Organization and Living Simply

A couple of months back I felt very convicted about our need to simplify our home (and our lives). In a world that keeps telling us that we NEED more and should get more to be happy, this seems to be a difficult task.  As I looked around our home, I saw so many things. Things that held no special memories, importance or actual use. Things that were taking up valuable space, that were making our home seem disorganized, and that were adding to the clutter we seem to constantly battle. 

The first order of business in "simplifying" became to change our vocabulary. This was made VERY evident by a certain three year old's LOVE for the word " need". 

  He needs my phone to play. He needs candy. He needs to watch TV.  He needs a snack. 

To combat this, we have attempted to rephrase what he wanted to communicate. 

He does not need the phone, he would like the phone.

He does not need candy (candy just isn't a need, EVER) , he would like some candy.

As we have been teaching him this new lesson, our vocabulary changed too. How many times do we refer to our desires (read wants) as needs? With the belief that it is a need, we go ahead and get whatever it is we want: candy, chocolate bar, expensive coffee (that's me!), the list goes on. 

I don't think all wants are bad, but I do believe that I needed to label wants as such and differentiate them from my real needs. The best way to teach our kids this lesson is to live this myself. 

After learning about needs vs. wants, a lesson I feel will be retaught and relearned daily, we decided to start actually simplifying our home. 

So far we have "simplified" Scott's toys. Scott and I worked on that together. It was a great activity for the two of us. It also helped me teach him about giving to others. We looked at all his toys in the living room, sorted them by categories and gave away those that didn't belong.

I've also worked on other rooms in our house as well as my email, other accounts and some paperwork.

Right now, we are packing our house ( 2 of the 3 floors) because we are getting new carpet tomorrow (!!!!!!!). I deeply dislike packing. However, I am very excited about having a blank slate for organizing and simplifying the bedrooms, bathrooms and the basement. As I unpack my plan is to just put things in each room that are necessary and sort through the rest. My goal is to have a home that is meaningful and full of memories, not full of stuff.

It's November!

This year has officially escaped me! I had MANY, MANY plans for 2013. However, "life" seems to continuously stop me from accomplishing ALL I want. Maybe, I just need more than 24 hours in my day.

Somewhere around July, I realized that I really wasn't making a dent on my "2013 goals" list. I sat down and noticed, this has been a pattern for some years now. This made me sad, this made me angry - at myself. As usual, I started to blame myself and put down what I had accomplished, what had happened, what DID get crossed off my list. I am my own WORST critic, but in that, I also forget to be grateful for what is.

My usual sequence of events runs me down a path of joyless, grumpy days until I decide to REDO my list and start over.

This year I decided that this usual cycle isn't  working. I also decided this is not what I want my kids to see. A defeated and ungrateful spirit because everything I wanted to get done wasn't. So for some months I have been researching reading and studying about goal setting - both short and long term. I have come across some amazing information and have learned a lot. I'm still learning and trying to put it all into action.

I have learned to cut myself some slack and enjoy my days more. Instead of fretting over all that needs to happen in a day, I am learning to focus on a few important things and enjoy morning cuddles with our son, play time with our daughter, family time when Jared is home and we are all together.
This is all a work in progress, but I do find that more is actually getting done, and that my day (or my worth) isn't made or ruined by how many tasks on my list were crossed off.

During this time I've also been learning about how to be more and better organized - in everything that can possibly be organized. I have also been convicted about some changes that needed to be made and are already in progress. I hope to write about my walk through a more fulfilled life, as well as parenthood and our life more often.

Since it is November, I have set the rest of 2013 to get some things in order and hope for 2014 to be a completely different year for me as I take all I've learned and grow more in who I am and who I'm supposed to be.