Take Back Our Time

So, I've been cleaning and organizing my office pretty heavily the last two days and I've come to the conclusion that there is a definite point in a big project where you're convinced you are just moving the junk around and not actually putting anything away.

This feels true to me right now. 

There is this massive nesting bug going around inside of me, probably because I'm 7 months pregnant and my house still has boxes and piles of crap that have been sitting there for almost 2 years since we moved in...I'm riding with the wave. But recently I've taken another step forward in my journey of simplicity; it's amazing to have things in boxes for years because when you unpack them you realize they really don't hold much use for you and if they don't they must go.

This is my new philosophy. 

I want to be unburdened by the need to keep things regardless of if I use them or need them or even like them because somebody that means something gave them to me. Plus, I'm starting my garage sale pile and it's just stupendous to have the feeling that someday my house might actually look clean and organized and gasp PRETTY! 

BUT...

I guess the term you probably would use when you open yet another giant box of scrapbooking paper that weighs nearly 100 lbs is overwhelmed.

I used to scrapbook, but have since come to the conclusion that ain't nobody got time for that. Also, where the heck am I going to store 1-2 giant 12x12 albums for every year of my children's lives? No, no I'm just not going to, is the answer we're looking for.

So, my challenge remains; limited furniture, so I must limit my things to fit inside the storage I have presently.

This is what I'm going for. Less.

You want to know what bugs me the most about just getting rid of things though? Waste. Ugh. There is no worse feeling in all this world for a penny pincher, like myself, than getting rid of things that could be used. So, I am on a hunt for a giant paper cutter. Why? I refuse to sell for pennies what I paid a fortune for and I'm going to find a way to let my children repurpose all of that scrapbook paper, {or most of it, anyways}, by cutting it into ordinary 8x11 pieces of paper. Yes, it will be tedious, but sometimes I actually enjoy that kind of work. Yes, it will take forever, and I may find myself in labor in the middle of cutting paper....but I'll be damned if I'm going to give up on it just yet.

Side note: Why in the world did I feel the need to stock up so heavily on freaking paper!? I must remind myself to go back to the past and smack my former scrapbooking self good and hard. 

This is a lesson! Take heed! No matter how into something you are, do not buy things unless they are needed right now or you might end up with a small fortune wasted in giant boxes of paper.

I've got a lot of postponed decisions to go through.

Whew! That was a long tangent.

So, it's day 2 and my feet are swollen like ugly inedible marshmallows, which btw are the worst kind, and my office doesn't look any cleaner....it looks about as swollen as my feet. But I have faith!

We spend so much of our life chained to our things, the upkeep consumes our everyday lives until we fall asleep exhausted wondering where it all went. It also doesn't help when you have children who go about undoing all your neat piles, but who's fault is that really? If there weren't piles to undo, they wouldn't get undone. I take full responsibility.....one room at a time. lol

I want my life to be about being and enjoying, breathing, relaxing, accomplishing; Accomplishing is a funny word because cleaning is accomplishing, but it doesn't feel near as fulfilling when it's just cleaning something that wasn't any fun or use to begin with.

Chains. Things are chains binding us. I don't want to be bound anymore. I want to own a nice house, I want to own nice things, but I want them all to have a place in my life, they need to belong here. They need to be things I put there on purpose and I'm not just holding onto for sentimentality sake, or because I used to have a use for it.

Life is so chaotic without any help. It's time we took back the power to exist in our own homes in comfort and peace. And take back our time.