For the past year, Anna has spearheaded organizing projects on Saturdays when we don’t have other things going.
We’ve been in our current house for 10 years and accumulated stuff, and before that, our “around the corner” move didn’t lend time for clearing out.
Mom loves to organize, so this has been something she’s enjoyed too. If we had tried to de-clutter in one week or a month, it would have been overwhelming. Mary has been an incredible help on the projects too, and Jesse sometimes joins.
Having a consistent time set aside (even when it’s not every single week), helps there to be steady progress. There’s not even a certain amount of time slotted for the projects, because it depends on
It’s really amazing to go around the house and see areas that have been organized.
What is it that you could dedicate consistent time to? You will make progress!
Love,
Sarah
“To
to every purpose under the heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Organizing and decluttering is something we spend much time on at our house too. Mostly my craft supplies. I started on it just after the New Year and have made a good size dent already. Giving stuff to our local Makerspace has helped move the process along.
Now, we gotta know about Mary’s fixer upper bikes!! Maybe another post?
Good for you! I am sure those are some hard decisions since you do quite a bit with those craft supplies. Thank you for the idea on the blog post on the fixer-upper bikes. I just wrote it up, and now we will wait a bit until it is nice enough outside to take some photos to go with it.
Lol. I’m in the middle of organizing my closet as I read this. 🙂
Good timing. Maybe the blog post will give you some added motivation to keep moving on through your closet.
Love the organizing! I enjoy it too. It’s amazing how quickly things accumulate. I usually set aside some time several times a month and organize something, or even figure out how I could more efficiently use the space (which is especially helpful when living in a small house!) Excel is really handy when organizing too, because you can easily set up spreadsheets that tell you what is being stored where and it saves you from having to go through multiple storage boxes or areas in the house looking for an item. Plus it keeps you from buying things you don’t need because you couldn’t remember if you already had something stored away or not!
That’s taking it a good step further, Dessiree, to have lists on your computer of what you have and where it is. Sometimes when we organize, we can’t remember where we put something. That would solve that problem!
A woman I once worked with had a system whereby she numbered her storage boxes. One of the things her spreadsheets contained was the box number and a list of the items each box contained.
Since I consider my time valuable, being organized helps save precious time. Also, holding on to things I cannot or will not be using that someone else could seems to me to be lacking in good stewardship of what the Lord has given me.
Thanks for this post! My next project will be reorganizing the kitchen, and I suspect it will be about a month-long project!
Those are great points, Nellie – organization saves time in the long run and what we give away someone else can use. When the children were younger, I tried a box numbering system, maybe similar to your work friend, and then kept in a notebook the lists of what was in each box. I wasn’t disciplined enough, though, to update the list when I got something out of a box or put something new in one that had room. I think that would be easier to keep up with now with computers and so many apps synching across devices. I often update my grocery list, that is in a Google spreadsheet, from my phone. Hope the kitchen reorganization goes well!
I have 8 children, six of them boys. We live on a farm. I use to keep children’s clothes (and many other items), well organized. A room full of organized totes brought me joy. At the same time, stealing my time(organizing and sorting “stuff”). So I have since mimimized. No longer keeping stuff we “might use someday”. The room full of totes is empty, and invites creativity. We keep only what we love and truly use. I do two to three loads of laundry twice a week. Only having 4-6 sets of clothes, the boys do wear out there jeans. If I notice someone with holes in both legs, I stop in at our small town thrift store and replace the pair for $3 or 4. The Lord knows our needs and always provides. It is so freeing sharing our excess and watching God provide. He does it so much better and brings just what is needed at the right time. Not burdening us with excess to manage and sort.
That’s a great organizing/simplifying testimony, Nikki. Thank you for sharing and inspiring us.
every 4 months i tried to donate clothing or appliances. If i don’t it will be overwhelming for me. we only have 2 people in the house and we do have (let me rephrase i have alot of stuffs)…i washed them and donate them. i don’t like to trash them unless it’s soil or unrepairable.
It is great to pass along what you are no longer using to others who can benefit from it. And it sounds like you have a plan in place to keep you on target for actually doing it!