Goodbye stroller, goodbye wagon...

I have been asking myself all week, "Do I really need this?" Sometimes the answer is "yes" and other times "maybe" and a few times there has been a bittersweet "no".

Tonight I continued the purging and cleaning and, thanks to the cool after-rain weather, I decided to tackle the garage. For those of you who don't know, the garage is my nemesis. I will spend a whole Saturday to put everything where it belongs, sweeping and decluttering, only for it to be returned to a complete disaster in a matter of days.

One of my biggest garage challenges had always been age-appropriate ride-on toys for 6 children and two adults. Strollers, wagons, pedal car, push cars, trikes, bikes, scooters, and then just plain stuff. This evening as I was working it occurred to me that in the last year or so the only time we have taken the big red wagon out of the garage was to get to something else. I have taken the stroller places recently, but it only ends up being used as a hard-to-maneuver purse and kid stuff holder. So, as sad as it was, I packed it up and took it to my mom's for the upcoming garage sale, along with two car loads full of stuff. I am hoping the garage stays clean for a little longer now...

This week I plan to keep purging and cleaning and organizing. We need to start school again on the 27th, with our new fall "co-op" of sorts starting the following Friday. I want to "put everything in its place" and make an easy to keep up with cleaning schedule.

All the time I have been cleaning and purging, I keep being reminded of Hebrews 12:1 - Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

It has been good for me, to lay aside this weight of stuff. The process has challenged me to consider my priorities, my buying habits, as well as revealed that organized hoarding is just as bad as disorganized hoarding. I have been able to sympathize with my children who struggle to put their stuff away (even though they have clearly labeled bins), they have benefited from letting some stuff go, as hard as it is sometimes...