Focusing on ease of maintenance - Thriving Week 16

CURRENT MINIMALISM MINDSET 

After one year in this house I’m not stopping decluttering or reorganizing as appropriate but every time I clean or use something I am considering if I could make it a tiny bit easier to manage. When I focus on deep cleaning a room or area I am asking myself “How can I reduce the effort required to take care of this space and stuff?”

So I am asking 

• Why am I storing this thing that hasn’t been used in a year and has no sentimental or decorative value?
• What would happen if I got rid of it and then wanted or needed something similar? Could I borrow it or cheaply replace it?
• If I am going to keep it, could I store it someplace that makes it easier to manage and/or more likely to be used?

SO WHAT TYPES OF CHANGES HAS THIS MINDSET LED TO RECENTLY?

1. The dog has matured enough to no longer have to sleep in his crate or stay there when we go out although we are keeping it for now. I have 2 lovely crate mats and only need one given its minimal use. The extra mat plus an extra smaller dog bed were being stored under the king size bed making it difficult to vacuum there. I am getting rid of one crate mat but keeping the smaller dog bed for now and storing it in the spare upstairs closet.

2 We have an old set of sheets for the king size bed that haven’t been used for over a year. The thought was that if we were sick or couldn’t do laundry then they were there “just in case”. However we also have a queen bed and a queen air bed with 3 sets of sheets that fit them. The worn king ones are going and freeing up closet space.

3. My son is having a family taco party for his upcoming birthday. We have been storing partially used margarita ingredients since New Year’s when we made blue margaritas to toast Michigan during the Rose Bowl, but never make them at our house. I offered them for the party and got rapid acceptance. More pantry space. Really don’t know why we brought it home in the first place.

AMAZING HOW MUCH CAN LEAVE OUR HOMES AND NOT BE MISSED!

Of course non-consumable stuff keeps coming in but we are trying hard to make sure it is the result of thoughtful and intentional acquisition. 

So far this month we have acquired a sunshade for the car windshield since it gets really hot in the summer and the car is parked on the street. I saved the box to store it in the garage during cool weather when a warmer car is appreciated. We also acquired 4 folding patio side tables and put the 2 rusty old ones in the declutter pile.

Mid month check in

I am making progress on what matters for the month.

Focus 1 - Being a supportive local grandparent is a priority for me as is enjoying the time spent with the girls as well as our son and DIL. I will focus on spending time with the granddaughters.

We had a good time during her Spring break. I will see them this weekend at son’s birthday family party.

Focus 2 - Celebrate our 43rd anniversary and our son’s 41st birthday in person as well as our older DIL’s birthday long distance plus make plans for celebrating son & DIL anniversary and Mother’s Day in May.

We went to a new to us Greek restaurant for lunch on our 43rd anniversary. We both would like to go to the restaurant again so we have a new one on our list for repeats. Sent a gift to DIL for her birthday and had a good chat on the day itself.

Focus 3 - Last month I deep cleaned, decluttered and reorganized the main bath and this month it will be the large bedroom and adjoins little room I use for exercise.

I looked at some items in the main bedroom and decided to let them go. I’m creating a free pile to put out May 18th which is citywide yard.

Then I deep cleaned both rooms plus the hallway. Cleaned the closet, vacuumed the floor and baseboards, dusted everything including door tops and so on, turned the mattress, and reorganized the bedside table to make the drawers less crowded. I still need to wash the floor.

Focus 4 - Lean into my Pilates exercises and walking for exercise in addition to walking the pup. No more talking myself out of doing that!

Still need to improve on this between scheduled weekly Pilates sessions.

Focus 5 - Enjoy our yard more by creating a spot for sitting for coffee, wine or a meal. That means some patio end tables and a larger table of some sort. Perhaps a patio coffee table, bistro table or a 6 person table?

We bought 4 outdoor patio tables that fold so they can be kept in the garage until the weather is good. Holding off on a larger table until we see if we really would use it.

Spring wardrobe - I know what to expect this year

I had to stand on a step stool for this! Add a full length mirror to the Want List.

The outfit above is part of my capsule and what I wore out to lunch for our anniversary Friday. This is the Berkeley area and jeans work for almost everything. BTW, the Greek restaurant was very good and the atmosphere lovely. 

WHY BOTHER WITH A SEASONAL CAPSULE WARDROBE? 

The reason I do it is similar to what Dawn at the Minimal Mom says. I want to have fewer decisions and less to manage for this part of my life. I want the clothes in my closet to be ones I like to wear and fit my body as it is right now.

My Spring capsule covers April thru June and is similar to Project 333. It does not include outerwear or jewelry though. It also doesn’t include exercise clothing or sleepwear. I do think of those 4 categories as their own tiny capsules although I am rarely wearing jewelry in my life here so far.

Do you join in the capsule wardrobe approach or not and why?

