages of handwritten notes and dozens of unread emails. Staying organized requires proactivity. I take the time to transcribe notes into OneNote and am vigilant about the cleanliness of my inbox. Otherwsie, I can end up right back where I was — disorganized and stressed.

Now, having captured my open loops and updated my master next actions list, I am able to shut down my computer at the end of the day with peace of mind. No more waking in the middle of the night in a panic. No more starting my day with anxiety because I have no idea where to begin. It is a beautiful thing and one more lesson I learned to help me achieve a simpler, happier, more peaceful life.

Early last month I made the difficult announcement that I had separated from my husband and moved out of my home. In that announcement I also shared that my apartment’s small kitchen inspired a new creative project that I would share with you all soon. Well, the time has come. I am excited to share my brand new Youtube channel, ‘Big Appetite. Small Kitchen.’ with you all!

Minimalism has been one of the primary themes of this blog for many years; a topic I know many of you appreciate. After countless #minsgames and experiments with #project333, moving in to a small apartment wasn’t terribly difficult (in terms of stuff, that is.) But as someone who finds so much joy in the kitchen, I struggled with my new small space. My minimalist principles were put to the test as I was forced to examine what I truly needed to sufficiently cook and bake.

Despite little space and room for only the necessities, my passion for cooking returned in no time. I realized it didn’t matter how much counter or cabinet space I had, or how fancy my oven was. All that mattered was how I felt as I prepared delicious food for myself and the people I care about. And let me tell you… I felt happy. 

A Creative Seed

One evening soon into living in my new apartment I gave an enthusiastic (and impromptu) tutorial on how to prepare an authentic caesar salad. It was in that moment that the creative seed for ‘Big Appetite. Small Kitchen.’ was planted.

I’ve shared so much over the years through the written word — sharing via video didn’t feel like that much of a departure. The wheels started turning and my co-creator, Devin and I bounced around ideas. What if we could show people that a small kitchen doesn’t have to be limiting? What if we could demonstrate how to prepare low-cost, yet health-forward food with minimal tools and ingredients that complement the realities of a small kitchen? Maybe we could even help people save money by showing them how to make things most people spend money on, like cold brew, for example.

Lucky for me, Devin was equally excited by the concept… and had most of the necessary equipment… and had dabbled in videography… and editing… and obtained all the other skills required to put together a Youtube show.

We decided to put our money where our mouths were, commit to the project, and see where it goes.

We launched ‘Big Appetite. Small Kitchen.’ (B.A.S.K.) with three videos:

1. How to make perfect hard-boiled eggs
2. How to make cold brew coffee
3. Must have kitchen utensils

Nurturing the Seed

We learned so much in a short time and continue to improve and be excited by the project. Not only has it been a fun creative outlet, it’s turned out to be an aid to my disordered eating recovery. I cried the first time I saw myself on camera, disgusted by the woman staring back at me. There was a part of me that wanted to tell Devin to delete everything — that I was nuts to think I had any business whatsoever being on camera.

But we had worked hard. And I believe there is value in what we created. And I am who I am and this is what I look like at the moment.

I’ve wasted so much time and missed out on so many things choosing to wait until I was comfortable in my skin. I may NEVER feel comfortable in my own skin. But I have a life to live and creative endeavors to pursue. My limiting beliefs are LOUD and MEAN, but I continue to challenge them.

So I agreed to put our first few videos out into the world. And so far… so good.

And now I’m sharing them with you! I can’t wait to hear what you think and would love it if you would share some requests for future videos.

In the meantime, “Thanks for watching. Like and subscribe for more.” 

Follow B.A.S.K. on Instagram

Last month we held our second annual spring yard sale. As a practicing minimalist, I LOVE getting rid of stuff. But not everything is trash, and extra money is a wonderful thing, especially while we continue to tackle our debt. We made $892 from only two yard sales! Sure, yard sales require some work. But follow my 10 tips for a successful yard sale and you’ll be making money and having fun!

The key to success lies in preparation. You have to plan ahead! If done properly, a yard sale pays off three-fold:

1. You get rid of stuff you don’t need or want
2. You make money
3. You may help people in need of second-hand goods
4. Bonus: you get to hang outside, meet people, and talk with your neighbors.

