The first house I lived in when I moved out on my own.
It was more "pink" when I lived there.
- From my parents to my first "rental share" (one year)
- Hubby's aunt's camp here at home (summer we were married)
- First apartment together (one year)
- Next apartment - 1/4 mile down the road from the first (one year)
- Two hours south (hubby gets his first engineering job) - we lived in "the big city" (one year)
- Moved to the country (B14 is now born) (one year)
- Bought our first house! (Two years) N9 is born 3 months before..
- Downsized to an apartment so I can stay home with the boys. (3 years)
- Moved "home" - this will be our 7th year here!
As you can see by those dates, this is the longest we have ever lived anywhere in our 17-1/2 years together. I never really had that many issues with clutter accumulating because we moved every few years. Until we moved here the longest we had ever lived somewhere was three years. We're now entering our 7th!
Needless to say, there is a ton of stuff that must go!
Over the last few days I have seen an interesting challenge out there in my blog reading...."40 Bags, 40 Days." The challenge is to start the day of Lent (Ash Wednesday - March 9th) and go through all of the rooms of your home and get rid of stuff. You know - the things you've kids have outgrown. The things that are just taking up space. The things that are broken. The things you just don't need anymore! By the time Easter arrives, your house will be all "spring cleaned" and ready to go.
I had already started on this a bit before I even knew of the challenge. I was going to wait until the snow left and do a "clean sweep" of my home (anyone remember that great TLC show?). I still may do this as there are some repairs that need to be made around here as well. My bathroom ceiling needs painting, my kitchen cabinets need some of their doors hung back up, and other minor things.
Because of the continuing cold weather and snow (life in Maine right now), I wasn't going to take on this challenge right now. Then I realized tonight - I need to! I'm pretty sure I'm going to give up some of my computer time for Lent again. Last year I gave up Facebook. I got so much done!
If you are interested in joining me, let me know. I read about the challenge over at Clover Lane. So go check it out!
I'm with you on the moving thing! Our house in Hartland is the long I've ever lived anywhere...10 years!
ReplyDeleteThis is a constant battle for us! I've got a box in the garage that I keep filling up. Sometimes I just go through the house after the kiddos are asleep with a few plastic shopping bags, purging. This is probably the easiest because it's small amounts, then I tie off the bag and toss it in my donation pile in the garage.
ReplyDeleteMy son has gotten the age where is is better at purging his own things(old tapes and books) if I ask. He used to hold onto everything.
My daughter keeps having growth spurts, so I've been changing her clothes out fairly regularly these past 12 month. She jumped into a size seven top and size 6x bottom, and she's only five. It has been hard to keep up - thankful for Wallyworld and thrift deals! I guess it's easier with three boys - you can pass things down.
This is looks like a great challenge - I'll click through to check it out. :)