The Simple Wardrobe, Part 1 - A Sort-of-Tutorial

I'm not really the go-to person when it comes to a simple wardrobe.

At least, not right now.

It's not that I don't know how, it's just that since we moved back to the US a year ago, my wardrobe has exploded.  I guess there are a few reasons for that, the main one being that, while I'm of an average size as far as an American woman is concerned, I was on the extra large side of huge in Korea.

When I was finally able to find jeans that fit my waist, they didn't fit my hips.

And if I was able to find T-shirts, they were so short that half of my torso was left bare.

And just forget about undergarments..  just forget.  I sure wish I could.  :P

Anyway, with all of that being the case, I wasn't able to purchase new clothes for no less than a year and a half.  So, when we got back home, picking out something new to wear was at the top of my list.  In hindsight, however, it may have gotten a little out of control.

Some back story:

First, I didn't plan very well when we moved, bringing with me a somewhat cheap wardrobe with lots of pieces that didn't work well together, and then.... there was the case of the CHAOS washing machine.

Lest I be thought of as a dreadful, ungrateful person, I need to say right here that it was really great to have a washing machine.  Both the Mister and I were so, so happy to be able to wash our clothes right there in our apartment.  Or.. out on the porch.  But you take what you can get, right?

There was a problem with the CHAOS, however (yes, it was named CHAOS).

Actually, there were a few problems.

First, we had to stop and google it because it can be a little difficult to work with a washing machine that's all in Korean and looks totally different than any household appliance you've ever seen before.   Then, we had to call in reinforcements because we could figure out how to turn it on, but from there it was like a hurricane in a box and we needed to know how to make it work not just shoot water around.  Then, we had to buy a new hose so that the water could drain all over the porch and into the floor drain, instead of... I'm actually not sure why we bought the new hose, since it was already doing that.

ANYWAY, all of this is terribly beside the point, isn't it?  Because the point is, that while the CHAOS was grand to have and we were grateful... and while the CHAOS did utilize chaos theory in it's agitation of our clothing.... and while we did finally learn how to turn it on and it did wash our clothes, albeit somewhat harshly...

Well, in short, it wrecked every last piece of clothing I owned.

Thankfully, my sister came to visit and brought some provisions that got me through the next 3 months.

Then, finally-finally, I was able to buy a sewing machine.  And from there, I made three jumpers out of the softest, most lovely Korean fabric that I wish I could find here in America but I doubt I ever will...  My three jumpers.  I still wear them when the clean laundry's running thin.

And, if you're wondering, yes.  I did wear those things for 9 months straight.  Just 3 jumpers, bolstered by long sleeves and leggings in the coldest cold of winter, and lots of handknit wool socks.  They served me very well and, honestly, I think that although my wardrobe at that point was the sparest it has ever been, I was also the happiest I have ever been as far as my clothes are concerned.

All of that to say... I am hoping to return to that idea.  A small wardrobe of pieces I can wear pretty much every day.  Only maybe not so extreme as to literally have only 3 jumpers.

Because of where I am right now with my own clothing situation, I don't intend for this to be a tutorial on how to simplify your wardrobe.  I'm not "there" enough yet to dole out that kind of awesome since I'm still in the process of figuring out for myself what works and what doesn't.  I'm just going to let you know what I'm doing, my process, what's working/not working for me and I'll give you some ideas for things to think about along the way.  Okay, this might be a sort-of-tutorial, but please don't take what I say as the gospel truth!  Wardrobes are so individual and everyone has to figure out what works for them individually.

In this spirit, I spent some time between classes today, outlining what a simple wardrobe might look like for me.  I tried to think of what I wanted from my clothing, the demands my life makes on my wardrobe, the sorts of activities I take part in, etc... and I started making some lists.  Those are a few of the things I want to share with you on Monday.


I'm really excited about it so drop back in to catch up with me!

Cooking as part of a simple, healthful life

For us, the simple life has done even more than make our lives more peaceful, less cluttered, and more purposeful.

It’s also improved our health.

