Quote

"Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." William Morris

I saw this quote a few years back and it spoke to me.  Something clicked in my head and ever since I have looked at each thing in my house differently.

I've never been a big collector of knick knacks or things, besides kids.  We managed to collect 4 pretty good ones of those.
And with those kids does come stuff. 
It's unavoidable in many ways.  More shoes, more clothes, more papers and books, more furniture.
But that quote made me think less of more and more of enough.
I want enough, not more.  In many ways, I want barely enough or a little less than enough so that I have something to works towards.
I like a few special things that are meaningful to me (look on the right for the things my top 5) and I keep those where I can see them often, sometimes too often.  Except for the guy at the top.  Don't see him nearly enough lately.
My house is never totally clean and never immaculate.  
That's impossible. We live here.
I have boxes in my basement with... I don't even know what.  Probably books. 
There are too many pairs of shoes and jackets piled up in our mudroom..
Or maybe I just have too many kids...?
Toys are thrown all over the basement with no hope of being picked up in the near future.
But I TRY to keep things to a minimum.
A few toys, not a roomful.  A few pots and pans, not 15.  One spatula, not 5.  One change of sheets for each bed, not 4. 
Enough.
I periodically go through my house with that quote specifically in mind.  
"Do we use this?  Do I love this?"
Alot of times the answer to both questions is no.

Sometimes it's something I think could be repurposed or painted, but more often then not I decide it's not worth the time or the $$ to try and do that so off to Goodwill, the recycle shed, or the trash it goes.

And so with the idea of loving what you have or tossing it, I leave you with this little tidbit...I took on a project this weekend while the boy toy is away.  I took something that I DID NOT love, but we use regularly and am (hopefully) making it something I DO love!
To be continued...