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Gospel-Driven Encouragement for Homemakers

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Bringing Order to Our Homes

by Marci Ferrell
Cleaning Decluttering & Organizing Series Homemaking Organization Reader Favorites

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Clutter is a real enemy.  Clutter can keep us from enjoying our families and homes as it takes up our time, can rob us of our joy, can add stress to our lives and takes up our living space. @mferrell

“When life gets too cluttered, we neglect the  important things.”

~ Emilie Barnes

Bringing Order to Our Homes:

I love to work in an orderly workspace. I love order and beauty in my home.  Studies have proven that people think clearer and better in uncluttered environments. When I finish cleaning a room or my whole house I love to just take a moment to sit with a cup of tea and a good book and enjoy the order.

Clutter is a real enemy.  Clutter can keep us from enjoying our families and homes as it takes up our time, can rob us of our joy, can add stress to our lives, and takes up our living space. 

Our homes all have different personalities because we are all different so order for one person will look different for the next person.  There are some simple questions we can all ask as we desire to bring order to our homes.  What is important to you? What activities take place in your home? How would you like your immediate family to think about or even remember your home?  These are some good starts for real change to start in your battle to conquer your clutter.

What is the Purpose of Your Home:

We already stated that our homes are all different because we all have different values and priorities. One of the first steps to decluttering is to determine the purpose and use of your spaces in your home.  The hope is your home will serve you and your family well instead of you serving your home.  If it is uncluttered and there is a purpose to each room it will be much easier to clean and keep order.

I have found I need to determine what the purpose is for each room before I can begin to declutter.  It is a simple step that seems to get neglected in most decluttering books.

Take the time to spend a few moments in each room of your house with a pen and paper in hand and write out what happens in each room.  What is the room's purpose and what activities take place in that room?  There are probably going to be one, or two at most, purposes for each room in your home.

An example would be your kitchen.  In my kitchen, we eat and fellowship around the table.  In your kitchen, you may do meals and homeschool so you're going to be dealing with how to design your kitchen around those two purposes.  In our family room, we read, watch television, DVD's and play games so my room is designed around those purposes (more than one purpose but similar).  In our bedrooms, we sleep and read.  I'm hoping you're catching on to this ;).

A Place for Everything:

If you get one thing from this post catch this one: there must be a place for everything to maintain order in your home.  The moment an item in my home doesn't have a home is the start of clutter (and it doesn't take long for clutter to build from there).

If everything has a place it makes it easier for you and your family to clean up.  You save time by not losing items and spending time looking for them.  The things you need are in the right place where you use them.

Related Podcast: EP 14 Simple Tips to a Clutter-Free Home

Put items where you find yourself using them and where they are most convenient.  It sounds simple but many of us don't do this.  A big clutter area we all seem to have is where we enter and exit our homes.  Make sure you have good storage in that area of your home.  A place for shoes, coats, keys, bags, etc.

Again, take it a room at a time and envision how you use that room and what you need to find homes for in each room.

Identifying the Clutter:

The clutter in our homes begins little by little over time.  It doesn't happen overnight and it's not fixed in a day.  We need to get to the underlying reasons for our clutter.  Much of our clutter is holding on to items that we are emotionally attached to. I'm less likely to get rid of an item if I'm emotionally attached to it.  The reality is I can't keep every memory of my children's childhood.  I need to determine which items I'm going to keep and how I'm going to store them (photos of them with an item, several items kept from each year of school or journal for each school year are some ideas to cut down on children's paperwork clutter). 

Paperwork is usually one of the big clutter areas to battle.  Have a system for your daily mail so it doesn't gather into a pile on your counter.  Try to keep papers from coming into your home.  Write appointments right into your calendar and don't take the little reminder card.  If you're comfortable do most of your banking and bill paying online.  (See my Simple Home Filing System.)

Clutter is best defined as anything you have in your home that doesn't have a purpose.  Ask yourself what the benefit is of holding on to this item.  The other area you need to consider is the amount of space you have available in your home for storage.

Eliminating Clutter:

So you've determined the purpose of each room at this point and are pondering ways to get a hold on your paperwork clutter.  You are now ready to start tearing it apart room by room so where do you start?

Remember, you can't organize clutter.  So we need to get our three bags or boxes and label them:

  1. Throw Away
  2. Give Away
  3. Put Away

Give Away is for items to donate.  Put away are for items whose purpose is not in the current room you are decluttering but need to find another spot where they are more conveniently used. The biggest bag you will probably have is throw away.  This one is obvious ;).

I encourage you to start small with drawers and cupboards and leave larger closets for last.  Just these small starts can encourage you to press on to the larger areas.  After you have determined the purpose of the room and decluttered, you can start to see if there are any storage needs that would help make it more productive and easy to clean up.