Not convinced? Maybe these 10 tips for a successful yard sale will convince you to give it a shot.

1. Carve out some space for the things you want to sell and add to it throughout the year.

If you wait until the week of your yard sale to run around your house and grab things, you’re bound to miss a lot of opportunities. Designate a space in your attic or basement and accumulate things over the course of a year or when you purge, play #minsgame, decorate for Holidays, or just as you come across things you no longer want. For me, that’s almost every time I clean.

Mike and I have a designated space in our basement we add to year-round.

**PRO TIP**: DO NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS OVER WHAT WILL AND WON’T SELL. I cannot stress this enough. You will be AMAZED by what sells and what may not. My mom helped out with our 2017 sale and had said so many times, “Throw that out. It won’t sell.” And each time she was proven wrong. This year, the very first thing to sell was a set of four Simpsons shot glasses. The second? A fake child’s raccoon cap given me to sell by a friend. Even the guy who bought it (for a dollar to make his granddaughter laugh) said, “I bet you never thought that would be one of the first things to go.”

So don’t hold back – put it aside to sell and give it a shot!

2. Hold off until you have a good amount of stuff to sell.

People don’t stop at yard sales unless they look worth their time from the road. Believe me, I know, because I do it, too. A few things displayed on one table isn’t very enticing. People like bang for their buck and want to see variety. Quantity has absolutely been one of the keys to our success. It’s more to lug out and set-up, but it’s worth it – trust me.

3. Coordinate your neighbors.

People are far more likely to stop at your yard sale when they can hit up a few others at the same time. We coordinated our neighbors for both of our yard sales and it’s really helped traffic! Not to mention, you get to hang out with your neighbors and socialize (and in our case, share a few drinks.)

4. Pick a date (and a back-up date in case it rains).

Spring and fall seem to be the most common times of year for yard sales. People won’t come out if it’s too cold. Many people are away on weekends in the summer. Consider what else is going on in your town before you choose a date. A fair or festival can either help or hurt traffic depending on how close you are to the festivities. Also check to see if your town holds a town-wide yard sale. Our town didn’t last year, but we benefited tremendously from an estate sale happening down the street. This year our town did hold an annual yard sale and we paid the $10.00 fee to be included in the advertising.

5. Make sure you have enough tables and tarps ahead of time to display your items.

Display matters. People need to be able to see and touch what you have. Although you could lay everything out on the ground, or keep things in boxes or totes, you’ll do much better if you can display things on tables and book cases closer to eye level. People are far less likely to see what you have if they need to rifle through boxes. Think creatively. We used body stands and plywood to give us two extra tables. We used tarps on the lawn to display baskets and artwork. We used an old bookcase to display books and dvds. If you plan ahead, you can borrow tables from friends.

6. Advertise your sale.

Do not rely on street traffic. There are a lot of people who spend their early weekend mornings going to yard sales either for work or for pleasure. And you better believe they plan their routes in advance by looking up where the sales are going to be. If you don’t advertise, you miss a golden opportunity to sell to those people. One of those people is a guy who re-sells jewelry. The same guy bought every piece of jewelry we had two years in a row for one lump sum.

For advertising, think Craigslist, Facebook, any online or virtual yard sale sites, signs on street corners, fliers in your local coffee shop…. whatever you think will work for your area! Include some high-value or specialty items you’re selling. If you have everything one needs for a new baby, then say so!

**PRO TIP**: Make sure you know if you have any silver, gold or valuable antiques. I don’t know how to tell real silver and gold so we took all the jewelry I wasn’t sure of to a ‘cash for gold’ place. They were more than happy to sort through it all and tell me what was real and what wasn’t. We ended up selling everything that was real to them.

So when the guy came along to buy all our jewelry (most likely in hopes there was real stuff along with the costume and cheap stuff), I knew there wasn’t.

We’ve all heard stories of people finding extremely valuable items at yard sales for cheap. Don’t be the person who unknowingly sells a Renoir for $7.00.

7. Start early.

The most savvy customers are up and out early to score the best stuff. We advertised the start of our sale as 7:00 am, but people were already showing up at 6:45. We planned for this and started setting up at 5:45 am. We sold the majority of our stuff by 9:00 am.

