Getting started

Well, I did get started on staging my mutiny against all our stuff.  Sort of.  I typed up my initial plans and what exactly we have too much of.  Everything, really...except money.  But we have enough and that's okay.

So, I have decided to start with possessions in the month of March.  I hope to find some time in between school and baseball games to get in my creepy, cold basement and start purging things in my collection of fabric, art supplies, and everyday items that I tend to hoard because I think they will make a cool art project.  (I've got to stop that!)

Now, I'm not gonna lie.  I have a motive for purging all of our stuff that has nothing to do with the fact we are overrun by it.  I am taking a group of 4 students to Spain in June and I don't want to put unnecessary financial strain on my family so I need to make a few extra bucks (well, a few hundred bucks) so that my family doesn't suffer financially while I'm gone for 11 days.  The emotional stress will have them suffering enough, along with the fact that they will actually have to do things for themselves.  Hey, I only take these trips every 2-3 years so I'm going to enjoy every second of it and have my kids learn some good life lessons about how to survive without mom!

I also want to have a swap party where you invite your friends/family to bring a few items they don't want and you get together and swap it.  I've actually tried to plan one of these things before (I even found my notes in a folder I was cleaning out) but I never followed through with it.  I think I will plan that during Spring Break since the kids will be out of school, I'll be out of school, and we could stay up all night without having any major responsibilities, like work, the next day!

I hope that by ridding ourselves of all these useless things, that we can spend more time as a family, purchase what we really need instead of what we want, and bless others in the process.  I do plan to just give some of our things away to those who need it more than we do.  And, of course, if it comes down to make a buck or bless someone who can't pay, the latter will happen every time.  We have been blessed when we were at our lowest and I truly believe in spreading the love and blessings to everyone.

Month One - Possessions will begin on March 1st and will last the entire month.  I hope to get my children involved and explain to them why we need to do this.  I'm not sure what the second month will be but I will plan that as month one progresses.  I'm excited about this adventure.

Stay Positive!
Jen

Planning my own mutiny

I've been reading a book the past week and a half.  What?  How have I had time to read?  Snow days.  We've had lots of snow days.  And I absolutely love this book.  I will probably read it again when I'm finished and highlight the really good stuff.

I had heard about this on the wonderful web and thought I'd give it a try.  I'm always thinking we have way too much stuff - physically, emotionally, etc.  I tried to find it for free at my local library but that was a fail.  Not really wanting to purchase the download from Amazon, I kept holding out thinking I could find someone who already had it and just borrow it or convince my library to purchase it.  Nope.  None of the above.  I took my daughter on a rare visit to the movies and we stopped at a major bookstore - just to browse.  Nope.  That didn't happen either.  Now, if you don't really know my daughter and me, we don't just browse through books.  We love them.  Cherish them.  Use them.  It was her first time in said bookstore and she was in heaven.  She had a hard time deciding how much of her saved Christmas money she was willing to spend in this "best store ever".  But, I digress.

I found the book and purchased it, along with a couple of ACT prep books for my teenager.  He has yet to take a practice test while I am almost finished with my purchased treasure.

To summarize, the author (also a Jen like me) is tired of all the stuff taking over her family and disrupting her relationship building with God.  I like this.  I've been thinking this too.  So she came up with 7 areas of excess and spent 30 days on each area.  Some of her areas were food, clothing, media, possessions, and spending.  I'm with ya!

So, I have been secretly planning my own mutiny, to begin shortly after I finish reading the book.  I still need a lot of prayer and motivation.  I will brainstorm and identify our specific areas of excess and how I want to tackle them.  I'm not sure if I can do it exactly the way she did but I'm not sure I want to.  This is personal and I need to make it work for me so that I can grow from it.

These past few snow days has made me focus more on this than I probably would have if I had been casually reading a little at night after a long day of work and running kids to practices.  But I think God wanted it that way.  He has been speaking to me more lately and I've been listening more.  Or maybe He's always been speaking to me this much, I just didn't listen.  Either way, I'm listening now and I'm inspired.  Inspired to be a better daughter of my King, a better wife, a better mother, and a better teacher.  But that's all to come when I figure out the details of this little mutiny.

Until then, stay positive and count your blessings!
Jen