Day 15: Decluttering

This post will be a little later than usual today because I was not feeling well at the time I planned to write this.

Very recently someone said of me that they couldn’t  imagine me as a child – that I would have been saying to others, “This isn’t spiritual enough.” Umm, this person doesn’t know me well, but I can see how I might make that impression, because quite frankly I think too much. So I am sincere when I say I am having trouble speaking into the practical. However, when I wrote yesterday’s post, I honestly thought for some people the practical would be the most fun, the most relatable, and the most needed part of anything I’ve written. God reminded me to bring it back down to practicality more often. Today writing about decluttering seems far-fetched when I still have so much decluttering to do. Nonetheless on we go.

The idea of decluttering is to make more space for peace and for God. I have however been decluttering for years now, and it remains as unfinished as ever. In fact this is what my writing table looks like:

It’s bad, and when I finish this post today, I will clean it up. I’ll post a picture of it tomorrow. My biggest clutter problem is paper. The picture does not show the pile of paper on my floor as well or on the children’s table too, but it’s all there. My biggest paper clutter is school papers – the ones that need to go back to school by a certain time, wading through the children’s papers, which I have gotten to where I rarely save them, but I want to save some, thus the stack.

I have a few systems for paper, but I still have a hard time with my systems. Just in case it might revolutionize somebody else’s world, the idea is a ticker file and a ticker binder. I pretty much have never used either one exactly as they are to be used. The file and the binder have  a folder for each month of the year and then a folder for each day of the month. The idea is to keep running to do lists and papers in each day’s folder. The only reason it is hard for me is out of sight out of mind, and I haven’t bothered making checking the file and the folder a real habit yet. Otherwise it works, even in my way of doing it. I’ve just gotten lax at doing the work of it. The binder is specifically for school papers, and the file is for all else.

On the whole, children have required that I get more organized and that I rely on less stuff. As a young mother with babies, we had every gadget galore to entertain the babies. I quickly learned that was a mistake, so much so, that I limit our birthday parties just so we don’t have too many things to care for. All the excess I had, all the things, become an enormous burden for me. In fact as part of the shmita, I entirely intend to spend more time in the decluttering area of homekeeping.

I feel so unqualified to teach on decluttering that I am going to point you in the direction of people who can.

One resource I really love is Kathi Lipp’s, “Get Yourself Organized Project.” If you are on your way to becoming an organizing expert, then you may not value her suggestions, but they are practical suggestions for an average woman. She is a Christian woman, and she tells you her system and then she takes you through each room of your home AND then she has projects for the family and for your personal life too. I have not worked through the family and personal projects yet. I checked this book out as an ebook at the library before I decided to buy it. I highly recommend doing that so you don’t have a lot of books, even ebooks, you do not want or need.

Here is a list of more great resources:

• “Living Clutter-Free with Kids in the House” by Mike Burns
• “Organized Simplicity” by Tsh Oxenreider
• “Living Simple, Free & Happy” by Cristin Frank

If you are in the Birmingham area, I recommend using House Peace, an organizing business owned by Tara Bremer and Amanda Brown. You can find more information about them on their facebook page, “House Peace.”  Tara was in a small group with me several years ago now. She writes a blog called, “Indecent Order.” Back when we were still in small group, maybe even after it had disbanded, Tara came to help me. She is definitely the kind of friend you want to have when you do not have an organizing or decorating bone in your body. She came up with a plan and having her insight, even her caring, helped me in ways that I still use today. Her home always seems to look like a page out of magazine, and she really knows what she is doing. When I saw she was doing this as a business – I was excited for her, because it is definitely how she is gifted and skilled, and I know she will help set people free from the burden of too much. Seriously, go check her out! Like her page even if you don’t intend to use her services, as they post helpful tips on the page from time to time.

Today, I would love to hear from you! What is one area where you need to declutter? What will you do today to pare it down?

I’ll see you tomorrow with my paper under control, I hope! 🙂

Photo Credit: Sharon Mollerus

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.

This post is one in a series of posts called 31 days of Simplicity. To see all the posts, click on the icon below.

Linking with these ladies: Cornerstone Confessions, Darlene, and Jacinda.