It’s Day One of the Great Home Purge, and I already dodged the first bullet: the “Come Have Fun” text. This is the most dangerous of Home Purge enemies, and if I was really smart, I’d just put my phone away so I was unaware of any and all weekend brunches, trips to the park, notifications of 75% off all-my-favorite-things clearance sales, and invites from friends to come do something far more fun than sort through my pots and pans cupboard.

But no, I am strong.

The second dangerous Home Purge enemy is finding something really cool I forgot about and letting it take precedence on the priority list. Like say I’m cleaning out a linen closet, and I find a box of photos and, instead of completing the linen closet and moving on to another closet, I redirect my attention to the photos and spend the rest of the day arranging ten-year-old photos in chronological order and Googling acid-free album pages for which to store them.

The third Home Purge enemy (oh, this one’s a doozy) is tricking myself into thinking I need a little inspiration to clean, so I tell myself I’m just going to make a quick trip to Homegoods to buy a pretty dish towel or maybe Anthropologie to pick up that wild honeysuckle candle I’ve been sniffing the last three times I was in there. And I convince myself that I cannot begin to clean until I have something to make me want to clean. So I leave the house to buy a dish towel or a candle and I come back four hours later with the dish towel and the candle and a new shower curtain and cool measuring cups and, most importantly, storage bins because surely they’re going to magically organize everything. Except I’m tired after all that shopping. So I light my new candle and lie down.

But no, I am strong. So strong, that I am, in fact, going to cut this post short so I can clean. I’d much rather write than clean. I actually considered redesigning the look of my blog today, because anything sounds more fun than purging.

But no, I am strong.

Heidi just invited me to go antiquing.

“No, I’m cleaning,” I answered robotically (it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done).

“Wow. You’re blowing me off,” she answered. “You’re good. You’re really good.”

I am so strong. I’m doing this.

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A few bits from the last couple days:

Brett and I took Nella to have lunch with Lainey yesterday. Instead of eating at the picnic tables outside with just us, Lainey asked if we could join her friends. I love that she wanted this.

And then she proudly showed Nella around.

They watched a movie together last night in Nella’s room. The novelty of a seven-inch screen amused them.

Friday Phone Dump:

Friday Phone Dump photos are taken on the Instagram iPhone app (free) and dropped into a 12×12 collage using a photo editing software (Photoshop Elements works). I am @etst (enjoying the small things) on Instagram if you care to follow the feed.

And your #enjoyingthesmallthings photos. (If you use Instagram and have a photo that makes you happy, share it by using the hashtag #enjoyingthesmallthings. Yours may be chosen to be shared in a Friday post.)

Happy Weekend!

Cue Rocky Theme Song. Cue Garbage Bags. Cue me, fully armored, headin’ out to PURGE.

The problem with clutter in our home is that Brett and I are both hoarders. Not last-year’s-dinner-still-on-the-table-and-twenty-cats-hiding-under-living-room-garbage kind of hoarders, but definitely the can’t-throw-away-anything-of-remote-sentimental-value kind of hoarders.

Under our bed? Oh God. It’s a graveyard to our past. Brett still has a cassette tape holder full of his Holy Trinity–Boston, Styx and Journey. And my boxes are full of paper treasures so overgrown, they happen to include, among many other things, a stack of twenty funeral programs from when my grandma died because the act of slipping even one into a garbage bag feels wrong. Our home has slowly become a museum of memories which is not as charming as it sounds.

Recently, in a house blitz (my mom called them blitzes–as in “No, you can’t go play today. We’re blitzing the house.” Which was the last thing you want to hear on a Saturday), I cleaned out a living room trunk to find a stack of Magic School Bus tapes. Yes, tapes. As in VHS.

“Well these are surely going in the garbage,” I mumbled as I pulled them out to make room for other meaningless crap that would take their place.

