Spring Is Here! Decluttering the Large Family

I am so happy that spring is finally here! The longer days, the birds singing, new life budding their heads in the garden, the fresh air----oh, what is there NOT to love about spring?

I have been getting around to spring cleaning, running around the house like a mad woman with trash bags and asking myself one key question:

"Do I want to take care of this for the next 10 years?" 

Ha! That got things going pretty quickly! Let me just say I threw away bags and bags of things that I no longer had interest in or wanted to take care of. I remember as a young wife I was busy trying to do the opposite-- to collect items for our home and to fill it.... or even being sentimental about certain items that I though I could not part with,--but now I am more than willing to give/throw them away today! Why? Because in order to live a more simpler life that is rich with true living I can't confine myself to caring for alot of material possessions which actually take away from the real living that I desire to do!

I think having alot of things can imprison a person to some degree. American's have so much, we really need to teach our children the value of having little and getting with much less. I remember hearing of a missionary family that would feed their children on occasion a meal of plain potatoes to teach them how to survive on a simple meal if they ever became missionaries  and eating on leaves instead of plates. They knew if they became missionaries they would have to survive on much less, they did not want to raise discontented consumers but instead desired to raise children that could be content and live on the simple things in life if they would share Jesus with a lost world.

Simpler living can be achieved without the responsibility to the many unneeded items here on earth. We must protect that precious commodity that we can never get back:  TIME! Precious time to do the things we really want to do and share with those we love  because we only live once. Let's not spend it tirelessly taking care of the endless unneeded earthly possessions we own so that we can spend time on the ever important eternal.

*********************

Need help decluttering or some motivation?

Here is my all time favorite book that gets right to the point and had me throwing things out

our home like you would not believe!

Wise Woman Tip:

Now here are some valuable recommendations you should fill your home with:

All Homestead Blessings DVD's are 50% off because of their new spring sale!

They teach everything from cooking, gardening, canning, etc.

Get it while you can!

(Sale ends April 2nd)

We are linked up at Raising Homemakers and Far Above Rubies