Learning to cook is one of many on the list of things to do when you decide to simplify your lifestyle.  Everyone has their own path and makes their own way to simplicity, and simplicity is different for each of us.  So, what works for the Mister and I may not be the same for you, and I know that what works for others doesn’t always work for us.  Still, I would be inclined to say that learning to cook might be at the top of the list for many.

Most of us know how to cook something, don’t we?  Whether it’s macaroni and cheese from a box, or boiling a hotdog.  Or, it might be more extravagant -- spaghetti, macaroni and cheese from scratch, shepherd’s pie -- but your repertoire is limited.  Wherever you’re at, I want to encourage you to take some new steps in your adventure.

I really believe that cooking is life changing.


It's such a seemingly simple thing that you do for yourself, your children, your friends and family.  But it’s a gift you give the people who eat from your table, and a gift you give yourself as well.  It will give you a sense of satisfaction that you can’t get from other areas of your life, because you will be able look at your table and think, I made that, from practically nothing, with my own two hands.  And you will be able to look at your once lanky, bony husband, who you’ve fattened to a healthy physique and think, I made a difference for the person I love.  It’s often the small things that make the biggest difference.  And a hot, home cooked meal is one of those, I think.

Because the journey is, and will be, different for each one of us, there are no real important points for where to start or what to do.  

This can make the job feel more overwhelming, can’t it?

If that’s the case for you, try making your own list of things you’d like to accomplish.    You might add to it, things like:

• Figure out how to eliminate one store bought item from your pantry (i.e. cream of mushroom soup, canned chili, salsa, canned beans)
• Learn to make your own meat bone stock (broth) from scratch
• Learn to make a version of your favorite restaurant meal (a particular cheeseburger or pasta dish) - to do this, you can google, and use your own tastebuds to figure out what’s in the meal you love.  If you have the guts you can even call the restaurant and just ask them for their recipe!  I’ve seen people do it before and it worked for them.

Also, please don’t be fooled.  You will hear from everybody else that you need this, and you need that in order to cook.  But you don’t need a kitchen full of utensils to get your cooking life on the road.  In our case, we didn’t have much variety to start with, so I started with what I had: two peeling, non-stick skillets, a really old toaster oven, a leaky tea kettle, a pancake turner, a wooden spoon, a two burner gas stove top and more metal chopsticks than you could shake a stick at.  We didn’t have a cheese grater (at first, we didn’t even have cheese), a rubber spatula, a mixing bowl, a saucepan, or forks, although we had a couple Korean rice spoons.  We didn’t have a garlic press or whisk, or anything to cut with but one dull paring knife and a bent steak knife.  Even still, there was a lot I could do with just those few things in my kitchen (I didn’t even have a full size oven!), and so I encourage you to try it out at whatever place in life you are.  

Be creative!

Some of the first things I made were things I already knew how to make: spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, and shepherd’s pie.  It was quickly discovered that the Mister hated shepherd’s pie, so that was nixed.  But spaghetti and macaroni and cheese remain favorites around here.

Once I’d made the things that I knew well several times, and had gotten a feel for our oddly arranged (and sparsely stocked) Korean kitchen, I started using other simple recipes, using simple ingredients we had on hand.  Pesto spaghetti with fresh vegetables and chicken, bread pudding, King Ranch Chicken (we love our Tex-Mex), and meatloaf.

One of our favorites (and a very easy meal) for a while, was roast chicken with potatoes, carrots and onions.


It was difficult to fit a chicken into our oven, even once we’d purchased a larger, more accommodating toaster oven, so we bought a crock-pot.  It wasn’t a big one, we couldn’t find one of those.  It was just a normal, maybe 4 quart, crock pot that cost an *arm and a leg*.  It was worth it for us, though, and we saved for it and gave up other things in order to get it.  I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when we got that thing.  And with how much even a small toaster oven and two burner stop top can heat a small apartment in the summer, we were very grateful for the ability to cook without heating up the whole entire house.

