We ate salmon skewers (frozen salmon), grilled baby bok choy, and a cream cheese and cherry pie filling puffed pastry (two out of the three ingredients for this have been with us for awhile).

All this to say, my sister-in-law told me that I was not the first to feel the need to clean out the pantry. Apparently the financial crisis has sparked an interest in what is being called Eating Down The Fridge.

So I decided this was worth looking into and was, at the same time, sure to satisfy my need to clear clutter, cook creatively and pursue a more balanced lifestyle. Googling the topic brought up many blogs and forums that were taking groups through this exercise and allowing them to share recipes, menus and experiences. A Mighty Appetite, a blog on washingtonpost.com, was where I started and found my way to eG Forums where I got some great ideas to eat down my own fridge. And freezer. And cupboards.

Fat Guy from eG Forums says,

If you spend $100 a week on groceries, this experiment will put $100 back in your pocket quicker than you can say stimulus. If you’re home 50 weeks of the year and you perform this experiment once per quarter, you’ll reduce your grocery bill by 8%.

That sounded good to me so I started by taking inventory of a random selection of what our kitchen held:

• unsweetened coconut flakes
• canned bamboo shoots
• dried chickpeas
• 3 packages of vanilla pudding
• toasted carob powder
• 1 can of chunky light tuna
• 1 bag of frozen peas
• dijon mustard
• 1 package of star anise
• 1 bag large marshmallows

This is about 1/10th of what was filling our kitchen. Kind of sad. So I tried the experiment for a week, building in some rules of my own to be sure we didn’t end up with scurvy.

The Rules

1. We could buy meat and veggies as long as the majority of the meal is made of current kitchen items.
2. We could buy ingredients for recipes as long as no more than 2 new ones are needs to complete the recipe.
3. We could buy staple perishables that we regularly use up including: coffee cream, soy milk, bran cereal and coffee beans.

Over the next seven days, with the help of the internet, I created recipes for the first time, ate food I had been avoiding, and learned that we never have “nothing in the house to eat”. I spent a total of $12.43 CAD on groceries and estimate that I saved $40-$50. I was amazed to see how much variety I still had in my diet, far beyond what most of the world can afford. Saving money was a perk (probably more enjoyed by my thrifty husband) but learning to think outside the box and gain an appreciation for what I already have was truly satisfying.

I feel challenged to think about how I can up the impact next time we try this. Maybe we’ll trying growing some of our own food to cut down on purchasing them permanently, or donate the money we save to the Food Bank. Has anyone else made lifestyle changes to save money or positively affect society?

Related reading: From Making Money to Giving it Away – Bobby received news that his adopted daughter had been killed in a car accident. Bobby finally broke. “I was a wreck,” he says.

I am not by nature a people person. I grew up in the country as an only child who loved walking alone in the fields surrounding our home, or reading under the over hanging branches of a cedar tree that grew on the one windowless side of our house. (My mother couldn’t see me there!) Even today my favorite times are like the ones experienced as I write these words—sitting at a small, scarred wooden table in my favorite café, looking out the paned window at sporadic traffic soundlessly passing by. The café owners are generous toward moles like me—their nearby kitchen conversations are muted and they keep my coffee cup filled.

So what am I doing in a life that is normally filled with people—with teaching, organizing, counseling? A life far removed from meandering through fields or sequestered under pine boughs?

A night over 50 years ago is burned into my memory. It was the night I felt God saying “…so send I you.” The years since that night have been saturated with challenge, joy, sorrow, adventure and fulfillment. At times I have complained, insisting that I am not only inadequate for His task but I just plain do not like the path He has chosen. But the one who called has gone with me, refreshed, encouraged and taught me. How tragic it would have been to insist only on walking in fields and sitting under trees.

Thank you for your patience with me, Father, and for choosing me to be your servant.

Questions: How has God called you in the past? What new paths is He calling you to?

About the Author Marilyn Ehle

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, The Sacred and Profane, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog

First: Do no harm

This part of the hippocratic oath applies to the handling of slides as well as the practice of medicine.

Be careful while handling the slides. You don’t want to touch the film surface with your fingers – this will leave an oily residue that may show up on the scans.  A lot of professionals (the author included) wear white cotton gloves while handling slides. If you will be numbering the slides, take care not to write on the film surface by accident!

