Clutter Clean-Up Part Two: The Process

In this article we continue with our annual clutter clean-up which enables us to keep a neat and orderly home throughout the year. 
 
The Process

Week One:  Start with one room.  We usually start with the living areas because these are easier for us rather than bedrooms that are laden with many toys, hobbies, books, and clothes.  We usually do our rooms in this order: living areas, bedrooms, bathrooms, and then kitchen.  Our plan goes…. Monday: living areas, Tuesday: children’s rooms, Wednesday: master bedroom and all bathrooms, Thursday: kitchen, Friday: any closets we missed and the utility room.  Then we get de-cluttered in a week.  The only other things we do this week are prepare meals and do laundry.  No school, no cleaning, no activities outside the home.

We have made it a rule that certain rooms are for certain things.  Examples – our living room is where music is kept.  Toys are kept in a toy closet and used one or two at a time and then returned.  We only eat in our kitchen so all the dishes stay there.  It is helpful if you have organized in your mind where you want things ahead of time.

So we start in the living room.  Anything that does not belong there goes in either a black, blue or pink trash bag, using our rules we made up in Part One.  If an item belongs in another room, we put it in a laundry basket and at the end of organizing the living room, we take the basket around the house and put those items away all at one time.  If something stays in the living room but needs stored properly then we get plastic storage containers and use them.

We don’t clean until after the first week of de-cluttering is complete.  During that first week, however, we make a list of cleaning jobs and purchase cleaning supplies at the end of the week if needed. 

We continue with our daily schedule of rooms to de-clutter.  We remember to go through all expiration dates on medicinal supplies and we make shopping lists for items that we need to replace.  We look at master lists we came up with last year for medicinal supplies, pantry supplies, cleaning products, pet supplies, and so forth and keep a shopping list handy to record needed items.

IT ALWAYS LOOKS MUCH WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER.  When we stick with it, by the fifth day the results are amazing.  The first three days are the hardest.  Usually by the end of the third day we want to finish it out and look forward to cleaning the next week because everything is starting to look neat and organized.
 
Week Two:  Now is the time for a good cleaning.  We divide it up into five days.  Since everything has been de-cluttered, it goes fast.  Now is the time we do jobs that have been on hold for a long time.  Now is the time to turn mattresses, clean windows and light fixtures, or whatever.  We also get paper and clipboard and make two lists …. One for fix-its that dad needs to know about, the other list is for things we need to buy or need to pray for if they are items we don’t have resources for right now. 
 
Week Three:  We finish up anything left over from weeks one and two.  We deliver items, repair things, and organize those things in deep storage (attics) such as clothing, holiday items, and so forth. 

General Ideas:

Generally, the cool months have worked the best for us as to the time of year to do this.  We try to do a clean-up before mid-April when all of the outdoor work begins.  We don’t do it in the fall because of so many holiday type things going on. 

We tend to do four hours of clean up in the morning (7:00-11:00) and then do laundry, cooking and recreation in the afternoon during the three weeks of the clean-up.  We set up lots of rewards to make it fun.  Vitamin M’s (M&M’s) in the small bags go a long way in motivating little people as well as picnic suppers at the park or the promise of Friday night banana splits.

When you are finished, you sit back and put up your feet and say whew!  Actually, with so much done this is a great time to make up monthly menus, design a master shopping list for the home, put up freezer meals, or tackle a new sewing project.  Or, maybe take a vacation!

April 25, 2007 

Many times I have been asked how we keep our home neat and orderly on a daily basis.  This has become harder as our family has grown since we have seven children at varying levels of interests and hobbies, but overall we have found that a yearly clutter clean-up has been a good solution.  We have passed along this idea before and our friends have said that it was a difficult task the first year, but then was much easier in subsequent years.  They have said it was worth the time and effort.  Here is how we do it.

Ahead of Time

Purchase some storage containers from dollar stores and discount stores.  These containers will be for toys, pantry items, medicinal supplies, toiletries, and whatever.  If you do not have finances for this then use shoe boxes, plastic freezer bags and small trash can bags.  You will want to have some of these on hand anyway. 

Purchase trash bags in three colors such as black, blue, and pink.  Do not use white if that is the color you normally use for trash cans in your house.

Gather empty laundry baskets.

Make up the rules.

The rules we use are …

1.         Once an item goes in a bag it stays there.

2.        We will only keep items that are complete and in good repair.  This applies to clothing, toys, etc.  We will not keep toys that are broken.  We will not keep sets of toys if they are not complete because we really will not use them anyway.  We will keep clothes that can be worn now.  Those that are torn, too stained or that we will not mend in the next three weeks will not be kept.  We will not keep books that we have not read in the past few years unless there is a specific reason to keep them.  We will not keep home schooling stuff that we never really were thrilled about anyway.  And so forth.  This is the most important rule of the whole clean-up.  You can make up your own set of rules to make the clean-up work for you.  Think through how many things your family really needs before you start your clutter clean-up.  An example …. How many stuffed animals do we really need?  How many times do we pick up after stuffed animals? What is their play value?  How many sets of dishes do we need?  How many knick-knacks do we need before they just become dust collectors?  And so forth.

3.        We will throw out junk and garbage in black trash bags.  These are things that are broken beyond repair and things that no one will use.

4.        If something is broken, but is worth keeping, we will get it fixed in 30 days or it gets thrown out then.  We will put these in blue trash bags and label them so we know they are fix-it items.  We will plan a fix-it day this month to do the repairs ourselves or deliver them to the repair shop.  One way we can determine if we really want to keep these things is to evaluate if we really will take the time and money to repair them.

