40 Bags in 40(ish) days...

Simple. Organized. Intentional. Those are my words of 2012. Eric and I have decided to strive for a simpler life. Not so much stuff. Not so much chaos. Subsequently, organization should fall into place. I used to be crazy organized. Like I was borderline having to turn the light switch on and off 20 times before I could leave a room. Finger widths would separate my all white hangers in my ROYGBIV color coded closet. What happened? Eric, bless his heart, asks that question, sometimes out loud and other times under his breath, daily. What happened you ask??

Yeah. They happened. Know what? They don't care one bit about organization. But deep down, I do. I really, really do. I will be there again. Maybe not as OCD, but close. And you know what, I do want the kids to be organized. I know it helps kids. I know that my step-son THRIVES when his environment is organized and scheduled. Much to my husband's dismay, my crazy quirks have somehow fizzled out the past four years, but never fear Babe, she's a coming back.


The last word is a new one for me. Intention. I want to live with intention. I want to be intentional with my time. Intentional with my relationships- especially with Eric. I want to be intentional with my kids. Intentional in our growing relationship with God and the church. Intentional in creating the life that God has created for us. Intentional with our finances (thank you Dave Ramsey). Just live intentionally, daily.

What does any of this have to do with 40 bags? I will tell ya. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Tomorrow marks 40 days until Easter. I have never participated in Lent, but when I saw this post from a blog I just adore, I knew this was something I could do. In my head, I kinda thought about saying good-bye to the good Dr. (Dr. Pepper), but decided that getting rid of stuff would be more doable. So, thank you Sarah for the amazing idea!

Here is the schedule (simplified and organized of course) for our purge. Each day I will work on the scheduled area and fill a bag (or 3) with stuff we just don't need anymore. I will have a trash bag, a goodwill bag and a yard sale bag for each area.  There are not exactly 40 days scheduled because I know us and we may not be able to do a day- if that makes sense. Plus, Eric needs to be home for the garage one- so I have been told. Apparently he thinks I will unjustly get rid of stuff. Is it my fault that he has 5 carburetors and a crap ton of fishing stuff? No.   I am stoked. Buh-bye clutter and extra crap-o-la that we don't need.

So that is our mission. And we totally choose to accept it.