The Intentional Home, Week Two: Saturday

For an Introduction and Table of Contents for The Intentional Home, click Here.

Week Two: Saturday

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
Acts 20:35

I’m going to give you a few “Saturday projects”. Feel free to rotate them as you need. As many of you have husbands that work during the week and are home on the weekend, I thought I would give you a few projects that you can work on together. They can be moved to a day that fits your lifestyle better.

The first “Saturday project” is the garage. If you don’t have a garage, but a storage shed or something of that nature then you can tackle that area. If you don’t have either, then we all envy you right now and you can think of all of us as you sit by the pool and sip some tea.

The garage is a trouble area for me, because, you see I have these things called kids and they insist on having bicycles, balls, golf clubs, scooters and so on. Oh, and I have this person called a husband who insists on have tools, lawn care equipment and a rather large electronic basketball game that looks like it belongs in Chuck E. Cheese! I’m realistic here, you can’t be completely clutter free when it comes to this area, but I’m guessing that we all have some things that really don’t belong in the garage that are adding to the clutter.

Today, spend some time in your garage. You might be using your garage for the things that we have moved out there as we’ve removed clutter and that’s okay (for now). Are there things in your garage just collecting dust that you will most likely never use again? There may even be some things of value that you can sell and make a little cash for that new bedspread that you want (or whatever is on your wish list). You know what I’m going to tell you, be ruthless and get rid of the stuff that you no longer need or anything that is broken or trash.

You may find through this process that you have some things that might benefit others. Do you have an old set of golf clubs that can be given to a young golfer just starting out? Maybe you have some lawn equipment that can be given to someone just getting into their first house? I find a lot of enjoyment in getting rid of clutter and at the same time blessing someone else with something that they can really use. If you feel led to give any of the things you have been getting rid of, you can go ahead and start. But, we can wait and deal with that growing pile later! I will give you some ideas on week seven for all of the things that will be leaving your house.

As for the things staying, perhaps they can be organized in a way to make your garage more efficient. Bicycles can be hung on the wall and so can many other tools and lawn equipment. You can add some shelving to the sides or front of your garage. Maybe even an old bookcase that you are no longer using in the house can be used for garage storage. I actually picked up an old bookcase and kitchen cabinet off of someone’s sidewalk on trash day. They were still in nice enough condition to be used in the garage. Things like this can be picked up at garage sales for great prices as well. Of course, you can find many storage options at home improvement stores.

Daily Chores:

One load of laundry from start to finish

Make your bed

Unload the dishwasher in the morning, load and run it at night

Wipe down the kitchen counters and sink 

Wipe down the bathroom counters and sinks