8. Organize your items by category so you can display them all together. THINK MERCHANDISING.

Along with having adequate tables, organization and merchandising matters. For example, with summer around the corner I showcased all of our BBQ, picnic-ware and Americana items right up front. It paid off! People even complimented me for the clever idea and my merchandising. Almost all of it sold.

If someone’s looking for something, they should be able to see it all together. They’re far more likely to buy more. And generally speaking, people are fairly lazy and/or rushed. You have to hook your customer so they know perusing through your yard sale is worth their time or else they’ll take one quick glance and be on their way. A smile and a kind welcome helps a lot for this as well, but more on that in a moment.

9. Don’t price anything, but have an idea of what you will charge for things.

This was my fourth yard sale and I’ve NEVER priced anything in advance. Here’s why: By forcing people to ask me how much something is, I can feel them out and have a conversation. I know what they’re interested in so I can suggest other things in addition or try to sell them on the item if they turn me down, or bargain until we come to an agreeable price. If you price everything in advance, your prices appear firmer and you risk losing opportunities to interact and negotiate. Furthermore, it saves time and work to not worry about pricing anything.

**PRO-TIP**: Be prepared to come down on your prices or start off low. Remember, your goal is to get rid of things. We sold a majority of our stuff for a dollar. We sold quite a bit for even less than that. There was very little need for negotiating and only once did me and a customer not agree. Most people seemed very satisfied with the prices given. Remember, $1.00 is better than nothing and certainly better than something going in the trash or collecting dust.

**PRO-TIP**: Don’t forget the change! It seems nearly everyone hits the ATM before yard sales and is loaded with twenties. I recommend having at least $50 in change, including at least 30 singles and a few dollars in loose change.

10. Be friendly!

Yes, it’s a yard sale, but conversation and friendliness go a long way for everyone. I can honestly say I had a fun time talking to people and there is no doubt it helped increase our sales. Customer service matters whether in a high-end department store or in your driveway. So smile, welcome people, be nice, and HAVE FUN!

Back in September I experimented with Project 333 for the first time. Project 333 is the minimalist fashion challenge created by Courtney Carver, whose book, Soulful Simplicity, I reviewed back in January, I said I would write an update at the end of the year with how the experiment went. It went awesome… until I got a new job in November and bought new clothes and sort of abandoned the experiment. HOWEVER, I did experiment again for January through March! So now I can let you know how I feel after 3 months of Project 333.

In case you’re new to the concept, the Project 333 challenge guidelines are simple: dress with only 33 items for three months.

Project 333 items include:

• Clothing
• Accessories (scarves, handbags)
• Jewelry
• Outerwear
• Shoes

Project 333 items don’t include:

• Undergarments, lounge wear, active wear, sleep wear (but if you plan on making a late night ice cream run in your lounge wear, then you have to count it.)
• Your wedding ring or other jewelry you wear every single day

Please see my post, Experimenting with Project 333: My Approach & What I Discovered for how I approached the challenge. I took the same approach in January as I did in September (and again this past week for April – June.) So I highly recommend reading it if you want to give this a try, but don’t know where to start.

After narrowing down my three month winter wardrobe to where I felt comfortable, I had 59 total items. 

After 3 Months of Project 333

To summarize what dressing with 59 items for three months is like, I will tell you that Project 333 is very much like making a meal plan, but for your clothes. You have your basic plan and foundation in place to give you peace of mind, minimize stress, and keep you organized. But I think allowing room for flexibility is important! So you may deviate a little (especially when you don’t want what’s on the menu or you’re missing a key ingredient [i.e. it’s in the dirty laundry pile].

I did deviate a little. I wore some things not on my list in a pinch. And there were actually a few things on my list I never even wore! Quite a few items I only wore once or twice. So I learned a lot! But I will say that for the most part, I stuck to my small capsule of 59 items. And I enjoyed that… most of the time.

Come March I was sick of winter and sick of my clothes. I got a little bored. My Calvin Klein work pants ripped so I lost a key item and decided to forge on without black pants. I also ripped my heavy winter coat playing with the neighborhood kids in the snow storms. I was so ready to try Project 333 again for spring.

