So much of life is about making room, isn’t it? And when we don’t, the physical and emotional piles can stack up to what feels like an insurmountable height. That is, unless we’re good at tucking things away…

We’ve lived in our house for almost eight years, and although our storage spaces are an interesting challenge because it’s an older home, we’ve gotten pretty creative about putting things out of sight. It’s easy to think we’ll need or use something again, justifying our “clutter” so long as it’s organized into bins and boxes. We’ve added a large dog and two kids to the mix around here since our early married days, and a lot of “stuff” has accumulated in the process.

I’m not sure how many trips we make to the nearby donation center each year, but in spite of those visits, we’ve still looked around here lately and felt like a much more drastic de-cluttering was necessary. The itch began even before we went to a screening of Minimalism in May, but viewing the film together pushed Jason and I both to a new level of desiring clarity in our space. We decided to play the Minimalist’s 30-day Minimalism Game, which meant we would both aim to get rid of a total of 450+ items in the month of July.

900 fewer things in our house sounded crazy, but also awesome. So the piles began.

We’ve tossed plenty of items in the past month, but there’s also a lot here that still has so much life left in it, so we decided a garage sale was likely around the corner. I’m not sure having a garage sale in July in your third trimester with two small kids running around is a brilliant idea, but I’m certain that de-cluttering is, so tomorrow’s the day.

The house looks insane. Truly. There are things everywhere. Jason’s been pricing in the garage and I’ve been on the hunt in long-forgotten spaces around here for things of potential value or use or treasure to someone else. We moved the dining room table to the side of the room today and just filled it with things. I’m both twitchy (at the ridiculous mess) and excited to see the amount of items that will exit our house tomorrow morning, never to return.

Can someone tell me why I’ve been hanging on to these all of this time? Tomorrow…out the door. Wish I’d been taking pictures all day, but I’ll be sure to capture more of the fun tomorrow.

We make a deal when we have garage sales (which happen once every few years because we are not big fans of this process). Nothing that goes out comes back in. It finds a new home. So whatever people don’t want to buy tomorrow, someone else can find next week at our favorite thrift store down the street. But they won’t find it here. I’m thrilled about that part. I am praying that lots of people will come and be able to enjoy things that would love a good home. Poor Jason has to do all of the heavy lifting on his own while I just move small piles from here to there, so the more that walks off the driveway, the better. It will be so good to get to 3 or 4pm tomorrow afternoon. 🙂

We’re also looking forward to our kiddos’ first lemonade stand in the morning (so if you live nearby and you’re out and about in the morning, come say hello)! We asked Henry to think about something that he would like to raise money for, and I love where he landed. Remember when I shared about Preemptive Love just over a week ago? Henry has been drawn to the stories of refugees since the crisis began, and when we talk about what’s happening in Fallujah and how people are living without basic health and safety needs right now, he jumps right to the kids and wonders what it’s like for them. I’ve explained about leaving their homes and all of their belongings, and the feelings of fear they have in the refugee camps without guaranteed shelter and safety. It bothers him that they have to wear just the clothes they have on and what they can carry. I love his heart.

We chatted about the people in Fallujah a bit more tonight, and he said, “Mom, I think when we send the money, we should make little invitations to send with it, inviting those families to come here and live with us.” Oh, sweet, sweet boy. If only we could do exactly that.

But we can do something, so tomorrow, we’ll have lemonade here, and the kids will accept donations to send to Preemptive Love toward their efforts to provide food and clean water to refugees. My hope is that this will be the first of many lemonade stands for a cause on our driveway.

These popsicles were pretty cool, but lemonade for good is even cooler! Come see us tomorrow!

The clock is ticking on pricing and sorting and piling and such for tomorrow, so I’m off to get back to garage sale to-dos. Surely we will all rest well tomorrow night when we’re through!

making room for baby and sipping lemonade, one day at a time,

molly madonna