True Confessions--Jan. 20

So, I'm writing the blog on home organization/decluttering....surrounded by boxes of Christmas decorations to be put away and piles of stuff from the cabinets and drawers I'm cleaning out in the basement--I just had to laugh! Those of us who tend to get side-tracked start by cleaning out one area and before we know it, we've drug stuff out from all over--this is very discouraging. Trust me--it's much easier to declutter if you haven't wrecked a whole room/house in the process. Luckily, our mess was in the basment so the top floor remained fully functioning but I'm warning you all of what can happen if you get carried away'! The good news is that I cleaned out cabinets/drawers that haven't been looked through in a long time and got rid of a lot of stuff.
Decluttering is great, but remember to ask yourself about what works/doesn't work in your rooms--maybe some things are not serving their purpose and need to be given away or stored somewhere else to make room for things that will improve the activities in that room. Analyze your space for the activities that happen there when deciding what needs to be in each area. Good luck and remember--only tackle 1 space at a time.

Organizer Tip- one of the best things I've done is to buy an over-the-door shoe organizer to hang on the inside of our coat closet door. The pockets are great for gloves, scarves, hats, rain ponchos, sunglasses, camera, GPS,and anything that we grab to go out the door. You could do this anywhere you need extra storage--in the bathroom over the door for toiletries, in a baby's room for storing little socks, shoes, undershirts, etc. You could even store some kids' toys in the pockets.

Family Economics-I'm trying to take my own advice on curtailing spending in January. My daughter and I traveled out of town a few days ago to see one of her friends. I hit a new low in spending on the trip, $1.50. I spent fifty cents on two books at the library book sale and a dollar for hot cocoa at the drugstore. My daughter was impressed. (I've always tried to model cheap entertainment for my kids) If you got gift cards for Christmas, remember to use them!

Home Matters

by Suzanne

As we begin a new year and talk about New Beginnings, let’s devote some of our time, energy and even money to create homes that are less stressful and more orderly and peaceful.

RESOURCES FOR ORGANIZING YOUR HOME: There are some great books and websites I have used over the years in my own quest to improve the quality of life in our home. Each has its own “spin”, so visit these sites or find these books and see what works for you.

-Making Your Home a Haven (Strategies for the Domestically Challenged) by Cyndy Salzmann, available at www.christianpublications.com. Cyndy’s website is www.familyhavenministries.com. This is one of my favorites as Cyndy tackles home organization from a spiritual standpoint and I love her sense of humor.

- www.flylady.net: Marla Cilley started this website using tips that have worked for her and information she learned from, The Sidetracked Home Executives, a book written as a series by Pam Young and Peggy Jones. The flylady site is great even if you don’t sign up for daily e-mails. You can download zone(living room, kitchen,etc.) cleaning charts and have “secret mission” jobs daily in these areas to clean some areas you may not get to usually. This site really stresses de-cluttering and has other challenges to help get your home/life in order. Reader interaction is great, but be careful—reading all the responses is entertaining and even inspiring, but can take a big chunk of your time.

-www.messies.com: This site features books and insights by Sandra Felton. Some of her books are: Organizing by The Book-Devotional Ideas from God’s Word, Meditations for Messies, Living Organized, and The Messies Manual.

All would give you good ideas on getting different aspects of your home in order.

Quick tips from me—de-cluttering is a key. As Cyndy Salmann says, “If you don’t have room to store your stuff, you simply have too much stuff.” We have to buy boxes and containers for our stuff, then we have to buy bigger houses for our stuff, culminating in paying to store our stuff in storage units! The less “stuff” you have, the less time, energy and even money you’ll use to take care of it. Start with one room and use boxes or bags. One method is to have a throw away box, a give away and a put away box. Spend only 5-15 minutes a day until you work your way around the room. You can start with a drawer, or start at the left side of a door and work all the way around. The Flylady hums the song, “Please, Release Me, Let Me Go” while she de-clutters. It does make a difference as you free up space and even pass along things you don’t need/use to bless others. I was at our local thrift store and heard one of my friends say she was clothes shopping for some relatives in Wichita who had been laid off. I went home and even got my college age kids involved and we really cleaned closets, donating all the extra clothes they had but really didn’t need. It’s a shame and even poor stewardship to hang on to things other people can use in these times.

