Kathi Lipp's Blog, page 65
April 24, 2017
Let’s Get Rid of Some Stuff! Join the 2017 Spring Fling!
OK friends, it seems like we are all in need of a bit of help.
Recently, on my Facebook page, I asked the simple question: “What is your biggest clutter challenge? Your bedroom, kitchen, office, garage?”
The response, was a bit overwhelming to say the least. Here are just a few of the comments:
“Yes, all of it!! With 5 kids that don’t seem to have a cooperative bone in them (at least when it comes to organization and cleanliness), it is all a pit!” – Laura
“Desk. Because everything is ‘important’ and needs to be visible so I remember to do something with it, (she said from 6 feet under…).” – Diane
“Garage! No attic or basement so everything from extra files, books, bikes, tools, holiday decor & clothes (waiting for kids to grow into next size) are in there. It’s truly my nemesis!!” – Laura
“Oh, if I were to be truly honest, it would be my craft stash… yarn, beads, fabric…it totally takes over my office.” – Rita
And finally,
“Let’s be honest….all of it.” – Amanda
So here at Clutter Free we love a good clutter challenge. From the sounds of these responses, it seems like revving up for summer we are all in desperate need of one.
Starting May 1 and ending May 12th we will have our first annual “Spring Fling!” Here’s how it works:
1. Over 10 days, (weekends off to rest or, more likely, catch up,) you will be given one assigned room and instructions of what twenty items to “fling.”
2. We will have a private Facebook group where you can share your victories, get accountability, and share your photos of what you’ve “flinged!”
3. To participate, just make sure you are signed up to receive our blog, and then join our Facebook group.
4. At the end of the challenge, we will be picking a random winner from each day who completed the challenge to receive a copy of Kathi’s book The Cure for the Perfect Life, all about perfectionism, people-pleasing, preformancism and procrastination. (All things that lead to clutter!)
So let’s see, only 10 days and 200 things out of your house? What a great way to head into summer.
Won’t you join us for a Spring Fling? Your house will thank you.
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April 18, 2017
Episode #248: Clutter Free Travel
Kathi and Co-host Erin MacPherson discuss their summer travel plans and how to travel clutter free. Both are taking big trips and need to pack lightly.
Kathi is taking a month sabbatical in celebration of her 50th birthday. She plans to spend 10 days at home and 20 days traveling with lots of R & R (Rest and Roger).
Erin is heading on a road trip with her husband, children, and parents in one SUV. They will be traveling to Florida and then up the eastern coast through Georgia, South Carolina, then across to the Great Smokey Mountains and then to Nashville and back home.
Clutter Free Tips
They discuss packing tips, using ebags (packing cubes), and how to find great places to stay that feel like home.
If just one or two people are traveling, Kathi recommends AirBnB.
If you have a family and need more room, Erin recommends VRBO. Both places give you the comforts of home (kitchen, laundry, mores space, etc.).
Listen in to learn how to plan your own clutter free travel.
Eat Out and Save Money? Yes, Please!
Have you ever thought, “We should eat out less often — for the sake of our wallets and our waistlines!” Maybe you tried tracking your purchases, keeping almonds in our purses, and beating yourself up. But nothing ever seems to work. What if I told you I could eat out and save money?
A restaurant tax
I decided to do something drastic. I instituted a surcharge for each meal I didn’t make at home. It was a bold move, but I can do anything for a month, right?
I told myself I could eat out or order in as often as I wanted, guilt-free. However, as long as each time I did, I tucked away an equivalent amount of money in a special envelope.
A $10 trip to the Burger House now cost me $20.
Thai food for the family meant spending $90 instead of $45.
And a frou-frou coffee drink was $8, not $4.
To keep myself honest, I imposed a non-negotiable rule: my “tax” was due at the time service was rendered. If I didn’t have the cash to put into my envelope immediately, I couldn’t place my order. It’s difficult enough scrounging through the nooks and crannies of my purse and minivan to find money for a burger on the run. But now I had to find twice as much.
I assumed this experiment would drastically reduce how frequently I ate out, because eating out is expensive, and I had just doubled the cost.
A surprising result
At the end of the month, I removed the bulging envelope from my desk drawer and held the stack of small bills in my hand, curious to see how much I had collected. My heart beat faster as I counted: $185, $190 — I was holding over $200! A mix of emotions swirled to the surface.
Embarrassment — Do we really eat out this much?
Shame — How did this not “cure” me of eating out?
