I’ve been clearing things out pretty much since the week after Christmas. Slowly, just taking time to think about how I want my spaces to look and feel. For the past couple of days I keep hearing my brain tell myself (does this ever happen to you?) “Use what you have.” I can’t even count the number of times I hear myself saying this to myself. Is this inspiration? not sure, but I’m paying attention and thinking about all the ways that this can be applied toward my efforts to SIMPLIFY.

Groceries: I’m no hoarder but there are plenty of things in my freezer and pantry that I can use up before buying ingredients for meals. I don’t have years’ old anything but I can definitely say I have things that I should use. I’m talking entire meals with the exception of maybe the vegetable. I planned my weekly menu this week with this principle in mind and really only picked up a few things at the grocery store this morning. I’ll check in at the end of the week and let you know how this went.

Craft supplies: I have a craft shelf in the basement and my daughters have stores of the things they frequently use in their closet. I’m determined to use what I have before making another run to the craft store. We were going a lot during Advent and that’s fine, but I really want to use what we have. My older dd asked today if we could go to Michael’s because beading supplies are 40% off. This is the tricky part. If I tell her to use what she already has, will she be less inspired? That’s the dilemma when kids and creativity are involved. I’ll see how this goes.

Books: This is my weakness. As a homeschooler, book purchases (leisure and curriculum) are easily justified but not always necessary. I have plenty of books for all of us to use without buying more for the moment. Remembering to “use what I have” applies perfectly to homeschooling books.

I will only add to this that I also am determined to “get rid of what I don’t use”. So, I’ll rephrase my goal “Use what you have and let go of what you don’t use!” That second part has crept in and I think it will help.