Every time I think about buying something new, I have to ask myself:  where will I put it?  There’s a certain point where our amount of stuff becomes so great that it turns into clutter.  That tipping point happens a heck of a lot faster in a small apartment.  Today as you and I look at creating a less complicated life in our Simpler Life Series, I thought I’d attack the issue of stuff – specifically shoes.

You’ve seen our hallway before.  We keep all of our shoes under that bench.  European stores have the cutest shoes, and I would love to take home a few more pairs.  But I can’t.  I have room for exactly five pairs of shoes.  We do not have a closet to tuck away extras.  They’re either on that shelf or in our way.  So as a result, I do not buy those cute European shoes.  I may stroke them a few times, but I do not buy.

I haven’t always been this way.  Before we moved to Germany, I never had to worry about shoe storage spaces.  Between flip-flops and boots, I know I accumulated well over twenty pairs of shoes that now sit in some storage box.  One of these days, I’m going to have to go back there and get rid of all those extra shoes.  Since I obviously can’t do that in time for today’s challenge… would you hate me forever if I urged you do it with your shoes instead?  

I’m convinced that the secret to enjoying a simple life (or a small home) is learning to live with less stuff.  I get the most incredible feeling when I walk in the door of our house because we are training ourselves to be happy with what we have.  Sometimes it’s hard.  I find so many beautiful things online and see so many people buying amazing things for their houses.  But overall?  I’m amazed by how fulfilling a life with less has become.  I never would have expected that.  The key to happiness probably isn’t more stuff.

Now I can’t wait to attack that box of shoes (and all those other boxes to be honest).  Here’s the approach Martin and I have been working on for keeping down our clutter.  Walk up to where you keep your shoes and try it (or a strategy that works for you):

1.  Think about all the shoes you have.  Then think about the shoes you used in the last year.  

2.  Sort shoes into two piles:  the keepers and the ones you could do without.  I always have to pick a magic number in my head and tell myself I won’t quit working on this problem until I have either (1) a certain number of shoes ready to say farewell to or (2) a magic number I want to keep.

3.  Donate those extra shoes that are in good shape.  Shelters for women and children, local programs that help victims of abuse, and foster care programs are my preferred places to offer donations to first.

4. Recycle the run down shoes.  Nike has a fabulous worldwide athletic shoe recycling program called Reuse a Shoe.  You just drop off or mail your old shoes to them, and they sort the shoe parts into three types of raw materials.  These materials become basketball courts, track, field, and playgrounds.  Some are even made into new shoes and clothing.  Nike has drop off centers all over the US, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand.  There’s even one in Berlin.  To date, they’ve recycled almost 23 million shoes.

So think you can do it?  Report back here and tell us all how you do.  Now I seriously need to stop talking about this or I’m going to want to start eliminating shoes.  And since I’m very attached to my five pairs, I’m going to have to find another person’s stash.  Martin?

Paint has the greatest influence in any space.  It gives you the ability to express a certain mood and make people feel differently.

Whites and beiges seem to be the most common colors.  They give a space a neutral, clean look that can work with just about any color scheme.  They also scream past dorm rooms and US apartments to me.  I am sick of them the way a kid gets sick of brussels sprouts after the first nose-plugging bite.

So when I had the chance to paint our Berlin home, there was no way I could pass it up.  I was done with white; I was sick of beige.  I wanted yellow.

A yellow room has always seemed like the most romantic, amazing color to me.  I knew I wanted this color before we decided to move to Germany.  I knew it before I knew Martin.  As luck would have it, yellow walls happen to be a really wonderful thing to wake up to when it looks like this dark, wet yuckiness outside our windows on a rather regular basis in the winter.  (The flowers have kind of become indoor plants.  The wimps.)

We didn’t have much in our house when I started painting.  There was the couch and our suitcases, the blowup mattress that served as our bed before the couch, and little bits of IKEA stuff like towels hanging on doorknobs and plates and cups struggling to find a place to fit in our original kitchen.  The lights were not installed; we had to find a drill that could go through our concrete ceiling to get them up.

Martin went on foot to find a drill while I started painting.  We didn’t have bikes then.  I don’t remember if it was cloudy that day (it’s Germany – it probably was), and I felt like I was spreading sunshine across our house with the yellow paint.  Martin eagerly agreed to yellow.  He even had a lot to do with our decision to paint a brown accent wall.

Painting is the perfect task for letting your mind wander.  You get to think about the people you know and the experiences you’ve had.

I remembered the summer before.  I helped my parents paint their house and urged them to paint their living room a color called Biscuit-Something-or-Other.  I don’t remember exactly what the name was; they probably don’t either.  But you know what they do remember?  The first time they got to paint an apartment, the color they chose was Buffalo Brown.  Even my dad remembered, which meant I was beyond excited for the day we would be moving to Berlin.  Not only would my first home have a really cool paint name that Martin and I would remember forever, but it would be in a foreign language, too.  How cool would that be?

