Going minimalist is trendier than ever this year!  Netflix hopped onto the band wagon by creating a series on Marie Kondo and her Konmari Method, which makes thrifters very happy because the shops are booming right now with rare finds.  Someone else's trash is your treasure, AMIRITE?!

I will admit, I read the secret to tidying up book early January of 2018 and thought, Hey, this is a good idea, but I'm not talking to my clothes.  I've also been living by these rules (truth be told, I altered them to my lifestyle) for the past year, and yes, it is a breath of fresh air.  You don't notice it at first, but when you do your first cleaning session and you notice it only took you half the time because you didn't:

1. Pick up a pile and simply move the pile to a new temporary space until you pick it up and move it again.
2. Spend 3 hours dusting, only to find more dust collected on more things.
3. Do 1 MILLION LOADS OF LAUNDRY!! I still don't know how Chris and I acquired so many clothes.  Lies, yes I do.
4. Spend a good chunk of your time rummaging through your junk drawer for a rubber band.

First and foremost, I am no expert at tidying. I personally like things slightly messy. Lived in.  Real.  My house is not a museum. It smells of candles, dogs, curry, and there are blankets everywhere.  But because I do not have a lot of things, it just LOOKS more put together, or so I've been told.  I've also been told it's very cozy.  Anyways, here are 5 things I've done that have, if anything, given me great ammo for fun stories:

1. Majority of my storage containers are glass.  I store items in mason jars and glass containers of all sizes.  This has minimized our need and use of plastic bags.  Basically, we TRY to stick to the ruleset of "if it comes in a plastic wrapper/container and we can't buy it in bulk instead, we simply don't buy it".  How is this great fodder for a story?  GLAD YOU ASKED!  Chris recently had his crown come off while eating a bagel and instead of bringing a plastic bag in with a tooth he had to put it in a glass jar.  How fun is it to have teeth sitting in a jar?!  It makes a great maraca. 
2. Yes, I do fold my clothes the KonMari way now.  Just do it.  It's so much easier and my rule is if all my clothes don't fit into 2 drawers of my dresser and only half of a closet, then I have too many clothes.  Keep in mind my workout clothes don't count, because like books, I want my lifting/jiu jitsu clothes ready to go.  But t-shirts are only half a drawer (both dressy and casual), jeans are half a drawer ( I only own 2 pair), socks and underwear is a drawer, and I have a space for pajama type clothes.  Closet is just 2 blazers, 4 blouses, 2 cardigans, a couple skirts and a couple dresses.  All my old t-shirts and sweatshirts that have sentimental value?  My mom is turning them into a blanket. <3
3. We keep no more than 10 plastic bags on average in the house at a time.  We use them for puppy accidents, bathroom waste baskets, car waste bags, and the occasional lunch mobile.  We also make sure to refuse bags at the grocery store if there are minimal items that we know we can carry with our hands, or we bring our own bags.  We purchase produce in repurposed pillow cases or washable produce bags.
4. Reduce. Refuse. Reuse. Repurpose. Recycle.   Recycle should always come last, because recycling isn't as good as you may have thought.  That's another blog entirely.
5. HOLIDAYS!!  Ok so I'm not a BIG holiday person.  It's just another day to me usually, but whatever the season may be I try to bring it into the house.  During Christmas I don't have a lot of knick knacks.  All of my Christmas stuff fits into one bin.  But I bring in birch logs, pine boughs, pine trees, etc.  I reflect what's going on outside.  Spring time I clip a few of my own tulips and bring them in.  And yes we have a lot of plants inside of our home.  Since I use what the season offers, we don't have any extra holiday storage items.

BONUS TIPS:

• We don't keep cloth napkins or paper towels in the house.  We use cloth napkins and we tear up old towels and wash cloths to dust and wipe down counters.
• We only keep out 6 plates, 6 bowls, roughly 6 glasses (wine glasses are stored somewhere else).  We only have 2 pans, to sauce pots, and 2 stock pots (it came in a set).  Nothing extra.  Less items to wash.  Oh, and nothing really matches.  It's quality, and that's what matters.  By quality I mean I picked the nice stuff out at Goodwill.
• We compost everything we can and then we recycle.  The rest is trash.  Our trash guy comes once a week, but we only bring our trash to the curb once a month.  This is a work in progress.

Cinammon (hamster)
Brownie (gerbil)
Brownie's 6 babies
The 6 babies dad who I think Brownie actually killed in retaliation for him killing the babies (yes, I'm slightly traumatized by this)
2 frogs
6 or so green anoles

If I could go back and never have them I would. R.I.P.

I'm going to go hug my dogs and cats now.  The dogs, anyways.  The cats run in terror.

Todays little growth sprouts include:

1. Realizing my mind switched from, "Do everything yourself because then you don't owe anyone anything" to "Trust your <insert team/tribe/friend> because it is the right thing to do".
2. Consistently putting my phone on airplane mode in the evenings and on the weekends makes me feel lighter.
3. Blog what you feel.  Say what you mean.  Put actions to your words, otherwise they die in the air.
4. I can still change the world.
5. Realizing I want to change the world.

As I write this, my client and his son are facing the east wall of my gym, and while I cannot hear exactly what they are saying, there is a beautiful hymnal melody floating through the doorway.  I have many clients of the Christian and Muslim faith.  All of them have a unique take on their beliefs, but the common denominator is I rarely hear them refer to it as "religion".  It is faith, and with that faith comes dedication, discipline, and love.  

People who bash other's beliefs in God/Allah do not last long in my gym.  Nor do the people of faith who bash the agnostic or atheist.  If I hear it, or see it online/text, I give them one warning.  I believe in warnings because I want to give someone a chance to recognize their ignorance.  If it happens again, I know it is not ignorance.  Simply intolerance mixed with something sour in their hearts.  And I have no room for that in my space.

When my clients pray my gym feels cleaner. Lighter.  It means I have given my people a space where they feel safe, comfortable, and strong.  Strong as an individual, and strong as a community.  It also means there is a mutual respect among my clients and they can grow better as people.

In the end, it doesn't matter if you prescribe to the Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or Jedi faith.  As the great Kristoph said, "Swole is the goal. Size is the prize."  I hope everyone applies this to their hearts and minds, as well.

Amen.
In-sha-Allah. 
May the force be with you.

Thank you to my loved ones, my clients who are also my friends, and to Leslie, for reminding me what is important.