This Week on the Home Front Part 2

I love to organize. And I love a neat home. And I strive to make sure my home feels comfortable. But face it... I have a husband, four kids at home, two pets, and a full time outside-the-home job. Therefore, to keep myself motivated, I participate in Organising Queen's declutter challenges and Home Sanctuary's Company Girl/Small Things challenges. And being the efficient woman that I am, I'm going to combine my weekly update for each of these.

This week, I tackled my other step-daughter's closet (not nearly as difficult as the closet last week). Some pillows, stuffed animals, and a few outgrown clothes and shoes are being donated.

I also decluttered my email inbox, with some inspiration from Marcia (OQ). I started with 542 emails and ended with 218. Woo hoo! I kept the emails that have photos attached (so that I can save them to the computer later) as well as confirmation of account/password type emails. Pretty soon, I will have all of that organized, too, so I will eventually be able to delete those. I feel so free already! (By the way, over at I'm an Organizing Junkie, her monthly challenge is the home office. Marica guest posted at OrgJunkie this week.)

Marcia encouraged me to update my reader. I deleted three blogs. I think a few more can go. I also began the very time-consuming task of decluttering the labels on my blog. This one is going to take a while.

Rachel Anne (HS) inspired me most this week from something she posted earlier in the month. She asks up to read a verse and print it off. My verse was in a visible place at school, but since the hurricane, I haven't had it in front of me every day. But it was there when I went back today, and it was comforting. (Ephesians 4:24)

Today's task was also my favorite for the week. She asked us to give a "round of applause" to a family member who could use a little boost! Sometimes, I think my husband doesn't realize how much I appreciate him. I made sure he did, today. And my oldest stepdaughter helped around the house (without complaining). Not only did she get a hug and words of appreciation, but I tried really hard to help her with several things that she was doing, and it was so good for our relationship.

The most clever post at Home Sanctuary this week was to do something "square." I had fun with that! I used a square laundry basket to get some washing done, squared away some bills, made a square scrapbook page, squared away some housekeeping, and worked with two other squares (my mailbox and my email inbox).

That's it for this week's issue! Please come back next week for some more decluttering/organizing/creating sanctuary goodness. If you subscribe to my blog, you won't miss it! And while you're at it, why don't you join me at these great challenges!

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