Decluttering as a Scarred Former Minimalist

“Do not keep anything in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
— William Morris

Before moving to this house in 2020, the longest we had lived anywhere before moving was 4 years — both in Brooklyn, and then in Santa Monica. Prior to those spots, I had shorter stints in Boston, San Francisco, and Jersey City. What this semi-regular moving afforded me was the regular opportunity to clean house, declutter, and get rid of items that no longer served me, items that were broken, clothing that didn’t fit or wasn’t my style anymore. But hitting the 6 year mark here soon has made it apparent that it’s high time for a full-house declutter in preparation for a town-wide yard sale that occurs every September!

However, I like to joke that both my husband and I have fallen prey to an unfortunate minimalism phase, one in which we got rid of many, many items that we still regret to this day. We lived in a microscopic apartment in Brooklyn and had to ruthlessly edit our belongings, since we didn’t want to bother with a storage unit. Then, we moved across the country to California and left even more items behind in a pretty bangin’ stoop sale. I’m still mourning my collection of colorful PYREX nesting bowls that I got for $30 at Brooklyn Flea. What was I thinking?! That same collection usually goes for $200+ on Etsy or at antique stores. UGH.

I know oftentimes you hear from minimalists or decluttering experts that, “You never miss what you get rid of!” I’m here to say that sometimes, there’s such a thing as too much decluttering, but I, for one, have flown too close to the sun and still have the burns from it.

So I have started to err on the side of holding onto things, especially once we moved out of ~750 sq ft rentals into a home quite literally 10x as large when you factor in the living space, detached garage, and basement. It’s become too easy to say, “Oh let’s just hang on to XYZ, we will use it someday!”

Except that mentality compounded over the years, plus two children and their various clothing and toys and books has led to us having, in technical terms, a whole lot of crap shoved in the attic.

Now, speaking of attic, we are also having some work done up there this month, and for said work we need to have the entire attic cleared out (along with all humans and animals, which is a whole other matter entirely). It’s all rather organized, but there is quite frankly a lot of stuff that we don’t need, use, or want. I’ve been diligently letting friends rifle through bins of old kids’ clothes to take what they want for their own kids, but I’ve been holding onto everything just in case. Just in case what!? I know for certain that we are done having children, after hemming and hawing for a while about a third kid. However, I know in my heart of hearts that I simply cannot fathom another pregnancy, another two years of breastfeeding, and starting over entirely.

So I’m finally ready to part with all of the baby stuff! But it’s still very sad and bittersweet. Of course, I’ll hold onto certain sentimental items, and a handful of awesome vintage dresses I’ve picked up over the years — in case our kids ever decide to have kids when they are all grown up.

Another factor that makes the whole affair trickier is that we live in an old 1890s house, with closets that are true to the time period in which the house was built. You know, back when the average adult had around ~40 items of clothing total! As I quickly approach my 40th birthday, I’m doing some soul searching and trying to determine what I really love to wear, like the items that I feel good in, can wear in multiple ways, and in colors that I think look good on me. As much as I love a kitshy, ironic sweatshirt and t-shirt, I’ve come to the sad realization that I just don’t reach for them as much because I’m not wearing them to school pickup, meetings, or in my day to day life.

So from now until September I’ll be sorting through every item of clothing I own, setting aside lots for the yard sale, and giving my languishing Poshmark account a refresh! Eventually. Once the kids are back in school and I have a wee bit of free time.

Until next week, decluttering like my sanity depends on it,

Amy

Medium Scare: As temperatures rise, the threat of a tick-borne meat allergy grows. [Distillations Magazine] On Martha’s Vineyard, the incidence of Lyme disease on the island is 11 times the statewide rate in Massachusetts, but the meteoric rise in lone star ticks has led to an increase in alpha-gal syndrome aka the meat allergy we’ve been hearing about.

Shameless plug for my tick article:

What if We Pesticide-Proofed the Bees? [Offrange] — New promising research is working on engineering bees that aren’t as susceptible to chemical harms, but bee biologist Sam Droege deftly argues that, “The idea is novel and clever, but it’s a solution to an already corrupt biosphere. It’s not a way out of the modern problems of agriculture, pesticides, and pollinators.”

What the Cyclospora Outbreak Says About the Food Safety System [Civil Eats] — This administration has taken an axe to the surveillance, state and federal staff, and communications that all work hand-in-hand to deal with food-borne illness outbreaks.

An Artist Uses Plants as Her Muse [New York Times] A lovely piece on Wendy Hollander, a botanical illustrator of 26 years, and how she takes notice of the patterns to distinguish members of one family from another.

HOAs are often barriers to sustainable landscaping and solar energy – here’s how they could be bridges instead [The Conversation] — Millions of Americans live under the thumbs of HOAs that often throw up barriers to sustainability. As the climate continues to change, will they continue reinforcing yesterday’s aesthetic norms at an environmental cost or become partners in creating more sustainable futures?

