40 Bags Inspiration from the Gospel

Last Lent I mentioned this same scripture as something of an inspiration for this challenge.  I found it rather fitting that this was the scripture reading the last Sunday of Ordinary Time.  I meant to write about this earlier, but alas the day to day activity of a young family prohibited it.  So here is my inspiration for our continued journey to de-clutter this Lent.  

Gospel MT 6:24-34

Jesus said to his disciples:
“No one can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds in the sky;
they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are not you more important than they?
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.
They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was clothed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass of the field,
which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,
will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’
or ‘What are we to drink?’or ‘What are we to wear?’
All these things the pagans seek.
Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”

Much of our life revolves around our quality of life.  For many of us this quality of life centers around our house, our belongings, our clothing and for our little children the number of toys they have compared to their siblings.  As the gospel points out we cannot serve two masters.  So the question is, are we serving our desire's hold over us to attain a certain status with stuff, or are we serving our Lord with the blessings he has gifted us.  

So this Lent, as I've mentioned before, I'm eliminating duplicates.  I have two knife stands on my counter.  Do I need both?  NO!  I do use knives from both, but I can get by with one so another family can use the one I don't NEED.  My closet has a couple of items that look similar.  Do I need both of them or are they similar enough to be interchangeable?  My children have too many toys.  Does my son really need matchbox cars and the Tonka cars?  No.  So I will be teaching my children the lesson of simplifying our lives.  

Good luck on your 40 Bags.  I hope you are able to use this as a teaching/evangelizing lesson for your family or community.  

Are your 40 Bags ready for use?

As I mentioned yesterday I'm trying to get my home life in order after my disastrous 2013 (home organization/time speaking).  With that, I'm constantly looking around my home to see what needs to be done in order for my life to operate more efficiently.  With that thought process in mind I determined my new goal for this 2014: 40 Bags Challenge.  I will be eliminating duplicates.  I plan to purge/donate/sell anything that I have double of.  Last year I was focusing on everything having a home.  It was going fairly well until it wasn't. I still plan to do that as we all know from toy organization (or lack of), a home base for all items is essential to organization.

Duplicity is evident in every area of my home.  My kitchen has two butcher block knife sets.  I have a tendency to own multiples of one kind of clothing item.  Books on the same topics, coats, pans, crafting stuff, cookbooks.  I'm sure some of you will find that is true in your home too.

In years past I've gone room by room.  With my new goal in mind for this year I am going by bag count.  That way if I have an unexpected event that causes me to miss a day I won't be bound by room delegations.

What are your plans for this years Challenge?  If you haven't thought ahead maybe you should start.  Lent will be here before you know it!

Jessica

40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge

Well my list is up!  Check out the page by this title.

Now my biggest tip which I forgot to mention sooner, is plan ahead for organization!  If you know you'll need extra totes or a label maker get them!  I have an idea in mind for my pots/pan organization for when I go through it, I still need to buy the rack.

My bag size will change based on the day and area.  Some areas will be whole totes full of items.  Other will be grocery sack days.  For me this is about simplifying life, so I'm not going to stress on my daily donation amount.  In the end I know I'll have more than enough stuff to give away.

Good luck!
Jessica

Prepping for 40 Bags in 40 Days

Its that time of year again.  I wonder if this pregnancy has been keeping me sick just long enough for my house to be a total disaster right before I start this challenge. Perhaps this is the type of task to get my lazy bum off the pity party I'm having for my stomach not agreeing with me after every meal. Just means the baby is doing well. Right?

Well in looking up what others do for their 40 Bag challenge I found a site that seems to have begun this tradition.  There are several wonderful quote and ideas.  So please take the time to look it over and plan your own.  Simply Catholic

Over the next several days I'll be cementing my own plan and posting it here for you to follow along.  My own advice from last year is to think rationally about the time commitment! All of us are busy, all of us don't want to feel burdened by yet another task to complete this Lent.  The rooms that will take more than simply a day I plan for several.  Frankly, my basement gets a week and so does my garage.  Nic's room will probably get a day and so will Amelia's, but my closet could get its very own day.  Look on Pinterest for those of you in need of some organizational inspiration.  I have what I think is a great board organization tips. I'm not sure if this link will work if you're not currently following me (I've never tried) but here it is. Organization 

Oh and don't forget about your car.  One tip I read and followed through with was the clean my car on day one.  This enabled me to take the bag directly out of the house and place it in my car the day I completed it.  I'd go once a week to  the Union Gospel Mission and donate my items.  Maybe we could all be the Catholic invasion into their great  charity. I like the people I've dealt with there, and frankly its just an easy drop off location for me.  I go to the one on Sprague west of Pines.

So to finish this introduction I'll finish with how I began last year's challenge:

“Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.” Thomas Kempis