Decluttering Before Christmas: Week 1

Just a little December declutter update.

First the good news. Here's what I've decluttered so far:

• A bag of clothes that have been stored in the loft since creating my minimalist wardrobe - donated to a charity shop. 
• Several hardback books on gardening and cooking which I no longer read - also donated to a charity shop.
• Various kitchen items including a hard boiled egg slicer (retro orange 70s kitsch - nice) - donated to a charity shop.
• Some of my 15 year old's outgrown clothes - passed onto his younger cousin.
• Emails deleted - I'm down to an empty email box and I'm also gradually unsubscribing to those companies that keep plaguing me almost daily.

Deciding to declutter before Christmas has definitely helped motivate me to clear unwanted items that have been lingering in the loft for too long. Also, my aim to give some things to charity rather than try and sell them feels good during Advent. This week I also discovered #streetbank's campaign Advent Challenge.The idea is to give something away for each of the 24 days of Advent by donating items to those in your neighbourhood by giving items to friends, family, work colleagues or local charity shops. Alternatively, you can be generous in imaginative ways such as donating items to a local food bank (I've just discovered a collection box in my nearest supermarket) or by taking cakes to work. Thanks to Sue, Jane and Pensive Pensioner for blogging about how they've started this challenge. I love this.

Now, for a confession. This time of year puts pressure on us to look perfect and have perfect houses. I'm skilled at not buying clothes on impulse but I've realised that at this time of year I do have a desire to spend more on household items such as cushions, candles and plants. I've already bought hyacinths and a poinsettia as a nod to Christmas and today bought a cushion for our red tub chair. I bought it at the charity shop where I was dropping stuff off. It's nauticalness spoke to me from across the till. I'm pleased with my new cushion as I think it adds character and sits well with our Cornwall prints but next time I think I need to drop my unwanted items off at the back door rather than walking through the store. I better watch out...

The Best Day of 2014

I've been looking back through some of my photos of 2014 and found these of a day out in Liverpool in August. We wandered past The Cavern Club, around the Albert Docks and then headed to Crosby beach to see Antony Gormley's Another Place. With 2 teenage boys a family day trip is a rare event. We won our lovely boys over with promises of finding cool music stores and a fish and chip supper in a seaside cafe. Eating out is always a winner with teenage boys and you're never too old to visit an ice cream van. In between we sneaked in a bit of art and a stroll along the beach. My boys failed to fake interest but my camera thought pish to that and was in a playful mood. Not a perfect day but a perfectly typical family day out with the usual highs and lows. We all took something away from it, I hope. 

Thank you to Susannah Conway's inspiration for this post and Heather for drawing my attention to the December Reflections project. It's something I shall dip in and out of this month. 

How's your December going? Not too hectic, I hope. 

The First Sunday of Advent

Goodbye autumn, hello winter... December, you're almost here ♥

This first weekend of Advent has been about resting and gently easing ourselves into this new season. 

I started the weekend on Friday meeting friends for a drink and then volunteering for our local Arts organisation. As photographer, I was lucky enough to be on the front row for Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin. Amazing music to chill out to and the perfect antidote to the retail frenzy that's seized the internet and even my little city. 

Bah! Black Friday!

Sunlight, hyacinths, stollen bites, lighting the first of my 4 Advent candles (just 4 tea lights in a row), walking into town for coffee, spying pretty pink cyclamen in hanging baskets and lights reflecting in water have been my simple pleasures. Welcome this season of waiting.

Have a great week ♥ ♥ ♥

Gratitude not Grudge

It's so easy to let the little things get you down at this time of year. The ice that's needed scraping off the car and 'cost' me an extra 5 minutes in the morning. The extra shopping trip to buy ingredients for my son's cake stall at the school Christmas fair on Friday. The Christmas cards that sit despondently in their box as I avoid their bashful glances. 

But if you look at it another way, there's gratitude waiting in every one of these things and countless other moments that make up a day. 

This week I've been getting to work later but have enjoyed the wonder of an ice filtered landscape - who needs Instagram? This evening I had to go shopping unexpectedly but my son has filled the house with the irresistible smell of homemade shortbread (we've eaten the broken ones and more baking will be needed tomorrow, yay). The Christmas cards are being ignored but - if I think about it - I 'm looking forward to writing to and hearing from far away friends. 

Gratitude not grudge is the way.

Happy middle of the week and a peaceful Thanksgiving to those reading in America xo

Keeping Sunday Simple

Keeping Sunday simple with: 

♥ A new church service with a good friend - much needed time for friendship, reflection and prayer. 

♥ Home for coffee and croissants. The best croissants we've had - from a local farm shop. Brunch is possibly the best meal of the day. 

