Confessions Of A Part Time Hoarder

When we moved to this house over seven years ago we brought only the bare necessities and it was a true eye opener regarding how much stuff we owned versus how much stuff we actually needed. You'd really be surprised at how much stuff in your house is completely disposable. I remember how shocked I was that I didn't miss our stuff and actually felt better without it. Fast forward seven years and three more kids and there is a scary amount of junk gumming up the works once again! So I have vowed to do something about it before summer ends. I started by getting rid of most of the infant stuff we had laying around, it makes sense since we're done having babies, but honestly it barely made a dent and made it even more obvious that this project is going to take some serious time and effort. Instead of getting overwhelmed and throwing in the towel I've decided to just tackle it room by room. It took us seven years to accumulate this mess and so I need to be realistic about how long this project is going to take. One day, one Goodwill run at a time. What do you do to curb the mess and clutter at home? Getting rid of it is only a temporary solution, my long term goal is to implement strategies that minimize the mess before it starts to pile up. Why do we have so much stuff in the first place? Digging through some of our storage bins yesterday I found a receipt of a San Francisco Goodwill I went to in 2000 and a receipt for the $60 pair of shoes I bought Maija for her very first birthday in 1999! What the actual heck? Enough is enough. 

And seriously, $60 for a pair of shoes when I was a single teen mom making $7/hour? Aislinn is going to have to wear these hideous things every day just to try and break even.

Nuala's Voice

Hi! I'm Nuala, it's summer break. My brother Finn, and my two sisters Ruari and Sidhe are away for 3 weeks visiting their mom. I Face Timed with them twice but I still miss them. 

Bye, but wait! I forgot to mention that tonight is the annual dance night! Be there! Remember to dress up! Mom says I should talk about something I did during summer vacation so….a few days ago, we went to Little Amerricka. I played on go-carts and I got a gold bracelet, that means you can do ANY RIDE you want. It's a matter of height, you have to be 56 inches tall and I just made it.

There was a ride where you go straight UP, and one where you go high up on a little private one person coaster car, and you go fast ALL around Little Amerricka! And a roller coster where, when you go down, you feel like you're gonna go FLYING OUT AND DIE. Oisin cried on that one. That was still fun though. It started to rain, and Maija and Oisin were on the train, but on one of those roofless cars so they were stuck getting wet in the rain, but they pulled in to the station not too late. I gave maija her cotton candy, and we hid out in a little room with benches to get away from the rain. My favorite ride was the Meteor and I also loved the go karts. Oscar rode with me on the go karts since he isn't tall enough to drive them yet. He was the co pilot. Bye, for real now. I wish I could talk more, but I'm too tired. I am going to go build a new fort in the living room since mom destroyed our other one!