Contentment Challenge–That didn’t last long!

I bet you’re thinking I gave up the first week.  I’ll admit when I got the January activity to go through my closet and give up lots of clothes, I was less than thrilled.  My thoughts were along the lines of….  “I can’t buy new clothes for three months and now you’re asking me to give up some?  I just did this!  OK…..”

 

Farmhouse Life

We live in an old farm house built in the early 1900s.  Way back then, people didn’t have stuff.  Our closets are small, meaning out of season clothing is stored in the attic.  When I change the clothes over for the season,  I  weed out and give away items that are no longer worn.  So I had just taken a load of clothes to Forgotten Children Worldwide…. Now I needed to find more clothes to give away?  This contentment challenge  is going to be way harder than I thought!

I love combing old clothing items with something new for a whole new feel.  For me, it makes the old feel new again.  I planned to find new ways to combine existing items in my wardrobe during the contentment challenge.  On a quest  for a summer shirt to put under an old sweater I headed to the attic.

I decided to start my purging there, finding summer items that could go.  I even finally surrendered a few items I had hung on to way to long….. like hadn’t been worn in over a decade….  As I pulled items from plastic totes I realized something.  We now had an almost empty tote.  That felt so good!  A little more space for the things we love in our life.  Note:  When you have an old farmhouse, you can truly love something and still need it to live in the attic for part of the year. 🙂

Errand Day

Later in the week I set out to do weekly errands.  After a quick lunch at Chic-fil-a I thought through my plan for the day.  Old Navy’s huge sign proclaiming up to 75%  caught my attention.  Nope, don’t need anything there.  Nope, don’t need to check out the deals at the closing Gap Factory store.  Target ?   No I don’t need anything from Target either. I only needed to go to Meijer to get groceries.  That thought was SO freeing!  Before I never even realized, and am rather embarrassed to admit, I succumbed to marketing strategist so much that I almost felt an obligation to check out those good deals.

So my feelings of discontentment, mild frustration, and oh my this contentment challenge is going to be way harder than I anticipated, those they didn’t last long!  I’m surprised, amazed and so thankful that even in just a little over a week in to the contentment challenge I’m already seeing positive changes.  In fact I wish I had been introduced to this years ago!   I’m looking forward to seeing what next week brings.  As for the January activity…  one small load to Forgotten Children Worldwide (quick phone picture  below) this week and I’ll keep working at it.

Hope your week is filled with blessings!

Julie

 

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