My One Word: Simplify

19 January, 2013 by 5 Comments

 

I love how people pick one word as their word to live by for the year. Last year, my one word was simply “God.” I wanted to make God the center of everything in my life…to the extent that every decision I made each day was centered around my faith in him. Overall, I think the year went pretty well. Obviously, I didn’t consider God with every decision…like Chinese or Pizza for supper…but he was present and accounted for in every area of my life. Even when I screwed up (especially when I screwed up)!

What I have realized over the last year, though, is how the material things in my life interfere with God in my life.

  • When I have to manage my clutter (yes, it actually takes management skills), my focus is taken away from God.
  • When I have to manage a busy schedule, my focus is taken away from God. 
  • When I have to multitask (and we all know that’s counterproductive and bad for your brain), my focus is taken away from God. 

So this year, my one word is SIMPLIFY.

Every word you give me is a miracle word—how could I help but obey?Psalms 119: 129 

I’m confident that my DNA contains codes for hoarding, collecting, preserving, stockpiling,  and saving.

I’ve spent the first 40 years of my life (okay…43 years) accumulating stuff…Stuff that I must wash, fold, put away, organize, repair, or at the very least maintain. I figure it may take me the next 40 years to get rid of everything I spent the first 40 years obtaining. But I hope not. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life dealing with stuff. 

I want the next 40 years to be about Jesus, relationships, marriage, children, and grandchildren. I want to enjoy every little bit of my life, not constantly trying to unclutter my life. 

So this year is the beginning. The beginning to a simpler life. My goal is to post every Saturday (Simple Saturdays) on what I did that week to make life simpler. I may blog about:

  • a book I’m reading about a simpler life
  • a simple recipe
  • before and after pictures of a freshly decluttered closet
  • an old home video that I’m converting to digital (to get rid of the plethora of tapes I have around my house)
  • healthy alternatives to the metamorphasized, chemicalized, and syntheticized, products that we use in our home and on our body.

In the interest of the project, however, forgive me if I miss a week. Part of my goal in simplifying my life is dialing down my perfectionist tendencies.

Won’t you join me?

You will need big black trash bags, a close Goodwill or Salvation Army drop-off point, willpower, the word “no” in your vocabulary ready to be used, and your Bible to read daily to keep reminding you what life is really all about.

Ready, set, SIMPLIFY!

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Make-a-change Monday~The Fifteen-Minute Clutter Cleanup

20 February, 2012 by Leave a Comment


Are you a pack rat? 
I am desperately trying to simplify my life. Learning NOT to be a pack rat is one major change I’m making, and it is not easy. 
For years I’ve read books on decorating, organizing, saving, displaying, etc. and there have been times I’ve spent more effort on moving around the “stuff” in my life than probably anything else. It’s ridiculous. It’s STUFF! 
So today’s “make a change” is short and sweet, and I’m working hard on this one myself. 
Choose one small space and spend 15 minutes cleaning out the clutter. You might choose one of these:

•   Your toothbrush drawer
•   The hot spot in the kitchen where everyone dumps things as they walk in the house
•   Your underwear drawer
•   A child’s toy box
•   Your nightstand
Now, as you go through items and deliberate what to do with them, ask yourself these questions:

•   Has it been a year since you last used/wore it?
•   Is it too big or small, or out of date? (Think of clothes and techy gadgets here)
•   Could it be easily replaced?
•   Do you spend more time moving it out of the way to get to something else than you do actually using it?
•   Do you have something similar that serves the same purpose? 

If you answered “yes” to those questions, let it go. 
Now if you’re like me, you’ll feel guilty about throwing these treasures away, so you end up spending even more time figuring out what to do with them. I’ve come up with a fairly easy solution that is working well for me. 
I went to TJ Maxx and bought some of their large, reusable shopping bags (only 99 cents and really cute) and I put two of them in each of the kid’s closets, my closet, and the laundry room. For each set of bags, one is for Good Will and the other is for consignment. 
Each time I do my fifteen-minute clutter cleanup, I have bags ready to deposit the items. When a bag is full, I take it to its destination, and then put my empty bag back in its place to fill again. 
•   No huge mess to “clean up” once I’ve “cleaned out” because I never do anything that takes more than 15 minutes. 
•   No truck full of stuff to ask my hubby to get rid of when he comes home from work. 
•   No procrastinating or dread of the huge clean out project looming over my head.
Just 15 minutes. Once a day, twice a week, whatever you can do. You won’t miss that small chunk of time, and a year from now, you’ll have lots of clean spots in our houses! 
The really cool thing is, once we can spend less time on this earthly “stuff” we accumulate so easily, we can spend more time on laying up our treasures in Heaven! (If you’re not sure exactly what those are, stay tuned. I’ll have a post on that one next Monday.)
Go do your 15-minute clutter cleanup now! 
From my heart, 
Celeste
P.S. Once you start this process, you will automatically think before you buy more “stuff.” Once you get the space clean, you won’t want to clutter it up again. 
P.P.S. For those of us who are really hardheaded, those hot spots may have to be cleaned up more than once.
P.P.P.S. A prayer over a husband and children may also be required if they are the clutter bugs! 

If you want lots of cleaning and organizing tips that make life easy, check out The FlyLady. I found her several years ago after reading her book, Sink Reflections, which is full of great tips to help you make those changes that stick!

If you want someone to walk you through a few weeks, my friend Tsh over at Simple Mom is doing Project Simplify for Spring. She has an easy plan she’ll walk you through!

Filed Under: Make-a-change Mondays, Making Changes, Simplify Your Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,