Our house is about 2000 sq. feet. It has 3 actual bedrooms, an office, and a small dining room~all of which are used as bedrooms....so in total~5. We have 4 younger boys in one, 1 daughter in one, 2 bigger boys in one, and the baby in the last. We also have all of our children's books in there. Trust me...we need a whole room for that one. Also, our exercise equipment, which consists of a exercise bike and a treadmill. And then our room. We have 2 tiny tiny bathrooms. Fairly large kitchen, really large living room, laundry room, and a garage.
We are embarking on a new, simple way of living. All my life I have been a messy pack rat type. I married the same. Usually you are attracted to your opposite.....not me. So, our entire marriage has been one big messy house, and I have been tired of it for far too long. For the last year, since birth of baby, I have made it a mission to fix this problem. Yes, we have 8 children, but we don't have to look like we do!!! Too much stuff is good for no one. It was everywhere. I hated it, but felt powerless to fix it. Until this past year. It has taken me this long to figure it out. Or maybe I just finally had enough.
I no longer love everything I have. That was a biggie. I also no longer shop for "bargains" at the thrift stores. I have a huge collection of boxes full of stuff waiting for a consignment sale, or a garage sale, or to just give away via freecycle. They are sitting in my garage, and I am not bringing a thing back in. Granted, my husband can't work in there until we clear it, but it's big progress!! Trust me.
I am proud to say that just by being ruthless, I have finally gotten a handle on my kitchen. When its clean, I like to cook. The kids like that as well. I am not saying they were never fed before, but it was quick and easy unhealthy stuff, rather than homemade good for you stuff. The table is cleared, and the floor is spotless. The counters are nearly finished, and all my extra stuff has been purged from all the storage places. My goal is to keep it this way, while figuring out the rest of the house.
Oh, and we did the shoes and coat closet. I should put a photo up of just how many shoes we had before the purge. I placed some in a bucket for later, when 2 year old needs them, but the rest are just gone..... And the coats...we had like 4 coats per person. You do the math!!
A new year will bring a new life to this family. I want to treasure people, not stuff!!!
More updates as I get the areas done. I may post photos of each room. Depends if I really want to let it all out there, you know?
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1 comment:
Holly,
Sounds like you're doing a great job purging everything!
Instead of having a garage sale, or waiting on people from freecycle, we just called the local charity and they came and loaded everything up in their truck. Our garage was emptied in 5 minutes flat. Ahhhhh.
We're still sorting and purging, and we've had them come out 3 times already. It sure beats having to wait around on freecyle, or mess with garage sales.
We do sell big items on freecycle, but the clothes, and misc stuff, I just donate it all. If you get it out of your garage quickly, you won't have to deal with it again or look at it for another 5 mths.
Just a thought.
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