It’s called Organizing Time! Last fall Dad asked that we begin, as a family, to spend one hour every Saturday morning organizing various areas of the house like the garage, basement, and attic. That one hour on Saturday is the equivalent of nine man hours since we all work together. You’ll often find us in groups: Dad, Joseph, and John in the garage, Sarah, Anna, and Jesse in the basement, Mom and Mary either in the garage or basement, and Christopher where needed!
Although we’ve been gone over two months already this year, we’ve still accomplished a huge amount. Those working in the basement usually don’t lack for something to do, since there is constant attention needed to reorganizing the ministry things, unpacking from trips, and organizing shelves. In the garage, there was much sorting/categorizing to do (even including gathering some unused items from our house building project, which netted a very nice return at Home Depot!). A project Mom worked on this past Saturday was organizing our paint shelves in the basement. One Saturday some of the boys sorted scrap lumber that had been pushed aside into the corner of the basement. When our city offered a free “dump day,” the boys loaded scrap metal from our bus remodel project and took it to the dump. Another project has been to organize the storm shelter, which tended to be a “catch all” for items (you can tell we’ve not actually had to use it as a storm shelter yet!).
Maybe this will encourage you as a family to see what just one hour once a week can net for your home!
“In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury” (Proverbs 14:23).
Wow! God is go good what great timing! I am getting ready to plan some organizing time for us over the summer before school starts. This is a great way to do it. Have a blessed day.
A great idea!! Thanks for sharing it!!!
Hi Maxwell family,
Just wanted to say thank you for your interesting posts!! I always enjoy reading them… great job on a nice family working together at home as well as in ministry! May God richly bless you all!! You are an amazing family!!
Love in Christ,
Sharon
This post was so motivational to me! We don’t have a basement, attic, or garage, but we do have closets overflowing with things that need to be organized and a barn that could always use organizing. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish this Saturday!
That’s so funny last week we wear doing the same thing!!!!!!!
When we did it,it was just my Mum,sister Sarah,and I!!!!!
Jane K.
Are storm shelters required in Kansas? I was wondering why you need one if you already have a basement. Thanks.
Amy in PA
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They’re not required, but we decided to go ahead with one. Basements have windows, and the storm shelters don’t.
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This post is so timely. Maybe just the push I need to get some of my clutter areas of my house organized. I really enjoy your posts and love following your family.
What a wonderful idea… 😀
I’m a professional organizer, so this post was especially interesting for me. It’s so great to see a family work together to eliminate the excess stuff in their lives. And with smiles on your faces too!
We are on a path to declutter and organize our garage and so far it is working! We give 4 hours every other Saturday to the project, as we dive in and separate three households into one, taking a load to the dump, a load to the Salvation Army and a small pile of things we ae keeping and organize into the shelves. It feels good to do it.
I loved this post. You do inspire me 🙂
Blessings, Mrs. Mari
My mum also likes to see us all cleaning and tidying up. 🙂 It must be a mom thing!!.
Congratulations to Christopher and his fiancee! Looking forward to seeing wedding pictures.