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)