SPRING HERE IS NOT LIKE SPRING ANYWHERE ELSE I HAVE LIVED

Last year I found the spring weather here difficult to plan for but this year I am doing better. My “reverse engineered” capsule wardrobe has to encompass lots of weather variety but few levels of dressiness fortunately.

Right now it is still mostly pretty cool with some warm afternoons. Lots of pulling on the light down or heavy fleece jackets in the morning and evening still. We don’t get consistently warm to hot weather until August or September. The rainy season is slowly coming to an end.

CREATING MY CAPSULE THIS YEAR

So how am I “reverse engineering” a capsule wardrobe for this season? I’m adding items to my capsule as I wear them and they work for more than one day. 

So far I have 25 items that are all in my best colors or neutrals. As I try on items in my closet I am finding some to declutter as they are too worn or don’t fit well anymore. I am buying very little and only to fill gaps. Also the reality is that I will only do laundry once a week so the capsule has to cover that timeframe.

In addition to the outfit above I have 8 more tops ranging from a cashmere pullover to short sleeve v-neck, 5 toppers ranging from a medium weight pullover fleece to a linen jacket, and 3 more pairs of jeans.

The capsule so far also has 2 more scarves, 3 pairs of shoes and one purse. I expect more lighter weight tops, toppers and bottoms will be added as the weather shifts to more frequent warmer days

The orange top is “new” from ThredUp this season.

THE ELEMENTS OF A GOOD CAPSULE WARDROBE FOR ME

I have learned the key to a workable seasonal capsule wardrobe for me here in the Berkeley area is being able to layer different levels of warmth tops and toppers and being prepared for rapid swings in temperature every few days. I want a variety of colors, textures and styles within a casual relaxed somewhat classic style. Every top and topper doesn’t have to work together though and bottoms are simply in a range of neutral shades.  

Every item does have to be able to go in the washing machine. I am enjoying having a hand wash cycle on the machine in this house because I can even wash cashmere sweaters!

 

Feeling thankful today - Thriving Week 15

THANKFULLY LESS STRESSED

One part of my brain asks loudly “Why did it take a year to feel less stressed by this move!?” while another whimpers “I need to make friends here and find things I enjoy doing outside of reading” but the biggest part of my brain sighs happily and says quietly “Finally I am not feeling stressed or pressured to deal with house things all the time”.

So right now I am feeling thankful that - 

• I can find my way around my city, know where to go to get most things, and it is easy and pleasant to walk many places
• I like several of my neighbors on our little half block court a lot and the next few houses in the adjoining court - the others I haven’t gotten to know well yet
• My cortisol levels seem to have dropped (maybe I can lose the year’s stress weight now?)
• Our family still seems very happy that we moved near them and we are finding ways to spend time together that work for this season of their lives 💝
• The cold and rainy season is over - although consistent warmth isn’t here yet there are many days that it is nice to be outside
• My new county library system provides all the books I could possibly read every week - it helps that they participate in the statewide Link + system that lets me get books from other areas too
• Our house pretty much works well now - although there are still tweaks and improvements that are priorities they aren’t urgent
• We are managing the higher cost of living here with just a few lifestyle changes (fewer dinners/more lunches out, TV antenna in/cable TV out, etc.)
• The yard looks fabulous and flowery and we are maintaining it ourselves so far with just a little effort while the hardscape survived the winter storms
• The pup is thriving here - his little social party animal self gets to interact with lots of people and dogs, he loves being with the grandgirls and makes the baby laugh/squeal when he licks her hand, and he can run hard in our and our son’s back yards 
• The Pilates trainer I use has helped me get rid of nagging back and foot pain while moving on to strength and flexibility improvements (thanks to son for the referral)
• Being really intentional about what non-consumables I am buying and decluttering as I notice things is making a difference in discretionary spending and getting more to leave the house than comes in. 
• This week’s frugal win was stacking CVS coupons to buy the one thing we needed (allergy pills) saving $28.85 and getting another $10 Extrabucks coupon.

And so much more but these are top of mind. I’m curious what I will be feeling after 2 years here  🤔

Thriving Thursday Week 14 - Store visits for school assignment

Starting our second year near grandchildren with much family time the last few days ❤️ 

We joined our DILs family for Easter complete with a plastic egg hunt for the kids. The baby was happy with just one but she got the hang of it and picked up all laying on the grass for her. We had a lovely meal and the pup was well behaved. I felt like I had some good conversations with extended family and know them better now.

This whole week I am picking up the 7 year old at 4:00 when her “ aqua camp” for Spring break ends. She has a school project to visit various types of shops and take notes on things about them. Then the class will write opinion pieces using their research. Pretty great project for first grade. When there was time after each days shop visit she came over to our house and colored, played hubby’s drum set while dancing, ran around and jumped on beds with the pup, and otherwise had a fun if brief visit.

It was fun for me to see what she noticed, help her with sounding out spelling for her notes and how seriously she took her “research”. I took her to Pet Food Express, a local donut shop, Joanne Fabrics, and Trader Joe’s so far. She wants to finish up the week with Petco and the Korean Suprette.

