De-Cluttering your House, Body, and Soul

I am not a minimalist, although I have been accused of being one. My husband and I both don’t like a lot of “stuff”. It could be because we have moved 7 times in our 8 years of marriage. And, frankly, when you have a lot of stuff, you have to move all that stuff, and I hate moving! But, recently, we had an Enrichment meeting at church on how to get organized. It got me thinking about what I could organize better at home. I immediately thought, I have to get rid of some toys because Christmas is coming … Continue reading

Where to Find Inexpensive Clothes for Slightly Older Kids

Inexpensive gently used clothing is easy to find for the littlest set, but once a kid gets past the age of four or five, the hunt becomes a real challenge. Here are some places you can use to cloth your children with inexpensive clothing for slightly older kids. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, finding good quality second hand clothing gets more difficult as kids get older. There is simply not a good inventory available. You can still do pretty well, though, if you check out the following sources. The outlets Outlets can sometimes yield great finds in new clothing. … Continue reading

De-Cluttering Boot Camp: Making Room for Your Goals and Dreams

When you de-clutter what exactly are you making room for in your life? Why are you de-cluttering in the first place? Of course it is nice to have more space and have things organized. This makes day to day living a lot easier and calming. But the funny thing is that when you get rid of your stuff, when the burden of all of that clutter is gone, you may find that it leaves a space to be filled. This is not space in the physical sense necessarily, but more of a space to fulfill your goals and dreams. Our … Continue reading

De-Cluttering Boot Camp: I Can’t Get Rid of that! 2

When de-cluttering, it is easy to get sidetracked by items that have no place in your world but are still hard to get rid of. A good example was given in Sherry’s post, Treatment of Special Items when Conquering Clutter. In that blog, she talked about taking some old trophies and giving them a place of honor in the home because they really couldn’t get rid of them. If you have an item that deserves that place of honor, by all means take it out of the box or the dusty corner and display it proudly. But what about all … Continue reading

De-Cluttering Boot Camp: I Can’t Get Rid of that!

If you have been following our de-cluttering boot camp, you should have made some progress going through items box by box, bag by bag or section by section. Some items are obvious keepers, such as the cooking pot you use every day, while others are obviously not keepers, such as last month’s newspaper. Everything you own should do one of the following three things, if not all three: Be useful Be beautiful Make you very happy Inevitably in your de-cluttering process, you will come across items that are none of these things, but you find that you just can’t part … Continue reading

De-Cluttering Boot Camp: Being Overwhelmed

How are you doing in your mission to de-clutter your home? I watched Clean Sweep’s special episode last night profiling (and helping) the “Messiest Home in America.” The house lived up to its designation. There was stuff everywhere and in every room. The couple that lived in this home was so completely overwhelmed with clutter, and as a consequence, dirt. There was literally no where to walk in the home. Board games were stacked in the kitchen, and floor to ceiling was stacked with all kinds of stuff. It was just overwhelming, and the couple didn’t know where to begin. … Continue reading

De-Cluttering Boot Camp: Finding Time

Finding time to de-clutter can be a big issue for many of us. There are so many other priorities that can get in the way. But de-cluttering your home is important. Clutter can cost you money in a number of ways, such as when you need a bigger home. To look at more ways in which clutter can cost you money, you can read this article: 4 Ways Clutter Can Cost You Money For now, though, let’s find some ways to deal with de-cluttering when there isn’t enough time. At the end of this post, you’ll find your next assignment. … Continue reading

De-Cluttering Boot Camp: Roadblocks

We always have the best intentions to keep our homes neat and organized, but there are various roadblocks that get in the way. The clutter starts to pile up until it either becomes so overwhelming that we don’t know where to start, or we become so used to it that we don’t see it anymore. I know that there are certain hot spots in my home that tend to gather clutter. Most of the time I hardly see it until I get ready for company, and then I am amazed at home so much stuff has gathered in one spot, … Continue reading

Welcome to De-Cluttering Boot Camp

All across the world, people are hiding a dirty little secret, or at least a dusty little secret. There homes are filled with clutter. It happens to the best of us. It might start out innocently enough: some mail left on the kitchen counter, an extra group of toys overstuffed into a corner, a couple of outfits that get “stored” on the floor of the closet. But clutter is sneaky. it finds a way to get into your home and breed more clutter until you are either overwhelmed or learn to live with it. Our generation faces a war with … Continue reading

De-cluttering with Young Children

I love to de-clutter our house. I get to a point where the stuff is just too overwhelming. This is especially true when it comes to toys. Toys have a way of sneaking up on your until every bin, box, shelf and even the floor is filled with toys. De-cluttering is tough in and of itself. But how can you get it done when you have young children at home? Here are some tips. Work around the kids schedules. De-cluttering doesn’t have to take one solid block of time. If you your kids nap for an hour, concentrate on one … Continue reading