I would go down to the open air market that was just down the street from our house and pick up a chicken from our favorite vender: a husband and wife duo, who were sometimes accompanied by their small children and parents.  I’d point to the chicken I wanted (a small fryer sort of thing), and right there in front of us, they would drag the plucked chicken by one leg, off the ice in the cold case, throw it down hard on the cutting board in front of them and ask us if we wanted it quartered.  Most often (unless I was going to use it for making stock), I would say no and then they’d just chop off the skin around the neck and the wing tips, throw in a handful of gizzards, and put the whole thing -- raw and uncovered -- into a plastic grocery sack, then another plastic grocery sack, tie it in a knot and hand it to me, a little sticky on the outside with chicken juice.  But Korean moms and grandmothers aren’t scared of a little chicken juice like we are here, in the US.

To an American, accustomed to being somewhat more detached from the butchering process than that, it was a little alarming at first.  Especially since the market didn’t seem particularly sanitary what with my chicken being chopped in the open air, on an old wooden table, with a giant cleaver that didn’t seem to have been washed well since the last chicken customer came by... but I got used to it and after a while, it became nice to be slightly more connected to my chicken dinner.  I saw, and communicated with, the people who butchered it.  I trusted them to take the precautions that were normal for Korea.  And we never got sick, not once.  Those chickens were good, too.

Anyway, long digressions aside...

Cooking is a very powerful tool in the arsenal of a simple life.  

When you can cook, you’re more inclined to have a garden, and with your own garden, you get your own organic produce, virtually for free!  You’re also not contributing to as many petrochemicals being used to produce and get your food to you.  Also, when you cook, you know what’s going into your food.  You know what you’re feeding that lanky, bony husband of yours, and what he thrives on, versus what tends to make his allergies worse.

At our house:
Just through cooking and learning more about food and nutrition, we have significantly reduced both or our incidences of allergies and asthma.  My acid reflux has completely gone away and we both sleep a lot better (not waking up as much throughout the night, sleeping more soundly, falling asleep more easily).  Oddly, we also get hungry less often, which means we are eating less food, which equals less money, less time, etc...  And best of all, guess what?  It is February and neither of has been sick this winter -- not once!

Cooking is powerful.  Real food is powerful.  And living a simple life is powerful.  

So, don’t underestimate yourself!  Be brave.  It’s so fun to branch out, get your hands dirty, and mess around with a whole, slimy chicken.

And it really is worth it.

Join us as we take our first steps to a simpler lifestyle!

borrowed from: reSPACEd

In late 2009, just 3 weeks after tying the knot, the mister and I packed up everything we owned and put it in storage, moving with only 2 suitcases a piece, to South Korea.  Our original plan was to get rid of a large portion of our belongings (and the portion was large) to keep our storage needs to a minimum, but with a wedding in the works -- and then the post-wedding exhaustion -- combined with living out of family member's houses for the last month of our time in America, things didn't go exactly as planned.

Korea was incredible, though, and arriving with only what we could cram into our four suitcases made us really evaluate our belongings.  We were on a pretty limited income for the first few months, and that, coupled with a higher cost of living than what we were accustomed to at home, meant that we were simply incapable of accumulating more than we needed.  Very, very carefully and thoughtfully, we prioritized a toaster oven over a microwave, a new skillet over new shoes, and blankets over bath towels.  For the first time, I think I really began to realize how much I valued what I had.  We didn't take these simple things for granted anymore, because we'd had to wait so long and save up for them.

Of course, by the end of our time there, we were actually quite comfortable (although we'd paid off all our debt!), having acquired a couch and two chairs, a real, sit-down-on-chairs table, a well equipped kitchen, crockpot and water filter pitcher... but the seed was planted.

When we returned to America last March (2011), the original plan (again) was to go through our stored things with a renewed sense of detachment.  We'd only been gone for 18 months, but it was long enough that we knew we weren't as attached to what we'd left behind.  Also, many of our things had been sold in a yard sale due to an apparently huge miscommunication, but that's another story.  We did do a lot of giving away (which I guess is a testament to how much we actually own/owned), filling the whole back seat and trunk of our car, plus a little more. So, we felt good about it.

Flash forward to almost a year later.

