7

The New Year started off pretty well for me, with a new workout routine, an attempt to moderate my food intake (not altogether succesful) and an attempt to declutter my life.  I have gotten rid of a ton of stuff already and, inspired by Jen Hatmaker's wonderful new book 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, I am beginning a month of getting rid of at least 7 items per day.  I will probably do more because I am just sick to death of all the STUFF around here and I want to get it into the hands of those who need or can actually use it.

I have also been reorganizing like a fiend.  I've been through most of the cabinets in the house, purging and streamlining.  I love to look at before and after pics, myself, so here you go:



Front Closet, before: Not too bad, but the shelves needed some major work



See what I mean?

Things always get worse before the get better in organizing, don't they?

Neatly organized.  I purged some puzzles, books and craft supplies.  Reorganized a bit and voila...looks so much better!

Under my kitchen sink was sick and wrong.  So disorganized and gross...ahem.

See?

After: much better.  Now just to keep it this way!

No before on this one....this is in the kids' bathroom, which they barely use.

Under my sink in the adult bathroom.  Not too bad, but could be better!

Under hubby's sink.

After: under hubby's sink.

My sink, after.  Looks great!

NO before on the cabinet over the toilet. 

Only an After of the laundry room cabinet.

More to come soon!  I am determined to lighten the load around here!

Struggling for Contentment

For years, I have been struggling for contentment.  I have a wonderful life, with a loving husband, adorable children and a lovely home.  I have, however, wasted a good portion of my life looking forward to the next thing while never truly appreciating where I am RIGHT NOW.  I frequently find myself thinking "I will be truly content when....".  There are many ways I've finished that sentence in my past and I am frankly done with it.  I want to be content.  God wants me to be content.  And most of all, I want to stop trying to fill in the God-shaped hole we all have with stuff and distractions.

I want to take the next year to explore what it would feel like to be content.  For me, a great deal of this will be no more shopping, no more accumulating.  For years, I have excused excess in this area in two ways.  First, I tell myself that we can easily afford what I buy ...and while this is true, it doesn't mean I'm not buying too much.  Second, I buy a great deal of our clothes, toys, books, etc from garage sales, thrift shops and the like, which means I spend far less than I would at the mall.  What that inevitably leads to, unfortunately, is a lot more stuff than I really need.  It's still materialism...just in an inexpensive set of sheep's clothing.

I've come to the point where I am truly tired of feeling overwhelmed by stuff and guilt for spending my money and time accumulating all of it.  I want to take a year to "cure" myself of this tendency.  So that's what I am going to do.  Starting January 1, 2012 I am going to start what I call "The Contentment Project".  I am going to stop buying unnecessary stuff and start truly enjoying what I already have.  I am going to take the month of December to figure out what the guidelines will be.  I am a Mom with four children to clothe and care for, so I need to figure out some rules that will allow me to care for their needs (like clothes and shoes) while not providing me with "excuses" to buy things we don't need.

I will keep you updated!