Pack up the pigs!

After a bit of wacky changing of events during Spring break our children are back to school with new hair cuts, spring shoes and hoodies! Our son that was recently in the hospital is doing great! Healing well and in better spirits. (So am I) Our weekend consisted of buying a van of groceries, washing and putting away winter clothing, yard cleaning and a bomb fire. Now that we're back to some "normal" living, what we believe to be our normal......I'm thinking about Spring cleaning. Spring cleaning to me means removal of clutter. Years ago I wrote a post on de-cluttering. I remember when I used to collect ornaments, pig ornaments to be exact. Back then I felt I had some sort of sentimental attachment to these pigs. They were everywhere! Honestly I have no idea now why on earth I would spend money, find space for useless dust collecting glass pigs. So what do you do when you feel you have an attachment to material objects? First I quizzed myself if these items resembled who I was. I'm definitely not a pig. I don't own a farm nor have ever owned real pigs. They were cute and only something to collect. So after years of collecting I took a black garbage bag and filled it with every pig I could find. The trick is too never look back. Once in the black garbage bag it's gone, tie it and drive it down to the nearest Salvation Army. That's how I started de-cluttering material items. Now I have one lean display cabinet. The items have to have more meaning then "looking cute" For example, I have a mold of one of our sons baby feet. I have our wedding cake topper because it was built from a 1957 Chevy die cast model with our own wedding people sitting inside. I will guarantee if your home is feeling cluttered with items that aren't important, really are not important and doesn't resemble you and your family, just take that black garbage bag and fill it, you will feel a release. It's amazing how attachment to objects can control your life. What will happen is your home will look cleaner, bigger and you will save money because you won't want to buy anything anymore unless it's "needed" like food! I don't want to know how much money through-out those years of buying pig ornaments I spent! Not only that, I spent a lot of time cleaning each and every pig! Every Spring and Fall I get ansy to de-clutter. De-clutter for me is not only material objects, it's clothing, it's eliminating anything that we don't use or haven't used within the past year. I love coming into our home and feeling warmth, a place that we can call our home. Now that we have more wall space, I do want to design a wall dedicated to family pictures. An exciting project because our children love seeing their photographs and we're about family. Normally I bake on Mondays, I might still bake but I also have the black garbage bags out. Now this post is a test, look around and ask yourself if your home resembles you? Do you really need that lamp? Do you turn it on? Are you tired of dusting those useless ornaments? Just grab a black bag and don't look back. Once you've developed the space, the freshness of de-cluttering, keep it that way. Just like running or going to the gym, the hardest step is out the front door. De-cluttering is the same idea, if you have to think why you should keep an item, it's not worth having. (Drop it into the bag) Don't think about it, don't look back into the bag and get rid of it. I can optimistically say, "You will be happy with a fresh new look (clean) and you'll be on your way to saving money, also realizing that all those things really isn't you" You won't have to worry about anything breaking having children. The children should be the sentimental pieces in our lives, so pack up the pigs! When I refer to the word "clean" It's like looking at a vehicle with tons of bumper stickers. It's not clean looking at all. It's completely cluttered. That's what a house looks like with tons of useless stuff. I write this because sometimes we don't see it and just picture the back of someones bumper stickered car. Yes they're trying to make a point with quotes extra......kind of like my bla-ing blog, or the back of my van with little white family members but there's an extent to the madness before it's too much. I'm also writing because this is what I'm doing and I know how good it feels with the release of materials, so I'm hoping I'm only inspiring my idea for a chain reaction of feeling in control, relief and a new you. Be in control, don't let items control you! "My goal is to feel pulled-together and a little offbeat. And I like to keep things simple" I read this in the April Oprah magazine from Sarah Herrington. She was writing about her clothing style, I read it and thought, that's me within my home. Who are you?