As the name of my blog indicates, I spend a lot of time thinking about home. Of course, my Heavenly Home is the one that is eternal, so that’s where I need to lay up my treasures, and that’s the one I’m striving for. But in the meantime, I have been given this tiny piece of the here-and-now—this home on the edge of town, this family, this neighborhood—in which to serve Him. And, though this is in the earthly realm, I want the things that happen here to be investments in the Heavenly realm.




Monday, February 21, 2011

Organization (By a Non-Guru) :: Tip 3


Keep what you love.


Do you really love it?  Then find a home for it.  If you don't really love it,  then give it away to someone who will love it.  If there is no one who will really love it, then throw it away. 

(This is another of my simple ideas...although this tip looks simpler in print than it is in real life.  That is, real life in which more than one person lives in the house.  As in...there are some of uswho shall remain namelesswho want to keep everything.  Everything.)  

To keep my house organized, I find that I must purge, and purge often.  And my criteria for keeping an item is "Do I love it?" 

A few months ago, my table linens were stacked on a top shelf in my laundry room and they were a bit hard to reach.  Worse than that, they were wedged so tightly that when I pulled a tablecloth or a runner off the shelf, three or four more came with it.  And because they were up so high, I had a frustrating time of replacing the ones that I wasn't using. 

But I love my table linens and they needed a home. 

My paper napkin collection had also grown too big for its designated home.  Okay...homes (plural), because the napkins were lodging in the coffee cabinet and the seasonal storage bins in the attic and a shelf in the laundry room and wherever else I could stuff them. 

But I love my paper napkins, and they needed a (bigger) home too. 

Since these are things that I love, I decided that I would find a home for them...


...and this is the home that I found...
a cabinet in my living room
(which, of course, I had to purge to make room for these things that I love).








Now it is a pleasure to choose a tablecloth for a party or a package of napkins for Sunday afternoon dessert...all because I made a home for the things that I love. 

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Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”    ~  William Morris

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Other posts in this series:

5 comments:

  1. Love it! It looks so nice and neat. You have such great ideas for keeping your home in order. I like that they are simple.

    I purge often and it makes our home feel like it is bigger than it actually is. Otherwise, it feels like it's shrinking. ;-)

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  2. That's a really good motto! I try to make room for things I love, and get rid of the things that are only taking up space. I love your cabinet too, so pretty and rustic!

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  3. I want to grow up to be like you, Cheryl!
    Love,
    Ann...who doesn't purge...

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  4. I have a silly question. What do you do with the few pretty paper napkins that are left over from an event? Not enough for another event but not wanting to throw them away. Do you keep a misc. stack?

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  5. Mama Buzzard, that's a good question! There are several things that I do with leftover napkins.

    1) If I have at least 11, I save them for our Sunday afternoon meals. My daughter and her family come most Sundays, and so with her family of 7 and our family of 4, we need 11 napkins. I usually use them at dessert time.

    2) I use them as props with my recipe photos for my blog.

    3) If there are fewer than 11, but at least 4, I'll use them for dinner or with dessert for our immediate family.

    4) If there are fewer than 4, I put them in the drawer with our everyday white paper napkins and anyone can grab one as needed.

    I never throw them away! :D

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