Lenten Project

My friend, Kelly (http://www.inthesheepfold.blogspot.com/) told me about an idea she read about and is pursuing for Lent. It's something like "40 Bags for 40 Days". Anyway, the concept is to get rid of one bag of "stuff" for each day of Lent to simplify your life.

Boy, do we ever need simplifying. Kelly and Rachel, a neighbor, keep telling me that purging your home is something that must be continually done. You have to always be on the lookout to get rid of those things that threaten to overtake your home.

Rachel told me a story once about throwing out some "old stuff" one of her sons had brought home from school. It turns out, he had only brought it home the previous day, and he was a little hurt that Mom had gotten rid of it before he had a chance to play with it. Rachel commented that she might need to back off just a little.

Would that I had THAT problem. I do manage to throw out old schoolwork, but we seem to have lost Daelyn's spelling words (with a backside that needed to be turned in as homework) this week and I suspect they ended up in the Recycle Bin with the old stuff. That's always my fear, so I hold onto stuff way too long.

And other members of my family have never met anything they think should be thrown out. Clutter abounds. And, as I've said before, when there's so much "stuff" (dare I say, "junk"?) laying around, I spend all my free time sorting and organizing, putting away, and there's no time left for REAL cleaning.

I can't stand it!! It drives me crazy! I was determined, when we returned from England, to live simply, the way we did while there. We had almost nothing and found creative uses for the things we DID have. Truth be told, that would've gotten VERY old if we had been there for a year or more, but it was doable for 3 months.

I know there's a happy medium between the pared down nothingness of England and the absolutely no spots left in the house in which to put stuff of today. But finding it while fighting 4 other people has always proved a challenge for me.

I'm attempting simplicity again for Lent. I'm going to encourage the children to go through their rooms and each come up with at least one bag of Good Will donations. And Don and I need to have some serious conversations about his "stuff". Last April, before my nephew's wedding, I did a big house overhaul and got rid of lots. Now there's plenty more accumulation that must be addressed.

My niece, Alicia, is getting married next weekend and we'll have family staying with us. Another niece, Lydia, is getting married the first of June in D.C. So, my goal is to begin the process now and be done paring down before leaving for the wedding in June.

Maybe this will make for a simpler, more peaceful summer. The challenge, of course, is getting the rest of the family on board. But I'M committed, and maybe, just maybe, some of my commitment will rub off on at least ONE family member.