The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

No.453: Our Extraordinary Ordinary Life // October 2020

✔  100 LITTLE THINGS #75. Make another Extraordinary Ordinary video.
Saturday was such an incredibly beautiful day, so I pulled out the camera to capture a little of the extraordinary ordinary.  The kids made Pizza Pockets for dinner (a crowd favorite and perfect for the weekend) and we headed out afterward in jammies and sweatshirts for a fire and s’mores.  A good, good day.
P.S. October must be the perfect month for making videos.  Here’s the one I made last year.

No.452: What I Decluttered // October 2020


Month #13 for my 1,000 Item Declutter Challenge!  Here are the ground rules:

  1. Only spend 10 minutes at one time and only in one specific area.  
  2. Monday through Wednesday, seek out items that we no longer need and make a pile.  Then Thursday through Saturday, make a plan for how to deal with them.  (This has worked so well and avoided that dreaded box of “what should I do with these?” items.)
  3. Possible places to find new homes for items: Ebay/Poshmark, Facebook Marketplace, Trash Nothing website or the local Buy Nothing Facebook group and as a last resort, Goodwill

I feel a responsibility for the things I have and want to be intentional with how I dispose of them.  Questions I asked myself: If it’s here, what purpose does it serve?  Can I use it up?  Can I enjoy it vs. keeping it tucked away in drawers and boxes?  And if not, can I let it go to someone who may need it more?

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This was a good month for the challenge!  I’m on the home stretch, can allllmost see the end in sight and that is motivating me to keep going.  This is also “birthday season” for us and with Christmas not too far away, I really want to make space for all of the new things the kids will be receiving.

WHAT I DECLUTTERED THIS MONTH

  • 9 books.
  • One men’s button-down shirt.
  • 2 toddler coats, 2 shirts and a pair of snow boots.  Slowly going through P’s outgrown clothing from last year.  These sold on ebay.
  • 2 sweaters, one dress and 6 tops.
  • One Polish Pottery mug.  This was a tall mug that I used to use as a pen holder, but it has been tucked away for years.  The size is too awkward for drinking coffee, so I cleaned it up, listed it on ebay and it sold for over $9.
  • 2 decorative plates and a fabric banner.  Surprisingly sold on Poshmark!
  • 2 baby fleece sleepers.  I still have a small pile of baby clothes to go through (which are not my absolute favorites that I’ll keep forever, ha!) and while these were a little hard to part with, I’m glad another little guy will be able to use them.
  • 2 skincare samples.
  • 3 bags of shredded paper.
  • One sham/pillowcase.  Some of the boys have Ikea duvets on their beds.  They don’t use the matching sham/pillowcase and they’ve just been sitting in the linen closet.  I decided to see if I could get a buyer on ebay…and I did!  Sold for $4.
  • 6 old workbooks and 2 magazines.  Into the recycling bin.
  • 2 DVDs.
  • One wallet and one makeup pouch. 
  • One belt.
  • One teacher manual.  I’m just about through all of my unneeded school books!  Sold on ebay.
  • One Arc Paper Punch.  A long time ago, I used the Arc notebook system (you know the one with the discs?) to make a type of DIY planner.  It quickly became too much to keep up with, so I bought a cheap planner at the store and this paper punch sat in my closet ever since.  It surprisingly sold within days on ebay for $25!
  • One vanity mirror.  We replaced the mirror in Sophie’s bathroom and gave the old one away via Trash Nothing.
  • One pair of sandals.  D wore his Under Armor slides to shreds this summer!  Into the trash can.
  • One broken fan and a broken soccer chair.  Into the trash can.
  • One welcome mat.
  • A pillow, duvet cover and two shams.
  • One Halloween decoration.
  • One nursing tank.  I’ve had this listed for almost a year(!!) and it finally sold on Poshmark.
  • 7 pieces of Sophie’s outgrown clothes.  
  • 3 light fixtures.  After three years in this house, we’re finally starting to replace the lighting with something a bit more our style.  These fixtures are all in working condition so we donated them to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
Items decluttered this month: 72
Money made this month: $140.59

Total items decluttered so far: 787
Total money made so far: $1,187.40


P.S. To “count,” the item had to physically leave my house.  So while I have listed a handful of things online, those aren’t counted until they have sold.

