One In, Two Out: March

Things just creep into your home. They really do.

Last month I reported a stellar eight to one ratio. Well it seems I missed something: our friends gave us a bag of train track that I completely forgot about. Side note: we’re loving it and it’s taken our track building to the next level. I’m not even sure how many pieces we received but I’m erring on the high side at 30.

The idea to track the number of things that come and go from my home for the year wasn’t something I spent a lot of time on. Probably a good thing. As you can see from the photo I’ve resorted to scrawling +___ and -___ on our chalkboard to keep track. This little experiment hasn’t come easy to me. I’ll often go to add something to one of the lists and then remember three more things that have either come or gone from our home recently. It’s not easy but it is motivating me to look for a few things to get rid of every week when I drop off our recycling,

The dark side of decluttering.

A pair of unrecognizable to me lacy underthings recently made their way into our laundry.

My sister visits us a few times a year so I thought they were hers. A quick consultation by Skype and I was told that they weren’t.

So… I gently asked my husband if he had any idea where they came from. I wasn’t thinking the worst but I was feeling quite vexed at the mysterious origins of these panties. My mother had visited in February and while she is a hip and fit 67 year-old, and could pull off these type of panties, I’d seen her ‘drawers’ when I put a load of laundry through for her so I knew they weren’t hers.

The strange thing is that they were my size and in a style I would wear. Chris kept asking me, are you sure they’re not yours? And that’s when I realized, yes, they were mine.

Chris had emptied out his dresser drawer the previous weekend so he could cull his t-shirt collection (yeah!). The mystery panties had been hiding in there for almost two years. TWO YEARS. I bought them right before I got pregnant and they went missing soon after. I probably didn’t realize they were gone because I had moved into pregnancy clothing and under things.

Anyone else empty a drawer and find something they didn’t recognize as their own?

Here are some good reads from the last week or two.

Proof Buying More Stuff Makes Us Miserable – thanks to Meghan for this link. Undeniable that those things we think we want, the things we think will make us happy, actually make us unhappy.

New Parent Information Overload or Peace of Mind? This could be a great tool for babies with health problems. It could also be a trigger for more anxiety and more buying and more stress.

Family of 11 living in an 1100 sq ft + garage home. Incredible. This woman is very, very organized. Lots of comments on this on the Facebook page but yes, it truly is a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom home with a two car garage and they home school all nine children.