I stumbled across a new blog recently (I subscribe to more than 50 via Google Reader) called The Year of Less. It's the chronicle of a family's attempt to live a more simplified life. Throughout the course of a year, the author (the mother of the family) is posting daily about the projects they're undertaking to de-clutter, be more environmentally conscious and be less bogged down by material things. Admittedly, they've done things that I don't think I could ever do, like get rid of their microwave, but the whole process sounds like a great way to unload in general. 

It all makes perfect sense — why spend extra time and energy cleaning and organizing items in your house that you don't really need? With that thought in mind, we did a little re-organizing this weekend. We have two closets in our bedroom, one is full-sized with a rod and shelf above, and the other is a half-sized space with four deep shelves. I had been using a dresser to store my folded clothes, and my husband was using the shelved closet. The problem was, the closet wasn't exactly tidy, and I knew there were plenty of clothes in there that he doesn't wear. So, together, we emptied his closet and my dresser and managed to assemble two full garbage bags of clothes and a few miscellaneous items, like books, for donation. By doing this, we made lots of room in the closet for both of our folded clothes, and our toddler inherited my dresser for his own room. Perfect! We managed to get rid of a whole lot of useless stuff, and also re-purpose a piece of furniture instead of buying something new.  

Husband then kept the momentum going in the play room, which had slowly morphed from a relaxing, kid-friendly space to ground zero of Mega Bloks, puzzle pieces and stuffed animals, to the point where the carpet was barely visible. He sorted all of the toys according to category, even making one basket designated for toys with wheels — how's that for order? We didn't eliminate any items from the room, but with a 30-minute tidy, it's a whole new space. When we showed J the results, his eyes got wide and he said, "Wow!" so we followed that with a great chat about how we're going to keep the play room clean from now on. Wish us luck. 

Then I wondered how we could take this process beyond our messy bedroom and into our everyday lives. Here's what I came up with:

- Declutter and clean both cars. Instead of having a back-seat wasteland of toys, books and snacks for the kid(s), we will pick a couple items to take on each car ride and take those things back into the house when we return home. 

- Institute a nighttime tidy routine for all members of the family. Mum and Dad will take care of all dirty dishes, full garbage cans and laundry, and kids will be in charge of putting toys away and stowing all child items, like potty seats.

- Keep track of our needed items to avoid buying excess. I started this by downloading a free app on my phone to replace the paper list on the fridge (Though it was always created with the best of intentions, I'd never remember to take the list along.) And we have already started to track must-have items, which will hopefully help me stick to the list when I'm shopping. I hate wasting food and money.

- Take an inventory of the items we have in our home that we are saving for a rainy day and give them all an expiry date. Items like DVDs and CDs, old mementos, hobby supplies from former pastimes and the like will be put on notice. If they are not used or needed within the next month, they're outta here. I'll report back with what I fully expect to be a staggering amount of stuff that will get the heave ho.

What are ways you and your family could live with less?