Concern — Had I forgotten to pay a bill?
But those emotions were eclipsed by excitement: We spent $200 eating out last month AND we had an additional $200 saved!!
That means, at least for last month, I could have spent $400 in some other way, if I had chosen not to eat out at all. At the very least, I had $200 in my hand that I could still choose to spend intentionally. The options were endless — all because my experiment failed!
Or had it?
Spending money intentionally
How much money do you spend eating out each month? Is there something you could spend that money on that would give you more satisfaction? Maybe. Or maybe not. How will you know if you’re not intentional?
One Small Win: Try imposing your own restaurant tax. You may eat out less frequently. You may eat out just as often. At least you’ll be making an informed decision. Either way, you’ll gather far more money than you’ll ever find by foraging through your car.
Kendra Burrows has a passion for tending her earthly and spiritual gardens. Some days they overflow with blooms, other days the weeds seem to prevail. In either case, Kendra strives to mindfully recognize God’s grace in her life every day, and to encourage others to tend and nurture their own beautiful gardens.
Kendra is joyfully married with three great kids and son-in-law, and two other lovable nuisances (pets). She lives in Eugene, OR, and teaches psychology at the local college.
Connect with Kendra at www.kendraburrows.com.
April 17, 2017
God Loves a Do-Over
Right now, I’m experiencing the post Easter hangover that so many of us, with less than perfect families, are experiencing.
• I spent way too much money on Easter baskets no one in my family really liked. (I was tempted to ask them for the candy back, but I resisted.)
• The NINE DOLLARS worth of strawberries I bought on Thursday were rotted when I went to cut them on Sunday.
• When we texted our second oldest “Where are you?” to find out where he was for our 1:00 lunch, his response? “For what?”
Sigh.
Maybe you had some of your own crazy going on:
• Your kids didn’t say thank you for the toys your in-laws brought over.
• You cooked all day Saturday and half of Sunday, and someone had the nerve to ask you why there wasn’t any artichoke dip.
• Your brother got drunk and obnoxious. At EASTER.
If your Easter didn’t go according to plan, let me just remind you of this:
New life isn’t just about eternity. It’s about Mondays too.
Luke 1:78 “A new day will dawn on us from above because our God is loving and merciful.” GWT
We don’t have to leave the new life in God until next Easter. We get to celebrate each and every new day, each and every day.
God loves a do-over.
Go into today with new hope for what God can do.
Go into today forgetting the perfect Easter that every other family had (and by the way, stick with the friends who share about their kids saying a “grown-up word” when there was nothing in their little orange plastic egg. Those are the friends you need for a lifetime.)
Go into today knowing what we celebrated yesterday: a Christ that cherishes you enough to give you everything he had so he could be in relationship with you forever.
April 12, 2017
Invite Joy to the Table: Tips for Making Dinner Fun
I love the idea of dinner—the coming together for conversation, connection, and a shared table. I like the idea of food and conversation happening around the kitchen table, filling both our stomachs and our hearts. The idea of roasted chicken, fresh from the oven, mashed potatoes, and fresh green beans displayed on an impeccable table with candles glowing makes my heart sing.
That’s just not what dinner looks like at my house.
What my dinner table really looks like
Allow me to set the stage. It is 6:00 pm. It is the “losing it hour.” It is the end of the day and everyone is tired and hungry. The rotisserie chicken from the grocery store is trying to stay warm in the oven without drying out while I warm up the leftover rice and defrost some green beans that have just a touch of freezer burn. The table is littered with crumbs, scraps of paper, and eraser bits. I sit the food on top of it all so we can just eat already. My husband arrives home from a long day and, well, we’ve all had a long day.
We pray and begin to eat. And so it begins. Someone is chewing too loudly. There’s too much lemon pepper seasoning on the green beans. “She looked at me funny” is a constant refrain. Our questions about school end up with answers like, “We did math” and “I liked recess.”
At your house maybe the baby is throwing food and refusing to eat or maybe you are still waiting for the tardy teen to arrive. It is always something. Dinner is burned, attitudes are keeping things lively, or the disagreement from the morning has decided to return for the “losing it hour.” And on a really great night you get all three!
Invite joy to the table – a new way to do dinner
I am on a mission to rescue dinner from unrealistic expectations. My goal is smiles and the rest is just details. To begin this mission I bought three tins of jokes. I wanted to introduce a different expectation—one of connection through fun—and, at the very least, keep the grumpy at bay. For the most part it has worked. The eraser bits are still on the table, the chicken is dry, but we have smiles! About a week after starting this new way of dining my son checked out a book of jokes from the school library for us to enjoy at dinner. I call that winning!