The Next 3 Months of Project 333

Even though we had another snow storm last week, it is technically Spring and we had our first warm day yesterday! Last weekend I made the switch to my Spring capsule with a total of 71 items. Why so many more items, you ask? There’s a few reasons:

1. I have more spring clothes/accessories than for winter
2. It’s a trickier season to dress for since there may still be cold days
3. I like spring and wanted more variety

But that being said, I am taking a slightly different approach to ensure that I actually wear every item I’ve selected.

All my spring capsule clothes are in my closet. I am working left to right. Every time I wear an item from my spring capsule, I move it to the right (back). I want to make sure I wear every item before I start repeating items to ensure I utilize everything. If something doesn’t fit right, doesn’t work well with anything, or doesn’t make me feel good, I will eliminate it from the capsule. I have buyer’s remorse over the $100 blazer I bought last fall and still haven’t worn. I used to have two closets and entire dressers of clothes I couldn’t or didn’t wear. I will no longer tolerate a single item I don’t wear in my capsule.

This past week I have really enjoyed dressing in my updated seasonal capsule. I will definitely keep approaching my clothes this way. It’s fun for me, plain and simple. And just like I depend on my weekly meal plan, I have come to depend on my clothing plan. These plans make my life easier and free up energy for me to focus on what’s most important. I don’t have time to stress over what to eat or what to wear.

Truthfully, I don’t think I will ever get down to 33 items total, and frankly, I don’t think I want to. I love the parameters around Project 333 and the fun of seeing how close I can (comfortably) get. Sure, I could wear the same earrings every single day. Then I wouldn’t even have to count them as one item. But I don’t want to wear the same earrings every day. So I chose five pairs for Spring. The funny thing is that when I had hundreds of pieces of jewelry, I only wore the same few pieces anyway.

It’s really cool the way we tend to work. When we have less to work with, we end up utilizing more. And that’s part of the joy of simplicity and minimalism.

So please, if you also have a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear, consider giving Project 333 a try. Even if you end up with 100 items in your spring capsule – so what! At least you have an excellent base to work with you can feel good about it.

Have you tried Project 333? How do you feel after 3 months of Project 333?

Welcome to the first post in the new “Finances” category! It was only a matter of time before we turned our sights on tackling our debt. Financial freedom is an integral part to a simpler, low-stress, and joyful life. Anyone who has ever wondered where groceries were coming from, had creditors calling around the clock, or had the electric turned off knows all too well that there is zero peace when stressing over money. Getting our finances under control and significantly reducing our non-mortgage debt are goals of ours this year. After reading a lot about Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover System, it made perfect sense to me. So we’re tackling our debt and finances using Dave Ramsey’s debt snowball method and Everydollar budget system.

Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover System

I requested and received Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover for Christmas. I read it in one day. Luckily for me, I love data and numbers and budgeting. When your finances are overwhelming, numbers and budgeting seems terrifying. Believe me, I know. But what’s even more terrifying, in my opinion, is not knowing where you stand with your money. Budgeting and finances are not new to me. I learned so much in my early twenties from Suze Orman’s The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke. I shudder to think what my finances might look like if it weren’t for that book. But even though I learned the importance of never missing payments, budgeting, and understanding interest rates, I didn’t learn how not to waste money or rack up debt.

Now, thanks to our more minimalist lifestyle, we’re determined to minimize our debt and spending. The allure of a debt-free life beckons me. And one specific line Dave Ramsey uses throughout his book inspires me:

Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.

While most people we know are eating out all the time and charging crap they don’t need, we’re buckling down, further shifting the programmed consumer-driven mindset of buy buy buy, and tackling our debt. Eventually we will be able to reap the benefits of significantly increased disposable income. By living like no one else now, we can live like no one else later. Sacrifice now. Enjoy the shore house and travel later. That’s our plan. But that doesn’t mean we’re not enjoying ourselves now. In fact, we booked a trip to Hawaii for this coming December. But we’re going without adding a single dollar to our debt. Keep reading to see how.

Using Dave Ramsey’s EveryDollar Budget

So the plan is to significantly reduce our debt, but also to finish our kitchen renovation, go to my brother’s in Washington state for Thanksgiving, go to Hawaii for seven days, and have some semblance of fun and a social life. This isn’t an exercise in suffering. But in order to do all this we had to face our spending, agree on a budget and agree to work together, something Mike and I aren’t always good at.