It’s important the the slides all be in the same orientation with the screen or emulsion side facing the same way.  This will save time later so you may as well make sure you do this at the same time as you are sorting and grouping.

How to group the slides

The first thing is to decide how to organize the slides the way you want them to be viewed. There are two basic ways to do this: thematically or chronologically. (You can also mix and match these two basic methods.) No matter which method you choose, you will still likely want to group your slides into batches just to make the images easier to find later.  An example of a chronological batch would be: “1963 Familiy Slides.”  A thematic batch might be: “European Vacations.”

How to sequence the slides

Once you know the groupings you want, decide if you can live with a few slides being out of sequence. If so, once the group is in the order you would like, label one end “START” and the other end “FINISH.”  If you can’t live with the thought of your slides being out of sequence at all, then you should number each slide individually (including the group number) for example: G000N the “G” would be the group number and the “N” would be the slide number.  Use a fine felt tip permanent marker.

A third alternative is to wait until the slides have been scanned and then sort and organize them electronically.  This has advantages and disadvantages.  You will have to decide which is best for you.

Advantage of sorting later

• Easier to see what is on the slides.
• Less handling and less opportunity for damaging the slides (fingerprints, writing on them). This makes it very simple to accidentally undo a lot of your hard work sorting the slides.
• You have complete control over the conversion to DVD or VCD.

Disadvantage of sorting later

• File names will not reflect any grouping this makes it easier to misplace the slide in your file folders on your computer.
• Hard to keep in order, lots of operating systems and other software will try and sort your files by file name or create date.
• You cannot have someone else do the whole job for you.

Many of these ideas come from experiences with helping my parents with their downsizing move from their home of 34 years in 1996.

These tips and insights should help whether you’re the older adult ready to face this task, or whether you’re the adult child who has offered to help your parents with their living transition.

How to get started

Begin in the areas of the house that you are currently not using. Many older adults are still living in the same houses where they raised their families.

In most situations, there are areas of the house that are currently not being used – upstairs bedrooms, the basement family room or others.

Start the sorting and clearing process in these rooms because it will be least disruptive to everyday life.  These areas also often contain lots of items that have not been used in a considerable length of time and that will not be missed when passed on to children, grandchildren, charity or the auction house.

Start with the large items

The rationale for this? It’s easier to start with furniture and the bigger pieces and you’ll feel like you are making some progress. If you start with the small items, you may get overwhelmed and frustrated before you even get started. With large items, either prepare a list of your decisions (e.g.: dresser – keep; will work well in a smaller bedroom) or use stickers and mark the items as you decide what to do with each piece.

Sort the items in each room as follows:

• Items that you want to keep as you move forward into the later stages of your life (this includes items you are not currently ready to part with or items that you definitely know you will want to move with you to your new home).
• Items that will be passed on to family or friends.
• Items that will be sold via a garage sale or auction.
• Items that will be given to charity.
• Items that need to be thrown away.

Again, keep a list of your decisions, separate the items into separate piles or mark the items with stickers.

Get rid of as much as possible through downsizing

What does this mean?

• This means putting items to be thrown away into garbage bags and setting out this trash for pickup each week.
• This means calling your charity of choice and arranging for a pickup as soon as you have enough items to justify their making a trip.
• This means asking family and friends to make arrangements to get their items or to have their belongings mailed to them.

I always tell people that one of the easiest places to start with clearing a house is telling their family that it’s time to come get their stuff! I had things at my mom and dad’s house from my childhood and school days that I required that my mother keep for me for years. I made a trip home two years before they moved to collect my belongings from my old upstairs bedroom and closet. Guess what happened? Most of these things didn’t last even six months once they were taking up room in my house! So don’t feel guilty if you take this step. Tell your kids that it’s time for them to collect the things that they still have stored at your house.

Allow plenty of flexibility and time

Plan to spend maybe one or two hours at a time (at most) working through the sorting process. This is not a task that you can do for long periods of time at any age – there will be too many emotions and memories stirred up because in essence you are sorting through the years of your life. Take time for recalling memories, to shed tears as you need to and to share stories with friends and family. And be easy on yourself and flexible when making decisions.

