Homemaking hope…
For the past few weeks, I have slowly started to reclaim our home. This farmhouse has gathered a LOT of clutter. Like maximum capacity clutter. It’s as if our home seems to call to all of the things, “Lay down somewhere and pretend your dead. Cover yourself with dust. They will never find you again. Mwahahahahaha!”
I possess a massive collection of decluttering books, tools, online subscriptions, printables, and the like - some of which are quite good actually. But none of them seem to stick. Until…
One day I woke up and I was fed up. I was so angry about the chaos that I finally recognized all around me. The first day, I was playing the martyr…”No one cares. No one helps around here. Blah blah blah.”
Thee Farmer is not a talker. One of his love languages is acts of service. I asked him if there was one thing he would like me to change about my housekeeping, and he pointed to the little corner of the kitchen floor where I always sweep everything to, only to abandon it because one of the thirty some dustpans in this place can’t be found.
I had two options: I could take offense and tell him to do it himself next time. OR, and this was a prayerfully considered “or,” I could find the dustpans and put them all in one place. That one act of finding snowballed and soon I was on the hunt. Things I knew we had multiples of that needed a home. Tools that belonged in the shop.
Why do we have so many dirty dishes waiting to be washed all of the time? We had too many dishes!
Why is the laundry never done? Six people x too many clothes = laundry chaos. Or as the FlyLady calls it “Mt. Washmore.”
I tackled the first of SEVEN junk drawers in the kitchen and yelled to my family, “DONE!” on to the next. I had energy, a desire to take back our home, and I just did what felt like the next logical thing to do.
Besides it was thirty below zero outside, what else did I have going on?
Here is a list of things we have excess of that I will be “taking inventory of”:
Cleaning supplies
Books, this will be my last category, because I love my books
Furniture
Knick knacks
Office supplies and PENS, I confess I am a pen addict, and most of them I don’t even like to write with!
Pans, dishes, utensils, random plastic, and WATER BOTTLES
Clothes and hats…Farmers always have too many hats, but ask first, because he has favorites!
Purses, bags, grocery bags
Jeans because I have over thirty pairs, from size 12-20. I wear a 14-16 depending on the brand
Farm cats, no we didn’t harm them, we rehomed them
Memorabilia, mine only, because I don’t really care about any of that stuff anymore
Holiday decor
Linens - this is one category we will actually be adding to. New bedding and towels. The old will go to the shop for spills, newborn calves, and rags.
One thing that brought me joy though as I was decluttering the kitchen appliances, snacks, and cleaning supplies pantry was I found the very same popcorn popper that I had placed in my Amazon cart. The new one was going to be around $50, the one in my pantry was purchased at our local thrift store for less than $5. (Popcorn for supper on the weekends in winter is amazing!)
You may find yourself mourning for the money wasted, the time lost trying to find things, the utter despair that you “let” your home get this way, but take heart, dear friend, He that is in you has overcome the world, and surely we can take back our homes one item at a time.
We’re in this together. I will keep it real and honest. How about you?
Take care of you.
xoxo Carolyn