In addition to de-cluttering, another thing you can do to help your home become more peaceful is to analyze “trouble spots”. These could be physical areas that cause you frustration or routines, such as the out-the-door in the morning time, meal time or bedtime. Write down what makes this area so stressful and pray that God would give you ideas of solutions. Check the resources given already or e-mail us—maybe some of us have dealt with your problem area.

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? Here’s an interesting idea in the area of Family Economics, or as I like to call it, Dollars and Sense. Most of us probably spent too much during Christmas. An idea I read once was to see how much you can avoid spending in January to build back up your savings or pay off your credit card bills. This is how it works—declare a moratorium on spending except for the essentials. For family meals, use up your canned goods and freezer foods. (This also helps clean out items that are close to their expiration dates!) For entertainment, check books and videos/DVD’s out from your library. We checked out foreign travel videos once and made foods to go with the country. And most of all, stay out of the mall—no shopping! (You can use the time saved to de-clutter instead)

About Us

Welcome ! Kim and I want to use our blogs as places to encourage all of us at any age or stage to make our homes a place of refreshment and blessing. It can be a harsh, chaotic and noisy world out there—our homes should be the place we can come at the end of the day and find welcome, order, and peace.

Thomas Wolfe, in his book Look Homeward, Angel, writes “You can’t go home again.” While I understand what Mr. Wolfe is saying, (everything changes and will not be as you remembered), I would also say, “You can’t ever completely leave home behind.” We all have our memories and experiences of home that have shaped the people we are today…and even the homes we make for ourselves. If you were fortunate enough to have a loving, caring family your home was probably a source of security, a haven. You may be trying to re-create the things that made your home so special. To others, home could have meant the opposite-a place of insecurity and conflict, leaving even physical and emotional hurts and scars. You may try to forget that home and those experiences, and you certainly don’t want to re-create them. Some of us may need to ask God to heal us, to help us forgive and move on to create loving homes that will bring Him glory.

This is why Kim and I are writing. We want to offer practical ideas and inspiration to all of us because we passionately believe that home really does matter. What happens in our homes can affect eternity!

A key verse for us might be, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” (calm, quiet)-I Corinthians 14:33. We will be passing on tips and information to help us all establish peaceful, nurturing homes. Topics we will be covering are Home Management and Organization, Family Economics, Caring for Kids and Others, and Food For Thought, written by Kim.

Kim and I are both Home Economics majors and graduates of Kansas State University. Kim’s degree was in mass communications and journalism (with a foods and nutrition emphasis) and mine was in family and consumer science education. We were young career women together in the Hutchinson area. Kim worked as a reporter and features writer for the foods and family section of The Hutchinson News. I taught High School FACS at Nickerson High School. We married young men from Stafford County, and have lived about 20 miles apart over the years. (I used Kim’s Mom’s recipe for mints at my wedding and we even served the cake at each other’s wedding!) We’ve raised our children together, seeing each other at sports events, VBS, school and 4-H activities. We even married off our oldest children this summer—and yes, I used the trusty mint recipe once again to make about 400 mints (and Kim used the same recipe to make 600 mints or so!) Kim’s daughter Jill and my son Kent married wonderful spouses and our other children attend KSU, Kim’s son Brent and my daughter Laurie and son Josh. Kim is a wonderful musician and gifted vocalist as well as a great photographer. She is also a thoughtful friend. I had been dreading the “empty nest” and after returning from taking Josh to KSU for his freshman year, we came in the quiet house and looked through the mail. I had a card from Kim, a photo of a beautiful butterfly with her assurances that life at any stage is beautiful and I would survive the change at our house. I am still amazed at how God used her to speak encouragement to me at that time. Her experiences planning and preparing food for family and friends will help us all create better mealtimes for our families. Check her blog, “Food For Thought”.

I will be writing about Family Economics, Home Management and Organization in “Home Matters” and meeting others needs (and doing some fun stuff) in “Caring for Kids and Others”. I have been a formal and informal student of home management for 30 plus years. My Masters degree work was in these areas and I’ve always been interested in how to use the resources we all have—time, energy and money plus the individual gifts God has also given us to create homes and lives to honor Him. We all have differing amounts of time, energy and money and need to exercise good stewardship of whatever God has given us.