Final thoughts on the life-changing magic of tidying up

Though reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, we started sorting my daughters' clothes. After seeing how good it felt to clear out the old clothes they'd no longer wear, they started slowly deciding on their own certain things they didn't like about their spaces.

Emma decided that she no longer liked having a bunk bed, and having to touch bars when she rolls over at night. Also, now that she and her sister always sleep in separate rooms, the bottom bunk is almost always empty. Once you go through one category of your belongings (clothes) and ask yourself what brings you joy, you start to notice all of the things in other categories that don't bring you joy.

That is how we started the process of re-doing the girls' rooms. I've shared a couple of before pictures, and below I'll share some afters.

After painting my mom's house, we knew we LOVED the Classic Silver paint color from Behr, so that's what we used. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

Emma chose this beautiful painting from Hobby Lobby (50% off) as the base of her room.

We put a cabinet she previously had in her room, in an unused side of her closet to make space. We are all about the space now. She picked out a fluffy butterfly chair from Target for her reading spot.

The white headboard is from Target.com and I bought it during a Labor Day sale, plus got free shipping with my RedCard Debit, and an extra 5% off. Same goes for the bedding. She didn't really like any of the in-store bedding, but they offer a lot more online.

I always wonder when I see blogs of picture perfect rooms, where is the kid stuff? Hate to burst your bubble, but don't feel bad that your home doesn't look like that perfectly blogged home. Bloggers adjust the things in the photo, omitting the things that aren't pretty, to get the perfect shot. Sorry, but I'm not paid to blog, this is just for fun, so I'm going to show you what's behind that perfect photo...LEGOS! Lots of Legos!

Just so you know, my children are not mutants, they still have kids' things that they treasure dearly. (No offense to the very talented professional bloggers, that is their job, and so they need to show the best photos they can.)

She LOVES to spend time in her room now, and I'm so happy that she has a more age-appropriate space.

*************************

Now onto Cami's room, which we actually did first.

At one point, a couple of years ago, we let the paint "murals" on their walls. Yikes. Their rooms have been hodge-podge ever since.

My mom and the kids helped paint both rooms.

Cami's new mint green bedding was a clearance find at Target. Eventually I'd like to order her a gray tufted headboard like Emma's, but since her bed is a queen size, it is more expensive. We're stockpiling our yard sale pile for one GIANT yard sale in October, and then she'll get to finish her room off with a head board.

The teal butterfly chair is from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I can't remember what I went in for, but this was a happy, accidental find! The popcorn pillow is from Kirkland's, because if you know this child at all, you know she LIVES for popcorn. Both of the girls' bedside tables were clearance finds from TJ Maxx, for $16 each! She already had the white Ikea rug, and the white stool came from the living room.

Even the beautiful canvas that she loves was a clearance find at Target. We all love their spaces SO much more now, and the child who always had a problem keeping her room clean, now keeps it up beautifully!

*******************

My final thoughts on this book are:

~Is the reason I'm not good at properly cleaning my house because I have far TOO much to care for?

~If I care so much about my stuff, why don't I care enough to keep it clean?

~Would it really be covered in dust if it truly brought me joy?

~Is the reason people "don't have enough storage space" simply that they are storing far too much?

Don't misunderstand me. 

Things are not of real value. 

Relationships are. 

Love is.

Generosity is.

My point, and what I've taken from this book is that if my house is in order, and all of the things that don't bring me joy are gone, it will leave me free to live how I want to live. Less time spent taking care of things that I don't really care about, translates into more time to spend with others, help others, serve others, travel. The things that do bring me joy.

I'll leave you with this quote from the book that I wrote in my journal:

"The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life."