A Simple Plan

When our basement flooded a few months back, our insurance company paid for a company to come in, pack all the stuff, and store it until the work was completed. I had trouble giving that duty over to someone else, but with 2 little kids it was easier... sadly when the stuff came back I regretted it... there are probably a hundred boxes with stuff in them, and there is no rhyme nor reason to what they put in those boxes. We go looking for something and have to go through almost every box to find all the things that go together. It's a nightmare. There are still things displaced all over my house that belong in the basement.


This has all made me realize a few things (OK some of them I already knew, they were just reiterated...)

1. Clutter stresses me out.

2. We have way too much clutter.

3. We have way too much of everything.

4. We need to learn to live with less.

5. I need to find creative and attractive ways to store the things we have.

6. I want a house we can be proud of.

7. I'm ashamed of how much we stuff we buy.

8. Being financially ahead is more important than buying stuff we really don't need.

9. Making do is a well kept secret to contentment.

10. We need to learn to want what we already have.

11. I want my children to learn to be financially responsible, so we have to be their models.

We have made some changes financially, we have an opportunity to stay ahead of the game when it comes to our money, to pay off our mortgage faster. We have always had a plan to build a new house, and someday we will, but for now we're here.  So... somehow we have to make this house work for us now, we will have to get rid of the stuff that clutters up our lives and my mind. We need solutions for organizing what we keep so that we don't have to spend hours looking for that one piece of paper we need right now, the lost mitten, or the other shoe.

 I've been all over the place this month - I want the house organized, I want the basement finished, I want to go on a family budget, I want to make furniture. I want my kitchen to be more efficient and opened up.  It seemed like I was all over the place, until I really sat down and thought about it. It all ties together rather nicely, actually.

We have too much stuff - our house is too cluttered - we need to organize - we need to stop buying stuff - we need to stop spending money on things we don't NEED.

We have this opportunity to get ahead financially,  as long as we are disciplined (that was my 2010 word afterall). So, off I go to make a plan. Staying in this house for at least another 3 years is the key to making this plan work. Since we'll be staying here we need a plan to make this house work for us. A plan for organizing and purging. A plan for spending less on groceries, on the things we don't need. A plan to simplify out lives, so that we're all on the same page. A plan. Wish me luck.