It took some convincing but I got Mike on board. It’s both a blessing and a curse that he always left me solely responsible for handling the finances. But for this to work, I needed him to be invested (pun intended). So we set a date and sat down with the free version of Dave Ramsey’s EveryDollar budget online.

The unique thing about the EveryDollar budget is exactly that: you budget every single dollar. But more on that in a moment. Here’s how we approached our budget:

• First, we listed everything we spend money on regularly throughout the year. Much of it was obvious: credit card and student loan bills, utilities, living expenses, groceries, insurance, eating out, etc.
• Second, we thought about more random and infrequent expenses: haircuts and grooming, clothes, medical expenses.
• Lastly, we thought ahead: take Christmas for example; we all know it’s coming every year, but every year we find ourselves scrambling with the expense of the month of December. This is poor planning. So we included a line item for Christmas. And vacation, Cooper’s annual vet visits, random gifts, six month car maintenance… everything we could think of that we spend money on in a given year.

Once we debated (at length) and eventually agreed how much we should budget per category per month, there was fortunately money left over based on the figures we entered for our anticipated income. So what to do with the rest? That’s where the debt snowball comes in!

Using Dave Ramsey’s Debt Snowball Method

So you may have been told that the way to approach debt is to rank your bills by monthly interest rate totals and tackle whatever debt has the highest interest rate first. Makes sense. That’s the debt where the most money is being wasted on interest. I’ve tried this in the past. But to be honest the past few years we just sort of got into the habit of paying more than the minimums to most of our bills without really getting anywhere. There was no concentrated effort on a particular debt and we just sort of spread money around since we were still charging things. For every $300 we paid to a credit card, we charged $300.

Dave Ramsey wants you to focus on one debt at a time, so you rank them, but NOT by interest. Following his method, you rank your consumer debts from lowest balance to highest balance. That’s right — forget if you’re paying a $100 minimum payment to a credit card that accrues $65 monthly interest. Make the minimum payments only on all but the debt with the lowest balance (#1) and then put everything else you have toward that one debt, including all your remaining money from your EveryDollar budget. Concentrating your efforts in this way will knock out debts much faster and help you gain momentum. Once the first/smallest debt is paid off, all that extra money will “snowball” into what you’re already paying monthly toward debt #2 and then #3 and so on and so forth until you’re making huge monthly payments to larger debts.

Does it Work?

You decide how intensely you want to tackle your debts, but the method stays the same. Mike and I started out strong. We took some money from savings, smashed a piggy bank and rolled coin and attacked the first debt in our snowball. We paid off my Chase credit card the very first month we started and are already onto debt #2 (one of my four student loans.) The minimum payment is like $11 or something. We paid around $400.00 at the end of February.

Mike and I started out January 1 with $47,602.02 in total non-mortgage debt. By February 2 our debt totaled $44,492.37. And on March 1, our debt stood at $43,519.27 We paid off $4,082.75 of debt in two months!

We couldn’t have done this without Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, EveryDollar budget, and debt snowball method. He gave us the tools to help us stay focused and make paying down debt a challenging, yet fun, “game.” We don’t always come in under budget, but we certainly try. We could also probably tighten our belts even more, but for now, this works for us.

We’re going to continue using Dave Ramsey’s debt snowball method and living minimally now in order to live the life we want later, whatever that looks like. Even if we were to continue reducing our debt a conservative average of $1,000.00 a month, we’d be consumer debt-free in less than four years. Factor in bonuses and raises, tax refunds, and yard sales and we’re looking at living debt free sooner.

Not bad for two people under 45. That small shore house in our favorite beach town looks more realistic every day…

Another new year, another month playing The Minimalists 30-Day Minimalism Game (#minsgame).  Once again, we successfully rid ourselves and our home of 496 items. Every year the challenge gets simultaneously harder, and also easier. It’s an interesting mix because on one hand, we have less excess in our home to round up. But on the other hand, we get better at letting things go, and become more practical when it comes to what we need and will use. For example, despite having taken several passes over the years at minimizing my jewelry, I got rid of over 75 more pieces this challenge. Every year I learn something new. Here are three more things winning #minsgame taught me.

