Clutter! On my way to organization...

Last December, around Christmas time, I decided we had TOO MUCH STUFF! Much more than what we needed. In fact the extra was choking me. If you have ever been to my house you can attest that everything looks like it has a place and most things are in there place, with the exception of a small project or toys being played with. But even so, we had 12 coloring books, all with just a few pages colored in them. Four stools, one in the bathroom, two in the boy's room, and one in the girl's room. How many coloring books and stools did we really need? We had more stools than we had kids and only 1,132 sq ft to keep then all in.  I kept finding things like this over and over again.  Occasionally we had duplicates (and quadruplicates) of items because I found them at such a good deal I HAD to stock up, but that way of thinking wasn't going to cut it for me any more. So, I purged, and I purged, and then I purged some more. It felt GREAT! (Some of the things I needed to let go of were sentimental and I will post on this later.)

In fact it felt so great that I wanted to carry this new way of living into other areas of my life...like the way I shop, from groceries to shoes, I only need what I need.  Even if it is a good deal, one extra is all I have room for.  Otherwise I end up with 5 bottles of hair conditioner shoved into the back of my toiletry storage cabinet (that would take like 2 years for me to use up!) and will forget I even have them on hand.  During my initial purge I decide to donate all of our extra toiletries to a migrant camp our church helps out with during the harvest season.  As I was going through all of our extras I was able to find very appreciative homes for our over abundance just like the migrant camp.  In return I was gifted space and less clutter in both my home and in my mind (I was in much need of that!).  It actually made me more attuned to the needs of people in my neighborhood and church. My kids even got in on the fun of giving!  I'll post later about how the kids took this mission to clean house into their our hands :o)

It has been over six months since I turned the house upside down and got rid of 25% of it's contents, and now it is time to purge some more!  Our first home study interview is next week (so please keep us in your prayers!) hopefully we will look fairly organized by then:o)  I have one week to get going on this. Good thing it is a three day weekend!  Hope you all have a very safe and happy 4th of July!  God Bless America!!!

P.S. If any of you have some dynamite organization systems that work for you PLEASE share them with me!  I am in desperate need of a good laundry system :o)

Freely you have received; freely give. Matthew 10:8b

Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. Proverbs 28:27

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Acts 20:35