Tag: cultivate2013

Do you hoard things? Take a look around your house. Are you finding things that nurture you or weigh you down? What can you give away or throw away? Can you maintain a monthly, quarterly, biannual, or yearly decluttering plan?

I find that we hoard too much paper. Bills, ads, school fliers — our piles of paper accumulate too quickly and get thrown into the trash too little. (Yes, I know they should be recycled — we don’t have a bin in our subdivision, and I’m not looking for perfection here. I need a system first!)

I’ve tried some methods already out there online, but it doesn’t take much to fall off the wagon. I need to set up regular times to go through everything — times that work around our schedules. We can’t keep getting weighed down by ink and paper. It’s funny how the very mediums that bring me so much joy also bring me so much stress.

I think we’ve got too many clothes, too. I’ve got clothes I don’t wear anymore that I should donate. I need to go through my children’s clothes to donate my younger two’s smaller clothes. It takes up valuable space in our closets, dressers, and boxes in the attic. We need to stay on top of these things to prevent a backlog of clutter.

What chores and tasks need to be repeated on weekly basis? Do you keep up with them? Is there a better way to manage them?

We need to make sure the bathrooms, kitchen, windows, and dusting get done once a week. Again, we aren’t involving the kids as much as we could. It wouldn’t take much to get the smaller to kids to clean kitchen cabinets with soapy water. They’re at the perfect height to wipe them without having to get on their hands and knees. I hate scrubbing the toilets, but my oldest loves cleaning. He can do something that he won’t mind as much as I do.

Again, we need to instate a chore chart method. It’ll be easier to keep up with if the kids get incorporated into these necessary tasks. They need to learn these tasks for their future, and they need to feel involved. These tasks can build their confidence just as much as take the pressure off me and my husband.

What’s your least favorite room/ space in your home? What makes it so frustrating/ annoying? How can you nurture this room/ space to cultivate a better atmosphere?

I think the laundry room annoys me the most. We have shelves that seem only to house clutter and junk. Junk piles on top of my dryer. The attic is above the washer — and has stolen more than its fair share of important items and documents. It feels like we never make any progress on it, and it currently feels too cramped to comfortably do laundry.

We’ve got to change this. The laundry room is where we wash our favorite clothes and linens. We need to throw out the junk we don’t want, donate the old, small clothes, and reorganize the shelves. We need to get into the attic and repeat that same process. It’s time to get things minimized and manageable.

What’s your favorite room/ space in your home? What makes it so special? How can you maintain its ability to cultivate your life worth loving?

I actually have three favorite spaces in my home — the front porch, the back deck, and the bar counter. Since it’s been too cold to sit outside, I’ve been trying to make time at the bar counter. I like to sit with my tea, laptop, and/ or notebooks and think. The extra space allows me to spread out my supplies and relax. I also get to enjoy staring at my kitchen. I love the shady trees that surround my deck, and I love the mountain views from my porch. Sitting outside always refreshes my attitude, too. The wind rustling through the trees, the birds singing, the clouds floating by — it’s relaxing.

While there’s not much I can do to maintain myt porch and deck so they can cultivate me during the colder winter weeks, I can nurture my bar counter better. It tends to attract clutter when I’m not home. I’m considering some new ways of maintaining our home to prevent that from happening. I’m sure we can fashion some “inboxes” or erect shelves to keep our home a little more orderly — and to keep that bar counter open for enjoyment. In the warmer months, it’s really all about pest control — I do NOT love the wasps and spiders that over-run the outside of my home.