This is a very important and valuable part of the later life transition process. Allow yourself time to remember and to grieve losses. Don’t rush yourself to make too many decisions at once. If you need to discuss with family or friends what to do with certain items or belongings, take time to do so. If you can’t make a decision about something, then set it aside and think about it for awhile until you do come to a decision. Also remember that you can change your mind about any item as long as it’s still in your possession. If you’ve started early and are planning ahead, you should be able to work at a pace that is comfortable for you and your situation.

Focus, focus, focus

For many people, starting the sorting and decision-making process is as difficult at walking out to a yard piled with leaves in the fall and deciding where to begin raking. The task appears to be so overwhelming! All you can do in this situation is to start somewhere and to approach it step-by-step, pile-by-pile until the job is finished.

I stress keeping focused as much as possible because it’s so easy to do a little bit here, a little bit there and never feel like you’re getting anywhere. I see this happen with my clients all the time. I leave them with a list of things to do and return after a week and though they tell me they’ve been very busy, I can’t see that anything has been accomplished. And neither can they. Start working in a specific room in your house or even a specific area of this room (say a closet or drawer) if you need to start smaller. Stick with what you are working on until it is finished. You’ll feel better because you’ll be able to see what you have accomplished and this will give you momentum to continue the sorting and downsizing process.

Remember the goal is to simplify your life

I always tell my clients that they don’t need to get rid of everything but they do need to pare down their years of accumulated belongings to the key things, the favorite things they want to have around them and that they need or enjoy using. Think about what you really use in your home on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis and I bet you’ll see that this amounts to a fraction of what you have in your house.

Try to think of sorting and downsizing your belongings as a natural process of completing and releasing – like leaves falling from the tree in autumn. You can do this and believe me, you will feel so good when this job is done and you have new, clutter-free space in your home and in your life!

I always tell people that it is never too early to begin the sorting and clearing process since this is such a time consuming process. Here are several suggestions for things that can be done far in advance of any later-life move – things that you will be so glad you took care of early rather than waiting until the last minute to do. How do I know? Because the items discussed below are all things which often bog people down in the midst of making a later life move. Anything you can do to tackle these items now will be like money and time in the bank down the road:

Start shredding old financial and tax records

Most of my older adult clients typically have piles and boxes full of old financial and tax records stored somewhere in their homes. These are items that are best shredded before they are disposed of – a task that can be very time consuming in the midst of everything else that needs to be done in preparation for a later life move.

Before making any decision on what to keep or discard, check with your accountant and/or lawyer to find out which papers they advise keeping for legal and tax purposes. Anything that needs to be saved should be compiled, boxed and clearly labeled for storage.

As for the remaining papers, records and documents, most should be shredded before they are discarded. The exception to this would be records that are so extremely old and outdated that they can be safely thrown away with other garbage. For the papers and documents that need to be shredded, you may be able to do this yourself with your own shredder, if time and energy permit. Just pace yourself and don’t try to do this job in one sitting. For large quantities of documents and papers, see if there is a local resource for volume shredding of documents since this is often the most efficient way to handle this task.

The key is not to be forced to rush through the sorting and decision-making on what to keep and what to shred and toss. Get this job done early and stay on top of it as you move forward. You’ll be very relieved this work is behind you when the time comes to make your move.

Clean/clear your garage

This is another job best done far in advance of making a later-life move. And it’s a job best done during a nice season of the year when you won’t suffocate or freeze doing this work. That’s why it’s so wonderful to get the garage taken care of early because you will be able to choose the timing for this job. Garages tend to be a dumping ground for lots of stuff in a typical household and usually entail a significant amount of work to clean and clear.

Another bit of advice: Get some help with this if you can because it’s a big one. Don’t think about keeping things that might come in handy at some point – be realistic and only keep those things you know you absolutely will use. For the rest, donate items that are still of use but have little monetary value. If there are things that could be sold, you might want to consider holding on to these until you have other items you are ready to sell from inside your house as well. As for trash, dispose of everything that you can in your regular garbage pickup. For hazardous waste items and large rubbish, read on to the following two items.

