Monday, March 28, 2011

Hot Spots

I have been taking part in Simple Mom’s Project Simplify. Each week this month she has focused on an area of the home, starting with the closet, then paper clutter, last week was kids cloths and toys and this week is Fridge and Pantry. What I love about this blog is that she provides simple ways to make the clutter disappear. She doesn’t say “look in your closet and toss what you don’t wear” she says “try on each item, see how you feel in it, if you don’t like it or don’t feel comfortable get rid of it.” This takes my idea of cleaning the closet one step further.

The funny thing is that as she posts each hot spot, as she calls them, I laugh as I have ‘just done them’. But as I read her suggestions of how it is done, I realize that I have only done half the battle. About a week before she posted hot spot number one, I had already gone through my closet. But as I followed her guide lines, I filled one large garbage bag full of my cloths, and another full of my husbands. I really thought about each item and tried on several of my old favorites (the ones I had before I had my son who is now two). I used to like the way I looked and felt in them, but not anymore, I tossed some, and placed some in the resell bag. As I moved on to paper clutter, I again laughed as I had already tackled several months of paper work. I did not have as much to do, but she suggested ways of preventing said paper clutter in the future, that was my main task (and yes I still have a box of old stuff that I am working up the courage to get to.

The only hot spot so far that I have actually been successful with before she wrote about was the kids cloths and toys. I am constantly going through my sons cloths and either getting rid of or storing them. Several people in my church and family have children younger than my boy and I give most of the stuff away, saving only the stuff I love, incase we have another boy. The toys was my husbands idea, we are storing most of those for now, but as I went into my son’s room to see what I could get rid of, I realized there was very few items that he did not play with that we kept out.

Now for the fridge and pantry… (insert big sigh here) I cleaned out the fridge last week. I laughed as I read the hot spot this week was fridge an pantry. I read the blog further and laughed as she spoke about thinking through the lifestyle choices we make. Several months ago I got this wonderful book called “Simple foods for busy family’s” which addresses the same things that she discusses. It opened my eyes even further to the way that we in America eat today. A lot of people are trying to eat healthier, which is wonderful, but I know for a fact that is can be difficult getting some family members to jump on bored. I pray everyday that my husband will just one day eat veggies, any veggies and say “wow I never knew how good they were.” Of course that is unlikely to happen, but a girl can dream.

So, this week I clean out my pantry, and attempt to get things in order there. Wish me luck.

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