Aaahhhh....project organize, & downsize

Confession...every year I do my spring cleaning and organizing not in the spring, but in the winter. Every January I pull out my shiny new calender and schedule my 'home inventory' week by week. 1st I survey the entire house to see what the past year has done to my humble abode, 2nd I start a list of things that need to get done and then break those chores into smaller tasks. For example, Clean the Kitchen--in 'home-inventory-spring-cleaning' language this means go through every drawer and shelf and get rid of all unnecessary items that I don't really use or haven't used in the last year --and as I go through each shelf I do actually clean with all purpose cleaner and then I re-organize said space for better day-to-day efficiency. 3rd Once I have a list of chores to complete it is very daunting because in the end the goal it to go through the entire house...So I then write on the calender week-by-week what should get done in order for the goal to be attained by Spring Break.


And boy does it feel good to rid your house of un-used, un-necessary STUFF...because that's all it is STUFF. The reason I explained my home-inventory fetish is detail is because some of my girlfriends don't understand how I can get it all done--slow and steady, steady and slow...and then by Spring break I've got a mountain of STUFF in my garage that will either be sold in our annual garage sale or go to goodwill.


There is a book that changed my life/thinking...The Other Side of Heaven by John H. Groberg. I could tell you what it about, but what's more important is what I learned. Your relationships are more important than--well--anything. The Tongan people, at least at the time the book was written, do not keep more then they need. They do not store possessions like we box things up in Rubbermaid's and put them in a shelf in the garage. They don't do this because their material possessions are nothing compared to their desire to strengthen the relationships with their family and friends. So I try to live like this(on a small level), every time 'home inventory' comes around I think of that book and I rid my life of STUFF and try to resolve to strengthen all my relationships because that's what we can take with us.


PS the book is way better then the movie