by kathilipp | Jan 12, 2015 | Clutter Free, Guest Blog, Me |
I hate her.
As I stare at the boxes of belongings going to the Goodwill, I hate the woman who bought all this stuff in the first place.
My past self.
What were you thinking?!? I demand.
This, of course, is the heart of the problem.
I wasn’t thinking when I bought all this stuff.
I was longing.
Longing to be.
I felt an endless ache for be-longing.
So I bought easily into the lie: You can buy in order to become!
Through the years, I’ve purchased dozens (perhaps hundreds!) of versions of myself.
My boxes of belongings are like the Barbie isle at Toys R Us:
The piles of card stock, drawers of punches, and boxes of photo albums still in shrinkwrap?
Scrapping Cheri.
The mandoline with fifteen attachments, the ice cream cookie sandwich maker, and that 20-year-old stack of brand-new cookbooks?
Cooking Cheri.
Yoga mat, Denise Austin DVDs, and NIB cross-training shoes?
Fit-n-Fabulous Cheri.
You won’t find evidence of Awful Evil Cheri in any of these boxes.
No, the problem is far more subtle.
The problem is that I’ve bought so many versions of myself, I haven’t been able to find my self.
My one self.
The woman God created me to be.
I’ve tried on so many different lives that I’ve failed to live my own.
Trapped by Belongings
I tried to satisfy my be-longings with belongings.
But my excess belongings ended up owning me.
My excess belongings have taken
My excess belongings have stolen everything I need to discover who I truly am.
Free to Be
But here’s the good news:
As I surrender excess external belongings, internal transformation is occurring.
I’m noticing two things in particular:
1) I’m admitting who I am not.
I’m not a scrapper or gourmet cook or athlete.
Or any of the other versions of me represented by the stuff in my boxes of belongings.
I didn’t really long to be any of them
My longing went far deeper.
I longed to belong.
2) I’m finding space to be me.
I’m finding where I belong.
And to Whom I belong.
“Quite simply, every piece of clutter I give away gets me closer to the life I’m designed to live. One of peace. One of freedom.” (Pg. 35)
The more clutter you release, the better you can hear God’s call on your heart.
You’ll find that he’s not a cruel circus master, demanding that you live dozens (or hundreds!) of lives.
He’s a loving, rescuing shepherd.
Who will lead you into a spacious place.
Where you belong. With Him.
And where you can live your one life well.
Are you ready to be Clutter Free? Start the 21-Day Clutter Free challenge! Sign up now!
by kathilipp | Jan 7, 2015 | Clutter Free, Guest Blog, The Get Organized Project |
Are you ready to be Clutter Free? Start the 21-Day Clutter Free challenge! Sign up now!
I was thrilled to join Kathi’s launch team for Clutter Free: Quick and Easy Steps to Simplifying Your Space. I frequently blog about cleaning and organizing. (My blog is even named This Simple Home. Unfortunately, simple living is more of a goal than our current status.) I have a much deeper problem of STUFF. With a home overwhelmed with stuff, cleaning and organizing are futile. Kathi doesn’t just challenge and motivate us to remove the clutter from our home, she asks us to examine ourselves to get the heart of the matter of why we bring more into our homes so it can stop.
I’ve read a number of articles and books about cleaning and organizing, but Clutter Free is the first to focus upon my problem of clutter. In addition to the typical, “Do I use it? Do I love it?” questions, Kathi has added an all-important question to ask myself: “Would I buy it again?” Whether I am going through my kitchen gadgets, my children’s clothing, or my office supplies this question is key for me.
In about twenty minutes, I cleaned out my kitchen gadget drawer. Using Kathi’s three-box and two-bag system, I found 18 items to donate, 14 to trash, and 20 which needed a new home. That’s 52 items which didn’t deserve to be in one drawer!
Next, I took my boxes and bags to the basement. The whole
basement is a problem area (linked to additional photos of my reality). As Kathi suggested, I chose a smaller area to work and filled my boxes and bags.
