Decluttering clothes

A couple of weeks ago I started decluttering my clothes...  to one of my friend's daugther delight!!!
I was trying to get to this Project 333 stuff...  however I realized that I am not there yet.... But it's good.... I come from far....

To describe my wardrobe 3 years ago (I do not have a picture), try and imagine this...  I had a double closet full of stuff...  plus an armoire just as full... and a 6 drawers chest jus as full as you may have guess... And some stored away underneath my bed!!!  Basically I could have dress myself and a couple of friends for a few months without wearing the same stuff twice!!! I had TONS of clothes... Totally did not make sense!!! (why have more then what you can make use off?)

Then we moved into a smaller place and I had to basically fit all my clothes into double closet and my 6 drawers chest....  remove the armoire and the equivalent of it's content (no room to put in into that smaller room)!
Then we moved yet into a smaller place...  I mean as we were decluttering everything else, there really was no point in living in such a big expensive place...  downsizing was allowing us to save money and on cleaning time!!! So I had to let go of more of my clothes yet...  this was a ''forced'' process...  I did not have enough space..  but I was still ''Attached'' to clothes... so what I would do while decluttering those past years was getting rid of stuff to make room to buy more current fashionable stuff...  Not exactly the point!

I had to stop and question why I was doing that?  Why was I able to declutter everything but my closet? And come to realize the my clothing are what people ''see'' of me...  and I was afraid of being judge...  and not looking good enough! (However, when I look at it now, most would probalby think that I was an air head wasting all her money on clothes!)
So about a year ago, at the time where I started this blog I came up with an idea... to not buy anything for a whole year unless it was absolutely essential!  Quite a huge goal for me (coming from a place where I would spend hundreds of dollars every month on clothes only!)!!!  And I managed to do it for 6 months ( and pay off some debt with the money saved!)!!!  I was proud of myself but realize the forbidding myself to buy would not work...  I eventually give into my old habit!!!

Beginnning of this year, I made another resolution (but kep it to myself)... that by the end of this year I would have found a ''cure'' for my problem... my clothes addiction! I started looking into books (by Anna Johnson and Melissa Tosseti) and then this go into me looking at blogs (by Melissa Tosseti and Courtney Carver).. and I think THAT worked...  I finally managed to come to the conclusion that buying so much clothes was a way for me to hide from who I really was....  I use to have clothes that would no suit me because they were not my style, not fit my body properly, no the right color or pattern... and most of them were orphans!!!  And many were NEVER or hardly ever worn!!!  That did not make sense to me!!!

I then started looking at who I was, what I wanted people to see from my clothing, what I wanted to reflect...  and who I was inside so that I could reflect it on the outside!!!  And that worked!!!

I now have clothes that fit me well, go togheter (no more orphans), that are versatile, of better quality (I only kept and am allowed to buy good quality now - no more cheap stuff so that I can get more), can be worn in more then one season and most importantly reflect the REAL me!!!  Who cares what other people think?  And it I am truly comfortable with what I own and wear, they will only think good things of me cause I am not trying to be someone I am not!  Nor am I trying to impress people for what I am not!

So for the last couple of weeks, I can say that I really managed to get rid of loads of clothes... I now only take a single wardrobe and a 5 drawers chest... and my clothes can still breathe (there is still romm - but not to add more!)!!! Winter stuff is paked away! I may not have only 33 items to wear over the next 3 months... but if I look at my work wardrobe I have about 25 items!  And if I look at my not at work wardrobe I may have 30 items.. but some of those fit into both category so in total I may have 45 items!!! No to bad for now!!!

I will continue working on this...  I still have a few more months before end of year anyway.. we are only end of May!!!
Some items still need to by tried and tested to see if they past the test...  so I may end up giving away a few more items!!!

I am happy I managed tho deal with this issue.. it was a big deal for me.. I felt like I was not on control of that part of my life and it was not good for me.. all that money and time wasted!

A VERY good side to having less clothes is the ease of getting dress in the morning!!!  It use to take me a long time just to decide what I would wear.... now in five minutes if not less I am settle down on my choice!!  So I still wake up at the same time I use to, but now I can manage to do my 45 minnutes yoga practice, take my shower, enjoy my breakfast and still be ready on time!!! No more rushing!!!  What an amazing increase in quality of my time!!!

Have you looked into decluttering your wardrobe?  How are you handling it?

Rain in Montreal

It is raining today in Montreal. A continuous flow of rain... sometime light and sometimes abondant.