♥ New haircut from a new hairdresser with a degree in creative writing and songwriting. I was impressed. Not so impressed to find out I'm 50% grey in places. OK... I did ask. 

♥ Walking not driving.

♥ Nature's colour lift of red berries, pink skies and golden leaves.

♥ The warmth and comfort of home.

Thank you for reading here this week. 

You're all welcome xo

Interview with Leo Babauta of Zen Habits

Leo Babauta is possibly the most 'authentic' minimalist blogger. A minimalist with more constraints than others - a husband and father of 6 children - he has blogged about changing his life, one habit at a time, at Zen Habits since 2007. Leo has the same doubts, fears and ability to procrastinate as the rest of us but his ability to attack his failings with gusto makes us see that life changes are actually within our capability too. Recently, I was delighted to be given the opportunity to interview Leo about his new book, Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change. 
Here's Leo on writing his best book ever, his current favourite simple pleasures and not being being perfect at everything!

Your new book Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change is almost finished. You are crowd funding this book and have described it as a world changing project. What are your hopes for this book?

I really just hope to get it into people’s hands and see whether it’s helpful. But I do think that if it helps people make changes in their lives, and deal with frustrating and difficult life changes, then it changes the world in a small way. And if readers then become the inspiration for others to change their lives, the change spreads. The more powerful the method of change, the more powerful the changes it creates … and the more powerful the movement of change that begins to spread through the world.

How does this book differ from your first book The Power of Less which was published in 2009?  

I’ve learned a lot in the last 5 years, coaching thousands of people change their habits and working with new ideas in my own changes. One of the biggest things I’ve explored is the resistance to change that we all feel — how do we deal with that? I’ve also learned lessons about dealing with frustrations and stress, anger and unhappiness with ourselves. And one of the best lessons I’ve learned is how to adapt your habit plan to evolve with the reality of your life and the unforeseen obstacles that come up. We tend to take failure with habits as a sign that we’re not disciplined, but really we just need to make readjustments as we go.

In March this year you ended your successful site mnmlist, in order to concentrate on writing Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change. 5 years on and much success later, has it been harder writing your new book than The Power of Less?

Yes, this has been the hardest book for me to write, because I set a really high bar for myself. I wanted this to be the best book I’ve ever done, but how can I meet that impossibly high standard? That caused me to be filled with doubt and fear, but learning to deal with those things has been helpful.

One amazing thing I did was write the early version of this book for a group of 10 alpha testers, who read each chapter as I wrote them and then put them into practice, journaling about it and giving me feedback on what was working, what wasn’t, what needed clarification, where my holes were. This was tremendously helpful — much better than the usual process of writing in solitude and then putting it out in the world untested.

You seem to have a balanced approach to life. What would you list as some of your current simple pleasures?

I love a good workout (lately barbell strength training), a good book, a nice walk with one of my kids, a simple meal with lots of veggies, berries, a glass of red wine, a cup of tea.

I have to admit that when I get focused on writing, I’m not always balanced. I forgo those simple pleasures so that I can work on my book. So I have to step back sometimes and re-adjust my life when I get stuck in tunnel-vision.

You've mentioned your love of reading many times in your blog. What have you read recently that has inspired you - both fiction and non-fiction?

I rarely read non-fiction books, though I really should read more of it. I do read a lot of non-fiction longform articles online. But my real pleasures come from novels, and recently I’ve been tackling some longer ones that I’ve been wanting to read for awhile. On my recently read list: War & Peace, Madame Bovary, Musashi, The Goldfinch. I really enjoyed all of them!

You often write about confidence. How has following your dreams, changing your life around and improving your health enhanced your confidence?

Before I started making these changes, I really didn’t think I could do anything bold, anything meaningful, anything lasting. But by making small changes, one at a time, I’ve changed my entire life … and that has given me the trust in myself that I’m capable. That’s the amazing thing about making changes — it’s not the changes themselves that matter so much, but the confidence you build in yourself that you can stick to something, that you are good enough. It’s a slow lesson, but a rewarding one. I’m so glad that I’ve proven myself to myself, and it has given me the confidence to create and launch and publish a book on my own, or take on a 50-mile ultramarathon, or move my entire family to a strange new city. That’s not to say I never have self-doubt — I do, all the time. But I’ve learned that that’s OK, and I can be OK in that uncertainty.

Which has been your biggest challenge to date in regard to improving your life?

I struggle with lots of things, but I don’t see any of those struggles as a very big deal. I’m OK with not being perfect at everything. I struggle with mindfulness, with being happy when someone is unhappy with me, with self doubt, with urges to eat unhealthy food when it’s right in front of me, with being mindful throughout the day, with procrastination, with having too many things I want to do, with rushing from one thing to the next. I’ve gotten a lot better at all of these things, but I know I have a lot of room for growth. And that’s wonderful — how boring would it be if we couldn’t grow?

