I won't own an elephant again..even if it's free

Sometimes people want to give you very valuable items for free, but they often give you very large burdens instead. Below is the picture of an elephant gift, a once expensive item that lost it's usefulness. It was thoughtfully given but became something more than we bargained for.


  One Huge Project that My husband and I have been putting off for years. He and I had to lift it end over end to get it close enough to the fence for the tractor to pick it up. Not to mention this was filled with Styrofoam peanuts that scattered all over. The kids were helping clean up all that mess well past bedtime. But we had a lot of fun and it is so rewarding to have it gone.
So long.... you giant luxury burden.

I believe this experience has taught us when taking on ownership of "elephants"

Free doesn't mean freedom (possessions can tie us down)
Proper Care and Maintenance is also part of ownership
Don't buy or (agree to own) something that weighs as much as an elephant.

Spring Clean

Cleaning is not my favorite thing to do but it is something that brings satisfaction and order to my home.

There are three tasks in home keeping that are often lumped together, we try to do them all at once and end up overwhelmed and frustrated. To simplify my home keeping I follow these steps.

Step One:                                       

De-Clutter: First throw away garbage, give things away you don’t use, are broken, have extras, need repairing or replacing.

Step Two:                             

 Organize: Put things away, pick up and stay focused. When you think you need more storage or space it’s time to get rid of stuff.

Step Three:                                    

Clean: This is a separate task but dependent on the other two. Cleaning is easier and faster if we de-clutter and organize first.

I don't do this all in one day either. Sometimes I do a day of decluttering and then a day of organizing and a quick clean. Sometimes I get after a specific room. I like to break down these tasks into smaller steps so I don't get discouraged.

I often get disgusted with all the stuuffffff  we accumulate. On Wednesday I cleared out 5 bags of garbage (paper, broken toys, things that needed to get gone) and 6 bags to donate and sell at my friends garage sale.