Large rubbish disposal

In some situations you will not be able to use your regular garbage service for all the trash disposal needed after cleaning and clearing your garage. This generally happens when you have a garage full of bulky items: old tires, wood, old yard equipment, old appliances, rolled fencing, old carpeting, etc. There are several ways you can handle the disposal of these items:

• One is to watch for your city’s garbage service to offer bulky collection services. In my market, this is offered free of charge 2-3 times a year and is a great value if you have bulky items for disposal. If you don’t know if this service is available, call your city garbage service and find out.

• If this option is not available to you, is there a friend or family member with a truck and a strong back who might be willing to haul these items to the city dump for you? If so, take advantage of their assistance!

• You can also call a hauling service to pick up your items and take them to the dump for you. There is a charge for this service and the charge can be considerable if you have a significant amount of items for disposal. This is the primary reason I encourage people to get this job done early since time gives you more disposal options. In most cases, when I am clearing out a garage for clients, I have to use a hauling service because I am under the gun to get everything done quickly. Plan ahead and get your large rubbish disposed of early and you may very well save money as well as worry about this big job.

Get rid of hazardous waste

Hazardous and home chemical waste (e.g., paint, some chemical cleaners, old auto supplies) needs to be collected and disposed of properly.

• First, check your city’s guidelines for hazardous waste. Labels on newer home chemicals and cleaning supplies may also provide information about safe disposal.

• Next, check your home and garage for hazardous waste items that you are ready to dispose of at this time. If you find something that you can’t identify, add it to the hazardous waste pile and let the experts decide how to handle it.

• Finally, check with your city garbage service about hazardous waste collection. There is home pickup available for residents 65 years and older in my market, and may be in your market as well. If not, most cities have one or more local drop-off sites for hazardous waste. Again, take care of this sooner rather than later and you’ll be glad you did.

Donate your old clothes

At least once or twice a year (spring and/or fall are best for this), go through your closet and pull out any clothes and shoes that are old, worn out or that don’t fit any more. If the item still has some life left in it, donate it to your charity of choice. If the item is stained, damaged or completely worn out, throw it out with your trash. Clothing doesn’t last forever and needs to be gone through on a regular basis. Again, this is a time and energy consuming project that many older adults struggle with when it is put off or not touched or thought about until this task is prompted by a later life move.

Clothing, like material possessions, should be simplified as one gets older. Keep only the items of clothing you know you will wear in the coming year and let go of the items that no longer fit you or your lifestyle at this stage of your life.

Sort through old pictures

Last but not least, start sorting through old family pictures as soon as possible. This is a great winter or rainy day project and one that is best started far in advance of a later-life move. This job is just too time consuming to even think of doing in the midst of planning and preparing for a move.

In most cases, when I have a client with lots of old family pictures, all I can do is recommend that we box the photos until after the move when they will hopefully have the time and energy to sort through these boxes. There is just too much preparation work that needs to be taken care of that I can’t risk using my client’s energy and time for this task. A recent example of this was a client of mine who ended up with ten file boxes full of photos that she needed to sort through. This was a task she was not looking forward to tackling after getting through her move and the clearing of her house.

Be very discriminate with this sorting process.

• Eliminate all the pictures that will hold little interest for others - like scenery pictures taken on vacation, or pictures of people you worked with 30 years ago.

• Keep your favorite pictures of loved ones and also think about passing on pictures to those who will greatly appreciate them - like your siblings or your children or grandchildren.

• This is also a fun project to share with family members. For the pictures you decide to keep or pass on, make sure that every photo is labeled. Photos are often part of the legacy you will pass on to your family and future generations – but they are meaningless if the subject, time and place of the photo are not identified.

Again, anything you can do ahead of time to start the sorting and clearing of the accumulated “stuff” of your lifetime will help immensely when the time comes to make your later-life move. Do at least some of this work while you have the time, energy and flexibility for this work. Get started on this now – you’ll be glad you did!

~ George & Jeanne

George and Jeanne are not alone. According to a Self Storage Association study approximately 9% of U.S. households currently rent a self storage unit. That’s up from 6% in 1995. So a lot of us have ’stuff’ in storage!

What’s the best way for George and Jeanne to separate the things that they want to keep and get rid of the rest?

The first step is going through the stuff and picking out the keepers. Those items should be separated from the things that will be sold. It’s also a good time to make a list or inventory of the items that will be available for sale.