5.        If we have not used something for one year (one complete cycle of holidays and seasons) then we will get rid of it unless it is being saved for a specific purpose.  Then it goes in storage to be looked at on the third week of clean-up.  An example of this would be an ice cream machine.

6.        We will pass on to others items we are not using that are in excellent condition so that we are good stewards.  We will put these items in pink trash bags and mark where they are going or to whom.  We will deliver these items within three weeks.  We will enjoy the smiles on the faces of our friends who can really use these things.  We will be happy to donate these things to charity if we do not know anyone who can use them.

7.        If we are unsure of whether or not to get rid of something we will put it in a black trash bag and mark it with a label.  Then we will put it on the back porch.  If in two weeks we can not even remember what is in these bags or we have not missed it or it did not nag our conscience then it goes by-by for good.

8.        We will put our husband/father’s things in bags or boxes and set them aside for him to go through at his leisure.  A good place for these in the corner of the garage or a storage room.  We will say “we cleaned up and collected a few of your things that you can go through when convenient for you.”  We will put these things out of the way and not say another word.  That way he does not feel pressured to take care of this right away.

9.        We will not clean as we organize.  Sometimes this is the hardest rule of all.  The purpose of the initial clutter clean-up is to get rid of clutter and simplify our lives so that we can clean quickly and easily.  We will clean after we get through the clutter clean-up.  An exception might be bookshelves because if books are being organized it is more difficult to pull them all back off later to clean the shelves.  This might apply to some cabinets too.  We will keep a damp dust cloth available as we organize.  One child will be assigned this job and will follow as we de-clutter and re-organize.

Part Two to come…

April 9, 2007

Birthday Thoughts on Womanhood

Today is my 48th birthday.  It’s a funny thing.  On one hand, I feel like a little girl inside, as if I could step out of the candy shop, lollipop in hand, and plunk down on the sidewalk curb with my shiny patent leather shoes and bobby socks, and have a good time enjoying each lick,  pulling my frilly pink gingham dress around my knees.  On the other hand, I have a soon-to-be 21 year old daughter that brings me back to reality that the years are passing by.  A few white hairs have been found on the top of my head in the last month and I can look in the mirror, do a manual face lift at the corners of my eyes and think, “That’s what I use to look like.”

It is a bitter-sweet moment to watch my seven children enjoying today’s birthday celebrations and at the same time realize that the days of a newborn baby will not be mine to partake of again in my life.  It is a loss that is irreversible.  A true loss.  Did I ever think I would age? 

As I go into these later middle years of my life I have an all-encompassing desire for my life.  That desire is to fulfill the full biblical counsel on what a woman is to be and how she is to serve her God.  Not one or two verses scattered here or there, used in a way to support current cultural trends of an ungodly society, but to really sink my teeth into what it is that God requires of me.  Requires of me?  Yes, requires of me.  Not popular words today.  Too often we think of what we require of God.  Think about that for a while and it becomes evident that the “rights” of Christian women turn the tables on who requires what of whom.  We serve a holy God, who in His perfect love for us requires that we search His instructions in the scriptures, put them into our hearts, and then practice on the outside what is on the inside.

Why do we fear this so much?  Perhaps it is the age-old war of dying to self.   Perhaps it is leaving behind the familiarity of a culture immersed in feminism and becoming different from it, even looking different which takes a dose of courage.  Perhaps it is because our husbands are not perfect and we have to sometimes wait patiently for them to learn ahead of us.   Perhaps it’s that we would like to lead instead of follow.  Discipleship is not all about me, it’s all about Him.  Following Him.

Where does this get me at this middle age of 48?  Seems that there has been such a lack in the generation that has gone before me in living the full counsel of God, that I find myself awkwardly placed more to the front of the group without even a half century of years behind me yet.  So, even though I’m still getting my feet wet in a lot of things, I’m under the microscope to show forth a picture of godly womanhood.  It will only be with God’s grace that I’ll be a witness for Him.

A Christian woman today has the greatest opportunity of anyone for evangelism in our world today.   The greatest?  Yes!  The greatest!   If she truly loves the scriptures, studies them, meditates on them, and then puts them into practice, she will be so radically different from our post-modern culture that she can’t help but be marked for her belief.   Evangelism then is lived before a world lost without Christ, and evangelism is not a little pamphlet that is memorized to take folks mechanically through steps to Christ.  The Christian life is lived before a world that knows not God, nor His ways.    Life is then shared with others, not prepackaged in steps.  The real sharing experiences I have engaged in with non-believers have come not because of knowing the “right” questions to ask with formula-driven answers, but having the “right” questions asked of me when I am living right.  Evangelism is living as a disciple.

Like New Year’s resolutions, here are my birthday resolutions.

1.        To look at the precepts, principles, and patterns of scripture concerning godly womanhood and study them in the context of all of the Old and New Testaments.  This means taking Proverbs 31, Titus 2, I Timothy 5, and I Peter 3 to heart, allowing all of scripture to flavor them to what they should be.  At the same time I want to discard the flavorings of my culture that taint the true meanings of these scriptures.  I want to live as if the scriptures were all I ever needed.

2.       To look to my husband for counsel and teaching and not to books-seminars-conversations- websites for spiritual leadership.   To love him, serve him, and put him ahead of myself.

3.       To love my children and pour into their lives those things that count for eternity.

4.       To encourage other women to do the same.

That doesn’t sound too special.  But then, I’m not too special.  Just an ordinary girl desiring to live for Him.  That’s the bottom line.