Back to the today.  Have I ever told you about Germans?  It is a world of engineers – very intelligent, detailed people.  When they do things, they’re fabulously precise.  Our efficient washing machine is nothing unique in a country of BMWs.  If a train is scheduled to come at 11:13, it’s coming at 11:13, not 11:14 like I had once tried.  Most cars are stick shifts because they’re just slightly more fuel efficient.  It’s amazing.

It also means that this country does not deal with silly things like Buffalo Brown paint.  There’s no Chestertown Buff or Green Trailing Vine.  Oh no.  I could think of a dozen beautiful names for our yellow wall color.  Instead you know what this color is called?

H2/1H1-2 neu 47

I was too sad to even check the brown.  I just call it the Pudding Wall and make sure there is no chocolate within easy reach when I’m working around it.

My favorite way to top a birthday cake is with a pile of fresh berries and candles.  Of course, I am not a seven-year-old child.  If I were, I think I’d be far more interested in something a little wilder.  

In the spirit of our Green Birthday Guide, here are a few fun ideas for spicing up that eco-birthday cake with reusable items.  (You know – things besides those plastic clown heads or paper umbrellas that wind up in the trash after they’ve been used once)

The Cannot-Fail Children’s Birthday Cake Topper List*

*by the two kiddies who feel closer to “kid” than “adult” most days

1.  Have a cake decorating party.  Each kid gets to decorate her own cupcakes or small sheet cake.

2.  Incorporate a birthday gift into the cake instead of disposable trinkets.

3.  Decorate with candies and cookies that are perfect for picking off the cake piece by piece.

4.  Head to the thrift store for used items that you could repaint like ceramic bunnies or even a trophy (for the trophy tutorial, visit Vintage Indie)

5.  Decorate with items already at home.  Instead of a new Barbie, a favorite ceramic doll could make a perfect cake topper that’s already personal and special.

Do any of you have other ideas for eco cake toppers?  And while you’re at it, what’s your favorite birthday treat?  Do share!

(Images from Flickr and Vintage Indie)

Today’s society has us believing that everything has to be big and brand new.  April is here with a beautiful tips for loving what we have.  Her appreciate for her 56 square foot kitchen where she feeds her family is truly humbling.  Ready to hear her wonderful words?

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My kitchen is 7 feet wide, and 8 feet long, wall to wall, window to entry.

How we make it work:

We cook one-at a time. This is a ONE person kitchen. Get two people in there, and you’re both stuck – and if the refrigerator door gets opened, you’d better plan on spending the day stuck behind it. The walkway is 42 inches wide.

We buy appliances we love, and store large rarely used things (i.e blender, food processor, mixer) in a hall closet.

We put things where they make sense to us. For example, the Flaxseed is on top of the microwave where we make our oatmeal. The Tupperware is above the microwave. The plates, bowls and glasses are in one cupboard, along with spices, to the right of the stove. The pots and pans are in a cupboard to the right of the oven. Coffee is by the coffee pot.

One note about why we have glasses in the same cupboard with the canned foods. The cupboard above the sink has an annoying pipe running through it. The pipe gets very hot, and can ruin food (or catch fire – this was a really stupid design). That’s why we have glasses stored all around it. It keeps the food from touching the pipe.

Our window and screen both slide open easily, and right outside is a blue bin that we throw our recycling into.

Declutter, and keep only things you love and use. Give un-used and un-loved things to people who can use them.  

If you are going to rent or buy a kitchen this size, make sure you have a lot of cupboards. I don’t know what I’d do if I was missing even one cupboard or drawer.

Just buy what you like and put it where you like it. Don’t worry about where people say to put things. My first aid kit is in a drawer where everyone can access it. My knives are in a drawer next to the stove (nothing else is stored here – so people know what they are “getting into”, and water bottles are stored on top of the refrigerator.

Buy good cutting boards that will fit in a drawer so you’ll always have “counter space”.

Don’t compare yourselves to others if you (like me) have little or no ability to remodel – it will always make you feel like you fall short. Just find things that work for you and that make you happy.

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All I can say is wow.  Thank you April!  You can read more about how April makes her small house a home right here.  And don’t forget to share the love and let us know if you’ve got a small space in your home that you’d like to share.

Here’s a quick project for our Green Birthday Guide that is so simple I’m almost embarrassed to share it.

Instead of throwing away the cards you get in the mail, turn them into postcards.

First cut off the top of the card, and toss the back in the recycling bin.  We like to use a corner shaper from the craft store to round our corners.

Then stick on a stamp, and you have a whole new postcard ready to go.