Simplifying My Life, One Closet at a Time

Oh my goodness, how strange to be typing a blog post! My computer seems like a stranger to me. All of my spare time, and even my not-so-spare time, lately has gone to tearing my house apart and putting it back together again.

Now when people come over, I will be tempted to offer them a peek in my closets. (Okay, not a peek so much as an extended viewing involving "oohs" and "aahs.")

We lived in our previous house for seven years and we accumulated a lot of stuff. But before we put that house on the market we seriously de-cluttered. It was a fabulously freeing feeling. Then we moved here and even though it's a smaller house, everything we had fit and it was great. For a while.

However, in the three years we have lived here our stuff has seriously multiplied. It is very difficult to have everything in its place when there is not a place for everything. I have been feeling overwhelmed for the past few months because of the amount of stuff in our house.

I was antsy to simplify and de-clutter, but each time I would go into a closet intending to get rid of stuff, I would see things I didn’t want to part with, then turn around and close the door. I felt paralyzed with too much stuff, but not ready to totally say good-bye to it.

Then I hatched a plan that set me in motion. I decided to pack things up that I knew I wouldn't need right away (and possibly never need again) and get them out of our valuable indoor closet space and into our attic or basement. I packed up things like Mike's letter jacket, the dress I wore for high school graduation, leftover napkins from our wedding reception, little knick-knacks I've had since childhood, a lamp we bought on our first anniversary, and you know, stuff.

How do you get rid of things like that? But who has room for it all? It is a dilemma, or was a dilemma. But now they are nicely boxed away. No doubt, many of the things I will be ready to part with next time I see them, but for now I am just thrilled none of it is taking up prime real estate in our house.

When my wedding dress was professionally boxed up eleven and a half years ago, my veil and train wouldn't fit, so they have been in plastic bags on a shelf in my closet. I was very surprised and pleased to see they were not yellow. I took a picture for nostalgia.

Here is the train, yes it takes up the whole king-sized bed. Did I ever mention I was princess of a small country? Gee, I can't imagine why it didn't fit in the box with the other 45 yards of tulle.
I also boxed up many items for a garage sale or to donate, so don't think I'm a total pack rat.

I took pictures of my closet organization victories, but somehow they don't look as impressive in the photographs as they seem in real life. This one of our craft/cookbook/dog food/swiffer storage cupboard gives you an idea though.
In keeping with the theme of simplifying, here is a simple recipe I made last week. My mom never made chicken and dumplings so I am no expert, but this was very yummy and oh so easy!!

The inspiration recipe came from Mary Hunt’s newsletter Everyday Cheapskate. I first heard about her on Focus on the Family or Family Life (I have a mental block that refuses to let me differentiate between the two). I really love her advice and strategies on debt-proof living. She and her husband have the best strategies ever for teaching your children to be grateful, responsible stewards of money. But that’s a whole different post, back to the dumplings:

Tina's Version of Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings:

2 large chicken breasts
1 tablespoon butter
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
20 ounces of chicken broth +/-
7 buttermilk biscuits
1 can sliced carrots

Place the chicken, butter, soup, and broth in slow cooker. Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on high. One hour before serving, shred chicken breasts with forks in slow cooker, add can of cooked carrots, and open the biscuits. With palm, smash each biscuit to be about 1/4-inch thick and cut into 1/2-inch strips with pizza cutter. Add to the slow cooker. Try Make sure to get the dough covered with liquid, adding broth if necessary (or even water). Continue cooking until the dough is no longer raw in the center, about 1 hour. Don’t keep opening your slow cooker to stir dumplings or dumplings will take much longer to cook and your family will be starving to death and your children will be writhing on the floor saying, "But I need to eat now!" Just saying, keep the lid on while the biscuits are transforming into dumplings.

Recipe notes: I put my chicken breasts in frozen, no problems. I had a 32 oz. carton of broth so I just added what looked right, but I think it was pretty close to 20 oz. I also went ahead and baked the remaining biscuits and saved them for breakfast. Waste not, want not! (glancing around) Where did that come from? Is that you, Grandma?