We've moved into a small, cozy two bedroom house.  I like small houses.  I really always have.  And this one is the kind of small, cozy house with built in drawers and shelves, where everything is painted white.  It even has little turquoise knobs on all the cabinets and drawers!  I love this house (apart from the earth worms in the kitchen during summer, and the ants, and the mold... but I do love it!).

At first, our little house was the perfect size!  We even had empty cabinets and drawers leftover in the kitchen when we were done packing.  It was cozy, just as we'd hoped, and not overly furnished.  We picked up a very inexpensive, (pink!!) vintage couch at the thrift store, as well as a couple of living room chairs.  We crammed our king sized bed into the smaller of the two bedrooms and I set up my sewing/knitting/all-things-crafting room in the second, larger bedroom.  It was perfect!

...................but things just kept coming in!

First there were the five or six boxes we forgot we'd left at the mister's parents house.  Then the fabric and yarn my mom found, still in her garage.  Plus more fabric and yarn that she was decluttering (taking it off her hands seemed like such a good idea at the time!).  And we love thrift store shopping.  It's so cheap, right?!  It's such a good deal!!

Oh, take that smug look off your face.  It can be a good deal!

We started school in August.  Mister went back to get a BA in computer science.  I went back to... find myself.  At 28.  Because this is America, okay?  And for other, more complicated reasons.

We had plans to cook at home.  I had plans to finally learn to keep house.

But, I am telling you, the stuff just kept walking in like it owned the place.  Before we knew it, we both felt like we were drowning.

To be perfectly honest, it seemed to be mostly my stuff; sewing/knitting/crafting... but now that that's gone, I guess it's both of us.  Like the two colanders in the kitchen.  And our shared closet, packed full of clothes.

I've felt the urge to completely declutter my life since I was in high school.  I always thought there just had to be a better way.  But as I got older it started to feel like being an adult meant that there would inevitably be more stuff and I just needed to accept it.  So, I tried.

Then Christmas break came this year and I was just sick of it.  My side of the family did what we called, "Homemade/Second-hand Christmas" this year.  Everyone, including extended family, hopped on board and, at the end, everyone agreed it was the best Christmas we'd ever had!  It was tons of fun.  But, by the end of it, our house was a wreck.

I've never been good at keeping things clean.

And this time was no different.  Despite cleaning the house on Christmas Eve-eve (the day before Christmas Eve), stuff was just everywhere.  The sewing pile from the oven mitts I'd made for extended family, the pile of printable Christmas tags that were leftover, packaging from gifts, wrapping paper.  But not all of it was seasonal.  A lot of it was just STUFF.

From a very young age, my room has been a mess.  I'm a sentimental keeper of... all things, really.  Seriously, in one purge, I found this crazy-scary-dagger-knife thingy that had belonged to my grandpa.  So, I had kept it for quite a while.  Because I totally needed a crazy-scary-dagger-knife.  It was my grandpa's!

It's not like this situation was new.  It's just that, this time, I was finished with it being my reality.

I started reading some of the simple living blogs that I google sometimes when I want to gain momentum to organize my clutter (which means shoving stuff I don't need into pretty baskets), but this time I started reading them with a dark sense that they were meant for me.

I read Organized Simplicity, by Tsh Oxenreider.  It was invigorating.  And I dare say, it may have changed everything.

I hope it changed everything.


So far, we've taken one full load of STUFF to the thrift store.  Our back seat is, right now, stuffed to the brim with the next load, waiting to be taken.  Our trunk is, too.  Tomorrow is my first day back at school for the Spring semester and I am actually feeling pretty good about this!  Our house has been STAYING clean!  And it feels like it's been doing it all on it's own.

I always read that decluttering was addictive, that once you got going, you just gained momentum and kept going.  Well, I think I'm addicted.

My sewing/knitting/craft room is almost completely done and I now own about one third of the sewing/crafting supplies I did before.  My yarn and knitting supplies have yet to be purged (I'm terrified of that PILE), but they will be soon.

So, this is the story of me and the mister, living in a tiny house, with aspirations to make it feel less and less tiny.

I am loving the feeling I get from being in a house that keeps itself clean!  I may never be a minimalist, and I'll never be perfect, but I am determined to find out what it means to be me and to live a simpler lifestyle.