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.