No.451: Last Week at the Farmhouse // A Productive Fall Break & a New Quilt

Mark decided to take Tuesday through Friday off from work.  Working 100% from home is a huge blessing, but it also comes with challenges and it’s hard to make a clear line between work and home.  He definitely needed the break.  We have never taken a school “Fall Break” before, but a four-day staycation with our favorite person was enough to convince me. But don’t think we spent an entire week just laying around!

While the kids were celebrating a vacation from math, Mark and I saw this break as a chance to catch up on life.  A little deep cleaning and organizing and the perfect window of time to complete two big projects outside: making a firepit and prepping the outside perimeter of the garden for a cottage garden next spring.  We had soil and gravel delivered and spent most mornings all working together to move it to its proper place.  My shoulders are still sore from all the trips with the wheel barrow!  We were finished by Friday afternoon (just in time for rainy weather to roll in) and celebrated with our first fire and s’mores.  I still need to buy some Adirondack chairs to go around the firepit, but our outdoor deck chairs did the trick in the meantime.  So fun.
I think I’ve mentioned here before that the quilt on my bed had gotten a few holes in it and I was on the search for a new one.  I wanted a simple white quilt and that proved way harder to find than I expected!  I finally found an option at Pottery Barn, but the price was a little steep.  So I started browsing on ebay every few days and finally found the exact one for considerably cheaper!  I also had some money in my Paypal account from selling a few things (thank you, 1000 Item Declutter Challenge) so the grand total was just around $50.  It really pays to be patient and check often!  Next up on the bedroom to-do list is a headboard.  I enjoy the hunt.
After a productive week, I somehow came down with a sore throat and head cold and spent the weekend in bed.  Not exactly how I planned to spend my birthday, but the kids were so sweet to me and spoiled me with their cards and gifts.  I asked for and received new slippers and flannel pajamas – I’m a boring old lady and I don’t care who knows it, ha!  I am counting down the days until it’s chilly enough to wear them.  And praise be to God, that weekend rest did the trick and I’m already on the mend.  Looking forward to the week ahead.

No.450: Five Good Things // No.03

This post contains affiliate links.

1 // A NEW PUZZLE
One good thing that has come from 2020 is our new love for family puzzles!  We took a break through the summer, but I bought this United States of America puzzle from Mudpuppy to get us back into the habit.  It is 1,000 pieces, very colorful and has lots of fun details.  More importantly, the pieces are sturdy and uniquely cut…nothing is more frustrating than buying a cheap puzzle where every single piece is the same shape.  You can find it on Amazon, sometimes your local bookstore (even through Bookshop!) or there’s even a few on eBay too.

2 // A REUSABLE OPTION FOR LEFTOVER BITS AND PIECES
My older kids cook a lot of their own breakfasts and lunches (omelettes, stir frys, etc.) and we always seem to have sandwich baggies full of half-used onions or peppers in the fridge.  I wanted a less wasteful option, so I found Stashers!  They are reusable, silicone bags that are dishwasher safe and come in tons of sizes and colors.  I bought mine from Freckled Hen Farmhouse, but you can find them on Amazon too.

3 // THIS INSTAGRAM POST FROM ROSIE

I’ve all but abandoned my public Instagram account, but hopped on recently to check on a notification.  The first post I saw before closing out was Rosie’s above…and can I just say, AMEN?  In my almost 14 years of motherhood, I learned pretty quickly that if I wanted a houseful of children AND my sanity…well, a perfectly curated, always tidy home was out of the question for awhile.  It’s a special kind of “death to self”, a forced (but necessary) lesson in letting go of control and perfection.  Messes still drive me completely crazy, but I’m hoping they’re sanctifying me a little bit too.   
4 // A NEW WAY OF KEEPING TRACK OF ALL THE THINGS
I’m typically a planner girl, but this summer, I kept track of my to-do list with an old notepad that I used to sell back in the BWF days.  I recently used the last page so I quickly purchased another weekly notepad (but in a new design!) from 1canoe2.  They also sell this mint version, which is beautiful too.

5 // A NEW TO ME YOUTUBE CHANNEL
I somehow stumbled onto a Youtube channel called Megan Fox Unlocked, who is a young Mennonite wife and mother.  Her video about Assumptions was so interesting to me and I learned a lot about her life and Mennonite beliefs.  It made me wonder – what must people assume about ME?  I’m not sure I’m brave enough to ask, ha!


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