I am excited to introduce you to our Featured Blogger: Bec who blogs over at Little Lucy Lu. She is sharing with us a fabulous challenge on Living Simply for 2012 with the 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge. Don’t worry you dont’ have to do it in 40 consecutive days, read on and get the details.
Happy New Year, everyone!
I’m Bec … the mommy manning the keyboard over at Little Lucy Lu.
I’m a kindergarten teacher by day …. and a blogger by — well, probably just in my dreams, really.
But my blog is certainly something I ENJOY!
And BEST of all, I am a wife to Scott and a mommy to my little girl, Lucy.
I’m thrilled to be here today to tell you about my goal for 2012.
Are you a resolution maker?
I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m the resolution-type … but I am a goal-setter, and I do have a strong desire to LIVE SIMPLY in 2012. –Or at least, to live MORE simply!
I desire to want less. To be content with less. To even, be happy with less.
Less stress. Less busy. Less obligation. Less STUFF.
(Doesn’t that sound good…?)
Oh, how I would love to have a NEW house again.
Why? …. One of the reason is because my brand-spankin’-new house had nothing in it!
Okay … maybe it had a few things in it, but compared to the amount of STUFF it has acquired throughout the past eight years, it felt like nothing!
Where to begin my search for simplicity?
Last Spring, I discovered this fabulous idea, traveling through the blogosphere — the “40 Bags in 40 Days” challenge!
The general idea behind this challenge:
- Is to purge your house of forty bags of STUFF.
- One bag each day, for forty days.
I know, I know. FORTY!? As in 40 bags!?
Yes.
You read that right.
And I’m here to tell you, it is not as hard as you may think!
There are more places, spaces, drawers, shelves, nooks, crannies, and closets in (and around) your house than you realize, I bet!
Here’s a little peek at MY list from last year:
As you can see, some of my spaces are pretty typical clutter-collectors — I mean, HELLO….? Who doesn’t have a junk drawer somewhere in their house!?
But how about your makeup bag? Or the bath toys? Or your cookbooks? (You could probably live with ten instead of twenty, right?)
Try to get creative and think outside the box when making your list! What part of your house are you going to hit first?
These are the words I kept repeating as I sorted through my closets, drawers, and cabinets.
Is it REALLY useful? Is it REALLY beautiful?
*Both of these questions, I might add, are subject to opposition from the ol’ husband if you’re {ahem} — nice enough to ask him. Might I suggest that you don’t ask his opinion (just this once!) …. and that you use black (non-see-through!) garbage bags when attacking this challenge!
…..Unless you would like 3/4 of your purged items to end up back in your house somewhere!?
You’re just going to have to trust me on this one.