Gratitude Attitude Organizing

by Cary Farrell

November 01, 2018

I can already smell the turkey and dressing and pumpkin pie, yum yum!  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because there are no gifts to buy, no parties or concerts to attend, just an opportunity to relax and enjoy being with family and friends. In the spirit of Thanksgiving I want to pass on a challenge that I took on in Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gifts.  She was challenged by a friend to write down One Thousand everyday gifts that she experienced in her daily life and she writes of the change it made in her attitude and the way she viewed her life. It is hard to grumble when you are counting your blessings.

I want to challenge you to take the Thanksgiving Organizing Challenge this month by looking for the items in your home that you are grateful for and feel blessed by.  This is not your typical decluttering challenge! Most of my clients over the years have struggled to know what to get rid of and that causes them to lock down mentally, unable to create peace and functionality in their homes.  However, when we begin to look for the items they use every day and the items that bless them, they immediately unlock and begin choosing those items.  If you can focus on the positive, the negative becomes less overpowering and you will be able to see your way to a peaceful, functional home that you will be truly grateful for.  

In the process of finding what you use and what you feel blessed by, you will most likely come across a lot of items that are no longer blessing you.  Turn those burdens into blessings by choosing to share them with someone less fortunate than you.  Donate them to your favorite charity with a grateful heart that you have items to share.

Here are the 26 days of the Gratitude Attitude Thanksgiving Challenge to take you all the way to Turkey Day. If you don’t have some of these items or rooms in your home, you can substitute with other items that you do have.

1. I am grateful for my comfy bed!  It gets made up every day and it doesn’t get used as a catch all. I can donate old bedding that I am no longer using.

2. I am grateful for my clothes!  I make sure my closet feels like my boutique and only has the clothes that fit me now and that are in season.  I store off-season clothes and clothes I want to fit back into elsewhere, and I donate clothes that no longer bless me.

3. I am grateful for indoor plumbing (aka the bathroom) I streamline this room by making sure I only store the toiletries, make-up, hair products, medicines, towels that bless me and let go of all the old, outdated, unwisely purchased items.  

4. I am grateful for my master bedroom that is my sanctuary at the end of the day.  I don’t use this room as the project room. I try to keep this room feeling like a retreat by filling it only with the items I need to relax and unwind.

5. I am grateful for my family room as the place where my family comes together.  This room houses the current media we enjoy together and we pass on the media that is no longer blessing us.

6. I am grateful for my kid’s toys. The goal of their toys are to entertain and to educate.  I help them  by rotating their toys and teaching them how to share toys that they have outgrown instead of guilting them to keep everything because I don’t want them to grow up too fast.

7. I am grateful for my kid’s books.  We keep our all-time favorites and pass the rest on to others to enjoy.

8. I am grateful for my kid’s clothes.  Kids and adults alike tend to wear the same outfits over and over if they are clean.  I let my kids pick their favorite outfits to put in their closets and drawers and then we pass on or consign the rest so the closet and drawers are not too full to put away the favorite outfits.

9. I am grateful for my kid’s artwork, school projects and writing assignments that show how they are growing. I only keep their best work and at the end of the year let them choose a few favorites to keep so they will only have one box at the end of 12th grade and not 12 large boxes. I want to bless and not burden my kids.

10. I am grateful for my dining room/school room/office.  This room gets used a lot so it is important that I constantly weed through the items that accumulate here and make sure that the items I use and need to have in this room have a home to get put away.  That means that I don’t use this room for storing rarely used items.

11. I am thankful for my pantry and that I can store healthy foods for myself and my family.  I organize my pantry like I shop at the grocery store so when I get ready to plan my weekly meals to prepare for my grocery shopping, it is easy to see what I have and what I need.

12. The ability to keep fresh foods from spoiling is another thing I am grateful for.  Keep your family safe by cleaning out the old foods once a week and keeping the fridge stocked with lots of healthy options.

13. I am thankful for my kitchen table where my family gathers to eat and share the day’s events. I keep the table cleared off daily so we can gather together. Flat surfaces tend to be dumping grounds. Find homes for the items that typically get dumped here and reclaim your kitchen table.

14. I am thankful for my functional kitchen and only store the most often used pots and pans, dishes and tools in my prime real estate.  Cooking can be fun and easy when all my most often used tools are right at my fingertips and I don’t have to weed through rarely used items.

15. I am grateful for my front porch where I can relax, read and enjoy the fall weather.  I have a boot box that holds the outside games and toys that we enjoy together to keep the porch looking neat and tidy.

16. If I had a garage I would be grateful for a place to park my car, store my tools, bikes ,etc. and not my lifetime of possessions that I “might” use one day.  Keep this area of your home purged quarterly so the expensive car gets protected and not your pile of stuff that needs to be purged.

17. If you are a musician with the luxury of a music room, be grateful for a place to jam out.  Only keep the music and instruments that you are currently playing stored here so you have room to be creative without tripping on extra cords or instruments.  There are great wall hooks made for instruments if you have several to keep them off the floor and protected.

18. I am grateful for the books that have entertained and inspired me over the years.  I keep the ones that changed my life and that I will reread and I share the rest with others.

19. I am grateful for my husband’s home office so he can watch as much news as he wants where I don’t have to hear it all day.  He makes appointments with me occasionally to help him weed through old projects and organize the more current projects so he can find what he needs.

20. I am thankful for my purse and I keep it purged and stocked with only the items I need often.

21. I am thankful for my car and the ability to travel.  I take out the trash often and keep it unloaded.  I do have work supplies that I leave in it, but I keep them organized in a bin ready for the next job.  

22. If you are thankful for a craft room, make sure that it only holds the supplies and current projects that you are excited about completing.  Share the old, unfinished projects with your local Scrap Exchange so someone else can finish them and don’t guilt trip yourself into keeping them. Craft projects that you no longer feel excited about take away from the space you need to be creative from the craft projects you are excited about now.

23. I am thankful for my mailbox even though most days all that comes in it goes in the recycle or shred pile.  I only keep what I asked for and not what companies impose on me to consider.

24. I am grateful for my computer and even though I am not very technical, I try to keep it decluttered of old files that are no longer needed.

25. I am thankful for my laundry/mud room even though it is the hardest room in the house to maintain.  My goal is to only keep the current shoes, gloves, chemicals, tools and items that we are using, but this is definitely the dumping ground for the whole family.  I have a wicker boot box and wicker drawers that add décor and storage in this room to help it stay tidy.

26. I am thankful for the kitchen junk drawer ( yes even an organizer has one) so I have a place for those random things that don’t know where they belong but are where I can find them when I need them like tissues for my purse, random screws or tools, flashlights,...