The kitchen is the heartbeat of the home, but too often our kitchen counters can be messy and cluttered which can lead to us feeling stressed and overwhelmed. A clean kitchen is a happy and productive place to be! I shared last week about how I had completely cleared off my kitchen counters last summer, and the big difference that it made in my life. And if you follow me on Instagram you probably noticed that I spent most of a recent Friday sharing my process of clearing off my … [Read more...]
5 Ways Clearing Off My Kitchen Counters Changed My Life
Around this time last year, I completely cleared off my counters. As in, I removed everything from my counters except for soap by the sink and a small aloe plant. It was AMAZING. One night when my hubs and I were taking a walk after dinner, I told him that I thought completely clearing off the counters had changed my life. He chuckled and told me I was being a little dramatic. But I was serious. It really did change a lot of things about my life that were causing me stress and making me … [Read more...]
Want to Live More Intentionally? You Need to Simplify Your Life!
This post is part of the Blue Bike Blog Tour, which I’m thrilled to be part of. To learn more and join us, head here. In that moment, watching snow flurries fall against a redbrick backdrop out of a coffee-shop window in downtown Bend, I realized that unless our family made more intentional, proactive choices, instead of just constantly talking about wishing things weren’t so busy, we would go on forever wanting a different life. -Tsh Oxenrieder, Notes from a Blue Bike In the … [Read more...]
How to Have a Meaningful and Simple Christmas
By Elizabeth of RunningFamily.net, Contributing Writer Since we have given away over half of our household items (190 bags to charity), we have gained a whole new perspective on our consumer culture. Basically, it stinks. Yes, we need stuff to live as human beings, but truly over-abundance has become the curse of our post-modern world. Then comes Christmas. How do we celebrate Christmas without giving into the consumer culture when we have children who want presents? And what … [Read more...]
Should Christians Love Shopping?
The biggest shopping day of the year is right around the corner. And lots of people are talking about whether or not we should go out shopping on Thanksgiving and what it means about our culture and society that Black Friday is becoming almost a bigger Holiday than the one that we will celebrate tomorrow. I overhead a lady one time gushing about how much she LOOOOOVES (insert hands pressed to chest and eyes squinted shut) shopping and how she was SO excited for Black Friday because she just … [Read more...]
Madness to Manageable: How to have a Better House by Monday {Green in 365}
This is Day 272 of the Green in 365 series! By Elizabeth Phillips of runningfamily.net, Contributing Writer *Emily's note: I'm thankful that my cousin Elizabeth is joining us as a contributing writer. She and her family have been on a journey toward simplifying and minimizing and getting rid of all the stuff in their home that they didn't truly need. I know from your comments, both on this post and on Facebook, that many of you are interested in this for your families too, and I hope … [Read more...]
Repurposing Containers for Toy Storage {Green in 365: Play Room}
This is Day 228 of the Green in 365 series! By Hilary Kimes Bernstein of Accidentally Green I used to think that my husband and I had a lot of belongings. And then we had kids. Suddenly, the contents of our home multiplied. First it was all of the bulky baby gear – a Pack’n Play, swing, bassinet, and strollers. Once my babies outgrew those things, then toys and books began to fill our house. Now that our children are reaching school age, their toys are shrinking in … [Read more...]
Top 10 Reasons Why Our Family Wants to Live with Less Stuff
This is Day 200 of the Green in 365 series! Woo-hoo! Less Stuff! Better Life! That is the mantra of the simple living and minimalist community that seems to be growing in popularity around the web and blogosphere. And our family believes it, we just don't live it very well. My husband and I have been lamenting lately about how much stuff we have accumulated over the past 4 years of living in this house. We got rid of around half of our stuff when moving out of our old … [Read more...]
Reuse, Reduce… Declutter! {Green in 365: Spring}
This is Day 63 of the Green in 365 series! When Spring is in the air there's something that seems to follow right along after it: the strong urge to clean out and declutter after a long winter spent indoors! Spring Cleaning is definitely not my favorite thing to do, but I always feel so much better when I've done it! Usually, I seem to wait until April, when the weather is starting to get really nice out, to get that urge to clean out and declutter. But, I've always disliked … [Read more...]
FAQ – Why Recycling Should Be A Last Resort
So, since we've been talking all about the 3 R's - reducing, reusing and recycling this past month, I wanted to finish up by talking a little bit about why recycling should only be used as a last resort, after reducing and reusing. Our first goal should always be to reduce the amount of waste we create, as much as possible. This blog has some great tips for getting started with reducing your waste all around the house. Then, with whatever waste we have, we should reuse what we can. … [Read more...]
