At the beginning of the summer, I stopped cooking with flour and sugar. Partly for health reasons, partly because I’m just not interested in spending my time baking anymore. We are still eating those things: bread, tortillas, cookies. I’m just not making them. Interestingly, by eliminating those two ingredients from my cooking projects, many of the items in my kitchen are superfluous. The dry measuring cups, the cookie sheets. So I did a big kitchen de-clutter. Here’s what’s left:
6 metal cookware items
glass cookware and storage items–11
utensils and cutting board–14
The pantry with some of the storage containers, plus a coffee canister and glass juice container.
the little white trashcan is for glass to recycle
I count 33 cookware and storage items.
singlemomenough 
Always love your “100 Things” posts! Thanks once again.
kris
Oh that’s just awesome! I love these kinds of posts! I had a baby in May and was on bed rest for 7 weeks before that, so “stuff” began to pile up once again in my home. Now that I’ve recovered and settled into life with baby #2, I have been on the decluttering war path! This post inspires me to keep going!
Congrats on your new little one. Minimalism is always a process as our lives change.
Thanks, Fawn!
Sandy, if you have any good minimalist trick for simplifying life with babies, please do share them! I woul be interested!
Hi Beatrice! I’ve got several tricks that help. 1) I don’t keep many hand-me-downs. My girls are almost 4 years apart and were born during different seasons, so there’s very little of my first kid’s clothes that the second would be able to wear. Plus. I don’t like storing things for a long time. 2) I keep minimal clothes for each kid and a limited number of shoes (four pairs max at a time). And as soon as clothes are outgrown or worn, I donate or toss them. 3) Baby blankets are limited to one drawer. 4) I store diapers, diaper rash cream and burp rags in a dresser drawer in the living room. This dresser is also our changing table right now. 5) I use a backpack as a diaper bag. 6) I only keep two sets of sheets for my almost 4-year old’s bed and only have 3 crib sheets. 7) I keep a minimal amount of bath toys and bath towels. I hope that helps!! Life with a baby sure brings a lot of stuff with it, but limited things and regularly purging really helps it stay manageable!
Thank you so much Sandy for taking the time to reply, you must be very busy indeed 😉
I need to follow your example on purging! For me, as soon as a piece of clothing as been worn for more than a couple of months, it becomes ridiculously sentimental. I put them away, sort them neatly and organize them, but I keep them!!! Then later on, follows agonizing decisions about which ones to give away…
The reason for that is maybe that I really enjoys hand-me-downs. I was allowed to pick the items I liked the most from friends and family and I almost never have to buy anything myself. I am also feeling a sense of continuity when the new generation wears clothes that I wore or that my mother or sister wore as children. I take pictures with the same clothes at the same age and compare them with the existing old ones and I find it very funny.
The tricky part for me has been the numerous and beautiful gifts I received (obviously a luxury problem). I know that people who gave us things choosed them with care and love, and I feel I betray them by giving them to someone else. But who needs 4-5 pairs of slippers for baby or 8 pyjamas? I relieved the guilt by giving some beautiful pieces to really good friends.
Fortunately, apart from the tricky clothing part, I keep everything very simple, just one set of sheet (2 for the crib), one baby blanket and one baby bath towel. Also, I never found the need for things such as rash cream, changing table, diaper bags, burb rag, baby soap or shampoo etc… Neither do I buy shoes before the baby can stand on its own. I also limit toys very much at home as there are so many beautiful toys at the daycare or kindergarten!
Your 100 things post really motivate me and give me so much inspiration!! Thank you so much pictures speak so much louder!
Man, you make me look like a slob and a hoarder! :). I love all your pics, they are my minimalist picture bible. Every time I feel an urge to buy something or feel like I need something, I look through your old posts and reassess. I have a question, is there a particular reason why you spread your pantry foods through the 2 cabinets when it looks like all of it will fit on two shelves of one :)?
Well, by some unspoken agreement between me and the kids, different shelves are for different types of food. One shelf is for their snacks, one for their breakfast cereals, one for my ingredients for cooking (pasta, canned stock, canned beans, etc.) The pantry is a little low in this photo as the kids are gone to Scotland for a week and I won’t shop until Monday.
I am very inspired by your no sugar, no flour decision! I am pretty tired of all these baking ingredients (seeds, vanilla sugar, power sugar, baking powder, baking soda, etc… etc…) that I constantly rearrange, reorganize etc…never finding a good solution to store them in an efficient way!
