{ 40 Bags in 40 Days }

So in 2 days the Liturgical Season of LENT will be starting and I am so excited this year to do the 40 Bags in 40 Days purge of our home. I have been reading Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne and it has been lifechanging for me. Even though my husband and I have tried to simplify our belongings, I still find that I have so much to care for, clean, organize, etc and I long to reduce more. I find that my kids do better as well when they don't have as many things to care for. The 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge will coincide nicely with what I have been reading over the past week or so. One of my favorite bloggers, Clover Lane blogs about this every year and I have found her posts to be so inspiring.

She says on her site, "Why Lent?  To me, Lent is a time of prayer, renewal, self-reflection, sacrifice, self-control, repentance and almsgiving.  It does seem silly to me to somehow try to link a good old home decluttering with something as deeply spiritual as the Lenten season, but the first time I did 40 bags/40 days it was much more meaningful to me than just getting rid of junk.  I thought long and hard about how much we really needed vs. how much we had, I became more aware of how we spent our time and money, I had the chance to feel the rewards of charity (and so did my children) giving away to those in need some of the things we took for granted.  It was a physical cleansing of the space we were all growing together in, as a family, but it also freed up space in my heart and mind for awareness and purpose-I didn't want my house buried under "stuff" and I didn't want my heart and mind buried under "stuff" either-and I learned that often the physical reflects the spiritual and vice versa. Clover Lane

Basically, you use the time of Lent which is 40 days to purge and clean your house in preparation for Easter. Obviously you can do this type of clean-up any time of the year but there is something very special about Lent that lends itself to remodeling, remaking and removing the junk and distractions from our home. I for one find it good for my soul and spirit to do positive actions for Lent in addition to giving something up.

You begin by making a list of the spaces you want to purge, one place for each day and you clean that spot as you make your way down the list. Each day you fill a bag from the space you are cleaning. A bag is as you define it- it could be as small as a plastic store bag and as big as a garbage bag. I did this last year for Lent and found it so satisfying to accomplish. Join me this Lent in simplifying your home by removing that which clutters and clogs it up and let's see how we do.

Here is Part 1 of my list