1. Just because something isn’t hurting, doesn’t mean it’s helping. 

“It isn’t hurting anyone,” is a terrible argument for keeping crap you don’t need. Sure, some extra stuff in a drawer here or a cabinet there may not be hurting anything. Maybe you don’t need the space and it all seems under control. But although it may not be hurting, is it helping? This became my motto this past #minsgame, especially when Mike asked if playing again was even necessary. Nothing we got rid of was hurting us, but none of it was helping us, either. In fact, after creating even more space, I’d say we helped ourselves.

2. I can part with sentimental items. 

I only collect two things: decorative pumpkins and Christmas ornaments. The ornaments in particular have a great deal of sentimental attachment tied to them. Almost all of them have the name of the giver on the back along with the year they gave it. If purchased, I know where and under what circumstances. Each one tells a story. I have one from my mother for every Christmas since I was born, including my “Baby’s First Christmas” ornament from 1982, as well as one from Mike for every year we’ve been together, not to mention countless other sentimental ornaments from friends, ex-boyfriends, places we’ve visited, and family members.

But as I decorated the tree this past December, selecting my favorite ornaments, it became clear we have enough for three full-size Christmas trees. I knew then that when we took down the tree I would undertake the arduous task of unwrapping and sorting every single ornament into yes, no and maybe piles.

The idea of not having a “complete set” of ornaments from Mike or my mom always seemed horrible. But I realized that was the only reason I kept some of them. Some were shabby and some I plain just didn’t like. Was having a complete set really necessary? Would breaking up the set mean something?

I held up an ornament of two glass angel carolers with “gold” halos. “See this?” I asked Mike.

“Yes?”

“I hate this ornament. Do you know who gave it to me?”

“No idea.”

“It was you!” I said with a laugh at the absurdity of my feeling obligated to keep something the giver didn’t even recall giving. “Every time I look at it it reminds me how clearly you forgot to get me an ornament so must have gone to CVS or something at the zero hour and this was all that was left. That’s the only explanation for why you would get me this ornament.”

Mike laughed, confirming my theory.

“I’m getting rid of it.”

Once I had the maybe pile I called Mike in to double check them. There wasn’t one he felt we should keep, even some from the first Christmas we were married when it seems everyone we knew gave us a similar ornament. Not surprisingly, tossing those ornaments has had no impact on the validity of our marriage.

In the end, we got rid of 53 ornaments, freeing up a lot of space. I’m excited to know that every ornament I reach for next year is one I want on my tree.

3. We can and should be vigilant about what we keep in our homes.

Every January we play #minsgame in addition to one or two good purges throughout the year. There is ALWAYS something to get rid of. Things get shabby over time. Some things also lose their significance over time and lose their hold on us, which is why an annual reevaluation is so helpful.

Take for example the coffee table we got rid of on January 1. It was the table I grew up with. I rescued it from my mother’s curb last year, horrified and angry that she’d dispose of it so unceremoniously. I cried. For real tears. So I took it home where it sat unceremoniously in my basement. After a few months I realized how silly it was to keep since we had no use for it and we let it go. The wonderful memories of that table (of which there are MANY) will live in my heart.

Much like weight, “stuff” creeps up on you when you’re not paying attention. That’s how I found myself this past January with a two foot pile of magazines waiting to be read. If it weren’t for my looking for things to win the challenge, they would have sat unread and been buried by two more feet of magazines. Things pile up! Papers, decorations, clothes, clutter, CRAP. So we need to be vigilant… about clearing clutter when it’s manageable and straightening up regularly. That is the only way to end the vicious cycle of cleaning out and cleaning up. Life is too short to spend entire weekends cleaning out closets and spare rooms. 

Minimalism isn’t new to us. It’s become our way of life over the years and we have learned a lot. We’re still learning. But it’s easier now. Cleaning up takes us hardly any time at all. Eventually, playing #minsgame won’t be necessary, nor will the annual purges. But that’s because we’re vigilant about maintaining this lifestyle and expanding on it.

Is minimalism still new to you? I suggest you read my 8 Healthy Habits for Living A Minimalist Lifestyle.

Can you believe it’s gift-giving season already! With Thanksgiving days away, the holidays are officially on most people’s minds. To make everyone’s life a tad easier (including my own), I created another gift guide. But this year I’m focusing even more on practical holiday gift ideas. Shopping for everyone on your list isn’t easy, nor is giving people ideas for yourself. These gifts are carefully curated with minimalism and practicality in mind. Keep reading for plenty of ideas to get the gift-giving job done!

