Author: Yvette

Freelance writer, maker, podcast enthusiast, semi-professional advice-giver, compulsive redecorator & cheapskate fashionista. Hip Cuban-American mama.

40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge

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Today is Ash Wednesday.  I’ve kind of strayed away from Lent over the last few years. I can’t remember the last time I received ashes or gave anything up. I went through some difficult times and reasoned with myself that I had sacrificed enough for one year.

But, today I woke up feeling differently.  I want to actively participate in the Lenten Season again.  Not just by fasting or giving up my favorite treat, but by doing something to better my life and the lives of those around me.

I already actively volunteer with a great charity, so taking on additional volunteer duties would only be a hindrance to my home, work and the charity that depends on the little free time that I do have.

I started researching other ways to challenge myself this Lent and discovered the 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge by White House Black Shutters.  This challenge is about removing 40 bags of unwanted, unneeded, unused and unnecessary items from our homes. It’s about decluttering, donating to the less fortunate and making our lives simpler– and it coincides with the 40 days of Lent.

LessIsMore

White House Black Shutters has been hosting this challenge since 2011 and has it all broken down for you.  From a printable, to suggestions of where and how to declutter, and even what to do with all the stuff.  This is EXACTLY what I need.

Ash Wednesday is the perfect time to start this challenge! To me, going through my clutter is a reminder of all that God has blessed me with.  To see piles of unused or unwanted items makes my heart ache and that guilt will help me fight the urge to shop impulsively and unnecessarily. To give items to others who need them will make my heart full. To have an orderly home will bring me peace.

It’s a roller coaster of emotions, but in the end, if I complete the challenge, it will make for a happier, healthier home.

Want to join me in the challenge?  Pop on over to White House Black Shutters for all the details!

Missing: Reward!

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Saturday I spent the day volunteering at the 3rd Annual A Magic Cure Benefit at the Ritz Ybor (a historic theater built in 1917, which to my contemporaries is best known as the dance club Masquerade from the mid-90s) hosted by Lawrence A. Martucci Benefit Corp.  Many of you may already know that I am the Marketing Chair of this fabulous charity. We are 100% volunteer based and raise money to help fund research on pediatric cancer PREVENTION.  It’s pretty rad.

Somehow, in the 14 hours from set-up, to showtime, to take-down, I lost my MOST FAVORITIST SWEATER IN THE HISTORY OF EVER AND EVER.

MISSINGSWEATERI wasn’t sure that I had even brought it down from the car, but I must have hung it up with my change of clothes in the ladies bathroom and left it there. I contacted the theater, as well as my fellow committee members, and no one has seen my precious missing sweater.  Boo.

The only other thing I can think of is that I dropped it on the way from the parking garage to the theater, in which case a hundred-year-old hobo with 3 teeth is rocking my sweet threads.  I guess that makes me feel a little better.

If you see my missing sweater, please contact me. Your reward is a shout out and a bag of peanut M&Ms.

FULL DISCLAIMER: Missing sweater cost me $3 on clearance at Target.  But– this does not diminish its awesomeness.  In fact, I believe it increases its overall value.