Montreal having a very particular climate rain is seen very differently depending on the time of year it comes and how frequent it is.... 
Rain is winter is not appreciated...  sure it means a mild temperature but it also means snow melting and ice everywhere the next morning.
Rain in the spring means grass becoming green, flower blooming...  of course if it is not a week in a row... like we sometimes get...
Rain in automn mean cold and bad weather is coming for several months.. summer is over...  leafs are falling from trees...
Rain in the summer means a cooler day....  or a bad wek.. it all depends!

But today's rain is a break...  a cool down day... a today's time to watch a movie, do some shopping or clean the house!  We had an AMAZING long week end!  Sunny and warm...  our first summer long week end...  This long week end in May usually signifies the beginning of summer and the arrival of nice weather...  althus techinically summer arrives in a month!  We are expecting a very nice week after today's rain... and it is still not cold...  very enjoyable.... you can leave windows open and refresh the house.....

I like the smell and the sound of rain...  waking up in the morning with rain falling is nice...  quiet.. it sets the tone for a ''take it easy'' day!

Needless to say I like rain.... especially in the middle of 10 days or warm sunny weather.. it's a break for the skin... the eyes... it allows me to turn within...  rain has always had this very reflective effect on me... I find it romantic...  soothing... I very rarely take an umbrella... expecially in summer rain...  I like the feel of rain on my bare skin...

I remember when our kids wer younger, we would go gor a walk under a summer rain... and get in our pajamas when getting back home...  we would encourage the kids to play outside in the rain... run, laugh... This is a very good memory of a few years ago...
We would also even go to water park (hey you are getting wet anyway!)  and the zoo (animals are different) under rain... there are much less visitors!

What about you?  How do you enjoy your rainy days?

Moving

I am moving on June 22nd. 

The first 23 years of my life I spent in 1 home.. my parents do not move!  They still live at that same place. 
I like to move...  In 16 years, this will be my 6th place.  I move for many different reasons...  but mostly becasue I want my home to fit my lifestyle...

This time I am moving because my son is off to highschool next year and the school he chosed is too far from where we live now.. and I want him to be able to use public transportation to go to school without having to commute 3 hours for a round trip.
Also, I always wanted to go back to that area... it's more in synch with who I am... but I'll let you know more about that once I move....

Now I am planning my move...  obviously, after a few moves, you learn stuff..  practice makes perfect!  or almost...

So now, when I sign a lease, I am always taking room lay out and measurement upon signature and I also like to take the current occupant email or phone number so I can contact them if I need some extra info... who better to answer them then people who live there?

This week end, in preparation to moving, I was trying to figure out what we bring with us and what we leave behind.. we are moving in yet a somewhat smaller place.. so some stuff may not have room....
So we layed out the rooms and organize furniture how we would like to have it and saw what would fit or not...  so now I am clear for furniture. 

 The next step will be going to the post office to make change of adress so that my mail may follow if I forget to advise anyone... Then make the list of where my adress needs to be change and comunicate this info to all those people.  I also send an email to my friends and family with my new adress and phone number a few days before.

I will also need to reserve my moving truck. Now that I know what I bring with me, I know what size truck I need.  And lastly continue making boxes...  I started them when we had the fire incident as part of cleaning up...  but I am not done...  When I do my boxes, I now clean up as I pack stuff...  instead of when I am unpacking... makes organizing new place faster but it means starting packing boxes earlier..  so I start doing that a month before... and get rid of stuff I have not use since I unpacked them! I label every boxes with the room they go into so we can bring them direclty there...

Another thing I do to make things easier is choose paint color ahead of time...  it save times.. and as I like to paint fearly neutral, it can be done before and I can always add dash of colors afterwards.  I get my keys a week before I move in, on the Friday night.  By then, my cleaning schedule is prepared and my team (my mom, dad, husband and I) are all well advised of our chores (list is made ahead of time acording to each one strenght)...  makes stuff so much easier.. then we'll start painting room by room...  my husband and I are a wonderfull paint team!!! 

I take a vacation day before the move to make sure all cleaning and painting is over with... then I also take the moving day off to make sure everything goes smoothly.  My brother and my husband take care of furniture and my parents and I of boxes..  usually goes smoothly...

By supper time, pizza is there...  and after supper everyone gets to go home... and my husband and I usually finish organizing our bed room so we can sleep comfortably...  The next Saturday, we fix the rest.... and by the time I go get my son at his dad's place, everything will be done...  and we can enjoy Sunday night and Monday as that Monday is a Holiday for us in Quebec!!!

