Clutter Free Bathroom Ideas to Simplify Your Life

Raising two teenaged boys and making time for my marriage, family, and friends while also running a successful yoga studio and health coaching business is time-consuming. 2018 is the year that I am making a change in how I spend my days from my work time, family time to my volunteer positions. I am choosing to live with intention. You could say that is my "theme" for this year.

Choosing how I spend my time and with whom during those big open chunks of time on our weekend calendar is exciting and soul fulfilling. But what about those small little windows of time where you need to vacuum the house or scrub the tub? Not so much! I believe that if I simplify my house, even more than it already is, that doing these chores won't occupy as much time in my schedule. I don't feel as though I have a time management problem per say but I am seeing how these little household tasks that I do each week are occupying more time than I would like to and hiring a cleaning company is not in the budget right now.

So I started looking at the tasks that I do around the house with a detective type eye, analyzing the movements. What am I touching and how? Am I constantly having to move things in order to complete the task? Could I just get rid of that?

One of the areas under attack is our bathroom. We shop at Costco so we have these huge bottles of shampoo and conditioner, the supersize ones with their pumps, balancing in the corners where the tub and the wall meet. They have to be removed in order to clean the tub. And then on the bathroom sink, we have 4 people's toothbrushes and two different kinds of toothpaste and each week all of that is being moved in order to clean or constantly being knocked over as you try and clean just one side of the sink at a time. It seems like such a small problem but these little moments of time are where I believe I can simplify my life.

So after way too many hours thinking about my bathtub clutter problems, I scrolled through Amazon and I found this handy dispenser made by Better Living. I filled it with our Costco shampoo, conditioner and body wash and said goodbye to the giant bottles in the tub. Now the corners are clutter free and it makes cleaning the tub as enjoyable of a task as it can be. You do have to commit to its location because once it's installed using silicone, it can not be moved easily. For the bathroom sink, I went into our attic and pulled out the Ikea spice rack that at one time served as a small shelf for books when my kids were in bunk beds and I didn't want them to get out of bed to put their nighttime reading away. I installed it on the wall next to sink and have their toothbrushes and toothpaste in one area off of the countertop and now they are in charge of keeping their area clean. I placed me and my wife's items in a glass vase on the sink which can easily be moved to clean in one movement. Little changes like this can make a daunting task of cleaning the bathroom a little bit more enjoyable and most importantly will take less time to do. Have you learned some space-saving tricks to save you time when cleaning the bathroom? I'd love to hear them in the comments!

Simplifying My Shoes- Tieks Shoes

I recently posted about my desire to simplify my closet by creating a wardrobe that fits, feels good and that I feel confident in the clothes. It is a work in progress and I am not at all finished. I'm still refining and learning what my "look" is.

I have a strong desire to live with less stuff which is in line with my word for this year, Intention. As a yoga instructor and yoga studio owner, I follow the traditions and beliefs of the Yoga Sutras. Within those sutras are guidelines for living. (Now you might be wondering how yoga goes with Tieks shoes...keep following along, please) So one of the guidelines is Aparigraha; which is often translated to mean non-greed or non-attachment. To basically only take what you need. David Frawley, founder and director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies explains that Aparigraha also means "not having a lot of unnecessary things around yourself and not hankering after what other people have." I have this desire to live with less stuff but that doesn't mean that I'm going to live life in ugly clothes. Nor does it make sense to wear inexpensive, cheaply made clothes and shoes that I will continue to have to replace and purchase over and over again. Which in turn will be polluting the earth with more stuff. So I'm focusing on buying quality items that can go with several of my clothes and that will last me for many, many years. 

I posted a question on Facebook asking my friends for shoe advice. I explained that I am in the market for flat shoes that can be worn with dresses and skirts but also look okay with a pair of jeans. I lean towards the ballet flat style rather than a pointy shoe and absolutely no heel! I had so many great responses. Several friends remarked about their love of Clark's shoes but I recently purchased 2 pairs that weren't a good investment so I knew that brand wouldn't work for me. Several other people expressed their love of Tieks. Of course, I've heard of these shoes and have seen advertisements for them pop up on my Instagram feed. But the $175 investment! Were they worth it?