For the Home/Office:

1. Custom T-shirt Quilt

Is your partner or child downsizing but still can’t stand to part with their collection of college, band or concert tees? Send the shirts off to be repurposed into a useful custom quilt carefully crafted by designers, cutters, and sewers earning a fair and living wage in the United States.

My friends, Dani and Roman have two of these quilts and they are so soft and fun! Mike and I are having one made from all the brewery t-shirts we’ve collected over the years.

Starting at $74.99 for a 4′ X 4′ quilt from Project Repat.

2. Zafu Meditation Cushion

Meditation doesn’t require any tools or props, but for the serious practitioner, a zafu certainly helps. I have one of these cushions, as well as a zabuton pillow. They pair beautifully if your gift-buying budget is a bit higher, but I have given zafus as gifts by themselves. A very thoughtful gift for the person in your life trying to live more mindfully and peacefully.

“Zafu meditation cushions provide height under your pelvis for healthy posture. Ours are filled with organic buckwheat hulls that form to your contours. They are also covered with sturdy, beautiful, long-lasting upholstery-grade fabrics and include a convenient handle. Each one is handmade in the USA.”

$49.95 from Hugger Mugger

3. A Year of Gratitude elegant box set

“You can live a life of abundance, independent of any material things, if your heart is always filled with a spirit of gratitude. This elegant box set contains all you need for a head start on such a gracious way of living. Not only does it contain 52 thank you cards—one for each week in the year—but it also has tips for writing meaningful thank you notes, and a guided journal for you to record your experiences. Maybe over this year you will reconnect with someone from your past, or brighten the day of someone who feels taken for granted. With gratitude in your heart, such exchanges can be seen for what they truly are—small miracles.”

$30.00 from Uncommon Goods

4. Random Acts of Kindness Kits (original, teen and family versions)

“Change the world in four easy steps with these intentional act of kindness kits. With the 26 cards in each, you’ll find yourself picking up someone else’s tab at a restaurant, writing a letter to someone who inspired you, picking up the trash on your street, giving genuine compliments and so much more! The coolest thing about Boom Boom! cards is that you can create a chain reaction of covert kindness that could theoretically travel around the world!”

$10.00 – $15.00 from Uncommon Goods

For the Book Lover:

5. Questions For Life: Two Year Guided Daily Journal For Intentional Living

This is the journal I created and use personally every single day.

With The Questions For Life two-year guided journal you can reflect, express gratitude, capture your happiest moment, and answer a self-discovery question in only minutes a day. Get in the habit of slowing down and reflecting on each day while getting to know yourself better. Soon you’ll be enjoying the simpler things in everyday life, living more intentionally, and feeling happier! See firsthand that although every day may not be good, there is good in every day.

Click here to learn more and read a review.

$18.99 from Amazon

6. The Gifts of Imperfection

I had the privilege of hearing Brené Brown speak this year and she is so inspiring! This book is on my personal Christmas list.

“In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown, a leading expert on shame, authenticity, and belonging, shares ten guideposts on the power of Wholehearted living—a way of engaging with the world from a place of worthiness.”

$8.59 from Amazon

For the Fashionable

7. Real Now watch

“The Real Now Watch is our only piece that tells the time and functions as a mindfulness tool that reminds you to be here now. Made from recycled eco-friendly materials.”

$33.33 from Etsy

8. Craft Beer & Yoga tee

Love yoga AND craft beer? I know I do.

“Yoga at craft breweries has been popping up all over. Go in style with this craft beer-themed yoga shirt!”

$20.00 from Hopcloth

9. Elephant Lounger Pants

I love these pants so much, I had to include them again, but in a different style.

“You and Elephants both need some downtime. With a drawstring waist, back and side pockets, and a relaxed leg, these unisex pants are built for relaxation.”

$24.00 from Elephant Pants and a portion of their proceeds are donated to help save elephants!

For the Minimalist (or person who has everything)

10. World Vision Charitable Gift

Help children and families in need in your gift recipient’s honor. So many options to choose from including bed nets, goats, solar lanterns, shelter, clothing, water wells and so much more. Give a gift. Change a life.

