28 Days of Removing Clutter

For my first 28 day experiment in 2014 I will be focusing on removing clutter from our home. I’m not one to hold onto stuff but it seems like it accumulates anyway unless I’m very intentional about selling, giving, or throwing away the excess.

Ever since my son was born we’ve been intentional about keeping his space uncluttered. All of his toys have a home in his room where they sleep at night. And every night before he goes to sleep my son puts them all to bed (we help too). If we can’t find a home for a new toy then we know we have too many and we give something away so it can find a new home.

It’s been on my mind for awhile that I do not demonstrate the same care with my own things and space. We’re telling our son that it’s important to keep his room tidy and setting an example that says something different. So part of my reason for this experiment is to improve my own integrity in this matter.

Another reason is that when my space is cluttered my mind also feels cluttered. It’s difficult to concentrate and focus when I’m surrounded by things that I haven’t dealt with yet.

My final reason for removing clutter from our home is that I want to get better at letting things go. I don’t want anything I own to become more important to me than my relationships, especially my relationship with Jesus. I want to be content with what I’ve already been given. I want to live with open hands, freely giving to others.

My goal for this first week of the experiment is to select 10 items every day that I will remove from our home. At the end of the week I will either give/donate them, throw them away, or post them for sale. Any items I choose to sell that haven’t sold by the end of the month will be given away.