Keep it Simple

In my quest to become more frugal and to save money, I am coming around to the idea of living simply as well. To me, living simply means not keeping a lot of items that I don't need in my house. I not only buy less, but I can hopefully eliminate clutter and junk from my house.

In that vein, I am going to share three of my ideas for reducing clutter in the hopes that you, dear blog readers, can share your own brilliant ideas for keeping it simple and clean.

1. Pick-up 25 things every night before bed.
I think I got this one from Real Simple, but every night before I go to sleep I pick up and put away/throw away 25 things. I've been doing this for a few weeks (and okay, I've missed a night or two), and I really like it. On a lazy night, my shoes and socks count as four items, but even then it makes me pick up my stuff out of the living room, throw away mail, and put clothes away in my closet. On a good night, I sometimes do more than 25, but no matter what I wake up to a house that's a little cleaner.

2. Clean out your car at the gas station
Everytime I get gas, without exception, I go through my car and throw away any trash that's in there. I know some people are better than me and bring in their trash and throw it away everyday. But, if you're like me sometimes it stacks up. And since there is a trash can right next to the gas pump, and I'm just standing there waiting, it's the perfect time to clean out my car. When my car is clean, it improves my quality of life. Seriously. This has also made it less embarrassing when someone wants to ride in my car. I am not apologizing as I chuck things into the back seat so they have someplace to sit.

3. Minimize
This one is a work in progess for me. Do I really need three body washes in my shower? Nope. Two different types of shaving cream? Nope. About seven different perfume bottles? Six bottles of lotion? Two kinds of eye cream? I don't know how I accumulate all this stuff, but I am trying to focus on using up the stuff I have and then keeping only what I need on hand. Which means one body wash, shaving cream, and eye cream. I have decided to narrow down the perfume to Clinique's Happy, Philosophy's Amazing Grace, and Juicy Coutoure's perfume (for going out). The rest I am going to use up or just get rid of. The lotion? I wear perfume, so I really just need one unscented bottle in my room. That's it. Yes, I will keep replacements of body wash and shaving cream in my cupboard, but no more than one at a time and not all in the shower. I am thinking of it as having signature scents/products, but really I am just looking forward to having less bottles around my house and in my shower.

So those are my three ideas. Now, tell me yours! How do you live simply and keep clutter out of your life?