My best advice is to do a little a time and set a timer to work in that room 15-30 minutes a day until it's finished before you move to the next room.  (See my Homemaking 101 Series here on Decluttering your home one room at a time.)

Please know that this will be a continuing pattern of your life.  We never declutter once in our lives and it's over.  It is a continuous cycle that will be part of our lives while on this earth.  Clutter really will be dealt with daily.  Some of us naturally deal with clutter and others of us (me included) really need to work at it.  I have to work hard at staying organized, it is not natural for me but I love the benefits of having a home with order and not chaos.

Benefits of Decluttering: 

There are many benefits to decluttering but I think the big one is time saved.  When my home is decluttered and tidy I spend much less time cleaning and when I do clean it is extremely simplified.  My mind is freed up because I know where to find needed items, especially important papers.  I have more time to spend with my family and less time to spend cleaning and organizing.

 

“If you want to make room in your life for peace and patience, take small steps on organization, know the value of time. Snatch, seize and enjoy every minute of it!”

~Emilie Barnes

 

 

Related Resources:

How I Plan My Days

Homemaking 101 Series

My Top 5 Homemaking Tips

Simple Home Filing System

Related posts:

  1. EP 14: Simple Tips for a Clutter-Free Home
  2. Homemaking 101: Decluttering & Organizing Our Kitchens – Part One {Countertops, Kitchen Sink, Under the Kitchen Sink & Drawers}
  3. Where to Begin When You’re Overwhelmed
  4. Homemaking 101 Series: Decluttering & Organizing Our Kitchens Part Two {Refrigerator, Kitchen Table & Cupboards}


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Welcome to Thankful Homemaker

So thankful you’ve stopped by for a visit. Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit a bit. I hope to remind you that contentment in our role as homemakers begins with finding our satisfaction in Christ.

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thankfulhomemaker

Marci Ferrell
Dear friends, I recorded this episode last year af Dear friends, I recorded this episode last year after sharing my testimony with my church family. It was one of the hardest podcast episodes to work through. ⁣
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My testimony comes from one who remembers what it was like to be unsaved and seeking an abortion and now coming from the other side of being born again, a new creation in Christ and understanding the beauty of forgiveness and redemption in Christ. ⁣
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No sin is beyond the grace and forgiveness of God, even the sin of abortion. True forgiveness, hope, and healing can only be found, but it is only found in Jesus Christ. ⁣
I pray you'll listen in if you haven't yet. ⁣
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The link to the podcast is in my bio @thankfulhomemaker - click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image.
The gospel is the one great permanent circumstance The gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me. 
~ Gloria Furman
“The Christian's primary need is for wisdom and “The Christian's primary need is for wisdom and obedience to appropriate the abundance of blessings the Lord has already given. Our problem is not lack of blessings, but lack of insight and wisdom to understand and use them properly and faithfully.”⁣
~ John MacArthur⁣
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Come listen in to the new BITESIZE Podcast Episode this week - 4 Truths to Pray for One Another - at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
EP 98: BITESIZE - 4 Truths to Pray for One Another EP 98: BITESIZE - 4 Truths to Pray for One Another:⁣
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Wisdom in God's ways is something we should all desire to seek as believers and to pray for others that are in Christ.⁣
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Come listen to the episode at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image.
"Much of my learning to follow Jesus is unlearning "Much of my learning to follow Jesus is unlearning to follow myself."⁣
~ Burk Parsons
Charles Spurgeon on gentleness and respect:⁣ Ha Charles Spurgeon on  gentleness and respect:⁣
Have your doctrinal views, and all your knowledge of Christ, packed away in a handy form so that, when people want to know what you believe, you can tell them. If they wish to know why you believe that you are saved, have your answer all ready in a few plain, simple sentences; and in the gentlest and most modest spirit make your confession of faith to the praise and glory of God. Who knows but what such good seed will bring forth an abundant harvest?⁣
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#spurgeon #spurgeonquotes #apologetics #
We have a generation of people who think they can We have a generation of people who think they can stand before the judgment seat of God despite their sins. ⁣
~ R.C. Sproul
When we start our mornings with purpose, it seems When we start our mornings with purpose, it seems to help in the productivity of our day.  I always say if I get nothing else done the rest of the day because it didn't go as I planned, but I got to my morning routine, I already accomplished quite a bit.⁣
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Come watch the video at the link in my profile @thankfulomemaker - click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image.
"Reading the Bible in a year? Good. But don't just "Reading the Bible in a year? Good. But don't just read it, study it, and do so not just to brag about it but for your good and God's glory."⁣
~ Burk Parsons⁣
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Link to EP 95 Developing a Daily Bible Reading Habit in my profile @thankfulhomemaker - click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image 😍🎧
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