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4.09.2011

the petterson's and the messy house.

Have you ever felt the need to just declutter your entire life?  I mean just get rid of excess STUFF???

I have been rethinking how our family is living and the direction that we are going/want to go in life.  I know that there are things that we need to change and goals we need to set to help us concentrate on what is most important.  

It's kind of interesting to me that ever since I started thinking about this, I have consequently run across articles or classes or blog posts here and there that have helped me in my little "quest".  They all just kind of landed in front of me.  

I truly know that this is something that I am SUPPOSED to do.  Like God wants me to concentrate on building a foundation for my family to stand on.  I feel so motivated!

Anyway,  I wanted to share my thoughts on a book that was suggested by Heather from the Coterie Blog.  (I think you all know that I love her blog :) The book is Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider (simplemom.net) When I read the Amazon sneak peek of the book, I KNEW it was what I needed!  I bought it and let me tell you...this book is changing the way that I look at living!  



The book is about what it means to REALLY simplify (not just some buzzword) your life, how live it with intention, and how relationships are more important than things.  I have to admit that as I read the first couple of chapters, I got a little teary because this is something that I have been trying to do and have wanted to do for a LONG time, but I just didn't know exactly how to carry it out!  I have always tried and tried to create an organized home and family life, and as I read I felt that this could help me get there...and perhaps stay there!

I have read the first half of the book and already we have created a family purpose statement.  (I know, it's a really similar layout to the Young Women Theme... don't laugh! :)



I also created a blank family calendar using a poster on Heritage Makers, laminated it and put on the refrigerator.  I love it so far!



We were previously having family "pow-wow's" and, although I sometimes gripe about it, we regularly discuss the budget (Connel makes sure of this!).  And I have a self made planner/home management notebook that I already use.  So, I felt good knowing that I was already sort of on track!

Today I started the part that I am MOST excited about, the 10 day clean out/purge of EVERY room in my home!  

Whenever I get the itch to organize, I always feel like I am just moving around stuff that we hardly ever use and putting it in nice little boxes and stacking it up so that all of our excess stuff looks nice and neat.  :)  

Of course, a couple days go by and I will end up needing one little thing at the bottom of the box that is in the bottom of the stack.  I'm either to lazy or to rushed to put the nice little stack back in order and it ends up in one big unused mess all over again! 

So I am super excited about purging my entire house.  I started with Day 1 today and in less than an hour I already had a laundry basket full of things to sell/donate!  

It's feels really nice to get started, I can't wait to do the rest!  I never thought I'd play the part of Mama Bear from "The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room"!  But I guess things have come full circle!


6 comments:

The Beck Bunch said...

Keep us posted on the other 9 days, I'm really curious on how it goes. I've been super cleaning too but mines because of the whole nesting, gotta make room for this baby motivation.

Tanya said...

I've been wanting to do the EXACT same thing! I've just been to lazy to do it. Doesn't it feel good to get that kind of stuff done?!

crystal carlson said...

Thanks for posting this--I've been wanting to do this too! I just requested that book from the library & am excited to read it! Keep us posted how everything goes :)

The Lassen Family said...

Laura, I've been thinking about this too and have started taking steps, but I would love some good instruction! We took a vanful from our garage to goodwill on Saturday and I just want to keep the momentum going! I looked up the book from the library and will hopefully get it soon and tackle. Thanks for the inspiration!

Brianna Tuckett said...

That's WONDERFUL!!! I know EXACTLY what you mean about putting the excess "stuff" in nice, neat little stacks only to have them get unorganized in a matter of hours!! Good for you Laura!! Let us know how it goes! :)

Unknown said...

Aw! I loved the Berenstain Bears growing up! haha. That was the greatest. I loved the one about the messy room!