The Collins Family Challenge – Can We Do It???

After watching the Netflix documentary called Minimalism (you can read that post here), the Collins family has issued a challenge….to ourselves.  While we really do try to be good stewards of all the blessings that the Lord has given us, we are a family of six and the STUFF can pile up quickly and our busyness can get out of control fast. While we are not about to move to a tiny house (please dear Lord don’t call me to do that), we are about to embark on a massive challenge to declutter our lives some and to really be intentional about two of our greatest resources….people and time.   One of our favorite lines in the documentary was, “Love people and Use Stuff.” We are inviting you to come along on our journey and see if we can prioritize our time together and get rid of A LOT of stuff!

The Collins Family Challenge Rules

TIME FRAME:

This challenge will last 10 days, beginning today Monday, October 22, 2018 and conclude on Wednesday, October 31, 2018.

MAIN GOAL:

Our main goal is to declutter our lives (home, cars, schedules) to only things we need, use, or things that add value to our lives, to be intentional in our consumerism, and to intentionally value our relationships with each other and our time together.

OBJECTIVES:

1. PRACTICAL DECLUTTER –  Each family member will find ten (10) items per day to either donate, recycle, or throw away resulting in 60 items a day with a total of 600 items gone from our household at the completion of the challenge.
2. SCHEDULE DECLUTTER – Each family member will be  limited to one (1) hour of screen time per day period, including phone, iPad, video games, kindles, tv and/or car tvs.  The only exception is work required computer or cell phone use by mom and dad and school required computer/iPad time for the kids.
3. INTENTIONAL CONSUMERISM – During the ten day challenge, all items purchased will be needed or required not just desired.
4. INTENTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS – During the ten day challenge we will be intentional with our time together and to make the most of each day – talking, playing, and growing together.

***OUR ONLY EXCEPTION***

The only exception will be Sarah Cate and Callie’s birthday party that was pre-planned on Saturday, October 27th, before this challenge began.  The argument could be made that all party items aren’t needed or required, but we will be planning the party with our challenge in mind and being very intentional with the money we spend.  Stay tuned for a future post on throwing a seemingly “over the top” party on a budget.

We will be documenting our challenge daily on FPFM’s Instagram posts and stories so make sure to follow us at @frontporchframeofmind to keep up.  Also, comment below or on our Insta with any tips and tricks on how you declutter and make life intentional.  We would love to know!!

DAY ONE Recap:  Today has been pretty good!  The girls chose to watch Aladdin during lunch.  We cleaned out their “sippy cup” drawer and their hair bow container as their 10 items each.  The boys came home from school and while choosing 10 items, they ended up cleaning out the kid “junk drawer” we have in the kitchen.  The boys chose some iPad time in the car to and from Wil Franklin’s piano lesson as their screen time. Matt and I cleaned out clothes items and I also chose a few torn and non-repairable children’s books.  It may have just been the excitement of the first day, but our purge was way more than 60 items.  Matt chose Monday Night Football as his tv time tonight (It may or may not have been a wee bit over an hour….but….we will let that slide since no football game is less than an hour.  I chose a rerun of a Netflix series I’m currently watching.  See pictures of Day One on Instagram.

Until tomorrow….

Amberly