A few years ago I read an amazing blog about a woman who took the time during Lent to remove excess from her life by loading forty bags (over forty days) worth of items from her house to donate or toss. Immediately I loved this concept. I am always looking at a way to connect to this time, but never was one to be successful in giving up something during the Lenten season. There is so much “stuff” in my life that I knew I needed to really evaluate and eliminate. So I decided to take on a similar task in removing items from my home during Lent. This physical removal of clutter was so eye opening and connected me to the fact that there are many others who could benefit from the items I just hold on to. An old winter coat, a collection of used baby items, even old scrap metal can be of more use to someone else.
This is what I do, I have a pad of paper I got in the dollar bin at Target that has a magnet backing which I stick right to my fridge for daily use. I take a moment and jot down on the pad, starting with 1), each place in my home that I wanted to de-clutter. Then everyday I delve into one place on the list. Each time I do this I separate items I no longer want to hold on to into three groups: trash, donate, and recycle. As I came up with more areas needing review, I add to the list 14), 15) and so on. Some days I didn’t get to it, but I’d make it up the next day. It was so thrilling to donate to Goodwill items that I held on to because I had hoped I’d find a use for them, now knowing that someone else would better appreciate my “extras”. Each time I finished cleaning out a place on my list I crossed it off. My goal is alway to get to 40 days of places to sort.
Although I can’t say that I loaded forty bags, I certainly cleaned out my home and donated usable items in the process. I also found many items to recycle. I mean take a look at that bag of batteries!
It was such a motivating experience during the Lenten time that I do it every year now. As I go through catch-all drawers, or cramped closets I reflect on my gratitude for what I have and my goal to find new homes for my not-often-used possessions. For what we have stowed away for later use, could be of some great use to another person today.
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