Sunday 19 April 2015

On Marie Condo and my 47 birthday

                                              Οn 6th of April I turned 47 years old.

           What does this number mean for me and my life? Thoughts started popping up in my head.
 Obviously, turning 47 means a whole lot of different things to a whole lot of different people all over the globe. But what does it really mean for me? Here is some of my most prominent thoughts in case you are interested.

47 means to me that I don't need to wait until 50 to get panicked for getting old and have lived more than half of my life already.

47 means that I have had a full life experience until now and hopefully a whole lot full life experience to go.

47 means to me that if I want to be in good shape from now on, I have to work out for it because it will not just happen.

47 means to me that fewer well invested  clothes choices is the road to go style wise.

47 means to me a more relaxed approach to life. No real rush to arrive somewhere. I'm already here, now and that's enough most of the days.

47 means to me a huge need to go minimal. I don't know what this might mean for others. For me it's that I only want to be surrounded by people, projects/commitments and objects that I absolutely love and feel happy and they cannot be numerous.

47 means to me that I also need to go more simple in my everyday schedule and the time I spend to tidy up the house. To do this, it is absolutely necessary to reduce the stuff we have. I don't want to spend the rest of the rest of my life to tidy up and organise stuff constantly.

47 means to me that I should do all the things I enjoy like crochet,sewing, blogging etc and that I should dedicate time to the things I like and not be available to anyone in the house anytime. Moms (and not only) out there know what I mean!

                         47 feel like a milestone and I plan to live whatever comes next fully!

                   To prove how I did simplify our house, I'd love to post some photos of our bedroom .

 The nice thing is that after I decluttered and found a place for everything the Marie Condo way, sort of, everything is still tidy a week later. This is a huge relief for me and something I didn't expext or beleive it would happen. I strongly suggest you should give it a try.
 It works.


        One wall of the room holds my accessories bookcase, the reading armchair, and bed.


What you see here is all my bags and accessorie and winter shoes exept my black boots which are stored away for next winter.
 I plan to let go of some more accessories that don't feel right but I'm not in a hurry.


           Empty surfaces can be so liberating  and not at all ugly.
I don't mean totally empty but with very few loved things like this orthodox painting, a gift from my mum.


As for my clothes, I only kept the ones I really liked.

To be honest I kept a bag in the attic with some clothes I couldn't decide on the spot. But the greatest majority I gave away with no regrets.

 They had served their purpose in my life( helped to experiment to find my style, kept me warm/fresh etc) and they had to go.

 The simple act of saying thank you to them for their service so far like Marie Condo proposes, was totally liberating and helped me take good decisions.


That's basically all I own right now and winter/summer stuff all mixed up and I plan to rotate for about a couple of months.

Then, I will donate some more that I will probably outgrow. From left to right are my jackets, then some thick cardigans, my leather skirt and my dresses .

Under the clothes that I feel more comfortable hanging, there are a few simple boxes.
No fancy storage.

The white one is filled with bottoms, skirts or pants. The pink one next right is filled with all my shirts. To the left all my summer light skirts.

On top of it, in the red box are all my scarves.



On the bottom shelf I placed in a big box all my cardigans and sweaters.

 There is one more box that I keep some clothes I want to give one last chance but I'm pretty sure I want out.
But don't feel like saying thank you ,yet.



Although I was highly inspired by Marie Condo's method I didn't go all the way with all the stuff we own in the house. I still have to go through the memorabilia and the photos.

And I will have a big edit by June after the finish of school year.

I also found very inspiring the way she folds her clothes, in a way that shows respect and helps you see at once so all possible combinations are there to choose.

That's when I realise I have to much to choose from... but that's a topic on its own.


Of course, I don't plan to stop blogging my outfits as I have tons of fun doing this.

 See how happy I am carrying my minimal shopping trolley?

 Maybe one more visit to the greengrocer's during the week as I have already planned my menu around what I already have in the pantry and deep freeze.
                                          Feel free to comment any part of my long  post.