That’s right. The cheap, white piece of furniture is missing a drawer front. Don’t worry…it’s empty. Just sitting there taking up space in the basement. It makes perfect sense, right?Yet, before long, I made some excellent progress.
This is the new area. As I work to clean the entire basement, I’m sure this desk will be a bit of a work space. After that, we’ll reevaluate its usefulness. I set the crate of children’s books in that convenient spot so I can fill it with even more book to remove from our home. The shelf has the craft items on it. This past summer we set up the shelf and purchased the plastic shoeboxes. Before that, all of that shelved items were on, under, and around the desk area. Though I haven’t labeled the plastic boxes yet, I can now find what I need.
My husband typically holds onto even more stuff than me. He may not be as enthusiastic as me, but he has surprised me at just how much he is helping by saying we can donate items we’ve been holding onto for far too long…just in case we need them. (Obviously, I related well to the chapter titled “Just in Case.”) I think we both needed Kathi’s 2,000 item clutter challenge.
Within about a week’s time, I have collected 200 items to remove from my home. (I’m keeping track on a
2,000 item printable I created. I even made a separate one for my children.) It’s invigorating. Thank you, Kathi, for writing
Clutter Free. It has truly inspired me. I can’t wait to pass it on (to keep my clutter minimal) to another who is ready to make some big changes in her life.
Annette
Visit me at…
This Simple Home
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by kathilipp | Jan 5, 2015 | Clutter Free |
Are you ready to be Clutter Free? Start the 21-Day Clutter Free challenge! Sign up now!
I gasp, freeze, and reach reverently for the small grey box.
I haven’t seen this for at least twenty years.
It’s Day 5 of The Great Gregory Garage Gutting, and I’m finally sorting through dozens of boxes that haven’t seen the light of day since our last move.
(Which was … <cough> … four years ago.)
I’m not going thru just any boxes. Oh no. I’m finally opening all the boxes marked “Misc. Stuff.”
Packed in desperation, each one is crammed with a psychotic disarray of our most precious belongings (which we’d saved to pack last) and chaotic clutter (which we’d refused to give up.)
It’s while slogging through the second-to-the-last “Misc. Stuff” box that I find this unexpected treasure, an item I’ve long since given up as lost and gone forever:
The gold pocket watch I gave Daniel as fifth anniversary gift more than twenty years ago. He loved it and wore it constantly.
When the battery gave out, he gave it to me to take care of. I set it aside for that mythical moment called “When I Have More Time.” Years passed, and eventually, I realized I had no clue where it was.
Lost?
Stolen?
Now, in a minor miracle, it’s right here.
One tiny treasure we truly value, rescued from mountains of “Misc. Stuff.”
As I look from the overflowing trash can to my tiny To Keep stack, the sickening truth hits me in the gut: the ratio of worthless to worthwhile is appalling.
We have invested so much time, energy, and money into packing and storing boxes upon boxes of “Misc. Stuff” that we haven’t have the time, energy, or money to take care of what we actually value.
This habit stops here.
I put the pocket watch in my purse and Google a local jewelry store. Later in the day, a kindly gentleman oohs and ahhhhs over the watch as he makes it shine and tick again.
And on this day, I declare an end to “Misc. Stuff” boxes once and for all.
“Misc. Stuff” boxes lure us into believing that we can “keep it all” without negative consequences.
But we can’t.
When we try to keep everything, we end up caring for nothing.
As Kathi says, “If you love it, keep it and enjoy it. If not, get rid of it and make room for the most important things in your life.”
So our family has adopted this new motto:
“We will keep only what we care for, and we will care for what we keep.”
You’re welcome to make it yours.
Did you enjoy Cheri’s post When Your Care Enough to Keep the Very Best? Cheri is doing a give-away of both Clutter Free and The Cure for the Perfect Life over on her blog. Don’t miss this chance to win these two books!
by kathilipp | Jan 2, 2015 | Christmas, Clutter Free, The Get Organized Project, Uncategorized |
OK – We’re keeping it simple today – all you have to do is take a quick inventory of what wrapping paper, ribbons, bows and gift bags you have. You can also inventory any paper plates, napkins cups if you’re family uses them. Put a note on your calendar for September or October (or whenever you get the itch to start stocking up) and put there what you will need for next year.