And like a dog who responds to the whistle only canines can hear, Brett suddenly appeared out of nowhere. “What? What are you throwing away? Those tapes? No! Those were the boys.”

“Are you serious?” I asked incredulously (I know–big word. It’s for dramatic effect). “Brett, do you know how old the boys are? They’re teenagers. Mrs. Frizzle is, like, dead. These are VHS. VHS, Brett. We don’t even have a VHS player.”

He looked pained for a moment and then finally agreed. “Fine. Throw them out. But then you have to throw out something too.”

And this is how it goes. The hose coming into our home flows much more freely than the hose going out of our home, and the result is not only a cluttered home but worse…a cluttered mind.

The way that I’ve always dealt with this in the past is a big house blitz accompanied by a call to my sister where we justify to each other why we are the way we are. Brett calls this Therapy Hour. Our calls usually end with this pumped up team spirit where we’re all “Yeah, we’re Crydermans! We’re creative! We’re laid back! We make great friends! Messes make us cool! We’re so awesome, we shouldn’t have to change one thing about ourselves!” This is, as you are probably thinking, a load of worthless crap.

Maybe a little bit of it is true. No, I will never be one of those women who clean fan blades every Tuesday. Yes, I am laid back, and minimalist does not very well describe my style. But I do need changes. I need to simplify in many areas, and it wouldn’t kill us to maybe clean out the Boston tapes and pare down to saving just one program from my grandma’s funeral. My girls have too many toys they don’t use, and half of my closet is filled with “just-in-case” clothes. Like just in case I get invited to a Roaring Twenties party or just in case a national Dress Like a Cowgirl holiday is proclaimed.

I just finished reading Gretchen Rubin’s new book, Happier at Home.

In true Gretchen Rubin style, Happier at Home combines memoir with science and philosophy, leaving you not only inspired but equipped with solid advice–things you can do right now in your own home to create a more peaceful, comforting environment.

It comes at a good time. Brett and I have been talking a lot about our home lately–what we love about it, what we want to change, what little things we can do to make our place cozier, more family-oriented and yet with quiet need-to-be-alone-without-toys places too (I used to think toys in every corner meant “cheerful” and “we love our family” but I’m accepting that it’s okay if I also sometimes think “I don’t want to live in a freaking daycare.”). With another baby on the way, older boys who come and go and new kindergarten routines that demand consistency and organization, we’ve really begun to examine the space in our home and how we use it.

Sure, we dream of wood floors and bathrooom fixtures that aren’t brass and tarnished. But those things aren’t what give our home its character. Ultimately, we want our home to be a place where everyone feels safe, where family memories are made, a space that is peaceful and yet stimulates creativity. We already have the resources to do just that.

I’m giving myself until the end of the year to completely purge every room, every closet. I will pare down and focus on simplicity. I’m going deeper than I’ve ever gone before because I know this is part of why the clutter seems to keep reappearing after blitzes. We have too much stuff. And I’m asking for help because I know orgnanization isn’t my strong point. I have friends who are great at it, and I will trade favors for a little assistance. Not to mention, when I clean I need someone behind me, scolding me for my saving tendencies.

Last weekend, we started in Nella’s room, weeding through clothes that needed to head to the attic, gathering toys for Goodwill.

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When we’re finished simplifying and deep-cleaning, we’ll take everything off the walls and paint. Start fresh. It’s time.

Reminds me a bit of the old June Challenge. Climb aboard if you’d like to join me. If your home is in need of a project, a purge-and-simplify, efforts that will help make it a happier place, tell me what you’ll be doing to yours. I’ll update bits and pieces of our simplify-our-home projects (along with where I find inspiration) over the next few months and share some of your ideas as well (our Instagram followers share favorite home space pictures under the hashtag #happycornerofmyhome, a great place for inspiration).

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And a few happy home shots this week:

While I’m simplifying home, perhaps I’ll take a moment to wash that window behind the high chair.

The just-got-home-from-school sister hug