Photo by Kristiewells

Yesterday I talked about three steps Christi and I took to getting our family out from under credit card debt.  We realized debt held our future hostage with false promises of immediate satisfaction.  If we wanted to have the family we envisioned when we married, we needed to pay off debt now, as fast as possible.

As we got our debt under control, we realized something else robbed us of the time we needed to develop the relationships with our kids – clutter.  We didn’t have room for the stuff we had!  Closets were overflowing!  The house took a lot of time to clean because there wasn’t a place for everything.  Some of our possessions were nomadic – they moved from room to room, depending on which room needed to be clean at that time.  We didn’t possess our possessions, they possessed us!

Possessions require maintenance.  That means spending money or time to keep them functioning well.  While it may be two minutes here or there, it eventually adds up. The idea is to get rid of things that consume your space and leech your time.

So we are clearing the clutter.  We can’t do it all at once.  Instead, we’re doing it drawer-by-drawer, closet-by-closet.

Some Things We’ve Learned so Far

If you haven’t worn something in over a year, you’re probably not going to wear it again.  If it’s in good shape, donate it to the local charity.  If it isn’t, why do you still have it?

You don’t need 50 coffee mugs.  Pair it down to seven – one for each day of the week.  Even that is stretching it.

If you have empty picture frames you have three options: fill them, toss/donate them, or gift them.

If you can’t remember when, where, or why you bought that knick-knack, you probably don’t need to keep it.

If it’s broken, throw it away.

Getting Started

Don’t kill yourself.  Start with one closet and one drawer per weekend.  When you’re done, enjoy some time with your family.  Celebrate getting the clutter on under control. (We do not recommend a celebration shopping spree! ) If you do this every weekend, you will eventually go through everything.

And you will be one step closer to designing the family life you want rather than letting life get the best of you.

Are you successfully clearing away the clutter in your house?  What tips have you picked up that could help the rest of us?

My daughter (7) will be on her way to camp this coming Thursday.  She’ll only be gone for four days, but it will be the longest she has ever been away from home.

Christi and I came up with one quick way to remind our daughter of our love while she was gone.  We labeled four envelops – one for each day she would be gone.  In the envelope we included a short note from Daddy, a short note from Mommy, and a little money for the snack shack for that day.

Did your children go to camp?  Are they going to camp?  What did you do to remind them of your love while they were gone?

Photo by Sean Dreilinger

I like a clean house.  After we had two kids, I allowed the clutter and chaos to stress me out.  I rode my family pretty hard and made everyone misrable.

I tried everything – Saturday chores and a half-hearted attempt at sticker charts.  I even hired a cleaning service – and stressed about cleaning everything before they showed up.

I didn’t want to do everything because I wanted them to learn how to clean for themselves, but I was going out of my mind.

Then I discovered micro-chores.

Basically, I walk through the house and make mental notes of age-appropriate chores that my kids can finish in 10-15 minutes.  I check their rooms, their bathroom floor, and the livingroom.  On the weekends, randomly, I call the kids in from what they are doing and give them their micro-chore.  Sometimes it is something they can finish together.  Sometimes they have individual chores.  Regardless, I try to make it something they can do in 10-15 minutes that moves them one step close to a clean room and the family one step closer to a clean house.

Some examples:

• Go to your room and put all the toys that have wheels where they go.
• Pick up all the clothes in your bathroom and put them with the dirty clothes.
• Make your bed.
• Pick up all the stuffed animals and put them where they go.
• Switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer. (We have front-loaders.)

My kids know that once they’ve finished their micro-chore that they can go back to whatever they were doing before I interrupted.  If they complain, then we have to stop and clean the whole thing together. (I only had to enforce this once during Saturday cartoons.)

Things aren’t perfect and we still have our moments.  (Under the bed is not where the toys with wheels go!) By and large, though, cleaning up is a lot less stressful.

Micro-chores work well for me, but I know they aren’t the only thing out there.  What do you do to get your kids involved in cleaning the house?

We decided to decorate pumpkins Mr. Potato Head style this Halloween.  We bought the kits at our local WalMart and Christi had a great time letting them choose which pieces they wanted to incorporate into their pumpkins.  Remarkably, there were no fights.  Each one had a vision and knew what they needed to make it happen.  (Fortunately their visions didn’t overlap, in this case!)

I am in Grand Rapids, MI, at an Internet conference.  Christi set me this picture from her phone.  Thank God for cellphones and digital cameras!  At least I don’t feel so disconnected while I’m traveling the globe.

Anyway, I’d love to see some of your family’s halloween art.  Take some time and post pictures in the comments, or link back to pictures on your own blog.