Ways to Simplify:

Now that we have decided to simplify, we have the job of actually getting rid of clutter in our lives.

I think many of us crave to live a simpler life, it just gets hard in the world we live in.

1.  Don’t try and do it all at once!  It will become overwhelming and you will get discouraged!

2.  Designate one floor or area of your house to work on at a time.  Take a trash bag and go through everything.  Throw it out if you truly do not need it.  Or give it to someone who does.  And if you make a pile to give away, give it away as soon as possible.  Otherwise it will sit and accumulate again.

3.  Books: I love books.  Love, Love, Love them!  Yet, one day I realized when looking at my bookshelves…will I ever read all those again?  I went through and got rid of most of them.  I only kept the ones that were dear to me or I knew I may read again or refer to in the future.  I created tons of space by doing this.

4.  Clothes:  We get tons of hand me downs.  Beautiful things.  Yet the kids closets were cluttered and packed with clothing.  Most of it they did not even wear.  We went through and only kept what the kids would definitely wear.  The boys have 2-3 pair of jeans each, 2-3 dress pants, several collared shirts, and several tee shirts.  My daughter has 4-5 dresses that she will wear for church, a few skirts, one pair of jeans and one pair of sweats.  Also a few skirts and several shirts.

More on our system of keeping the laundry to a minimum in a future post…

5.  Toys: This is a biggie and I will devote a future post to this alone.  But as we all know, kids are usually happier with the box then the “thing” in it.  The baby has a few baby toys, a set of blocks, a train set and lots of board books that he always plays with.  The older boys LOVE legos (that deserves a post to itself too…they do have alot!), GI Joe figures, and some video games.  I also keep educational things on hand like microscope, telescope, drawing set, etc.  My daughter’s toys are really at a minimum as she is approaching the tween years, yet she has a few that she holds onto such as her play horses and American Girl dolls.  Outdoor play and imaginative play are really popular in our house too.

Living simply also helps lessen a greedy heart in our kids…When we model to our kids a heart attitude that shows “stuff” doesn’t matter, hopefully we will foster a spirit of contentment with what they have and hinder a greedy spirit.

Check back each day for lots more ideas about living simply!