Happy New Year! What a year it has been!! It was full of adventures, lazy days, fun-filled days and days of heartache. The new year is always my favorite, with it’s chance at new beginnings and so called “do-overs.”  

I usually start the year off with a huge overhaul of our home, cleaning and organizing and decluttering.  But this time around, something was missing, and then our Mops group watched a video from Kathi Lipp about organizing and how it starts at the heart; you have to come at it from the right place.  

It struck a nerve with this mama.  It both challenged me and encouraged me.  

Also I was in charge of writing the recap blog for that day so I thought I would share it here with you! 

 

I don’t know about you gals, but the Kathi Lipp video was exactly what I needed this morning. Yesterday was a tough day emotionally and the clutter that was consuming my home turned me from emotional to grumpy to darn right mean in the time it took me to walk from one end of my home to the other. I was so overwhelmed by the piles, the projects and the things I needed to do that I lost all motivation to do any of it. Everything seemed monumental and too much. Shoveling it into a giant dumpster seemed like an easier task than simply putting it away.
This defeated feeling was so frustrating because organizing and decluttering have always been a favorite of mine! I was that girl growing up that would take absolutely everything out of my room and start from scratch, going through every drawer and box and rearranging my room until I found joy in how it looked.
So why do I have such a hard time now?! Why does my home continually look like some magic genie came and transported articles from one room to another, right before a massive nuclear bomb went off?!!

I know I am not alone in the feelings of complete frustration that happen after a long day of cleaning and organizing, you turn around to catch a break and BAM…disaster strikes again!

Those sweet little dears….

But then again, nothing breaks my heart more than having to tell my kids “not right now” or “I can’t play because I have to do chores…”.
I’m tired of the time it takes to manage our stuff and keep it cleaned up and organized. I want to be able to tell my son “heck yes I will play Legos with you!” Without feeling the guilt of towering dirty dishes, scum ringed toilets or the mountains of laundry.

Now where to begin? Naturally my thoughts turn straight to Pinterest where I have quite a good organization board going, and those great books I have on the subject of decluttering speak great ideas and solutions to help the drowning woman. But I’ve realized this time around that I need to start at the heart….my heart.

I have an addiction to the high of a great purchase. Not just any buy, but the great deal buy. I’m pretty sure my gravestone could easily say “But it was only $2.00!” Hi, my name is Mallory and I’m a thrift store junky. I love the hunt, and saying no to that random something that is just too amazing to pass up because it’s just so cheap is my downfall. So, I bring it home, put it where it needs to go and the piles increase.

Whether it’s the great deal, the freebie, the happiness or keeping up with the Jones, we all have our justifications for buying that something.

But what if we stepped back, looked around our home and saw all the stuff that was holding us back from living our best life, and decided to make a change so that sitting on the floor playing block towers with your toddler didn’t mean neglecting anything else; to really be in that precious moment without being distracted by our own leaning towers of clutter?

Never a better time to start than in the New Year! I want this year to be the year of saying “NO” to the clutter, to the managing of stuff and impulsive buys! Remembering that clutter in our homes actually manifests itself in our attitudes and hearts!

Just like Kathi said, just take 15 minutes today to start somewhere! Clear out a closet, a drawer or simply your diaper bag. Only keep those items that you truly need or bring you joy!
I’m thinking about my closet right now knowing I could easily fill a bag with all the items that no longer bring me joy, and don’t even get me started with the toy situation in our home.

Grab your laundry basket and walk your sweet home, filling it with things that arent’ where they belong and put them away! Scroll Pinterest for easy organizing ideas and start a declutter challenge! Ask a friend for help! Organizing and decluttering your home is way more fun with a friend and a box of chocolates (cleaning burns calories 🙂 you’re welcome)

But remember that it has to start from the heart first to make a real change in your life. Ask God to help you see through the mess to what’s important, ask for strength and patience with yourself, ask for perseverance and some blessed energy to tackle your home. Remember grace for yourself that it won’t happen overnight and you’ll probably buy something in the next week you don’t need. But also Remember the reasons you want to make your home a sanctuary for your family. Think of all the time you will have to do the things that really matter when you are not slaving away managing all the stuffs. When you get rid of the stuffs, you can make room for something better.

“Choose today who you will serve. But for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. For He alone is our God!” Joshua 24:15,18

“Clutter is anything that doesn’t bring you joy and stands in the way of the things that do.”
-Leah Martin

“We were never meant to live a life accumulating stuff. We were meant to live simply enjoying the experiences of life, the people of life, and the journey of life- not the things of life.”
-Joshua Becker