Hey, buddies! I think I could write an entire book about decluttering…maybe that’s because it’s my constant struggle between wanting to simplify and get rid of things and the urge to buy, buy, buy. But I haven’t always wanted to purge. In fact, I used to be of the mindset that it’s just best to hold onto things…just in case. My perspective changed when we prepared to move. I looked at box after box and knew I didn’t want to move this stuff. Plus, we were moving into a house that didn’t have a convenient garage to just stack boxes into a corner. While we rented a home for three months while waiting for our home to be built, I read Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Book of Tidying Up. For me, it really was sorta life-changing. I began to realize that all of those boxes full of things were really weighing me down. They brought more anxiety than they did joy. And as I went through our belongings (even if I felt ridiculous at times), I felt a sense of peace that the things I kept added value to my life.

After I purged all the things and we moved into our new home, I realized how much happier I was when I had less. And yet, there were times where I was convinced I just needed XYZ and it would make a space perfect or life would be grand if I only had this or that. And I would find myself with a home chock-full of things that we didn’t use again. And, let me just add, when you have a family of seven (soon to be eight!) your house can get full real quick with everyone’s things.

I’ll never forget buying my children a whole bunch of Christmas presents one year because they just needed to have a whole bunch to unwrap on Christmas morning. They zipped through those presents in about ten minutes, were so overwhelmed by the sheer number of them that they didn’t even know what to do…so they did nothing. They ran off to watch television or get ready for the next family gathering, opening presents shindig. A few months later I was throwing broken or never-played-with toys into a bags to toss or give away. I looked at those bags and thought of all the money that was literally wasted. I was looking at a night at Great Wolf Lodge in those bags! Seriously! And they would’ve at least had more fun and some memories to show for it.

So, that’s my story on how I began to enjoy the art of decluttering. But, let me be the FIRST to say, that in these forty years I’ve lived and especially through the lessons I’ve learned over the last ten or so years, it’s not my place to tell everyone that they should declutter and purge their home to be happy. Just like homeschooling isn’t for everyone or having a big family…it’s a personal choice, but I’m happy to share my thoughts and experiences.

This month, Benjamin and I are focusing on decluttering. We are looking at the spaces in our home and weeding out the unnecessary. We are reorganizing spaces to make them work better for us and our family. We will be sharing the process on our YouTube channel. In fact, the first space, two of the upstairs closets, were tackled and posted yesterday. You can check that video with before and afters here!