Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…

Our lives are changing. Drastically. We’ve made some decisions about going forward in life that are going to impact us in hopefully every area of our lives.

First, Chip got a second job. I’m so very grateful that he was able to find a job in today’s economy. It’s not an easy thing to do. Especially a job that will ensure that he has Wednesday nights and weekends off. We have friends who have been looking for a job a lot longer than he has. And he’s going to be making a livable wage. Which is nice since we like to do things like, well, you know, eat. Stuff like that.

Second, we’ve decided to downsize our stuff. When we moved into this house, people commented on how little stuff we had. They also told us that we’d fill this house and the closets and basement in no time.

Both of our mom’s tend to be on the packrat side of the spectrum. It’s not really a bad thing. They are both just really sentimental people. They have a hard time letting go of things because there are so many memories wrapped up in them. Because of that, I think Chip and I tended to take things to the extreme the other way and were very minimalistic. Of course, we only had a 4.5 year old and an almost 2 year old when we moved in here. I seriously think half of what we had was toys.

Fast forward 7 years, and we find ourselves pretty much stuffed and crammed into every square inch of this house. Granted, we’ve added two VERY active little boys to the mix. And all of their stuff.

And because of all of that stuff, we all spend an above average amount of time taking care of that stuff.

Which prevents us from spending that time on other things – AND PEOPLE – that we’d really like to.

We’ve made a decision to spend less time with our stuff and invest that time in people.

Which means, we’re downsizing the stuff. Chip and I cleaned out our room this week. We got rid of BAGS of clothes. I *hate* laundry. Hate may not be strong enough a word actually. I don’t mind washing it and drying it quite so much, but the folding and putting away for six people? UGH! I even got rid of the pre-Kait clothes that I was hanging onto. I think I kept two pairs of pajama pants from the entire box. And some of those clothes? Like the pink and white gingham shorts. Oh. my. word. Y’all, I swear I never remember ever wearing those. EVER! Chip insists I did, but apparently I’ve locked those memories away deep. They really were that bad.

My kids have been working to downsize their rooms as well. Kait’s room y’all saw a couple weeks ago when I blogged the process and she now has an amount of stuff that she can clean in less than an hour if she has everything out at once (something she’s less likely to do as she gets older).  I think Elijah would get rid of every single thing in his room if I let him. Other than his stuffed animals and television anyway. He’s tired of his brothers messing everything up. But it’s down to a manageable amount as well.

So, the upstairs is done. The kids are thrilled because they’ve been able to do things like have their friends (you know – those PEOPLE we want to invest in) into the house to play in their rooms.

And because their rooms are clean, the rest of the house is cleaner too since they are spending more time in them.  I think the boys play in their rooms more because once the light sabers come into the living room, I usually end up taking them away.

So, my plan next week? As Chip starts a new job, I’m going to tackle the closets on the main level. I’ll start with the back hall since we’ll likely need to carry up the winter stuff (gloves, extra hats, snow pants, scarves, etc…) soon. It’s got this shelf where appliances go to die. Lots and lots of boxes for things that we might need someday. (Don’t laugh – you know you do it too). And so much stuff that should be in the garage but isn’t because it was cold/raining/windy/dark/too-far-away-to-be-convenient/etc…

I’ll take an hour and clean out the bottom of the china cabinet (which does NOT have china in it) and the coat closet.

And then at some point – before Christmas – I’ll tackle the monster. The office closet. And I’ll be sure to let y’all know first because it is very possible that if I do this without someone being home to help me that I’ll end up buried under a pile of “stuff” so large that I’ll just collapse from it all.

But, it will feel soooo good when we’re done. And the time we’ll have to spend with our friends and family – which is about to become so much more important to me since I’ll only have evenings with my husband – will be absolutely PRICELESS!!!