You see me here. You see me putting my house to bed & going on day dates with my husband. But I need to take you back. Back to the beginning.
It started in a small almost mundane moment. I was frustrated by my adorable, miracle of a daughter, who one night wouldn’t fall asleep faster!
“Come on Izzy. I have all this housework to do before I go to bed & this is really frustrating me.” I said inside my head.
And then a God thought interrupted my inner dialogue. I heard him tell me “If you didn’t have so much crap you were tied to you, would be soaking this moment in.” Dang God! “Ok but don’t I NEED everything that’s in my house?” I countered back with.
As I let that God thought sink in for a few days I began doing what we all do, go to Pinterest. I looked up organization & efficiency but those topics just didn’t sit right with me. And then came the curse word of the American Dream… Minimalism.
No God you can’t be calling me to that lifestyle, can you?
While I was waiting on another God thought that I was for sure would be “No Tif I’d never call you to minimize inside your home”, I decided to humor Him & read some of the blog posts that came across my feed. As I read the wisdom & practical application from these women I began to feel some excitement stir up in me. They were talking about a lot about freedom & their homes feeling spacious & having breathing room. About looking at every inch of their home & truly enjoying the material things they set out to decorate with instead of having contempt because they didn’t like it but you spent money on it so you must be locked into that item for life right?
They talked about how their kids playrooms weren’t packed with toys that were just tripped over & that laundry was manageable because the clothing options they now had were clothes made of good quality & their favorites. Next was about the kitchen & how the counters had little on them so that when you wanted to jump right into prepping meals you could without first having to push stuff around to get going.
Ok this picture that’s being painted sounds amazing but was it obtainable? Can you really have a home that is decluttered, but not empty & works efficiently for your family?
And then another perfectly timed God thought, “Yes it is obtainable & you need to know I never put all of this “weight” on you.”
Well ok then. Here we go. Challenge excepted.
We all know once you obey God the enemy is very quick to swoop in & twist it to slow progress down or bring it to a halt so you don’t experience what God has planned. Well this was no different. My first hesitation was “how will I get TJ on board with this?”. He definitely raised his brow & had questions but told me he’d be willing to give it a try. Ok first hurdle crossed.
Then next, actually doing it.
Um where the heck do I start?
I was already overwhelmed by all the stuff around our home but I was also overwhelmed to start purging. I froze for a bit but finally started small, with our DVDs. That helped snowball into the next drawer, next cabinet, next closet & finally our storage in the basement. As I would end a section that I purged I would immediately take the box, bag or crate out to the trunk to be taken to donated ASAP.
I had a handful of things I kept that were boarder line keep or donate so I put them in a storage container & set an alarm in my phone to check back in on it in a month, if I hadn’t used what was in it, it was out the door.
Then things went to the next level. Through this detox of our home I began to notice some mind sets I had that where shifting.
Like imagine the money I would have if I hadn’t bought this item just because it was on sale? Or just returned it instead of trying to make it work. Could I really tell family members to gift Izzy Gift Cards or experiences instead of loads of birthday or Christmas presents? How can my money stretch instead of sitting here in the form of an item taking up space & requiring my time to upkeep it? What if I actually looked at something I was going to purchase to bring into our home and ask the question is it worth the continued payment of my time to upkeep this?
Yet another level emerged. What kind of life style did I want for myself, family & home? Could I slow down & live a Simple Life curated with the blessings God gave & be more than content? I was on a mission to find out.
Once the purge was complete I was committed to decorating with inspiration, joy & calmness. I found items that combined things I loved like a clock I could put photos in instead of the numbers, I framed my all time favorite family photo in a fantastic yet classic frame. I arranged the furniture to be pleasing to the eye. Laundry became a breeze & I could deep clean the house & grocery shop with everything complete in one day. I brought order to my time, home & material items.
Some growing pains came along the way. I learned old habits are hard to break, but defiantly can be broken. That purging needs to be done monthly. And when you find an area of your home, schedule or career that you bump up against quite a bit you need to detox it.
Even in a minimalistic life style life keeps going. You grow as a person. Your kids grow up. And new opportunities give a way for clutter to come in slowly. But once you’ve tasted the freedom of a home you breath easy in & that starts to work for you not against you, you’ll want to put in the work.
So then what happened?
Well I began to want a life of slow living that was simple but radiant. I began seeing my days filled with park play dates & adventures with Izzy. I wanted skills for finance to be sharpened & then that turned into mentoring other families on how to go debt free. I began to see Gods fingerprints all over & taking wisdom from him on how to put my life in order. I started to be freed up from hours of daily house cleaning. I began to open up our home more to break bread & drink wine with friends we had been to busy to see.
What I realized was I complicated my life. I wasted the money. I slowly wrapped myself into a bind. I was choosing daily to suck the life out of my marriage & motherhood and I put myself in the role of maid instead of homemaker. I was the one who made our home a storage unit not a haven.
But then Jesus. He broke the chains of a very heavy cluttered life & guided me to this abundant life.
I tell you all that to let you know it is possible. All of that happened five years ago for me. I still have times where things pile up. Where I have to return clothing or home decor because it was a poor way to spend the dollars I earned. But those moments are far & few between now a days.
The only thing left to talk about now is are you ready? I’m here for you. I’m here for the hard work with you. I’m here for the emotional talks that go with walking down memory lane as you unpack corners of your home that you forgot about but are sucking the life out of you. And I’m here to show you how Jesus wants all of us, even the cluttered parts of our homes & hearts. You just have to make a choice & reach out.
With all the the love & wisdom I have to give,
Tif