A Resolution for Change

I talk to many women that feel overwhelmed in their jobs as wives, moms, teachers, and homemakers and in most of those discussions their chief complaint boils down to being overloaded with too much stuff, too little space, and not enough time.

For some reason, in this current season of life, God has called this former pack-rat to help other families battle clutter, disorganization, and help return their homes to a place of rest, a haven from the world. It was never anything I planned on doing.  It's not like I grew up neat, organized, or tidy....in fact the exact opposite is true. Ask my mother about the state of my room while growing up and you'll hear things like....bologna peels under her bed, tiny bits of toys being hoarded, and pieces of papers with the most insignificant doodle being saved and treasured. Seriously, I was the poster child for hoarders anonymous!

I'm very thankful that God uses broken people and can turn their weaknesses into strengths! He has enabled me to move away from my dependence on things and the false security they offer, to the never failing, never ending security HE offers. That void that I once filled with stuff and busyness is now filled with His love!

In my casual conversations I hear things like, "My home is a stressful place", "What I do is never enough for my husband, we are always fighting about stuf", "I don't even know where to start with getting my time organized", and "I feel like all I do is clean up". It's hard to hear, but I've also been there, so I know how they are feeling.

People keep things for many reasons. Some are sentimental, some people feel stuff brings security, some people are just not organized or have a creative type of personality. Things (or STUFF as I lovingly call it) are not bad or sinful in themselves. It's when we hold on to them too tightly, hoard them, or turn them into our idol. 1 John 2:15 reminds  us to "not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him". It's a pretty straight forward warning to keep our eyes on our ultimate Home and on laying up our treasure Above, not here where they quickly decay, are lost or broken.....remember you can't take it with you! 

So why are we wasting so much time on cleaning, storing, moving, and organizing items with no eternal value? Why are our days filled with tasks that we don't enjoy, that don't benefit our family, or bring us closer to God? While being a good steward is an important in and of itself, I'm asking why do we have so many things we don't use, need, or even like?  Well that's a personal question we all need to answer for ourselves. 

While the answer will be different for all of us, the solution is usually the same - we need less stuff, fewer commitments, and more time with God.

As we move into the new year I hope we can all focus back on what God has called OUR families to. That we can find a way to drop the excess and get back to the basics of life so that God is in the forefront and the worldly stress quietly fades away.

Flush

I was at the library last week and as usual, my little guys just love those tiny potties there so we HAD to visit them. We had completed our business and after the toilet had flushed for the sixth time, due to that little sensor, we moved on to washing our hands. As I moved my hand under the water to turn on the automated faucet that isn't triggered by a two year old's tiny reach, it hit me. When did this become the norm??

When did EVERYTHING have to become automated??

I looked around the room, the foam soap dispenser, put your hand under it and -  boom -  it spits out soap. Put your hand under the paper towel dispenser, again, paper. All these things, that can easily be accomplished by pushing a lever, turning a handle, or lifting a knob have become automated.

Are we that lazy? Are we that dependent on electricity?

Did Franklin, Faraday, and Volta have such high hopes for their discovery? "My good man, this could change history..... this could flush a toilet someday!"

No, I don't think electricity is evil. Yes, I think it is very beneficial. Every time I hit the start button on my dishwasher, I am very thankful for not having to stand over the sink and wash every dish we use. I'm thankful for my washer and dryer and not having to stand over a tub and scrub. At the same time, while my dryer has been broken for the past 3 weeks we have lived. I have a clothes line in my back yard that I use weekly. I use it for cloth diapers and now for other items. My mom has also been kind enough to let me use her dryer as well. When my dryer is fixed I will remember not to take it so for granted (maybe clean out the lint thingy more often.)

Are these things nice to have? Yes, but we could function without them easily and many do. That got me thinking about the bathroom there at the library...............

