July 20, 2014

PART 1: FENG SHUI

Today we decided to take another step towards our goal by going through and getting rid of anything we don’t really use or need anymore. It started simple enough with the front closet, but quickly moved into all of our closets, drawers and storage spaces. Its pretty easy to get rid of things like shoes and clothes that you don’t wear or hats that have long gone out of fashion and your tastes. These things we piled up for a goodwill donation.

As I looked at my already pretty slim ‘man-‘side’ of the closet, I couldn’t decide what to get rid of. I asked Jilly for help and she quickly dispatched a fair number of items from my side; things I don’t wear or that don’t fit me anymore…total success. Then Jill tackled her side…and I honestly wasn’t expecting too much since we just did this a few months ago and haven’t bought anything new since. I sat and relaxed on the bed while her giveaway pile grew…and grew…and grew. I was pretty surprised and impressed!

Then we ventured into the storage closets in the basement. My initial goal was to go through a few bins and remove some stuff..little by little. But sure enough, before long, we took out everything and went through EVERYTHING. We had a huge pile of stuff that we could throw out, another huge pile to go to goodwill, and a third pile of stuff that we hope to sell on craigslist.

Getting rid of ‘stuff’ is so liberating! As we go through the process of the minimalist mindset, it feels so great to walk around the house and feel the negative space. People don’t often realize that all the crap that they (and we) have laying around weighs you down. I think everyone could stand to feel a little bit lighter and more free!

PART 2: SLUMBER PARTY

With all the trips, the adventures, moving and shaking, sometimes it’s nice to stay home. We decided to reward ourselves with a Saturday night slumber party! We put out the mattress that we use for camping out in front of the TV, put on some cozy PJ’s and made lots of super fun and tasty snacks. The evening commenced with video gameage, rumble juice drinks, pizza and mac n cheese snacks, gummy bears, chocolate raisins, movies and cuddling!

It’s so fun to just relax at home and indulge a bit. Slumber Party is such a simple idea but just staying at home with your spouse or loved one, spending time together doing something fun is really fun or silly, together. Now, I realize that Jilly and I do everything together but most spouses are not this lucky (and I say lucky because a lot of spouses would rather spend time apart than together).

 
I want to challenge all of our readers to have your own slumber party with your significant other or loved one. Its a great chance to bond, relax and enjoy each other (and maybe some great food and movies or games) rent some movies, makes some popcorn and some snacks and just have fun. I also think everyone should go through your closet(s) and donate a huge pile of *stuff to your faviorte charity. (*anything that you no longer use, or need from clothes to toys to hobby items). Everyone holds on to stuff and probably much too much stuff…I dare you to get rid of at least 10 things. See how liberating it feels.

Jake and Jill have a pile of upcoming adventures, so we decided to take this weekend for some much needed downtime. Make sure you stayed tuned as there is always something new around every J&J corner.