OK– Some changes won’t bring about this much money, but I’d like to share with you some tips on how making change, can indeed make change.
I have been really lucky to live in Southern Utah this past couple of weeks–enjoying sunny weather in the 60s and mid-70s. It has sparked the spring cleaning bug that likes to hibernate during the winter months.
A good friend of mine came across an organizational help book that taught the basics of streamlining our homes. After seeing her success and the new-found-space she had where clutter once was–I was sold to the idea of trying it out.
I started with my baker’s rack which over the years has turned into a stash rack–stashing as much stuff as we could there. I was able to completely fill one 13 gallon garbage bag of trash and throw-away items just from that one place alone. You could see that there was that much crap there, but, believe me, there was. I was so disgusted, it gave me even more motivation to clear out the whole house.
We had a nice double family Yard Sale last week where we able to purge our homes of so many items that had been collecting dust and just getting in the way. It was a feeling of relief as people paid money to take-away my crap! Plus, it also felt good taking the rest of the items and donating them to D.I. so that others can purchase these items that they couldn’t afford brand new.
Although, I am still facing more cleaning and purging, here are some helpful tips that I have found:
1. Learn to Let Go!!~ Perhaps the hardest part for some (and to extent, me as well) is letting go of items that represent parts in our lives we, for various reasons, want to hang on to. For example, I have held on to some books from some of my college classes that no one in their right mind would probably ever read, but they were from one of my favorite classes– so they’ve sat on my bookshelf for years. Why? I have to talk myself into the nonsense of keeping such items. When the extra space is there on my shelf, looking cleaner because there is less clutter, I celebrate!
2. Teach and exemplify charity~ I have one toddler. He has a LARGE tub of toys that we’ve collected since his birth. So many toys that it overspills and the only items ever played with are the ones that stay on top of the pile. We can teach our children to give so that others might receive— toys included. So, work with your children and help them go through their toys picking out the ones they want to donate to a local charity or second hand store in your community. The lessons of charity that they learn by these small acts will impact their lives as well as provide a cleaner, less cluttered atmosphere to their rooms.
3. Six pairs of dusty jeans~ OK– how many of you have clothes tucked into the far corners of your closets that are waiting for you to loose those extra pesky pounds to get into?! Join me in getting rid of these bad habits! When you loose the weight, celebrate and buy a new pair of pants. I also am purging my sentimental mission shoes– from 10 YEARS AGO!! Yikes! Since my feet grew a size during my last pregnancy…why am I holding onto old pairs of shoes that are too small?! Purge ladies, purge!!!
What are some of your helpful organizational tips?!? What are some organizations in your communities that could benefit from some of the items you want to get rid of??
Share your thoughts, advice, tips and ideas by leaving great comments!
Ideas for the St. George, UT Area~
Toys: Washington County Children’s Justice Center, Boys and Girls Club, Deseret Industries
Clothes: Dixie Care & Share (Homeless shelter, always in need), Dove Center (for abused women), Deseret Industries
Tools/Equipment: Habitat for Humanity
Jill is a convert to the church, wife, mother, former photojournalist and a small business owner. Jill loves to blog and is excited about meeting folks on MMM. Family Home Evening.
This is a great post that I’ll keep in mind as I unpack and settle in our new house. Every six months I go through the kids toys and pick out the ones that they’ve been constantly playing with for that last month. The rest go into storage and are rotated. While some get sent to the thrift store. It’s helped keep our toy box small and simple. There is less clutter then I imagine there could be. It also gets the kids to reinvent and use their imagination with their toys.