cut the clutter

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace. Hebrews 12:11

I'm in a serious fight... with all of my junk. It's tying me down! I feel like I just want to break away from it all and scream and have it gone. But alas, I am sorting and torturing myself over what to do with  the things I have amassed over my 26 years of existence. I think back to all the times that I have de-cluttered and how I rarely think about or miss the things that I did away with. And then I see all of my things. And I have fantasies about a clean and organized house in which I have every single thing I could possibly ever need or own, neatly tucked away in it's own labeled spot in an uncluttered/nonjunky cabinet (oh heyyyyyy OCD). And then I look at my stuff and snap out of it. At this point in the process, I have faced the truth. All of this stuff, is just stuff. I started this blog to keep track of my business happenings, moving, getting married, renovating a house, budgeting, decorating, etc but along the way, I want to know that I am not alone. I am human and so are you. I think. Or at least, hope. So I am on a mission to cut the clutter and get back to the things that really matter. 

 The junk has got. to. go. 

Most important in this process for me is perspective. I constantly remind myself that these things are just things. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to hang an antique dish on the wall, frame an old print from my grandparents, use a dresser that belonged in my family beach house and on and on and on. This is the part of the process I love. The part I don't love, knowing that I can't keep everything. Nor should I need to. Or want to for that matter! We shouldn't be tied to our memories with stuff. 

Hanging one of my grandmother's old paintings in our master bedroom = good

Having a drawer/closet/attic/garage full of junk and basically garbage old stuff that no one will ever get to know about or see in the future = not good

Of course, I'm not just battling with things that can be easily donated here. For instance, tonight I found stacks and stacks of birthday, graduation, Christmas, etc cards in my old dresser. I obviously don't have the heart to toss these (OMG, you Scrooge!) so I'll turn to trusty ol Pinterest for an idea on keeping them. But, I don't need that last four inches of wrapping paper that I might possibly use on the world's tiniest gift or the stubby colored pencils left behind in my desk drawer because they have always been there and I couldn't possibly throw them away and put something else in their designated spot?! So as we prepare for the move (have you found the common theme of the blog?), I am untying the strings that have been binding me to this baggage. I don't want the start of my life with the Mr. to be one that is focused on things or every single aspect of a past life. I want us to have a life that is focused on each other and the relationship in our marriage that we build together. 

A friend shared this link a few weeks ago and I immediately read/loved/reread/obsessed over it. 

http://www.butlerpartyof2.com/2012/07/being-godly-wife.html

I think my theme tonight goes hand in hand with this advice written by Danielle over a Butler: party of two. By focusing less on things (junk in your house, old memories, best shoes, best car, etc, etc, etc), we can focus more on the relationships in our lives. I already feel better just thinking about ridding the garbage that clogs our house, our routine, our lives, but I know it will take work. It won't be fun, but I know it will be worth it. So, today, I am thankful for this precious little house. And for the husband I'll be sharing it with. And the two maltipoos that we have together. And my amazing family that is just a stones throw away (no matter which way you throw the stone).

If you are anything like me, revelations such as this are great and everything, but to feel like a productive member of society, you just need to do something. A purging of sorts, to make you feel like this revelation has actually translated to the visible clutter. That is why today I am sharing with you my quick and easy spice cabinet makeover!

This is what I started with. Before, we had a really sophisticated system in which we stored our spices in the cabinet... they were randomly thrown into tupperware and shoved on a shelf. Nice, I know. So no matter how this project turned out, it would be an improvement based on our past spice transgressions. 

I found these bad boys at World Market, buy one get one free! They have a clear top, spin lids to shake or pour and magnets on the back. Plus, they are this cute turquoise color. I don't think we could've done any better. 

Classy, huh?

All I needed was a Sharpie marker to label the clear lids and, luckily for me, I had these cute metallic ones I recently got for another project. 

Ta da! Pretty simple, huh? I love these containers because they are big enough to hold the contents of the large size spice containers without having any left over. Once we are all moved, we'll have magnets mounted on the back of two kitchen cabinet doors where we'll stick these! I saw on Pinterest that someone added small hooks to store their teaspoons/tablespoons for easy measuring. Umm, definitely doing that. I'll be sure to share the final step once we have these hanging up in their new home. I feel better already after tossing those mismatched/different sized/different shaped spice containers. I give this project an A+ for convenience, cost and style. 

Have you done any quick and easy projects that made a great transformation, while also ridding your life of clutter? I want to hear about it!

PS. Super mom pointed out that I misspelled the word 'selvedge' in the post about my DIY curtains. She then shared with me the correct spelling, which I immediately forgot because I was working on something else. So today, I tried to google it. Yall, at least four different spellings came up. So here today, I want to confess to my misspelling and say that I do not know how to spell this particular word. Still. Sorry, Mom!