31 Days to a Cleaner Home-Day 31: A time for everything.

Friends, in closing out this 31 days of talking about and working towards a cleaner, happier, healthier, life-giving homes, I'm going to talk about an area I really struggle in.

Getting rid of stuff.

Living with less.

I struggle with this.

I can and will openly and honestly admit that I have a hoarder mentality 

and could easily be overrun with stuff if I let it.

I think "Well what if I need it some day?!"

But really that thing that I've been holding on to for 6 years that has gone unused is really not likely to get used in the next 6 years.

I always felt guilty if I got rid of something that was given to me.

Afraid that I would hurt their feelings.

I've talked about chaos cleaning several times on my blog over the years. 

I can honestly say I have lived in chaos.

I have allowed stuff to overtake me and my home.

But I refuse to be buried by stuff any longer.

I have always loved Ecclesiastes 3 but when I read it again a year or two ago I was really convicted by verse 6.

photo credit: thelearningcurvedotca via photopin cc

It's ok to throw things away.

To donate them.

To let them go.

When my friend Melissa helped me take control of some overrun areas in my home I had to get rid of a lot of stuff. It wasn't easy. But oh friend it was so worth it.

And honestly out of the whole car load of stuff I took to donate at salvation army (Seriously there wasn't room for anyone but me in the car!) I only had two items that I thought of ever again. TWO ITEMS.  And really those two items are not things that I haven't been able to live without.

Sometimes it is more important to throw some things away.

Sometimes by holding on to the little things we start saying 

that things are more important than people.

I will be the first to admit that I am a very sentimental person.

I kept every birthday card I had ever received.

I kept every ticket stub to every movie my husband and I ever went to.

I kept receipts from dinner dates or even gifts I had given.

I kept things that I didn't even like simply because someone gave them to me 

and I felt too guilty to get rid of it.

But those things are not what matters.

What matters is that my home gives life to my family and to all who enter here.

I got rid of the birthday cards that were simply a signed card with no personal note in it.

I got rid of the ticket stubs and receipts.

I have passed on things that I don't like or honestly will never use to someone who will love them more.

And I'm letting go of the guilt.

And really I want my family to know what is really important to me.

I want my children to know and see that God comes first in my life, then my husband, and then them. I don't want them to think that stuff is more important to me than anything else.

I want my home to be a place of life.

I want for them to want to bring their friends over.

Heck I want my friends to want to come over!

So I'm letting go of stuff.

I want to encourage you to do the same.

I would really recommend keeping a small donation station always set up in your home.

We go through seasons in our lives and sometimes things no longer work for us.

It's ok. Let it go. Let it free you and your home.

Take it to salvation army, trash it, sell it.

Do what you've got to do and get it out of your house.

If you haven't yet taken your stuff in your donation station you set up at the start of the 31 days I encourage you to take it today. Get it out of your home. Stop looking at it and start living more.

Take some time to day to look at the hard work you've done this month.

You've done a good job.

Don't stop.

Continue doing the things that bring life into your home.

Continue letting things go when they no longer serve a purpose or you realize you're just holding onto for that "someday."

It might not always be easy, but it's worth it.

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