Today is a strange day in my deslobification process.
I’m having lots of warm fuzzies over the fact that I have extra laundry to do and am storing a rather large piece of furniture in my garage.
I’ve shared recently that my husband’s sister is moving.
Moving stinks.
The upheaval, the physical exertion, and the emotional stress make it a miserable experience. Even when there’s excitement and a new home and a better environment on the other side, the in-the-middle-of-the-move time isn’t fun.
On Saturday, we helped them have a final garage sale, and were thrilled when ALL of the big stuff sold. The Salvation Army donation haul was amazingly minimal.
Movers had come earlier in the week and moved all of the furniture they wanted to keep into storage, but one (big) piece was left behind. My brother-in-law was sick about it. He couldn’t believe that he forgot to have them take the custom-made chest of drawers out of the closet. He hated to leave it behind, but had no place he could take it for now, since it is heavy enough that two strong men are required to move it.
Forgetting something? I totally understand that.
When he asked if there was any way that we could store it for the next month, I thought for a second and then said, “Sure!”
Because we could.
We actually have room in our garage right now to temporarily store the chest, AND still be able to park our Suburban.
They hauled it here, and he and hubby put it in a perfectly normal-people-type of spot.
It felt so good to be able to help them out. It really is a little thing, but pre-blog, I’m not sure what I would have said. We truly wouldn’t have had the room back then. And even if I could have shoved things into an (even bigger) pile to make room, the shame of having them see our garage would have been intense. Just thinking about it, I have a tinge of the headache that I get in these types of situations.
And the laundry? I actually volunteered to have them drop it off this morning so I could just do it with ours today. Y’know, since I have a Laundry Day now. I probably would have offered the same thing before, but my motive would have been to keep them from seeing my laundry room.
It feels good to have pure motives.
Sometimes, as I get the “company” areas of my home under control, I have a hard time seeing the point in getting every last section of the house under control as well. If we are the only ones who ever see the garage or laundry room, what’s the point of keeping them clean? I am quite adept at making scary-room-redirection part of my hostess duties.
It’s for times like this. Times when people need to not just be planned-for guests, but need to share in our lives. Our everyday lives. Our undie-washing and car-parking lives.
I’m linking this up to the homemaking link-up over at Raising Homemakers.
I move on Friday. Hard to find any friends to help even though I've helped them numerous times. Glad you were able to help out in some way 🙂
This is so exciting!!!
I love this. This is something I've thought about our finances. Of course I want to get completely out of debt because we need a different house and want a bigger TV. But more importantly, we want to be able to give more, to share more. Love it.
Brilliant post! Love it!
Great insight, love it. I can relate re garage and laundry room. Have yet to start my journey, it seems so long. Thanks for the inspiration though. =)
This post is so sweet. Love it!
You've just changed my life – what a wonderful perspective.
Great, sweet post!
That is what my goal is, too. I feel bad for all the times over the years I didn't let one of my kids have a friend over because I was too embarrassed about the messy house. So wrong…
Oh Dawn, I soooo understand!
I hear ya….I still struggle with messes and organization. One of these days I'll get it under control for good!
Congratulations Nony!! What progress!
…Lisa
We have a lot in common. I struggle with clutter. It's always going to be a thing.
Isn't it awesome to be able to help out? I'm so glad that you fixed up your garage and had the space to do it. 🙂
Still hanging on in here, reading your blog, totally mesmerised. Don’t know what I’ll do when I catch up, I’ll have to start again at the beginning!
You are starting to see the fruits of your labours big time and it is so encouraging to those of us who are following in your wake.
Thank you for this! I sooooo needed it! My little boy would love to have friends over… I never clean my master bath, because no one will see it… I always make excuses of why I should meet my friends at their house… Never telling them the real reason. I WANT TO BE HOSPITABLE! God calls me to be so. Thanks for all your encouragement.
AMEN!!! Hospitality… God calls us all to do it, even if it’s not our “gift” I too have that same issue. =/. We can tackle it together. 😊
I found your blog a couple months ago and have been addicted to reading through it backwards ever since! Such a motivation to me to get our house decluttered and in order while I’m taking a semester off of nursing school. (I’m 21 and live with my slob parents.)
I’ve been working hard, and was so encouraged yesterday when my older sister came home from work and said, “Wow, it looks like we could almost have people over!” YES!!!
I want to encourage moms to not be afraid to have kids over (at least those who don’t have to come with their mom.) Some of our neighbor moms with clean homes would never let their kids have friends over to play in their houses. They had to play outside. I let them come in. I let them build forts in the living room, and leave them there for days. Sometimes they’d even sleep in them. Yeah, the house was a mess, but it became the hangout place for all my kids’ friends.
Love this! It’s so true! We are always blessed when we let people in who need our help in some way. And as for the parts of our home that we alone see – well, thanks to reading your blog (I’m a new follower!) I’m learning to try and keep them tidy -er because it just makes me feel good! 🙂
Reading this, I’m just so happy for you. I’m so happy for the progress you’ve made, and the positive change it has made in your life.
I just had to comment–this post touched me. This is what it’s all about. I was so proud that we were able to have a place for people to stay and even host a celebration of life after my father-in-law passed away, even though we had a newborn in the house. Your blog was a big part of that, so thank you. ❤️