Rescuing dinner from expectations has led to dinners full of fun. Grumpy still joins us for dinner every now and then of course, but we’ve stopped setting a place for him and instead have invited joy to the table.
Here’s a few more ideas, some I have tried and some I will implement soon to give grumpy the boot and invite joy to a place at our table.
– On Sunday nights we watch America’s Funniest Videos while we eat an easy dinner. There is always belly laughter and I LOVE IT.
– Grab some trivia cards from a board game and just ask the questions – no pieces or game board needed.
– Serve dinner that is only finger food – easy for the one prepping and fun for all.
– Buy or make some fun placemats.
– Speak with accents.
– Eat dinner with chopsticks. (Make chopsticks easy for kids to try with this tutorial! http://www.instructables.com/id/Chops...)
– Turn on some music and allow it to set the tone for your meal. Are you having Mexican? Turn on some Latin tunes. Having grilled cheese for dinner? Jazz genre, of course. Have throwback night and introduce your kids to the music you listened to growing up.
– Eat a picnic on the living room floor.
One small win: Make dinner fun again by releasing your expectations. Introduce fun at dinner tonight in a way that your family will enjoy. Invite joy to the table.
You can read more from Bethany Howard at bethanyhoward.com. She writes about finding fuel for joy and growth in the details of the daily. Her greatest leadership exercise has been her roles as wife and mom to three. She is a graduate of Leverage: The Speaker Conference.
April 11, 2017
Episode #247: 7 Tips for Decluttering Sentimental Stuff
Kathi and cohost, Erin MacPherson discuss the 7 Tips for Decluttering Sentimenal Stuff. Kathi has been dealing with her own decluttering project and shows before and after pictures of her pantry.
The Clutter Free Bible Study group has done the top layer of decluttering but is now dealing with the things that have sentimental value or promote guilt. Together they came up with some tips for dealing with the next level of clearing out the clutter.
7 Tips for Decluttering Sentimental Stuff
Start in the Kitchen There are fewer sentimental items there.
Put motto on the wall. Keep it visible in a place where you can see it.
Give it a final goodbye. Take a picture and write a memory about it and then get rid of it.
Remember when everything is precious, nothing is! You can’t keep everything. Some things you need to enjoy and let it go.
Keep 3 things per person. Three items that represent each person. Curate what is important and pass the rest on to someone else.
Don’t guilt others into keeping things.
Don’t value the past or the future and ignore the present. The clutter of the past or saving things for the future can just crowd out your present life.
Just do little things and start small. Let your house serve your present, not your past or your future.
Kathi’s Pantry Before and After
April 5, 2017
Taming the Paper Piles with Amy Carrol (Vlog)
Taming the paper piles
Paper, paper everywhere! Do you have more paper piles in the form of mail, bills, and notes than you know what to do with? Amy has a simple system to help you tame the paper monster.
Today Amy shows you her notebook system she’s used for several years to help tame the paper piles. It was especially helpful when her kids were small, but even now she uses it to organize papers and keep everything she needs at her fingertips.
One Small Win: Make a family notebook to corral your papers.
Amy Carroll
Amy Carroll is a speaker, writer, and International Initiatives Coordinator with Proverbs 31 Ministries. She’s the author of Breaking Up with Perfect as well as the director and coach of Next Step Speaker Services. Amy and her husband live in lovely Holly Springs, NC with a bossy miniature dachshund. You can find her on any given day texting her two sons at college, typing at her computer, reading a book, or trying to figure out one more alternative to cooking dinner.
Share life with Amy at www.amycarroll.org
April 4, 2017
Episode #246: Tips on Keeping Romance Alive
“If you don’t invest in your marriage now, you will have to invest in the recovery of your marriage later.” – Kathi Lipp
Kathi and co-host, Erin MacPherson discuss a reader question about how to keep the romance alive in a marriage. This all too familiar struggle in a life that often feels like survival of the fittest– kids, extracurricular schedules, houses, groceries, sickness, work— is one so many of us can relate to. Kathi and Erin discuss simple ideas to get some romance back in the mix of your marriage without making you feel like you have more check off the to-do list at the end of the day.
Listen in for great ideas, a good dose of humor and a talk that feels like coffee with friends.