Liquidation and tag sales

The next question is whether George and Jeanne want to handle the sale themselves or have someone do it for them. It sounds as if they prefer having it done. If that’s the case, contact a company that does estate ‘liquidations’ or ‘tag’ sales. Look in the yellow pages under ‘estate sales’ or see who’s advertising tag sales in your local paper.

The advantage of dealing with an auctioneer or liquidator is that it’s usually very easy for you. Pretty much a matter of staying out of the way and collecting a check when the sale is over. The downside is that you may be paying someone to dispose of goods that are not that valuable.

Once you’ve contacted a professional liquidator, expect them to make suggestions as to the best method for disposing of your goods. Depending on the quantity and value of the items involved they may suggest having an on-site auction, moving the items to an auction house or having a ‘tag sale’ where the goods are currently stored. If you’re planning an auction or sale at the storage site, check with the storage company to find out any restrictions they might have.

For tag sales, the liquidator should set the prices for all items. Expect them to charge 20 to 30% of the sale proceeds for their services. All costs and commissions should be clearly specified before you sign an agreement.

Once you’ve decided what method to use, they’ll decide when to hold the sale and how to advertise the sale.

Selling non-value items

Anyone who’s attended an auction or tag sale knows that many household goods simply don’t have much value. Unless you have very high quality furniture or items that will attract collectors, most items are worth pennies on the dollar. That can make hiring professional salespeople relatively expensive.

You’ll probably end up with more money if you sell the items yourself. Furniture can be sold to second-hand furniture stores or through an ad in the local paper. Collectibles can be sold to dealers or through online auctions. Have a bottom line price in mind. You’ll probably need to negotiate a bit to get the best price for your items.

If you have trouble finding someone to buy your bigger items, an auctioneer or second-hand store may be willing to take them on consignment.

Smaller items can be sold in a garage sale or George and Jeanne might want to give the items to a charitable thrift store and take the tax deduction.

Expect to spend some time handling the sale. Only George and Jeanne can decide whether they’d rather spend their time or money to arrange the sale.

Depending on what they have George and Jeanne might not make that much. But, that’s not to say that they shouldn’t try to sell excess stuff. Even if they gave the items away, they’d be financially ahead. To store eleven pallets could easily take a 20′ x 10′ storage space. Depending on where they live, that space could cost between $100 to $250 per month. No matter what size space they’ve rented, it’s money largely wasted.

Like George and Jeanne, if you have items that have been in storage for years, it’s probably time to see whether you’re storing valuable items or just running up a monthly storage bill. Hopefully their sale or auction will be a huge success.

Now you might be saying, “I don’t have time to plan meals, let alone control my kitchen!” That’s fine. Wait until you do have some time. All you need is just a couple of hours on a Saturday or Sunday where you can really “dive” into your kitchen.

Where to start

Start from scratch. Clean out ALL those cupboards, shelves, racks, pantries, etc. At some point, you’ll want to do the same to your refrigerator and freezer. You must! This is VALUABLE storage space that will save you hundreds off your grocery bills if they are properly put to use. Kitchens were designed to act as “mini-supermarkets”. Everything you need to prepare meals your family can enjoy morning, noon and night. Once it is set up, you can accommodate quite a number of meals without having to go to the market every other day.

Once the cleaning is done

Now that everything is cleaned and your current supplies are organized, you’ll need an inventory what you have. What this means is to list out what you have and what you need to get. Ideally, you should have at least two to four weeks of meals available at your disposal. Why? This will reduce the number of trips to the market and help minimize overspending and impulse buying. What helps is if you list foods and meals you know your family likes and would eat. These are the items you need to stock your kitchen pantry and fridge with.

With this approach, you use your cupboards, pantries, and shelves to your advantage. Whenever you come across great bargains on items you use, like cans of tuna for 40 cents each or boxes of macaroni and cheese for 50 cents each, buy more than usual and store the rest.

Sugar, cheese, spaghetti, rice, pasta, bread, meat, cereal, fruit, chicken, sauces, canned foods, vegetables, boxed foods. These are just a few examples of items than can be stored in your pantry, refrigerator or freezer for a reasonable amount of time.