She asked me to buy our pup a fresh baked dog cookie shaped like an ice cream cone with purple ice cream at the first stop. The pup was quite pleased lol. Of course we had to sample a donut which served as that day’s after camp snack and she got a toy at Joann’s after making a difficult choice between two items and a discussion bout relative short term and lasting play value.

Monday we had dinner at our son’s house and Tuesday we all went out to a Mexican restaurant we hadn’t tried yet. By Wednesday we were happy to have a quiet dinner at home ☺️

I’m also trying to knock things off my to do list in short bursts of work. Still working on backing up critical documents for disaster recovery. The goal is to have each listed on a summary sheet that tells how to get a new copy plus scanned and/or in the fire safe. I’m only scanning to first page of long documents like insurance policies including title insurance. We are also going to keep our passport and copies of medical insurance and driver’s licenses in our Go Bags.

So much paperwork some of which I haven’t looked at in decades like my first marriage license and divorce decree. I did find that in 43 years we never obtained a certified copy of our marriage license so I have to order one of those in case the survivor needs it. I was also surprised that the deed for the current house is an electronic copy whereas past ones have been very official looking documents with the county seal imprint.

Simple Spring Focus - Five are enough!

Typing this while listening to the dog snore lol!

We ended March with a thoughtful and interesting discussion about 

• what was still causing each of us stress or frustration a year after our move, 
• how best to engage with our older granddaughter (which led to talking about the differences in our childhood experiences with grandparents), 
• the challenges and importance of participating in other people’s well established family traditions & activities including our own experiences with each others family over the decades, 
• what we are missing from our former day to day life and friendships.

No easy answers, but it was good to get it out in the open as a basis for doing better going forward. That talk led to me thinking about where to put my time and energy right now.

Focus 1 - April starts with us picking up our 7 year old granddaughter from her Spring break camp each day. Being a supportive local grandparent is a priority for me as is enjoying the time spent with the girls as well as our son and DIL. I will focus on spending time with the granddaughters.

Focus 2 - Celebrate our 43rd anniversary, son & DIL anniversary, Mother’s Day, and our son’s 41st birthday in person as well as our older DIL’s birthday long distance.

Focus 3 - Find a simple housekeeping routine that works. I’m still having a hard time knowing how to easily clean the main bath shower surfaces and how often routine tasks are necessary for example. Last month I deep cleaned, decluttered and reorganized the main bath and this month it will be the large bedroom.

Focus 4 - Lean into my Pilates exercises and walking for exercise in addition to walking the pup. No more talking myself out of doing that!

Focus 5 - Enjoy our yard more by creating a spot for sitting for coffee, wine or a meal. That means some patio end tables and a larger table of some sort. Perhaps a patio coffee table, bistro table or a 6 person table?

Minimalist GO BAGS for fast evacuation

I modified this substantially to fit our situation.

Once I wrapped my mind around the fact that these were for a situation where the fire or industrial incident (Chevron has refineries within toxic chemical release range) was so urgent that we had to leave “right now” vs having some time to gather our 72 hour supplies, I was able to come up with a list that works for us. The goal is short term survival and have the resources to find longer term supplies. We have signed up for the county life threatening emergency alert system so hopefully would be notified of the need to leave immediately.

This is a work in progress so will be modified as we learn more but we will have basics in place at least. Next will be a longer term plan plus sheltering in place without power or water.

Interestingly the hardest part was accommodating being able to charge & save important technology plus planning for recovering critical documents. That is the cost of being a tech late adopter and I may have to soon take my son’s advice and learn to use a password manager and secure cloud storage.

What we will put in each of our GO BAGS (small backpacks). 

Coats, the dog, phones, etc. would be grabbed as we leave.

Clothing - long pants and long & short sleeve shirts (cotton preferred as it doesn’t melt in the heat of a wildfire), 2 sets of underwear and socks, gloves, rain ponchos. We figure we would be wearing shoes but I had room for a pair so added them. 

Toiletries - just toothpaste, toothbrush, Kleenex and hand wipes.

Medical - 7 days essential medications in an old pill bottle, N95 masks for smoke, medical masks, hand and foot warmers. I added my old pair of glasses.

Finances and Critical Documents - $100 cash, passports for proof of identity, copy of medical insurance IDs and medical info, dog rabies and license info, critical contacts (including family, insurance & financial), flash drive with critical document recovery info & additional documents, copies of photos of each other plus local family and us with dog in case of separation.

Evacuation & Short Term Survival - evacuation route alternatives, emergency blanket, headlamp with extra batteries, water, 1 day dog food.

Additional items in the car - first aid kit, flashlights & extra batteries, paper maps, water, cups & dog bowl, emergency vests, glow sticks, device charger & cords. We keep the gas tank at least half full. These items might not be available if the car was in use by one of us or we had to go by foot for some reason.