Project 20:14 Hurry Up and Wait 11

June was rife with bumps in the road, more than the usual number of bumps that is.  We lost two very dear family members, our oldest dogs, within weeks of one another.  I also seemed to have quite a lot of meetings that I needed to attend.  My "oldest-still-at-home" was gone for two weeks with camps which meant a lot of creative scheduling for the activities of the home.

Our son was in the throws of swim team season and while this was tons of fun, it did take away from our available "de-owning" time.  

I did start and finish the boys' room as I eluded to in my previous post.  Here are a few shots of the progress.

Mid Clean Out

Typically what the room looked like

"The bed IS made, Mom!"

After the initial clean out, we felt it looked pretty good, but we were ready to make some changes.

We chose a color scheme and spent a good week painting.  The hardest part was covering the trim which had previously been a blue color.  NEVER PAINT TRIM ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHITE!  

The boys are much happier in their room and in the month that it has been cleaned out, I can honestly say, they have been able to maintain it's order because there is so much less in it!  An added bonus is that they actually play with the few toys, (hot wheels and legos) that remain and read the few books that were their favorites.

Its not magazine perfect, but it works perfectly for them!

I am now in the throws of my master bedroom and closet.  It is a struggle.  I find I am not motivated because it is so daunting a task.  I think part of the de-motivation is seeing the areas that I have decluttered just a few short weeks ago, mainly my kitchen, quickly fill with odds and ends from well-intentioned folks returning plastic ware that was never mine to the souveniers from VBS and other summer programs that society feels MUST accompany everyone home.  Speaks  to the fact that the "experience" itself isn't enough...we just have to have "stuff" to validate the memory.  How a water bottle confirms spending a week in deep prayer and contemplation, I'll never know....

So, as I blog this post, I can admit, I am procrastinating working in my bedroom.  I did get a good start on my closet.  I have just lost steam.  I am getting things done, just not as rapidly as I had hoped.  And today, I bought more clothing.  I am determined to remove  several pieces from the existing clothing pile (which I did cull through quite mercilessly two weeks ago) to make room for the new pieces.

It's not all fun and games de-owning things, but I have no doubt that the less I have, the more freedom I will experience and the easier it will become to let go of even more.