It has been incredibly busy the past few weeks!
First of all, I’ve created a new sport! INSIDE sledding!
Just get one Rubbermaid Tub lid, place on laminate flooring, step down on it when you are hanging clothes up to dry in the windows of the sunroom, and go sledding! Of course, it is very helpful if you are expecting to do this so you are not caught off guard and fall nearly-flat-on-your-face!
It took a good week for most of the soreness to go away from that one. I’m very thankful it wasn’t worse, and that T-Tapp’s Primary Back Stretch really helped keep the soreness more at bay. Between some T-Tapp moves, Tri-Light Health’s Snooze-EZ herbs, Health and Wisdom’s Magnesium Gel (scroll down about half-way), and T-Tapp’s Melatonin, I ended up only taking 2 ibuprofen the whole time! Truly amazing!
So when not doing indoor sledding 
we’ve been decorating for Christmas (well, the girls have–see here!) and I’ve been finishing the decluttering I started in August. Why any family needs the amount of coats we had is beyond me!
I am a sentimental packrat. Well, not just a sentimental packrat, but also a messie who finds it hard to make decisions. I remember hearing Elisabeth Elliot share 15 years or so ago how Donna Otto said that most packrats aren’t really sentimental, they just have a hard time making decisions. I say a hearty AMEN!
Now some of that could be lack of training, or related to being adrenal challenged….but bottom line is I should have had a system to keep up with the stuff all along. Hindsight’s 20/20, they say….
My advice to you younger-than-me-mamas–keep up with the stuff or it will BURY you! I am spending soooo much time going through things now, and many items were ruined from being stored in less-than-ideal situations (meaning they got knocked onto the floor of the “shop closet” where we stored them, getting dampish and therefore mildewed. 
)
Yes, we literally had to crawl over “stuff” to get to other “stuff”!
I thought more than once about the Parable of the Talents. About the one servant who buried his talent in the ground. I know sometimes it is good stewardship to keep clothing to pass down to your children….but at some point along the way, you realize you really do not need so much!
This was where I threw the bags of toys so I could get to the clothes!!!
I got rid of a lot of little girl dresses–if God blesses us with another girl now, she could never wear all those dresses in 5 lifetimes! Not to mention that she would have seven older sisters who would love to sew new dresses for her! Better to let others who could use these dresses have them. I kept some back for sentiment’s sake, but let a lot go. In fact, at Susannah’s graduation open house, I urged moms, “You can’t leave until you fill a garbage bag full!!!” 
Anna getting ready to carry a basket of hangers out
It’s getting better!
More are going to a local charity that sells used clothing, but also will give what people need free of charge.
Susannah helping sort
Cassia sorting and hanging up dresses and jumpers.
We actually had another shorter rod for tops and turtlenecks,
and yet another short one for coats!
We can actually see the floor now!
Remember the “before”? (Scroll up to the first picture!)
Woo-Hoo! Love seeing that OSB! 
Wow! We can actually get TO the coats and clothing now!
Oooohhhhh….Ahhhhhh….Bee-YOU-tiful!
More beautiful space!
Where did the toys go, you ask?
That’s another post!!!
Still have to go through toys…again, time to get rid of what has lost parts, or is broken (why do we keep these things around anyway?)….
These are just the “few” coats we took to the charity thrift store–
believe it or not, I gave twice that many to a friend,
and have another bag waiting to give to yet another friend!!!
I remember hearing of a mom who had a rule–when someone dropped of a bag of clothes, she gave herself 24 hours to go through it. If she hadn’t gone through it, she passed it on or took it to Goodwill. Now, 24 hours might not be realistic, but at least have some sort of deadline. I wish I had held to my original 1 week deadline. Learn from my mistakes!
SEVEN bags of clothes, nightgowns and coats going to a family at church!
Although I haven’t worked daily on this project, it has been hanging over my head for 4+ months–no, really much longer. I knew it was getting out of hand out there and was going to deal with it “soon”.
Soon has come!
Besides things getting ruined or children outgrowing things before they were even found, there is the weight of needing to take care of it hanging over my head all these years. I truly was not “free” as long as the thought of dealing with this “stuff” was in the back of my mind.
Whether it’s a closet, an attic, your parents household stuff (yeah, still have to go through some of that!), or a whole storage unit, it’s important to pare down. Do we really need it all?
No.
I’m not as spartan as some, but I’ve come a long way. Still have a long way to go, too! But my goal is to get these storage areas under control and have a system to at least purge once or twice a year. Now many of you may already do that–wonderful! But for the rest of us that didn’t get that training (or inherit that gene!), we need to devise a doable plan. Of course, when you have crises hit one after another, it makes it hard to keep up with anything but survival!
I’m ready to be out of survival mode now….
There is a spiritual analogy in all of this. I realized it as I was talking to my friend, J., on the phone last week.
When we hang onto all the “stuff” emotionally or spiritually–it binds us. Keeps us from being free to really experience God’s love and care for us as well as being able to serve and love others. Just as I have not been truly free to enjoy life with my children (because I feel guilty that I’m not getting that “stuff” dealt with), so also we are not truly free to serve others and give of ourselves when we are hanging onto “stuff” like:
Unforgiveness
Resentment
Hurts
Grudges
Past traumas
Pride
No “God esteem” (putting ourselves down because we don’t realize our worth in Christ)
Those are just a few areas–you know what yours are!
There is only one thing to do–purge the stuff! But unlike my physical stuff, there are no thrift stores nor charities to donate the emotional/spiritual “stuff” to! But we can ask the Lord to help us rid ourselves of these things–usually that involves giving up to gain Him.
Giving Him our all so we can have all of Him!
If you need a little help, Gary Thomas’ book, Authentic Faith has been tremendously helpful to me. I also have Holy Available, which I haven’t read yet, but looks to be as good.
I also have benefitted from The Glorious Pursuit, (also by Gary Thomas).
Whether physical, emotional or spiritual–
Deal with the stuff!!!
Don’t let it rob you of one more minute of your life in Christ!
Oh, and lest you think once you take care of it all, you will never have that problem again, whether with physical or spiritual stuff, take heed! You’ll turn around and notice–
WHERE DID THAT STUFF COME FROM?!
A “few” more bags I caught sight of today…..*sigh*
Eternal vigilance is VITAL–for our physical homes and our spiritual ones as well!