Try It Tuesday!!

It's Tuesday again and that means another Try It Tuesday!!

Spring is in the air!! It's all around us! The grass is turning green, flowers are blooming, birds are singing, the weather is warmer..(of course, you wouldn't know that at my house this morning! It is in the low 30's and we had sleet last night!!)

But..never-the-less, it is spring.

I think it's just in my wiring that when the weather starts warming up and the sun is just brighter and more beautiful, that I feel refreshed and renewed. I feel like I have a new start and I can do anything!

Then I look around the inside of my house.

A little pile here. A little stack here.

I imagine my fear of the cold in the winter has me just shoving things in a corner to avoid going outside to my laundry room and putting them away or loading them up in my car and taking them to the thrift store.

Deciding to spring clean in my house begins with clearing the clutter. And I have A LOT of clutter!!

Clutter can be very overwhelming when you open a dresser drawer to get a pair of socks and have to stuff the stuff back in, in order to shut the drawer back.

Clutter can be very overwhelming when you open a kitchen cabinet and 40 thousand plastic butter bowls fall out on your head.

Clutter can be very overwhelming when you throw yet another magazine on top of a stack that is already leaning and about to come crashing down.

When you look at the whole picture, it's easy to get overwhelmed and say, "Not tackling that today! Maybe tomorrow." Problem is, tomorrow brings yet another butter bowl or magazine.

Let's get started today!! Come on ladies! We can do this!!

Don't let yourself wander through every room in your house telling yourself it can't be done! The main thing is to just begin!!

For me, my living room is the first room I concentrate on. It's where we gather as a family and entertain friends. It's the room we spend the most time in and so I have more than enough time to focus on that clutter.

Begin with that magazine stack or all of those what-nots that are sitting on every table in the room. Honestly ask yourself if you need another glass duck sitting on the table. ( A loooonnggng story for another post...maybe I'll ask DH to write that one)

Do you have to keep the whole magazine just because it has an awesome chili recipe in it??

Remember less is more. Less stuff to clean and maintain means more time you can be spending with DH and the kids or..dare I say it....more time you can spend on yourself!! You could paint those toenails that are soon to be peaking out of some really cool summer sandals!!

The main idea here is to eliminate all of those things you don't need.

Several years ago, I began putting things in a box if I just couldn't part with them. I knew I didn't need or want all of this stuff sitting around. It made my house look messy and small....but I thought I just couldn't live without it! So I decided instead of getting rid of it, I'd put it in a box, that way "when" I remembered why I was keeping it in the first place, could dig it back out.

I can honestly say, to date, I've yet to get something back out of that box.

After several months, I load that box up and take it to the thrift store. We can live without all of this stuff..we really can.

Go through those magazines while your watching tv with your family. Tear out the recipes or articles that are going to change your life and file them in a binder. Then donate those magazines to your local hospital or several doctor offices.

Just begin and don't tell yourself that you have to tackle everything at once.

I encourage you to Try it!! today. Begin by choosing the room that is most important to you to declutter. Set a timer for 30 minutes, put on some Christian rock (or whatever gets you going) and get busy! You'll be amazed at what you can accomplish in those 30 minutes and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you found yourself continuing to work past the time that timer goes off.

Tomorrow, do the same thing in another room of your house. I'm sure if you do this each day that by the time we gather for the next Try It Tuesday!! you'll be enjoying a clutter-free house and quite possibly choosing a new polish to paint those toenails!!