You know you are running low on an item by simply opening your well-organized pantry and determining what needs to be restocked.

Planning your meals

Now that your kitchen has been cleaned and well stocked, it’s time to put it to use. It works best if you plan the following day’s meals the night before. This is not hard or very time-consuming. Five minutes before going to bed, simply open your cupboards and see what you can plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the following day.

Start off just planning one day at a time. Later, as you adjust to this style of living, you’ll be able to plan the whole week just by looking at the contents within your kitchen. Creativity is a must! Try to steer away from traditional hamburger and hot dog meals. Get creative with your meals; there are literally hundreds of different combinations that can be made to give you and your family the variety they need.

For example, think of all the combinations you can put together with rice or potatoes (ie: rice and vegetables, rice and beans, rice with chicken, rice and soup, rice with eggrolls, etc…) And that’s just with rice! You have a ton of options.

Take the time to think of or search for some. Here are a couple of websites that offer a number of recipes and cooking ideas:

• Living on a Dime
• Recession Recipes

The whole goal of this exercise is to eliminate unnecessary trips and excessive spending at the market in addition to creatively using what you have in your kitchen to prepare meals for the week/month.The more times you go to the market, the more chances you have of spending your money on foods you may not need.

Organize and master your kitchen, plan out your meals, stock your storage areas, and you can save $100-$400 a month (depending on your spending habits). Best of luck mastering your kitchen!

Many homeowners are abandoning traditional room layouts in favor of designing specialty rooms or areas within the home. The media area represents a space where the entire family can enjoy their entertainment media requirements both independently or together as a group. Depending upon the size of your current home and your family’s media requirements, a media space can be as compact or as large as your existing home permits. Examine all possible options and do not overlook unanticipated locations within the home, when deciding upon the ideal spot for the family media area.

If your home affords the luxury of a basement and your family’s main interest is the home theatre, consider converting the basement into a media space. By nature of its location, naturally dark basements may be painted practically any color scheme without having to worry about the interference of natural light and reflections from windows and mirrors that can blot out television screen images.

Large family rooms can also be quite easily segregated into family media centers, with the use of various room dividers such as painted decorative screens, fencing materials or oversized shutters that have been hinged together.

Select a color scheme and consider painting the walls a different shade of color, clearly delineating the “lounging” area from the “media” area. Remember to select shades which share the same intensity of color, to allow for the most harmonious combinations of color within the same area. Opt for deeper shades of color for media spaces that will function as home theatres, as well as oversized open spaces that need “cozying up”. Paler, more muted color combinations are perfect choices for smaller multipurpose areas where the entire room serves several functions (i.e. an open space family room that also serves as the home office in addition to the media space).

In order for the media space to graciously coexist with the rest of the home, you may consider designing an area that mimics the same style of decor that is found throughout the rest of the house. If your media area will share living quarters with a rustic styled guest room, help blend the functions for the entire area using style and color.

Consider applying the identical earthy faux brown logs that appear on wall coverings onto the wall unit or custom cabinetry that houses all of the media needs. Bookcase styled pieces with wide side shelving can accommodate components and DVDs, in addition to personal items and essentials required by guests. Painting the inside of open faced bookcases using a contrasting, color (such as any of today’s popular shades of red) makes a dramatic fashion statement that adds interest to the entire room.

Furnishings for the home media space are available in every color, style of decor and price point. Inexpensive padded seating is not only comfortable, but can also be purchased in today’s hottest colors. Particularly appropriate for a child’s media space, various chair styles can be painted by the youth, showcasing his or her unique artistic ability.

Use color to designate the division of space when designing a child’s shared play room and media space. Using a color block paint technique, for example, a do-it-yourself paint enthusiast can opt to paint the top border perimeter of the walls belonging to the play area portion of the room using sunny yellow and white color blocks. Then, paint the top border perimeter of the walls belonging to the media area of the room using candy apple red and white color blocks. The entire space can be integrated visually with color and paint technique, by applying solid royal blue paint to the entire bottom border perimeter of the wall around the entire room.

Consider painting a coordinating canvas accent rug and window treatment valance using the identical color block design that features the same tones of the royal blue, white, sunny yellow and candy apple red color scheme. As within in any interior area, these small decorative touches will add an enormous amount of personality to the child’s play/media space.