What if there was a power outage, would the water work? Would the toilet flush? Would we be able to even access paper towels? (Oh disposable towels, grrrr, that's another post! :)) It's when we move from using an item for practical purposes to that item making us dependent on it that troubles arise.

 Where does it end? Will our children even know what to do if trouble arises and there is no power? Would we all be stuck with overflowing toilets and no way to get clean water?

Are we too dependent on electricity? What about your family?

Simple Spring Cleaning!

Finished purging your home???  Ready to spring clean????

 Here is a simple and easy guide to getting it all done!!!

Eversave is a great place to get coupons to help you cut down on your grocery bill and now they will help you save time and energy with their free spring cleaning guide!

Project Simplify: Pick Your Own Space

This week, I decided that my laundry room was out of control. I was planning on having a playdate at the begininning of the week and some areas of the house were a mess, so now was a perfect time to tackle some of those areas!

 Some future craft ideas had gotten out of hand! Not to mention some paper work and bills needed to be filed away!

 Awe nice, clean surfaces, my fave!!

And all the junk and trash that needed to disappear!!

Project Simplify Week 3: Drawers

 So this week Simple Mom wanted us to focus on drawers and closets, so I worked on my desk/computer area in my bedroom since it seems to be the catch-all for our home. It was in major need of decluttering and organizing!

Not a pretty sight!

 

Pile of things to trash!

 The finished project!! Yes, my hubs surprized me with some flowers that week, so I thought they would look great here!!! 

How is your decluttering coming along? Link up!

Project Simplify: Pantry & Kitchen

Well, my computer has gone crazy and I rotated these pictures a million time, but it wouldn't take, so here they are! :( 

My pantry was kind of a reverse purge. I was doing a pantry cleanout this month so my before picture is an almost empty cabinet. I took everything out, cleaned, organized, and then went shopping and filled it up a bit.

Before

 After

 Again, almost empty! I wiped it out, got rid of some outdated things, made some soup with left overs and then organized everything.

And voila!!!

Project Simplify: Kid's Room Before and After

I had tackled the play room in our house recently, so I thought this was a great time to switch over the spring/summer clothes, purge and pack up outgrown items, and tidy up the kiddos bedrooms and closets.

Here is the the trundle under the boy's bunks that I store the clothes for the upcoming seasons and bigger sizes. It had really gotten out of control and disorganized, so it was time to clean it out and rearrange.

Sorry for the pink pics, my camera is freaking out!

All cleaned out!

Drawers all cleaned and tidied!!!

 My cleaning crew!!

Project Simpliy: Week One ~ Kid's Stuff!

Time to jump right in! If you are ready to join the ranks of declutterers get the scoop over at Simple Mom! I will be posting before and after pictures on Fridays of the kid's closets, toy room, and drawers and linking up in order to be entered to win a prize.

There's no time like the present to free yourself from the weight of unneeded items. Less to clean, less to organize, less to store!!

Treasures.....Earthly or Heavenly?

Last time, I shared how we as a family are on a mission to live a simple life. Not just because it's fun, (sometime it's not fun) but because the Lord has impressed upon us the need to turn to Him to get our satisfaction in life not to this world and the things it offers.

In the Bible, it says in Matthew 6:19-21

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

We constantly feel the pull of the world on us, to keep up with others, buy the newest and greatest, and fulfil our "needs" with things that are really wants. Adult peer pressure is a big distraction from living the way God wants us to.

God knew that these worldly things would be a great temptation to us or He wouldn't have been so clear and direct about how we should live.

So in order to give temptation the boot, we had to start thinking in a different way. When deciding that we wanted our home, our lives, and our hearts to look different than the world, we knew that others might not get it or understand our new focus, but we felt a total peace about what we were about to adventure out into. Our thinking had to change from "I want that!" to "What do I already have?"

We had to make a conscious decision to choose CONTENTMENT.

We needed to start saying "Thank you" to God for what He had blessed our family with, and start saying, "No thank you" to what the world was offering. The world offers temporary excitement, but it will decay and turn to dust, but if we focus our lives on stockpiling heavenly treasures we will have eternal rewards waiting for us.