I am amazed that 7 years after first posting on Zen Habits you are still writing inspiring and original material every few days. How do you maintain this consistency?

That’s a huge ongoing challenge for me. I have to find a balance between finding new things to write about, and writing about old things in new ways for my new readers who are just finding the site. Writing about old things bores my most loyal and longest-surviving readers, and honestly it bores me if I have to write about those things too often. So I’m always pushing myself to learn new things, to try new challenges, to reflect on what I’ve been learning, and to see what good ideas others have in all kinds of fields (startups, business, science, coaching, psychology, gaming, etc.) that I might apply to my own areas in a new way. With this constant exploration, I’m always discovering new things. And sometimes remember old valuable ones that I forgot!

What is a typical working day for you?

It never really stays the same, of course. These days I typically wake a little before 6am, when it’s still dark, and make a big pot of coffee and empty out my email inbox while that’s brewing. Then when the coffee is ready I get to writing. I write, take breaks to walk around, write some more, do email and other small tasks, write some more, exercise. Writing is always the priority, though. At some point I try to call it quits and read with my kids or take them to the park. At the end of the day, I have a glass of red wine with my wife.

Finally, myself (and many of my readers) were lucky enough to see The Minimalists on tour last month in the UK. Would you ever like to visit the UK, either on a tour or with your family?

I love those guys! They are tireless, going from door to door selling minimalism. That’s amazing. Of course, I would be thrilled to come to the UK! I’m thinking of taking the kids to Dublin and London and then the continent in summer 2015, so maybe we could make something happen. I want to take them to platform 9 ¾, Abbey Road, Westminster Abbey, and a pub for a pint. What’s the minimum drinking age in the UK?

I must say a huge thank you to Leo for this wonderful interview. As a UK minimalist blogger it was an honour to interview him. I can't wait to read his new book and wish him continued success with his Kickstarter campaign.  

Minimalist Wardrobe Reading List

Any excuse to talk wardrobes, eh? I've decided to put together a list of inspiring reads on the topic of creating a minimalist wardrobe. Let's call it my minimalist wardrobe reading list. Whilst I don't archive my clothes anymore, I make sure I archive great posts on the subject of dressing well with less. 

1. The Minimalist Wardrobe (aka The 10-item Wardrobe)  In my opinion the definitive minimalist wardrobe from Miss Minimalist.10 items, all photographed and not all black. Wow!
2. the wardrobe cleanse from this brown wren. I love how Steph reveals her thought processes as she describes her wardrobe purge. 
3. the happy closet from Pink Ronnie. The first in a series of 9 enticing wardrobe posts. Sadly Ronnie closed this blog in September but has started something equally beautiful here.  
4. conquer excess shopping Lucent Imagery writes about unhealthy clothes shopping habits and how to recognise our inner beauty.
5. My Minimalist Wardrobe Laura's pared down collection was a great inspiration to me when I started to seriously limit the amount in my wardrobe. Thank you Laura at No More Spending.
6. Add Classic Style to the Small Wardrobe Rachel, at Small Notebook, talks about her 'comfortably dressy' style. 
7. fall - another chance to simplify my wardrobe Janet, from The Gardener's Cottage, oozes style, confidence and fun with vintage pieces.
8. The Autumn Capsule Wardrobe I have my friend Julie to thank for introducing me to Anna's blog, Vivianna Does MakeUp, and her joyful capsule wardrobe vlogs. I love her latest 10 piece autumn collection. Not sure I could carry off those animal print flats though! 
9. 33 Things to Do and Undo When Simplifying Your Wardrobe A really useful list of tips on simplifying your clothes from Project 333's Courtney Carver. Project 333 got me started on experimenting with dressing well with less. How could I leave Courtney out?
10. Alice Gregory On Finding a Uniform My latest read. A clever way to limit your clothes, sharpen your signature look and steal time.  

 I hope you find these 10 links useful. Sharing is never out of style. 

A Wet Walk

Despite my lament about not getting sucked into Christmas, this weekend's blanket of dreary has got me yearning for fairy lights, pj days and nostalgic movies. It's like November ARRIVED this weekend. Whilst our 15 year old sensibly whiled away his day in his pjs we made the effort to get out 'there' whilst there was still some light in the sky. As we opened the door, drizzle greeted us. Maybe drizzle is too kind a word. We hesitated, but stuck to our guns and ventured to a nearby country park (and the largest canal feeder reservoir in use today). The watery theme continued but we had a great walk. There's nothing like damp for putting a spring in your step. We walked, talked, laughed and we got to the café before it closed. Yay! A cup of tea, yes that will do very nicely, thank you. Simple pleasures, eh...

Thanks for reading, commenting and following this week. It's great to have you here. 

Have a happy week xo