All parts are irrelevant between each other and I've been all over the place but somehow they fit inside my head as a new begining to something I'm not sure about.

                                   Have a great, creative and full of nice activities week and why not check what other beautiful ladies are up to over at Patti's Visible Monday!!!

14 comments:

  1. a belated happy happy birthday to you my dear!!!!
    nobody looks so glamorous pushing a shopping trolley like you! soo fab in your white pants, cool sunnies and red shoes!!!!!
    i´m impressed by the improvement you made with your house and wardrobe! have to look for marie condos tips. although my skirts would never fit in a box ;-)
    your 47-list is impressive too - i made most of that decisions a bit earlier and i know how liberating it is! go for it!!!!
    p.s.: sorry for the email chaos, did´t got your answer, would you try again please?
    tons of hugs to you!!!! xxxxxx

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    1. Each one has their own ways for creating peace and balance in their place. Mine is with decluttering. I want so little stuff around me. It frees valuable time for other creative projects.

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  2. My dear friend, happy Birthday to you!!!! Wishing you all the best in your new year of life. Beautiful thoughts and photos. Amen to your conclusions about life - yes, ONLY the people and activities that you love and feel inspired by.

    I will look into your method. I actually did, from the look on your photos, something very similar a little while ago. I was inspired by Sandra's (of Peaches McGuinty) shelf in her bedroom a few moons ago, and created a very similar to hers and yours version, with my accessories, shoes, and a few favorite objects. I'm not ready to do it to my whole house - it is small, but all three of us are collectors, so we sure collected things that we love. But I will also donate a part of my clothes with which I experimented and feel like I'm done (also inspired by Shawna of the Director of Awesome). I did reorganize my closet recently, and it looks spooky similar to yours. :) I love the idea of everything being in order and visible. It's challenging in a small space, but doable. I store my out of season clothes in containers under the bed and such.

    Have a wonderful week, show more of your newly organized home and of course your brilliant outfits! xxx

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    1. I so believe that there is a period in our lives that we experiment stylewise and thrifting is the way to do it. However I ended up with more stuff than I needed and this was the downsize. A bit of decluttering solved the problem and I'm ready to add but more targeted and special pieces from now on.

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  3. What a wonderful post! I enjoyed all the "47"s (happy birthday!) and the pics of your organized home. So inspiring. Thanks for sharing with Visible Monday, xo.

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    1. Patti, you are the leader and you inspire us all with your Visible Monday Gathering!

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  4. It always helps to be organized and weed out the non essentials! I love those white jeans, so fresh and summery! :)

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  5. Belated happy birthday! 47, nice number :) I myself am turning 47 in July. Sometimes I just can't believe it! Your room looks cozy and well organized!

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  6. Belated Happy Birthday to you, Angie! I zoomed past 47 and am breathing down the neck of 48 but I think this mid-life reorganising agenda makes a lot of sense. I am still doing it to some degree. I love it when everything has a place. I really need another shelf in my closet instead of piles on the floor. You are a very chic looking shopper! xoxoxo

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  7. Belated happy birthday, and thank you so much for being you! You're my favourite blogger as you're so genuine, and I learn a lot from you. I'm older and recall 47 as a great year; hope yours is better still. xx

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  8. It's the best sort of post, really - a lot of this and that, something to learn, something to celebrate and just plain interesting. I don't know about the Marie Condo method, but will go back to click on the link.
    A belated Happy Birthday to you!

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  9. Happy belated birthday !
    and age is relative … enjoy!

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  10. I am in the middle of Marie Kondo's method too! So far I've done my clothes and my music books. General books to come. It's so liberating saying thanks and letting go isn't it?
    I love your shopping trolley and shopping outfit. Xo Jazzy Jack

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  11. Oh very belated Happy Birthday to you! For people who need structure, organisation and routine, it is really important to implement it or it's like not being properly nourished. I enjoy how you document your experiences and insights. Thank you for sharing. xo

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