Why a couch? Really.

I grew up with a couch in our living room. My grandma had a couch. All of my aunt's had couches. All of my friend's homes had couches. I myself had some form of a couch in every home I've ever had. Until yesterday!

My thought on this. Minimalism is something unique to the each individual person. There are no rules. When you create a minimal home you utilize everything in said home or cherish it because it brings you happiness.

That said. When we moved to Florida I sold our old sofa before we left. One less thing to move and I needed a visual change anyhow. Win win. Once we got to moved and settled it was my assumption that we would have all kinds of visitors and I have always loved the idea of being a good host, therefore we would need somewhere for our guests to sleep. So, we bought a gently loved red leather sofa sleeper that stowed a queen size bed for our loved ones to rest their heads on.

For the past year I have stared at this huge, heavy as hell piece of furniture that while it served its purpose for a place to plant our asses at the end of a busy day, it didn't do much else than sit there. We have had a handful of friends and family come to stay with us over the past 2 years and only 1 has actually pulled the damn thing out and slept on it more than one night. Kudos to my little sister! I tried to sleep on it once myself, it was horrible! Which at that point didn't do the poor thing any favors in my eyes.

As I have rebooted my drive to further declutter and minimize the items in our living space, I kept coming back to the sofa. We have had a recliner that my husband got for Christmas the year we got here. Everyone in the house takes turns jockeying for this chair. Again making the couch look unfavorable for keeping.

So, I had to ask myself, Why am I so resistant to get rid of this couch? After a lot of soul searching the only thing I could come up with is " Everyone has one". It's been ingrained on my brain for my entire 40 years. WTH? I have never been one to conform to a societal mold, why start now? If I remove the couch, what are we going to sit on? What are my guests going to sleep on? How do explain to visitors that look at my living room and wonder "Where the hell is her sofa?"

The answer was simple. We all get a recliner. His/her own to lounge and snuggle with the pups in. Done. Like I said before, Husband all ready had one. Fortunately, so did offspring (in his room acting like a coat rack) and me....Thrifty project time! I scored an older, smaller, fits-my-short-self-just-right recliner from a local thrift shop that just happen to be giving excess furniture away. Score! Then I cut up an old quilt, made a slip cover and BOOM! I have my own recliner also. Problem solved. Step 2...After removing the sofa, we can easily scoot the chairs to one side of the room and utilize the air mattresses we already have in our camping stash for out of town guests. Yes! Step 3....I have 2 people that visit us regularly and both know me well enough to know I'm not going to make them sit on the floor. Extra dining chairs can be brought in for short visits and reclining beach/camping chairs can be brought in if needed. Done. As for what other think of the my living room sans sofa....Honestly, I don't give a damn. Moving on!

The lesson is, if a couch doesn't work for your family's lifestyle....let it go! Break free from the assumption that your room will look incomplete with out one and don't judge someone that might not have one.
As for the red leather couch...it left yesterday to go live with a family that has 2 young son's that are going to camp out on it in there game room. I couldn't be more please!

Have you ever struggled with not wanting to let go of something as trivial as a piece of furniture that is a staple in most households these days? Have any comments, questions, stories you would like to share please leave them in the comments below.

Thanks for stoppin' in!

Weekly Updates: What's going on around 3nh.

Bringing the old blog out of retirement. I'm telling myself I will commit to a weekly post here, we'll see how that goes.

Well, it's been an interesting first half of 2016 so far. Lots going on.

We are in the process of painting the exterior of the house. I had hoped to complete it before the summer heat hit us, but unfortunately that did not happen. Now we are in rainy season which makes it difficult, but not undo-able. The body of the house is complete. The main wall of the screened porch (exterior house wall) is done also. The shed has been painted also. Left to do - front awning, ceiling of the porch & carport, all the gutters and carport supports. ( will update as we go, final before and after photos to come)

Offspring is at his final day of freshman year. I can't believe just how grown up he is getting. I am so very proud of the man he is becoming. Dean's list all year. He is amazing!

Projects: currently working on recovering a recliner,  writing content for my new blog N2 Simply Veg, wrapping up misc. crafting that needs finished as well as odds and ends of random inside painting that i can do since it's SO freaking hot outside.

OH, AND I WENT VEGAN.
More on that over on the other other blog!

I hope life finds you well. Thank you for visiting!

