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Although I did not realize it until the sign gave me the perspective, in many ways I have been waiting for the perfect time and available money when I could sort of wave a magic wand and make my entire home beautiful, artistic, and wonderfully decorated. Meantime, I’ve been tolerating pieces of furniture and entire rooms that I don’t really feel comfortable with. In my mind, these areas are in a waiting pattern, to be changed “someday.”

Over the last year or so of earnestly clearing clutter from my home, I’ve learned a few things. The most recent came as a revelation of what should have been obvious to me all along: clearing clutter is a skill, not an inborn talent or trait. It’s something everyone can learn, if they really want to. The skills of clearing clutter are not what I expected, though. I expected to learn how to neatly stack things on shelves, and how to get organized, as well as how to get rid of clearly useless things. Yes I am learning these expected things, but I have learned much deeper, and much more powerful skills. I’ll briefly share them here – you can read more explanation in the full article.

Frugal yet meaningful gift ideas. It can be hard to find a gift that expresses your love and friendship, so I hope these ideas will really help.

Of all the vegetables that we grow, my favorite to harvest is the potato. It’s like digging for treasure. Each plant is a mystery – the size and location of the plant above ground does not always match the bounty of potatoes underground. No matter how I try to mark the plants, I still find potatoes in all sorts of unexpected places. I’ve finally decided that the best way to approach my potato beds is to pick one corner and start digging methodically until I’ve turned over every bit of soil in the bed.

Denying the pain of loss also denies the experience of grief. Grief is a process that allows us to go deeper into ourselves. By experiencing grief and letting it unfold in full, we come to a place of acceptance and surrender. Once we have reached this place, we can also let go of compulsive needs to explain, to question why, to blame, or to replay movies in our minds about the event and what we “should have” done.

I had walked past that darned piece of lint at least a dozen times before the full realization hit me: I was experiencing a little distraction and a little zing of stress every time I saw it. Little did I know that I was about to discover a way to increase my self-esteem and lower my levels of stress.

Most likely, we’ll have a dozen or more tomatoes ripening at a time as all those green tomatoes start turning red in earnest – and all at once. Perhaps the best method I have found for storing these tomatoes for using at a later date is to freeze them. The method I use is quick, easy, and the tomatoes stay bright red, tasty, and ready for cooking for up to a year.

One very powerful shift toward bringing abundance in your life is to first recognize and appreciate what you already have. Without this approach toward your life, it will not matter how much you have. As you acquire things, you will quickly become dissatisfied with them and want something more, something different, or something “better.”

It’s fun to get away from the house and do something different. It can be a way to reconnect with your spouse and/or kids, or it can just be a good change of atmosphere. Doing something that is out of your routine is mentally stimulating and can really add some vibrancy to your creative energy. One smart day trip would be to find a local museum that is offering free admission.