I bought one of these little gems last year for my daughter. It was perfect for organizing her clothes for the week.
Each Sunday we picked out 5 outfits. The Monday outfit was placed on top, and Tues-Fri’s were put into the drawers.
Once in a while we would put Monday-Thursday in the drawers, and Friday would be her free day to pick whatever she wanted to wear.
It revolutionized our morning routine and saved so much time!
I also bought one to use in our school room to organize supplies and books. That one ended up not being used as well as I’d hoped.  I bought that one in black so I can use it anywhere else I need to.
They are on sale at Shopko right now & I highly recommend them!

WARNING: I am obsessed with being closer to Jesus, and making my home a happy place.

I’ve read some great books lately that have really changed the way I feel about “stuff”.  First was Organized simplicity, then at the suggestion of my former sister-in-law, I read Almost Amish. 

I feel like I am in a constant battle with STUFF.  I’ve always sort of thought that it just comes with the territory of having children.  But then I realized it doesn’t have to. {I wish I knew this 10 years ago, don’t you?} 

My children have plenty.  I remember being at a party a few years ago when a little boys rubbery outdoor ball popped.  He was angry and upset.  So to stop his tears, the mom quickly responded with “oh don’t worry about it, we’ll just buy you another one”.

WHAT?  Did you really just tell your kid that you would buy another one?  I mean even if you fully intend on replacing it… don’t make that a default. 

We live in a world where everything and even some relationships are perceived as replaceable.  Our landfills are full and our divorce rates are out of this world. 

Our family is getting better about not getting our kids so many toys.  And I want to get better about this too.  You see, my kids still have so much STUFF.  I don’t want to raise children that expect gifts at each birthday and holiday. 

We had a garage sale a few years ago where we sold 9, YES I SAID N.I.N.E, totes FULL of toys.  Big huge totes… at like a quarter a piece… it was craziness.  All of our shoppers were thrilled at our great deals.  Towards the end I even started filling paper sacks and boxes with toys and marking them FREE. 
It made me overjoyed to not be picking up or telling my daughter to pick up her toys all of the time.  But, it also made me sad.  I was sad to think of all the money our family/friends (and us) had spent on those toys.

There are so many things I’d love to ask for, for my children.  School supplies, like printer paper (you have no idea how much paper we go through here), tape, markers, pencils, and workbooks.  They wear clothing everyday, and they actually enjoy getting clothing too.  But those aren’t “fun” gifts.  And really, I’d love to see quality time given as a gift.  And even more so, I’d love to see money donated to a reputable charity, in their honor. 

I feel like I don’t get enough quality time with my children because we are so consumed by things.

We will be having another garage sale this year.  This time, I am NOT holding back, and I am not going to feel guilty about letting stuff go.  Thankfully I have my practical, sentimental husband to help balance this process out.  But I hope to downsize greatly. 

I’m tired of feeling consumed because I feel like our house gets smaller by the day.  I want my children to be creative and having too many things actually makes that much harder to do.  They never have to come up with ways to improvise or use their imagination, because everything is already there for them.

It is my hope that in doing this, we will live a happier, more peaceful, God centered life.  Sometimes I struggle to connect with God when I’m so consumed by the materialistic things of this world.

And just to be clear, I’m not saying our kids need to only play with rocks and sticks (although we did this earlier in the week, and they had a blast).  There are some toys that I love, like Lego.  Both the boy and the girl like them, and they play with them together.  They can be passed down to future generations, and they are really fun for all ages.

Have any of you done this?  Or wish you could, but don’t know where to start?  Or are you just cool, calm, and collected when it comes to stuff? 

I’m thinking out loud tonight and wondering what it would be like to go the summer without TV.  I mean like actually unplug the TV for the summer & buy a weather radio.

Woah!  Did I really just say that?  Well yes, faithful blog follower, I actually did!  You’re thinking I’m crazy, & I slightly agree with you!

The main concern I hear seems to be that we wouldn’t be able to know if bad weather was coming our way.  I just disagree though.  I have a smart phone and have signed both my husband and I up for weather alerts from the local news station.  So in the event of poor weather we get a phone call to let us know what is coming our way.  So that issue is taken care of, for the most part.

I really have a strong desire to “unplug”.  But I wonder if I’m being unfair to my husband.  He uses TV in his down time to relax and be entertained.  But truthfully, he doesn’t even watch TV most nights in an average week.  He’s good at occupying himself with other things.

I’m not too worried about the kids, I mean that’s a big part of the reason I want to do this.  To help them explore more, and not be sucked into meaningless shows strictly for entertainment value.

Here’s where I struggle though…  There are so many times that I’m guilty of letting the kids watch a 30 minute show just so I can get some rest or tackle a project.

I wish watching the tube was a special treat and not the default option as soon as someone feels bored in the house.

I think summer is a perfect time to try this, because the weather allows us to spend more time outdoors.

In my dream world the kids would help me for hours (rather than minutes) in the garden, they’d play in the yard and in the evening we’d all go inside and enjoy dinner together followed by several board games & laughing the night away.

I’m going to keep dreaming, and if our entertainment center that I posted on Craigslist earlier in the week sells, I’m going to do my best to make this dream a reality!  Of course, after my husband and I agree on  the terms of being “unplugged”.

Would you ever consider this?  or have you done it?  We’ve gone TV free for almost a month before, it wasn’t so bad at all, but this time I want to actually take the TV out of the living room, which is a whole different ball game.