I have 2 questions (only if you have the time to answer):
1) what do you use tupperware containers for? Is it to store cut fresh fruit in the fridge for your children? I have several tupperware containers but I never use them, so I was thinking of getting rid of them but I am afraid I will regret it later on.
2) Do you find a glas baking dish more practical than a ceramic one? I have a ceramic one and it takes so much energy to make it clean that I hesitate every time I consider baking something in the oven…;-)
1) the food storage containers are for cut fresh fruit, for left over dinner dishes and for cooking. The largest one is perfect for my vegan lasagna. In the last year, I have made the switch from plastic storage containers to glass ones. The glass ones can be used as cooking dishes too.
2) Does your ceramic dish have a glaze on it? I’ve only had one ceramic dish, but it had a glaze on it and was fairly easy to clean. I do find the glass dish more resistant to breakage.
I’m slowly going vegan (from vegetarian) and would love your recipe for vegan lasagne! I didn’t quite understand the 100 things you and others are working towards until I discovered Dave Bruno and now I am reading his book. How exciting! I’m working on my closet to have 9 days of clothing (he has 7) but these are 9 days of summer clothing. How do you manager your 7-day supply in winter as well? I can’t see me wearing my 2 long cotton skirts in winter as well as my cotton short-sleeved tops. How do you manager year round on the same 7 outfits?
Hi, Fawn! Wow, only 33 items in the kitchen. Unbelievable! But I see you didn’t count your plates, dishes and glasses. I suppose they are the same, white and classic. A little strange for me that you decided to give up baking. You repeatedly said that preparing meals at home is a very effective practice of frugal living. So, why to stop baking? Does it really take so much time? Reading your posts I thought it gives you easy. Besides, homemade cakes/cookies are healthier than packed ones, aren’t they?
Well, the plates and glasses are stored in the dining room, so that is a count for another day. I am still preparing meals from scratch at home. I’m just not cooking with flour and sugar anymore. We don’t eat much bread–just a baguette a week, and a package of tortillias. I don’t think that homemade cakes are much healthier than packaged, but they are more economical.
Fawn, you have managed to reduced your kitchen supplies to even fewer items than before. This past weekend I made your frugal lemonade recipe and it was delicious. I hope your children had a great experience in Scotland, such a shame that you could not join them. Maybe next time they travel you can manage the time off.
I won’t be able to join them until college is paid for. But they are able to travel with their dad and new step-mom, who is a flight attendant. I’ve encouraged them to see what a great opportunity this is for them.
I bet I have 33 items in one drawer!! LOL I need this for sure.
I’m not far behind you as for the full drawers. I did another clear-out yesterday and still have too much in the drawers but have decreased quite a bit in the plates and bowls area. I gave away two boxes of staples which don’t even fit into my tiny stapler. Why on earth was I keeping them???
The vegan recipe for lasagna is from The Gardener’s Cottage, a blog about simple style, gardening and vegan cooking/eating. It is a delightful read.
As far as the 7 outfits, I tend to buy stuff I can wear in 3-4 seasons with layering and I don’t follow fashion “rules” about how I do it. For example, I have heavy weight beige linen slacks. In the summer, I wear them with a short-sleeved blouse. In the winter, I wear them with a sweater. I buy short-sleeved T-shirts or blouses and in the winter, I layer them with a sweater or jacket. I tend to buy solid color items in colors that flatter my coloring, so it all goes together. Usually.
Fawn, thank you for the clothing tips — I never thought of wearing the summer shirts with a sweater in winter. I’m currently working on my wardrobe and no longer buying skirts – just slacks, which are more convenient and comfortable and don’t require pantyhose 🙂
Hi Fawn, I enjoy reading your posts, not just about minimalism but your practices on parenting. I was very fortunate to have excellent care for my mother 4 years ago from a hospice center in the Chicago area. Thanks for your devotion and caring for all those patients and families stunned by illness and grief. On the lighter side, I’ve not been able to find a photo of your kitchen remodel. I love the clean look of your living and dining rooms, the best home accessories are the kids hanging around. After over 40 years of marriage I still have much to downsize and your photos are inspiring. Thanks!
Re: the kitchen photos–that’s because it’s not quite done. I need to finish sanding and painting the wood trim. This year?