Take that First Step!

10-29-10

This has been a very productive week. There is one room in my house that is sort of a “catch-all” and it was in dire need of cleaning. Well, I finally got up the ambition to start cleaning, sorting, and organizing all of the boxes sitting in the room. Wow. What a big task it was to even get started, but I can say without hesitation, that once I started working on it, it was almost addicting for me to go through all the junk that was there. I ended up throwing out things that have just been sitting there for years and also have close to 10 boxes of household items and a couple big garbage bags of clothing to take to the Goodwill. That will be a huge accomplishment in and of itself. It will also be a great tax deduction come tax time.

Sometimes getting a start on a huge project is very daunting and takes some digging deep to get up the ambition to take the first step. That is a common theme in our lives at times, that certain things either look too big or too scary to even venture into. Once a person takes that first step, however, towards doing something, it can make a huge difference in what they accomplish. That first step is sometimes all it takes to get the ball rolling. And just starting small makes a big difference also. If you bite off too much at first, you might give up thinking the project is just too big to handle. But, if you start with that first small step, you might find that each step thereafter is easier and easier.

Taking this mindset in many areas of life is a good thing. Think about how a baby learns to walk – they do it with the first step, then take another, and another, and another. They fall down sometimes, but then get back up and start over. It is never easy to fall down, but it also takes determination and determination to keep going.

I would like to encourage you today to keep on going! Don’t stop if you fall down. Get back up and look ahead to what lies in the future. It can be an exciting journey if you just take the first step!

Until next time,

Life is good. Live it well.

Old Pictures Make Me Realize How Precious Life Is

10-25-10

Well, I am finally back after about a month’s time. Sorry it took me so long to do a follow up. Life has been happening and I have kept pretty busy in spite of the fact that I lost my job as of October 1, 2010. It has given me time to really get going on my sorting and cleaning of all my collections and stuff I have hanging around my house.

Today has been an especially productive day for me and I am so happy about that! I have been sorting out closets and boxes of things that I didn’t even remember I had. I had an assortment of old shoes in the bottom of a big linen closet in my bathroom and sorted those out recently. I found that many of them were almost brand new, so have several of them listed for sale on eBay and am hoping to sell them. It is looking promising so far. I have also sorted through some drawers in an old wash stand/commode that I have in our guest room. I found a few old pictures of a couple of my nephews when they were three months old (born close together) and who are now in their early 20s. One of them is getting married in January, in fact! Pretty funny seeing him as a baby and realizing that the years have flown by so quickly! I also found a picture of my husband’s softball team from his workplace from 1992. Wow – do those guys ever look young!! Fun stuff.

All this sorting has been making me realize all the money that I have spent over the years. A lot of it was pretty unnecessary, but for some reason, I felt it was necessary at the time I purchased most of it. I am still trying to figure out why I bought a lot of the things I did. Hmmm….it is a mystery to me, but it is also helping me realize that I don’t need all that stuff like I used to think I did. Part of it may have been from my childhood when I didn’t have much and once I grew up and had a home of my own (and money of my own) that I could buy pretty much anything I wanted. That seems to be the main reason I have been able to figure out.

At any rate, I am no longer in that mindset that if I see something I want, I need to buy it. I am so much more thoughtful now whenever I go into a store. I really give it a lot of thought whether I really want to spend money on something and if I am going to really use it or if I actually really need it. That has gone a long way to curbing my spending, so that is a good thing for me. It also helps that I did lose my job and we are now living on just my husband’s salary. It seems to put a lot of things into perspective for me.

Well, I will close for today. I hope you are having as great an adventure as I am having in sorting through and cleaning out your house!

Until next time…
Life is good. Live it well.