Options starting as low as $16.00 through World Vision

11. Personal organization Voucher

Okay so maybe this one’s for the budding minimalist. We all know someone with too much stuff who doesn’t need anything except for some help getting organized. Why not give them the gift of your time and services. Help a parent, sibling, or close friend clean out some closets or rooms. Give them the gift of your time, presence, and peace of mind. It costs you nothing and goes a very long way.

12. Presence is the Perfect Present

Instead of a gift, give of yourself and your time. Make plans and share some quality time with a loved one. I guarantee you it will be more appreciated and better remembered than a sweater or a gift card.

13. Consumables

You can never go wrong with good wine, craft beer, or coffee (assuming the gift recipient drinks wine, beer and/or coffee.) Consumables, especially high-quality ones, are practical gifts that people don’t often splurge on for themselves.

14. Meal Delivery Service

Home-cooked meals make awesome gifts, but are difficult to coordinate. Instead, why not give a Blue Apron or Hello Fresh meal delivery service gift card? Mike and I have tried both and really enjoyed them! The recipients (think busy couples and families in your life) can redeem it on their schedule and choose the menu they want. All the ingredients are delivered fresh to their door with the recipes enclosed. Ensure your friends and family are eating well… at least for a few days.

Gift card options start at $60.00.

15. A Groupon or Living Social deal for a spa service

Facials, massages and the like are wonderful indulgences we can’t all afford. Check out Groupon and Living Social for deeply discounted deals in your loved ones area and buy them a service they wouldn’t buy themselves.

16. A baby or pet-sitting voucher

Who doesn’t love a night out knowing the kids are alright? Offer to spend some quality time with the kids (or pets) so your loved one/s can get some time away knowing their little ones are in excellent hands.

For the Pups

17. Homemade dog treats

We have A LOT of dogs in our life and were spending a fortune buying gifts for all of them. This year, I’m making homemade dog treats for all my four-legged brothers, nieces, nephews, etc.

Here’s a link to Pinterest’s “homemade dog treats” search results. Save some money and control the ingredients yourself to ensure a healthy and delicious treat. I think I’m going to try making the peanut butter pumpkin ones first!

Need more ideas? Check out last year’s Mindful Holiday Gift Guide featuring sixteen great gifts under $50!

I hope these lists help you cross some items off your list! Wishing you a happy, mindful, and low-stress start to the holiday season!

I read a piece of time saving advice a while ago that’s stayed with me. I don’t recall who said it or where I heard it, but I know it was one of those articles on advice from successful people. That advice is this: if a task crosses your path, and it would only take a minute to accomplish, then do it. Do NOT put it off.

A minute is longer than most people realize. If your life is anything like mine, there are loads of one minute tasks that cross your path every day.

Take email for example. I recently spent hours cleaning out my inbox. It seems I only just did this a few months ago, but there I was again drowning in email. That’s because every time I checked it, I flagged anything I thought I wanted to read, rather than just skim it and find out. All those emails piled up into an hours long, overwhelming project. Had I spent a minute opening and skimming a few emails every time I checked in, I could have saved myself hours.

What easy stuff do you ignore and then later waste time on?

Think about your daily life and:

1. the papers you shuffle rather than file
2. the emails you flag rather than read
3. the laundry you let wrinkle rather than fold
4. the sink full of dishes you pile rather than wash
5. the objects you move rather than put away

It takes less than a minute to file some paper, wash a dish or two, fold some clothes, and put stuff away. These are easy tasks. And yet we have a tendency to ignore these simpler tasks creating harder, more time consuming, dreadful ones in the process.

Why!?

I don’t know why. But many of us are drowning in projects and chores as a result of this bad habit.

Isn’t our time more precious than that? Isn’t it something we should aim to protect and preserve?

Like I said, this advice has stayed with me. I’ve tried to apply it to my life wherever possible. I’ve maintained applying it to my email. And for once, I feel in control of it, rather than it in control of me. There’s a reason people say to spend a few minutes straightening up every day. Those who don’t usually find themselves sacrificing an entire weekend to do a month’s worth of cleaning. And life is way too short for that nonsense.

So consider this piece of time saving advice next time you’re faced with a task that would take less than a minute. Before you ignore it, just do it. You’d be amazed how much less hangs over your head when you apply this advice to your own life.