We think it is so important that any family goal  we have is based in scripture and that we are trying to accomplish it for the correct reasons. Heart issues are of highest importance, because habits wont really stick if they aren't based in true convictions. Those convictions lead us to making decisions with eternal significance.

We've had many hurtle we've had to face on this journey, and one of the biggest has been having how we got  here? No little girls grows up saying,

"I can't wait to just fill my house to the brim with things I don't really need so I can clean, organize, and hoard them!!!"

Yet somehow our house was full of things that we just HAD to have at one point. We didn't stop to ask any questions about the purchases we were making.....they were cool, they were needed, and we wanted them now. Months, weeks, and days later, those same items were stuck in a closet or drawer gathering dust and taking up precious space.

We've had to take a step back to see why some things are in our home and why we bought them. We realized that decluttering and purging is great, but the real way to practice simple living is to be intentional in everything that we do. We realize we can't stop the "stuff cycle" until we start really evaluating what we are bring in to our home. We've introduced a new evaluation technique that we review with any purchase we are thinking  about making. Here are some of the questions we ask ourselves:

• Do I need this?
• Do we have something else that serves a similar purpose?
• Where will this item live?
• Does it fall into our budget?
• Would I enjoy packing this item into a box and transporting it when a move comes?
• Have I talked to my spouse about this?
• Have we prayed about it?
• Have I walked away from it, thought about it, researched it, and still want it?

What are some questions you ask when evaluation a purchase? Have you been convicted about the things your purchase?

Hot Spot #3: Toys and Clothes

Please don't take my toys!!!

So I'm a little late posting the pictures but this got completed early last week! This is the closet in the play room. This is where we keep all the toys, craft supplies, and school stuff! I have been cleaning out other spaces and have found things that belong in here and have just been stuffing them in random places, so it was SOOO time to clean and reorganize this closet!

Before:

After

I'm so excited to have much more space in here, to get rid of unused items, and to have space for curriculum that will be moving in late this summer! It also makes it so much easier to put things away when they have a home and there is space for everything!

Project Simplify/ 40 Bags: Paper Work

Paper piles are my nemesis, so I have to work extra hard to stay on top of them!!

Fridays are my normal day for filing and dealing with paperwork, but since I don't have much each week, it usually ends up getting stacked on the top of our little bedroom TV until the 2nd Friday of the month when I pay all the bills for the month.

When the mail comes I try to open it right away while standing by my kitchen island, that is where I sort it into piles, bills and things that need to be dealt with, trash, and file.

The things that need to be filed get moved to the TV.

(I picked this location as it is high enough where little hands won't scatter my pile)

We use a cardboard file box, so that each year when we are finishd filing things away, we can just stick the entire box in our storage area and we will know where everything is. I move things like warrantees and other ongoing files to the next year's box so I don't have to open the old box all the time.

Things that need to be paid or dealt with, go on my cute bulletin board in my laundry room until the 2nd Friday and then I go online, pay all the bills, and then I file it away with my TV stack!!! It's nothing exciting, but it seems to work.

I Hate Waiting!

So I'm combining two challenges that I am wanting to participate in....the 40 Bag Lent Challenge and Simple Mom's Project Simplify! I love challenges!!

Anyway, my goal is to get 40 bags of stuff out of the house and I'll be following the hot spot challenges from Simple Mom to get the job done! Lent doesn't start until Wednesday, but I just couldn't wait!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Here is my mound of stuff I'm getting rid of!! I got a lot of extra space, one empty drawer, and almost an entire shelf left empty!! This added 5 bags of donation things to tally and I had a bag of trash! I already have 4 bags of donations sitting on our porch and I already dropped of 2 huge boxes of donations earlier this week which probably equal around 6 bags!! I'm just super excited to see the floor in the bottom of my closet!!!

Total Tally: 16 Bags