If your family enjoys participating in various forms of media, either alone or as a group, consider searching your home to devise a media location. Regardless of its location within the home, the clever application of color and paint can assist with designating the media space as its own entity. Designing a unique home media space is yet another creative way that we can enjoy both our family and our home in the months and years to come!

Today’s student desks can be both playful and practical!

Computer workstations are available in a variety of fabrications for students, often combining wood with metal for sleek and contemporary looks. Plain wood desk tops and keyboard pull outs can be painted to coordinate with a child’s bedroom color scheme. A great idea for a family project, consider involving your older student in the painting process!

Metal and wood shelving as well as bookcases, are practical study area accessories that also can be painted in colors that mimic the desk or echo other bedroom furnishings such as bedside tables, chest of drawers and headboards/footboards.

Consider spray painting inexpensive mesh pencil holders and wastebaskets to further personalize and accentuate the modern edge contained within this study space vignette.

Providing ample storage and organization, large wall systems can incorporate side cabinets, adjustable shelving and large, open style hutches to accommodate more than one students school necessities. Often available in natural wood as well as white or a solid colored finish, these oversized units can make study time practical and accessible to multiple members within a family.

An attractive way to customize this multi-family member space is with the use of painted baskets that neatly fit into any of the open shelving areas. Consider color coding each basket according to each sibling who utilizes the study space. Or, spray paint the baskets using the most predominant colors that are contained in the room’s color scheme.

Traditional desk, hutch and bookcase combinations are classic study option favorites that compliment any style of decor. Rather than painting any of the large pieces contained in this trio, why not add pizzazz by painting accessory items that can be attractively displayed within any of the pieces? Consider painting ordinary clipboards, plain desktop organizers and stackable nesting containers to lend a fresh, updated look to the traditional study area. Or, add a dash of unexpected color to the base of a table lamp, the metal trim on a wall clock, or the wooden trim belonging to a cork board!

Regardless of its fabrication, virtually any style desk or desk related accessory is a possible candidate for paint! Allow your students to brainstorm with you to compile a welcoming study space where each child looks forward to spending time every day!

On the plus side, we got rid of a lot of things and even collected a few hundred dollars. We also met some neighbors we hadn’t known and saw our unwanted possessions go to people who actually did want them.

From a strictly financial point of view–if you calculated the value of our time–it probably wasn’t worth it. We would have been ahead to have simply loaded everything up and sent it to Goodwill.

But our objective was to purge our house of items we no longer want or need, and we accomplished that.

We’re highly motivated to simplify our life. This fall, we’re planning to move into a 40′ by 8.5′ motor coach. We expect to be on the road for a couple of years and aren’t sure where we plan to live after that. Other than pictures, a few books and special items, we don’t plan to put anything else in storage.

So how does this all relate to a better life for you? Stay with me; it does.

Most of us collect way too much stuff. I was AMAZED at how much we’d accumulated over the years. I never thought of myself as a pack rat, but we had hundreds of items to get rid of, and this was only the beginning.

Our epiphany occu rred when we spent the winter in Florida. We went several months with only a few of our personal possessions and didn’t miss them once. The house full of “things” we left in Vermont went unused and unwanted. Our question was: if we don’t want it or need it, why do we have it?

Last weekend, as we sold and gave away many of our things, there wasn’t once we felt the pang of loss. As we watched stuff being carted away, we were relieved–we felt lighter.

You don’t have to be moving out of your house to gain the benefit of the big purge. We can all benefit from reducing the clutter and eliminating things we don’t use.

By getting rid of things, you create more space. Your environment and your life will feel less cluttered. When you hang on to things, you stop the flow of abundance in your life.

When you purge, you re-open the flow and allow more of what you REALLY want to come into your life.

Action point

Take a look around. Open up all your closets. Look through the garage. Open up the attic and/or the storage unit. Inventory your office.

Chances are there are numerous things you haven’t used in a year or more. And if you haven’t used it in a year, it’s HIGHLY unlikely you ever will.

Be ruthless. If you can’t bring yourself to part with something now, put it in a box with a date on it. In six months–if you haven’t used it–sell or give it away.

I’ve yet to find anyone who has de-cluttered who regrets doing so.