I spent more time than I would like to admit reading blog reviews of Tieks and watching youtube videos where women advise on cleaning tips to how to correctly pick your size. The shoes only come in full sizes and this seems to be quite an issue for women who have half-sized feet like I do. Do you size up or down? The opinions on this matter are vast. But I thought if this many women like this brand of shoe, clearly this company is doing something right. So I held my breath as I clicked the checkout button. The shoes arrived within three days and I immediately was wowed by the packaging and the handwritten note! Are you kidding me? What a special touch!

I tried on the shoes, they felt comfortable and the color and quality were outstanding. But they felt a bit lose. Since they are made of leather I'm concerned about stretching so I immediately jumped on their website to inquire about exchanging and do you know what they are going to do?
They are shipping me the other size to try on, without charging my credit card, and I have two weeks to decide which size I will keep. I am in awe of this policy and so appreciate that flexibility. A company that makes returns and exchanging easy to do are a big winner in my book. I'll keep you posted on a final review once I decide which size to keep.
Are you a Tiek's gal? Leave a comment and tell me about your love affair with the shoe company.

Living with Less- Clothes

I haven't quite adopted the label "minimalist" quite yet though I definitely lean towards it. We live in a small house by choice and we live with all the items we own, no storage units filled with stuff we aren't using. We purge our house quite frequently and when we buy something we are intentional about where it will go in our house.

But my clothes closet was a whole different matter. In our shared closet I was taking up most of the space. I started reading about the Project 333 and immediately fell in love with the concept. I did as instructed and dumped all my clothes on my bed and went through the pile one by one, trying everything on. As I worked through the clothes I created piles on the floor:

• Keep / Fits great / I love this item
• Maybe / Has sentimental value
• Donate / Doesn't Fit   

After I did the initial round of closet clearing it still looked like my closet was spilling out, in no way did it look like a minimalist closet. That's when I realized that I needed to adjust the concept for my life. I am a yoga instructor and am teaching several yoga classes a day, I literally live in leggings. I have my work uniform of yoga pants and yoga studio logo t-shirts that I wear every day. But then I have the "other" clothes. Clothes I wear occasionally out to dinner or a movie, clothes meant to be lived in like the rest of the world does. And then I have the special occasion clothes; the wedding or fancy dinner or funeral.  

What I learned through the process is that I wanted to really hone in on my personal style. I wanted to create a "look" that I felt comfortable and confident wearing regardless of whether it was a "thin" week or a "that time of the month week". I have spent most of the year thinking about it and creating Pinterest boards and noticing fashion in a different way than I have ever before. I've found pieces that can go from teaching a yoga class to a lunch date. I found the perfect black dress that can be worn several times on various outings whether dressed up for fancy dinner or dressed down by adding a jean jacket. I've decided on a gray-black basic color scheme with pops of color in the accessories. It's still a work in progress but I feel better about how it is evolving.    

My wife introduced me to the concept of buying quality items versus quantity. When we met I was a thrift store seeker, yard sale shopper, coupon cutter, frugal gal to my core. I was raised that way and it has continued into my adult life. I have always been a saver of money but I have issues with shelling out a lot of money for clothes and shoes. And then my wife pointed out to me that my way of sale shopping actually made me spend more money, took more time and if we get down to it was worse for the environment. For example, I was purchasing yoga pants on sale for around $15-$25 at various stores that would last me about a year before they became see-thru or fell apart in the washing machine. But the leggings that I purchased from a higher quality store that would make any frugal gal gasp, $90 on a pair of leggings?!?! They actually lasted 5 years and were still in great shape during the closet purge that I donated them.

Thanks to my wonderful wife I've now adopted her quality over quantity philosophy, though I still have to remind myself of that when I hold my breath while pushing the checkout buttons to purchase shoes that cost over $100. But with quality items in my closet that will last me a long time and in line with Project 333 I am creating a minimalist fashion closet that works for me. Keep checking back for updates! 

Have you tried Project 333? Ever thought of adopting a minimalist wardrobe or capsule wardrobe, as they are often referred to as? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear what your "uniform" looks like.