Project 333 finally!

staying

staying

love!

 on the shelf

possible out

maybe

staying

out til fall

staying

staying

staying

staying

staying

 out

out /maybe

 maybe

out

 unsure

 black cardi stays

swapping the button up for cotton 3/4 sleeve t

 

I also have 1 pr jeans, 1 pr jean shorts, 1 pr denim leggins, all are staying.

 

 

Sorry this post was delayed, I have been wearing this 33 for a lil over a month now.

While most are good picks, I am finding I wear about half of what I chose.

So, I need to tweak my selection for the rest of the summer.

 

I am hacking up old clothes and making new items out of them so I will leave a few spots

open in my list to try these out in my daily life.

 

Keep ya posted!

 

ps: I have been kicking around the idea that picking 40-59 items for year round wear may suit me

better...with switch ups allowed every other month. Less in and out or storage and and less to store!

It folds up!!!

Loving this new bike! Wish me luck I haven't rode it yet.
Ok, my neighbor have me this sad little bike, the seat was broken, brakes didn't work, tires were flat.
BUT IT FOLDS UP!!! So, of to my friends at a local bike repair it went. Once home I replaced the seat (go tools!!!) and cleaned her up.
I look at it this way. Yes, I already have a trike. No the trike can't go camping with me (enter new foldy bike). Yes, I had to pot some money into it, but it didn't go to the dump! And it was way cheaper than buying new. Score!!!
PS. It matches my lil car, Lucy. AND IT FOLDS UP!!!!

Project 333 - my new way of dealing with my wardrobe

I recently found this fantastic concept of controlling your minimal wardrobe without feeling restricted. I love this idea (thank you Courtney Carver) you utilize 33 items in your wardrobe, packing the rest away until the next 3 month cycle (for details please go here)!!!

The bonus for me, MY SON HAS DECIDED TO JOIN ME!
He has been tossing around the idea of creating his own "uniform" for a while now. After I did the 6 item challenge a few months ago, he starting asking lots of questions about his clothing and who makes it, why fads are fads and people give in to them etc. (I love watching my child's brain grow!)

I still need to take pictures of his 33. I will post mine shortly.

We did adjust a couple of the rules a little to fit our life. We are limiting our pj's and lounge ware to 3 outfits - as we both sleep and exercise in the same clothes. And we aren't really counting jewelry as items because we both wear the same jewelry every single day.

Bug - wears a ring his great Grammy got him for Christmas and a set of dog tags my Soldier Husband gifted him the first Christmas we started dating.

I - wear my wedding set (obviously), a pearl necklace, and silver hoops (my Grampy gave me before he passed).
Needless to say we both are pretty minimal in our jewelry. BUT, I have a scarf thing...Not sure what to call it. So, to make sure I reigned that addiction  - I made sure to add them into my 33. Will power! HAHA!!

Please feel free to join us on our Project 333 challenge! More info to come!

Our Max-Min (1month) Challenge!

Back story: Husband and I have been working really hard to pay off debt the past 1.5 years. We are finally half way thru. Now that we are over the hump, we have been discussing what we would like to do with our excess $$ once we get to the point we have no more loan/credit card debt to pay.

Fast forward to a month or so ago: The family as a whole, loves to camp. Since the beginning of our little family, we have all expressed the desire to travel out west (Grand Canyon, Yellow Stone etc). So, that's what we are going to do!

I have been researching RVs and other means of shelter for our journey. Making mental plans for such living arrangements. I am a planner, I can't help it. AND of course, we would have to do so as minimalist/eco as possible.

Which leads us to our challenge. The idea is to live in our current little home with  ONLY what we would have on the road with us. Which I have limited to 10 personal items each. Minimal kitchen and household items each. All of this I will elaborate more on as we go thru the month.

I am very excited to see how we do with this challenge, what each of us gets out of it. Maybe, we will see just how much stuff we can do with out, I can purge more from our daily lives!

Waiting...

We are waiting for spring, here at 3NH...
this is not how I planned on spending our spring break!
But, ya work with what you got. So, I have purged another bag of clothing, kitchen items, and baby things from the house. Not bad for a weekend. Our journey in minimalism continues! I am happy to say we have successfully removed more than 17 totes from the shed since we moved in!!
Counting down the months til husband is able to return all his gear to the Army...