It may seem like a lot... but I assure you that it is not exhausting... we plan this well and use time efficienlty... never working untill late at night...  and relaxing after supper... taking some fresh air and walking around our new neightbourhood!

I have improve a lot over time.. my first few move were horrible.. tiring... but I still iked it!!  However, I do not want to be exhausted for weeks after moving anymore and I do not want it to drag for weeks!!!  I want to enjoy my summer!!!

namaste,
nathalie

Vegan Khichdi

A friend vegan friend of mine who's dad is from India, recommended I try this recipe... as it is her favorite comfort food...  It is healthy, complete...  and has many different flavors to it...  I am not a big fan of Indian cuisine as my taste buds are not particulary used to the spices they put in...  and I am not use to cook with spices!  However, I know that using them is quite healthy and I am try to incorporate more in my cooking. So having a friend recommend something authentic and saying that is was really comforting, I gave it a try!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of basmati rice (rinsed)
1/4 cup of lentils (any colour would do, rinsed)
2 tsp of Garam Masala (or to taste)
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 medium potato diced
1 medium carrot diced
3 cups water
Oil
Salt to taste
you can also add cauliflower, green peas or try any other vegetables that are slow cooking... do not be afraid to experiment!

Directions:

1) heat the oil and fry the onion until it is transludent
2) add Garam Masala and mix with onion and spices
3) add rice and lentils and fry a few more minutes
4) add water, salt, and other vegetables
5) lower heat and let simmer untill rice is cooked

Please note that I had to add more water during cooking... so stay close... texture should be ''runnny'' when serving!

It took about an hour all in all....  inclulding vegetables preparation and cooking....

I was amazingly surprise by this recipe!  It tasted GREAT!  and it was really comforting!!!

I have left over... so I will have that again tonight!  See how it taste when you reheat it without a microwave (which I do not own). 

If anyone tried to freeze some, let me know how it turns out!  I am pretty sure it would still be great!  Next time I make this, I might try cooking a big batch to freeze some and have it ready for ememrgency dinners, I never eat any manufactured frozen meals... so I do bulk cooking and freeze left over for another week when I have less time to cook or simply do not feel like it!!!

namaste,
nathalie 

Perfect timing

There was a fire in my building a week ago... Nobody was hurt which is the most important thing... No human or animal were harmed aside from the few elderly who had to be rushed to the emergency room for panic attack but they are fine...
One appartement which was occupied by 2 children and their parents was completely destroyed!!! They have nothing left (but themselves which is not too bad!)!!! Two other appartments were damaged but not everything is ruined...
Thanks for concrete walls and closeby firemen, the damages were controlled quite well....

However, going back into a building filed with smoke, black walls, broken windows and doors, no electricity is quite devastating...  When you enter your appartment and all you see is your cat crawling on the floor and smoke everywhere, and this horrible smell, no matter how much yoga and meditation you do, you have no more sence of material security!   So we opened the windows even thus it was quite cold and there was no electricity and took time to breathe.. and figure out what our next step should be!

We conclude quite fast, that sleeping there was not a solution for that night.... First we did not know when the power would be back... and it was already 7pm and sun was going down... and smell not going anywhere! So we opted for a hot comfortable hotel room!  Where we took a hot shower, nice meal and tried to sleep!

The next morning, I had organized my thaught and made a plan!!! We would go back home, take all that needed to get cleaned and go do laundry at my mom's (the laundry room was quite dirty still as it was on the same floor as the fire). Then in late afternoon we would come back home, open the windows again and clean the couch and bedroom as well as vacuum all the floors so at least we could sleep there on that night...
And on the monday my mom would come and help me do the rest... It was a good plan... and I was exhausted for a few days after... but all in all it went well...  and boy was I happy I am trying to live in a minimalist way!!! 

We have quite a lot of stuff still for pure minimalist... but we do not have much compared to what we used to have... over the last 5 years we have give away bags and bags of stuff...  if there was a time to get as close as we wanted to  become minimalist, NOW is a GREAT timing!!! And when I was cleaning we took the opportunity to start packing up stuff as we are moving in 7 weeks! 

After the cleaning was done and our place back to normal, then was the time to take care of myself... so I went back to my yoga....and meditation... to redo my roots... and not be so airy anymore!!! As my body really missed only one day of my practice, it got back to normal quite easily...and I would say that on the Thursday ( the fire was on Saturday) I was back to my old calm, centered self....  and happy about how all this went well...

namaste,
nathalie