Clutter Free Gifts

I am having a hate-hate relationship with clutter right now. My mom is coming for the holidays. She is an amazing super mom lady and she always does the cooking and cleaning and many other helpful things when she comes to visit. This leaves me free to do things that she can't necessarily do, like catch up on some homschooling with the kids or decluttering. So, I am hoping to get a lot of decluttering done during the holidays. My mom and I go out and buy our Christmas presents ourselves that we plan for the other person to give us. That way we get something we need/want, and not something that will just clutter up our lives and not really have a use. I'm sorry if that doesn't sound Christmas-y to you, but we really enjoy Christmas this way.

If I do get a "surprise" gift, I hope that it is something that can be used up (christmas baking, nut tray, my favorite products, fruit basket, free babysitting, etc) and won't create clutter in my life.

Today I came across an article from Simple Organic listing 5 Clutter-Free Gifts to Give This Christmas

I would not mind if I did not get any Christmas gifts at all (gifts are not my Love Language), but as long as I am getting some, I sure would much prefer the clutter-free kind they are talking about. I wouldn't even mind socks - in fact Bamboo socks are on my "list". Smile.

Merry Christmas Goat Style

One of my little girls wants a goat. This kind of video almost makes you want to say yes. (grin)

Paper "Pinecone" Christmas craft

Canadian Living Paper Pinecone craft

Materials:

• Tracing paper
• Medium-weight decorative craft paper, such as solid colour or patterned scrapbooking paper
• Card stock or recycled greeting cards (for pattern templates)
• 26-gauge wire
• Sharp-tipped craft scissors (such as Fiskars No. 5 Micro-Tip craft scissors)
• Glass beads
• White craft glue
• Sewing needle or straight pin

Directions:

1. Print out, then photocopy or trace pattern pieces A, B, C and D onto piece of tracing paper; using craft scissors, cut out. Pattern pieces here

2. Trace pattern pieces onto card stock or recycled greeting card to make reusable pattern templates; cut out.

3. Trace pattern pieces onto decorative paper to make number specified; cut out.

4. With sewing needle, pierce holes in centre of pattern pieces B, C and D.

5. Cut piece of wire approx 30 cm (12 inches) long.

6. Glue one end of the wire between the two A pieces (see photo); let dry.

7. From the opposite end, thread two beads along wire to bottom. Thread wire through remaining pieces in the following order: B, C, D, D, C, threading two or three beads onto wire between each pattern piece.

8. Finish the pinecone by threading three or four beads on top of piece C.

9. Wrap the remaining length of wire around a pencil to create a spiral; bend end of wire into a hook to hang on Christmas tree.

Tip: Add a bit of curve to your pinecone by slightly bending each "petal" of the pattern pieces around your finger to give a more realistic look.

Hilarious British Animal Voiceovers

My kids favorite part of a trip to the zoo (and mine too) is what we call "animal commentary". I "talk" for the animals - something like what you see on the following video- although I am sure I am not as funny.

Yucky Chemicals in my Toothpaste

Back in the spring, I started trying to make some healthy changes to my life. I started a test-run of eating vegan and liked what I saw and felt and am still going strong in that department (you can read about my vegan adventures here.)

I also was hoping to rid my medicine cabinet, make-up bag, and cleaning supply cupboard of all things containing chemicals and replace them with natural products or home-made natural concoctions. I am someone who hates waste and is also very frugal, so I figured that I should use up what I have and replace them as they were used up. There are a few problems with that line of thinking. First, I have some products that have been on my shelves for possibly up to 20 years! How quickly I thought I would use those up, I am not certain. Another thing hampering the usage is...the usage. I don't use cleaning or beauty products very often, so even though I have a mountain of them, they don't really get much use. I could possibly take another 20 years just to try and use *some* of these babies up. The last thing is that I keep reading more and more bad things about the ingredients that are in many of these products and I just can't tolerate using them anymore.

So, some time over the Christmas break I am just going to offer up almost all of them on freecycle. I will save only what my non-natural lovin' honey thinks he needs. I have already started putting some things in boxes- let's see if I miss them.

Two things prompted me to finally take the leap.

1. I am so sick of clutter! I came to a breaking point in this. I took pictures of my cluttered house. These are my "before" pictures. I plan on sharing them with you as soon as I feel I can also post some "progress" pictures. I am imagining a life without bottles and tubes and jars of stuff that I rarely or never use. Sigh. Bliss. Love.

2. One change I made early on was a switch to a more natural toothpaste. A couple of months ago, I sort of slipped back into using our normal toothpaste again (which my family is still using). I got two horrible canker sores in a row. I thought this was a little odd, so I googled "causes of canker sores". Although no one is certain what causes canker sores, it is suspected that one cause is a reaction in some people to sodium lauryl sulfate, a common ingredient in many toothpastes. Since I had switched from a toothpaste without, to a toothpaste containing sadium lauryl sulfate in the time I had the canker sores, this was the obvious guess for me. I switched back to my natural toothpaste and haven't had another canker sore.

However, around the time I started getting canker sores, I also got a rash that is a lot like acne behind my ears and on the back of my neck. If I had a reaction to sodium lauryl sulfate in my toothpaste, then it would be pretty likely that I would also have a reaction to the same ingredient in my shampoo! I am just in the process of switching out my shampoo. This was just the motivation I needed, though, to get rid of all these chemicals from my house.

Thank you chemicals for making yourselves known and showing me that using you up does more harm to me than I am comfortable with. It is best we go our separate ways.