Red Rising by Pierce Brown — I needed a change of pace after months of living in the most epic fantasy series I’ve ever read, and this is just the palate cleanser! Bonus points that it’s not a 1,300 page book that I struggle to hold upright as I’m reading in bed at night, leading to me dropping it on my face when I doze off.

Tomatoes, sweet corn, blueberries, peaches, plums, nectarines, blackberries, raspberries, melons, cucumbers, zucchini and summer squash, green beans, peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, okra, fresh shell beans, garlic, onions, leeks, beets, carrots, Swiss chard, kale, collard greens, cabbage, fennel, celery, scallions, chives, fresh herbs, purslane, lamb's quarters, mushrooms, new potatoes, and early apples.

1. Garlic & Herb Tomatoes — A simple, unfussy classic from Ina Garten.

2. Yellow Squash Bread — A twist on zucchini bread, and one of the recipes that folks have loved on my blog!

3. Creamed Leeks — I am growing leeks for the first time this year and this is my reminder to harvest them soon! That is, if I can find them in my weedy mess of a garden.

4. Chez Panisse’s Blueberry Cobbler — Every time I make a recipe and love it, I’ve taken to printing it out and sticking it in my recipes binder. This one made the cut!

5. Cucumber Crunch Salad With Tofu —My package of tofu in the fridge with a best by date of next week has a date with this recipe.

Guys, I have a confession to make: I deeply neglected my garden for almost the entirety of July, and now the weeds are so bad that I am embarrassed to even share any pictures. It’s quite literally a jungle! And I started beating myself up in my head for letting things get so bad while out there one day recently picking tomatoes and kale, only to discover a hummingbird flitting about the preponderance of Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis). It turns out that hummingbirds are the most efficient pollinators of jewelweed, and scientists believe that jewelweed flowers have evolved their design and high sugar content to attract hummingbirds.

So if you feel guilty for “weeds” just tell everyone that you’re supporting pollinators!

Other goings-on:

• We’ve had quite a few close hawk calls with the chickens recently, but the roosters are doing a good job of protecting everyone. Unfortunately, the previous beta rooster (Charlie) has assumed the alpha role (previously Frank) and is a total jerk, so I think his days are numbered.

• Lots of goldfinches around, and they seem to favor the cutleaf coneflowers (Rudbeckia laciniata). I leave these flowers all fall and winter, only cleaning them up finally during my May spring cleanup. Birds peck at the seeds all winter long!

• We found a cutie little spring peeper on the side of the pool this week, and I think it was the first time I’ve ever seen one up close! I performed a kickboard rescue and relocated it to the woods, not because I’m scared to touch them but because I had sunscreen on my hands from applying it to the kids and their skin is permeable and incredibly sensitive to oils and chemicals that might be on human skin. Also did you know that all toads are frogs but not all frogs are toads?

  

  

• Ladder app for workouts. Despite a previous career in fitness and lifting regularly since high school (minus 4 years in college during which I gained the freshman FIFTY lol), I sometimes still struggle with programming and motivation and keeping track of workouts. I’m also picky about what programs I do, because I like progressive overload, not too many newfangled exercises, and it can’t take longer than an hour. I was half-assing workouts recently and had a lightbulb moment in which I was like, “You don’t always need to do things yourself/the hardest way/the cheapeast way” and I got to searching my favorite place for exercise info: Reddit! Specifically r/xxfitness (since it’s women only). Lots of folks were raving about Ladder, so I did a free week trial and was SO IMPRESSED. I signed up for a year (I think it was $187) and it’s made getting my strength training in enjoyable, seamless, and an actual joy because I don’t have to think about anything. Here’s my code for a free 7 day guest pass!

• Sodium percarbonate. I was influenced to give this a go by one of my favorites ever: Nancy Birthwhistle! She refers to it as a “green bleach” and since I’m not a chemist, I don’t dare get into the nitty gritty of how it works but all I know is I’ve been using it on everything. I soaked our trash and recycling bins with hot water and a sprinkle of this and all the gunk and grime lifted right off, I use it while washing all of our reusable tea towels and kitchen rags, cleaning toilets, cleaning bathroom grout, and so much more. I got a 10lb bin of it!

• Trader Joe’s Skinceuticals Vitamin C dupe. At $9.99 compared to the jawdropping $185 for the same size bottle of Skinceuticals, this is a no brainer for me to try. One of my skincare obsessed best friends convinced me to buy the $$$ one a few years ago and while it lasted close to a year, I physically could not spend that again, so I’ve been going without, despite knowing that Vitamin C serum is one of those “actually proven to be good for you not just some woo-woo crap.” As soon as I learned about the TJ’s version I scooped it up and TBH I can’t tell a difference because to me, the Skinceuticals one smelled like boiled hot dogs which is how this one smells, too! More deets here.