I read a book by this title a couple years ago and it was so very inspiring. In fact after reading it I was so inspired that I reduced our household by about 40-50%!  Talk about a load off my shoulders- this is extreme therapy for the weary mom.  We set up some new rules around the house also: #1 Toys will not exceed what can fit in the toybox,  and the new toy in old toy out policy was adopted. #2 If clothes have not been worn in a year then out they go #3 No appliances that do the same jobs that the appliances we  already own do, IOW no toaster oven, no electric griddle or wok, no rice cooker and so on.  Now this book and these new rules (there were more) helped tremendously but the biggest lesson I learned about simplifying came when my husband and I decided to hit the road with our precious family.  He was very tired of his current job that kept him away from us for much of the year and was ready for something new. So we purchased a travel trailer with double bunks and a tip out and headed for NV where the mining jobs were plentiful.  The plan was to find a job where we would travel and we would now approach homeschooling with a much more hands-on approach to say the least!

When we first made the decision I could see that God's providential hand had been preparing me for this new lifestyle with the lessons he had been teaching me about reducing clutter and the joys of an organized home.  But that 40% reduction was nothing compared to what we were going to be getting rid of to live in a 30 ft. travel trailer!  I had to go room by room and decide what was going to be necessary and everything else was to go, so I packed the trailer with the essentials and we had a large open house garage sale selling just about everything we owned! Well- to make a long story short our plans did not go exactly as we thought- we lived in the trailer for about a year in NV and when the job ended there my husband had a job offer in ID that was a bit more permanent so we are in a house again.  But I learned so many lessons about keeping things simple that I have brought with me into the house and I wanted to share a little bit of this wisdom with you all....

The very best advice I have is scale down, think about what you would need if you were moving into a travel trailer and then make a list of your most favorite can't live without  items. How much is left that could go out the door?  Remember this world is not our home- living simply is a good reminder to not get too comfortable here- it keeps us heavenly minded.  (  :

I have come to realize that while God wants us to keep things neat and orderly (1 Cor. 14:40) and it most certainly blesses our families and ourselves when things are kept this way, God does not desire housework to be a burden to us (Matt. 11:30). He does not make it a burden, we do, and having a proper attitude about the housework is really only part of the problem.  The biggest burden really comes from trying to keep up with all of the stuff we have filled our houses with.   My friend Jen was telling me about a book she bought called Material World and it is a global portrait of what families live like all across the world. I think a browse through this would show us how much stuff we can live without.

One last thought I leave you all with.... Each item you own is really on more item thrown into the load you are carrying around and the cost of each item is that it is keeping you from enjoying family time, time with the Lord, and a nice tidy and orderly house.  Count the cost of each item you own and ask yourself "Is it worth it?"