My Purging Journey

I am now in my third month on my decluttering/purging journey. It is definitely going well! I still have a long way to go, but I have gotten a ton done! Allie Casazza's course"Your Uncluttered Home" has changed my way of thinking! Before this, when I went into a room to clean, my first instinct was to organize and put things away. I almost never even thought of getting rid of stuff. Now, that is my first thought when I start cleaning a room! I have gotten rid of boxes and boxes, and bags and bags of stuff! I cannot believe the amount of stuff I have gotten rid of, and how much we still have! But I'm making really good progress, and am excited to see the results already!

Most of my progress has been in the past couple of weeks. My husband was away for 2 weeks for Army training, so it was a big motivator to get things done before he came home! Josh has always been the one saying that we need to get rid of stuff, so I am finally doing that for us! It was kind of slow going for the first two months. It's hard finding the time to purge when you have four kids 5 and under in the house! But for the two weeks Josh was away, my awesome sister Staci came and stayed with me and helped me to get so much done! We have made several trips to Goodwill already. I have even gotten rid of several major pieces of furniture because I was able to purge most of what was in/on them! It feels so great! 

Like I said, I still have a long way to go, but I can already tell a big difference! There is a lot less to clean up, so straightening up the house takes less time, and it stays straightened for longer. I can find what I need faster because I am purging the stuff we don't need. There is more room in our small house because so much stuff & furniture is out! And Josh is loving the change! It is movating me to keep going. :)

Through all of this, Chloe has been my little laundry helper! She asks me almost every single day: "Mom? Can I help you with the washer?" It's cute, and she's keeping me on top of the laundry! I often run out of clothes to wash, partly because we have a little less now, but mostly because she wants to do the wash with me multiple times a day! She has been obsessed with this for a couple of months now! Joshua was into it for a little bit too, but Chloe has really stuck with it. Now there was that one time that Chloe "helped" me by pouring the entire bottle of detergent into the washer! And it took about 4-5 extra wash and rinse cycles to get the suds out! But other than that, she has done a great job!

This pic is of Joshua and Chloe having fun just watching the washer go! lol.

By the way, for those curious, we have not missed anything that I have gotten rid of! The kids have not missed any of the toys, and we have not missed any of the junk! I probably couldn't even tell you half of what I purged. It was just all stuff we didn't need/use! 

Pic of us enjoying free cones at DQ on the first day of spring! Just for fun :)

Looking forward to being even further ahead on my journey the next time I blog! Here's to more time enjoying my kids and enjoying life!

Getting Back to Blogging/Purging My Home

It has been 4 years since I posted on this blog! A lot has changed since that post. We had just found out that I was pregnant with our sweet Chloe and were in the process of buying our first home! We have now been in this home for almost 4 years, and have added Chloe, Emma, and baby Morgan to our family!

I have started on a journey to de-clutter our home! A few weeks ago, my sister-in-law Anda posted an article by Allie Casazza on having a purposeful mom life, and living in an uncluttered home. I could totally identify, and was answering "yes!" to her questions such as: "Are you tired of cleaning up all the time and never getting ahead?", "Do you clean, and clean, and clean, only to have your kids come behind you, making messes all over again?", "Are you tired of having to go around picking up the house every night after the kids are in bed?" "Do you have to choose between cleaning and spending time with your kids?" That last question is my biggest reason for doing this. It's so hard when the kids are asking me to play with them, and I really want to, but I know I am going to pay for it later with even more to clean up!

So I read through the article, and came to the bottom where there was an option to sign up for emails. (I rarely do this because I hate sorting through dozens of junk mail each day, but this was definitely something I wanted to sign up for!) I was reading the emails and being encouraged and challenged each day for a week or two, when I decided to check out the course Allie Casazza offers for moms. It looked very in-depth, and helpful, and like something I needed to do.

Stuff accumulates so fast, especially kid's stuff! And when you have four kids 5 and under, you end up with a lot of toys, clothes, and just STUFF! Stuff everywhere! My poor husband has been telling me that we have too much stuff for years! So when I came across this course, I went to ask what he thought about me taking it. His first reaction was "No way, we are not going to PAY someone to tell us how to get rid of our stuff." But after looking around for a minute, he said "Well, if it helps us de-clutter this house, maybe you should go for it." lol. We still weren't quite sure that we wanted to invest money into this, so after discussing it a little more, I "slept on it." The next morning I checked my email and found an offer for 38% off the course! I had been praying about it, and really felt like the Lord was leading in this dirsction. So I talked to Josh again, and he said to go for it! I feel like I am in a good place to do this right now. We just switched the kid's rooms around, putting Chloe (3) and Emma (2) in the same room, and getting the baby (4mos) out of our room and into her crib in Joshua's (5) room. Morgan (4mos) is doing great with sleeping through the night, and since we are done switching the rooms around, nothing "big" will get in the way of my purging now. So I feel like this is a great time to dive in and purge the house!

I wanted to start blogging again, to keep myself accountable, and to see my progress as I move along. It is not easy finding the time to declutter with four kids 5 and under in the house! But one suggestion the course gave was to pick a time to de-clutter and stick to that. I am going to make Wednesdays my purging days, with other times here and there throughout the week as my schedule/kids allow. Josh works until 8:30pm on Wednesdays, so I drop 2 or 3 of my kids off at my Mom's house for my sister to babysit, and come back home to purge!

Since this post is already pretty long, I will stop here for now, and start blogging about my purging journey in my next post!

 My sweet kiddos! Joshua -5, Chloe, -3, Emma -2, Morgan - 4 mos (3 mos in pic)

 Cook family pic - Thanksgiving 2016

(Photo credit: Bubbly Photography - Rebekah Joy Odio)