michelejo.com

Category: Tending Hearth

  • A Year of Less: A Low-Spend January

    What better way to kick of our new year than with a no-spend month? What is a no-spend month, you ask?  I suppose each of us could define our own.  Perhaps on the more radical end of the spectrum, one could vow not to spend a penny on anything.   Maybe another person’s idea of a no-spend…

  • What is A Year of Less?

    Have you heard the term, “radical simplicity?”  While I’ve long loved the idea of it, I’ve never quite been able to fully embrace it. Years ago I was a member of an online community called Amitymama.com.   One of our longtime friends and members posted a series about how she and her family changed their lifestyle…

  • Fu-disaster-ge

    I made that simple, two-ingredient fudge that’s all the rage on the interwebs this holiday season, and it didn’t turn out for me at all.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I used semi-sweet chocolate chips?   I used a bag of those with a can of Pillsbury Chocolate Fudge icing.  The…

  • Holiday Gifts, Simplified…Part 2

    I prefer the numerical limit to the dollar limit, but I do feel like I need to be careful and distribute the gift-giving wealth evenly. For example, hubby and I strongly considered giving each child a laptop this year, but then it became clear that our youngest two would prefer, and better appreciate, toys. Plus…

  • Holiday Gifts, Simplified

    I remember a Christmas Eve many years ago.  I saved all my gift-wrapping and planned on staying up late and wrapping gifts while  hubby assembled a few “from Santa” presents and we both sipped hot cocoa. I think I even threw a Duraflame into the fireplace.  What a romantic notion!! But it didn’t really go…

  • Change of plans…

    The entire family got a stomach virus this past week and I didn’t get ready for our community garage sale.  Bummer! I need a new plan and fast.  We’re overcome with clutter.  The hardest part is sorting everything and deciding what to get rid of. Wish me luck!

  • Thankfully…

    …my neighborhood is hosting a community garage sale on the 17th!  That definitely should help me pare down my “what the heck will I do with it?” pile.  And since this pile is now as tall as my younger daughter (who’s a tall 7yo) I’m happy to finally have a way to unload some of…

  • Pared Down

    I’ve been in the process of paring down my wardrobe over the past few weeks.  In theory, I have enough clothes to go about one week without washing.  I should add a disclaimer here…I often get dirty and need to change during the day, so I’m not one of those people who can survive with…

  • Clothing, clothing and more clothing…

    When paring down, the easiest place to start always seems to be the clothes.  It’s not difficult for me to toss things that are pilled, stained or no longer fit well. I made the bold decision to toss my “fat” clothes.  I’ve been caught between two sets of clothing for months; one set quite a…

  • Losing touch…

    Somehow I’ve found that I’ve lost touch a bit with my desire for simplicity.  We moved in August and I still have two massive piles of *stuff* that needs to be unpacked and put away.  But the house is pretty much full.  Hmmmm.  That can’t be good. It seems as though our closets are bursting…