How much stuff does one household need?? It is just stuff. I am in the process of a house make over. How I wish someone else would just come in and do it for me, because those who know me best know how much I hate cleaning and organizing. It's not that I don't want to do it, I just don't know where to start. At the end of the day of taking care of three kids (and sometimes a fourth with a man tossed in there), not to mention working outside the home, I am often tired. =)
I've come to the conclusion that my kids have way too many toys, random items and clothing. They don't play with 80% of what they have or wear about the same amount of clothing. I've been moving furniture so I can paint the walls and I find so many pencils. Am I a hoarder of writing utensils?? What about all those scraps of construction paper in the art drawer? I mean, really, do we need all this??
Yes, I like having things for the kids to do just as much as the next mom does. But as my kids are growing up, I find that it is ME who is having a hard time letting go. Time to get out the tote bins, assign one to each kid and put a few precious items in it that they have outgrown and pass along the rest. And while we're at it, Epilepsy is headed to my street on Wednesday, so Calvin doesn't need 8 green t-shirts so we can get rid of a few of those as well.
Back in January, I played the get rid of so many items game and to eat only from what we have in the house, no going to the store for anything extra. Only milk, bread and produce can be brought in...along with toilet paper or laundry detergent. It's amazing at how many half used bottles of what have you are under the cupboard or in the closet. I think in one day I got rid of 300 items we no longer used. I merged shampoo, lotions, soap and all the other liquids into one bottle of their respective selves. I bet I could still get rid of so much more and then some!
It's time I scale back. The less stuff I have in the house, the less I have to clean, the less laundry I have to do. Oh wait, who am I kidding??? I'll always have laundry and I know I can never have too many Twins shirts, but aside from that, really, who needs all these books sitting on my shelf?? Some I have read, some I've started and other's I have the best of intentions, but as I heard in a great Madonna song, the road to hell is paved with great intentions. I need to get back to the library, that 3wk window should be enough to get me to read any book.
What is it with our society needing to have things? Why is it a lot of us put such importance on what brand or what we have instead of just making the most of what you already have? Why does society try to tell us we need to prove our worth by what we have and we aren't worthy if we don't have something? I'm going to go back to bucking this society...I want to get back to basics, to make the most of what I do have. To quit accumulating things and get back to my doing instead of having. I think we'd all much rather create memories than to find space to remember what we have.
So, this week, along with finishing up my painting, I'll be ripping up carpeting and getting rid of more "stuff" in the house. I think this is a good time to get rid of the things we no longer use or need. I need to make room for Mr. Man to make my house our home for our family. Less stuff equals less mess and less stress. Now, I need to resist the urge to go out and buy a bunch of organizing items, and just purge instead! I'm ready to take that challenge on and make it a way of life for our family.
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