March 28, 2017
Episode #245: Fear Fighting: Awakening Courage to Overcome Your Fears
“To be in the Presence of God requires you to be present with God.” ~ Kelly Belarie
Does fear ever consume you? Do your fears dictate how you make decisions? Do you wake up wondering what life is going to throw at you today?
Kathi talks with a new friend, Kelley Belarie, author of Fear Fighting: Awakening Courage to Overcome Your Fears. They discuss the experiences and fears Kelley lived through over the years and how she chose to fear “less” when trusting in God. Kelley developed a program to jumpstart your fearlessness. It teaches us how to take baby steps to overcome fear because this is not an overnight journey.
Sign up today for the 4 Days to Fearless Challenge.
Book Giveaway
Comment on “What area are you fearful and need to turn to God for help?” Leave you comment within the next 7 days and you will be entered into a random drawing for a copy of Fear Fighting: Awakening Courage to Overcome Your Fears.
This giveaway open to US readers only.
Episode #245: Fear Fighting: Awakening Courage to Overcome Your Fears
March 23, 2017
Clutter-Free Parenting: Managing Expectations and Compassion
I can just hear you now: “Clutter-free” and “parenting” in the same sentence? For real?
Well, not so fast. Clutter-free parenting is not a one-and-done proposition. When my children were little, I took delight in the nice, neat shelves in my basement, holding up totes clearly marked with clothing sizes. I was also Y2K ready (dating myself here), and had organized shelving stocked fully with massive quantities of food for pending disaster, enough to feed a small country. Yes, some of you are judging me right now while others are in awe.
Okay, so I have my skeletons in the closet of overdoing things when it comes to organization. I readily admit that maybe, just maybe, my focus on being clutter-free and organized bordered on being a little neurotic. Notice the past tense in that last sentence.
Clutter-free parenting as your kids grow older
Making five little people do their chores was stressful, but it does not compare with four college kids who all have jobs and school and a creative twelve-year-old who reenacts Curious George episodes again and again. Somehow the college “adult” status has a built-in entitlement that they just simply cannot do chores nor participate in the clutter-free schooling environment of days gone by.
A little background might help here. I home-educated all of my children all the way through. Yep. I am one of those. I delighted in purchasing books – LOTS of them – and organizing it all. Until … Until our lives were interrupted by a tragedy that transformed our very existence.
Suddenly the pet peeves about clutter really did not matter anymore. Just making my kids happy, just surviving, just trying to maintain some level of cleanliness, that’s where my focus shifted.
Balancing compassion and expectations
The problem with that state of living is that if we aren’t careful, it becomes our new norm. Kids are smart and realize this. The compassionate heart of mommas can, um, enable their disobedient behavior with excuses. I confess I have done this many times. I rationalized in my brain that it was cruel to stress them out with the burden of having to actually chip in around the house. They had a past pain that somehow overruled maintaining a clutter-free zone.
Now I have four kids, all with jobs and in college. “I’m an adult now,” several of my children have informed me. I mused over what those words meant as college textbooks were scattered all over my dining room table, kitchen table, coffee table, well, actually EVERYWHERE! “Mom, I have to work.” “I don’t have time to rinse the plate off.” “Gotta go.” The enabling side of me felt compassionately that it was just too hard for them to be expected to do 5-10 minutes of chores. They were stressed. But then, so was I. I work too.
The climb back to a clutter-free zone with children is not completely victorious. We fail and sometimes give ourselves space and grace when times get really hectic. But we don’t stay there.
When I am tempted to feel guilty and mean about expecting children who live in our home to pitch in, I am reminded that allowing clutter to reign in our lives and in the lives of our children is actually not kind.
One Small Win: Holding kids accountable to a standard that fosters peace can set the foundation for their lives to be clutter-free in their mind and homes.
So to our children who are now young adults, my husband says, “You’re right – you’re an adult now . . . act like it!”
“A servant pampered from childhood will become a rebel.” Proverbs 29:21
Denise Pass is an author, CCM artist, worship leader and speaker from Fredericksburg, VA, where she lives with her amazing husband and five children. Denise is passionate about writing devotions and music that foster unshakable hope and healing in the face of seemingly insurmountable circumstances. Her ministry, Seeing Deep in a Shallow World seeks to be a compass grounded in Scripture and a place where real problems meet real, transparent faith and needed answers in Scripture.
You can read more about Denise’s ministry, Seeing Deep, over at www.denisepass.com or connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
Clutter-Free Parenting: Managing Expectations and Compassion