I was able to put on my calendar this year, “Don’t buy any Christmas wrap – you have plenty!” instead of guessing and buying more than I need.
Do you need new Christmas lights for next year? A tree bag? Whatever you need, either get it, or give your future self a clue and put it on your calendar!
Are you ready to be Clutter Free? Start the 21-Day Clutter Free challenge! Sign up now!
by kathilipp | Dec 30, 2014 | Clutter Free, Podcast, The Get Organized Project, tips and ideas |
Clutter Free in 2015!
Are you motivated to get (and keep) yourself organized this year? We talked to our own in-house clutter expert and the author of Clutter Free (yes, it’s Kathi) about going clutter free for 2015. Listen as Kathi tells you how to:
– Sort through your stuff to decide what to keep and what to get rid of.
– Find a space for everything and a use for everything you have.
– Lead your family by example as you get your house organized.
– Get your life in order so that you can feel sane this year.
Listen in and then pick up a copy of Kathi’s new book, Clutter Free, and get started on a new and organized year.
Don’t forget to sign up for the 21-Day Clutter Free Challenge!
Cheri Gregory is a Certified Personality Trainer; contributor to multiple books, including Wired That Way and 21 Ways to Connect With Your Kids; and frequent speaker for MOPS groups, women’s retreats, parent workshops, and educational conferences. She’s been married to her college sweetheart, Daniel, for twenty-five years and they have two young adult children, Annemarie and Jonathon.
She blogs about expectations, “baditude”, and hope at www.CheriGregory.com. Connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
by kathilipp | Jun 9, 2014 | Clutter Free, Podcast |
In this episode of You’ve Got This! we sit down with blogger and author extraordinaire, Crystal Paine, and talk about how to move beyond surviving day to day and move into being excited about your life once again.
Crystal shares great secrets from her New York Times best-selling book Say Goodbye to Survival Mode: 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More, and Restore Your Passion for Life, and gives specific encouragement for all of us women who have stopped living and moved into survival mode.
Just some of the wisdom that Crystal shares:
· Avoiding the trap of trying to “Just getting more organized”
· Going into the “No Zone”
· How to sort out your true friends from the users when you are trying to get out of survival mode
· How do you get to the other side of survival mode and overwhelmed to peace
· How to say no so you can say yes to what really matters
· Finding and fixing your mom “Achilles Heel”
Join Kathi and Crystal for the most info-packed, freeing, 20 minutes you will experience all week.
FREE DOWNLOAD
This packet includes more than 40 pages of helpful tools to help you say goodbye to survival mode.
- Cleaning lists
- Goal-setting worksheets
- Menu planning worksheets
- Stock-up price list worksheets
- Daily docket
- Reading lists
- A full 2014 calendar
- and much more!
Click here to download.
Additional resources Mentioned:
Say Goodbye to Survival Mode
Calling the super busy, the stressed out, the overtired.
You know you’re made for a more fulfilling life. With this book, you’ll know where to start.
You wake up tired. Your to-do list is too long. The commitments—and the laundry—are piling up, but your energy keeps dwindling. You feel like you’re simply making it through the days, not living or enjoying any part of them.
In Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, you’ll find both practical ideas and big-picture perspective that will inspire you to live life on purpose. As a wife, mother of three, and founder of the wildly successful blog MoneySavingMom.com, Crystal Paine has walked the road from barely surviving to living with intention.
Learn more about Saying Goodbye to Survival Mode
In addition to being a wife and homeschool mom of three, Crystal Paine is a New York Times bestselling author, speaker, business consultant, and the founder of
MoneySavingMom.com. Started in 2007 as an offshoot of a mommy blog, it has since grown to be one of the top personal finance blogs on the web averaging over 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
As discussed in her book, Say Goodbye To Survival Mode, Crystal’s mission is to help women from all walks of life discover the freedom that comes from living with intention, simplicity, and generosity.
Learn more @ http://www.moneysavingmom.com.
