Lenten Challenge: 40 Bags in 40 Days!

As we enter into the Lenten Season, I have a challenge for you.

This time of year should be an opportunity to simplify. Strip things down to the basics. Remove distractions from your day so that you will hopefully have more time and space to focus on preparing for the coming of Easter!

So how about this -- on each one of the 40 days of Lent, collect a bag of "stuff" from one of 40 different areas in your home.  Once you have your (big or small!) bag full, you can then toss, recycle, or donate the stuff in it!  A simple step to achieve more freedom from the too-much-stuff that may be in your life.

[Note: Lent includes the days that start with Ash Wednesday and end on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday), except for Sundays!  Sunday is a feast day and is not part of Lent.  You can read more here.]  

Consider praying for the people that come to mind as you go through your home.  Use this exercise as an opportunity to be grateful for all the blessings in your life.  As you go through home and your day, pray about anything that is concerning you -- leaving that concern where it should be, with your loving Father! 

Here are the 40 areas in my house that I hope to collect from -- this list should give you some ideas for what you might do in your own home. As you can see from my list, I didn't necessarily come up with 40 separate locations to clean up!  Some of them are too big to do in one day or in one bag, so I gave myself a couple of days to do them. 

I can't wait to get started!

40 Bags in 40 Days

1. Junk Drawer in Kitchen   
2. Toy Cabinets in Living Room  
3. Storage Drawers in LR 
4. Linen Closet 
5. Baby Girl's Closet 
6. Baby Girl's Bedroom 
7. My Closet 
8. My Closet, Pt. II 
9. My Bedroom  
10. Boys’ Closet 
11. Boys’ Bedroom 
12. Boys’ Dresser 
13. Bathroom Cabinets 
14. Laundry Room/Cabinets 
15. Utility Area in Studio 
16. Pantry 
17. Pantry, Pt. II 
18. Pantry, Pt. III 
19. Desk 
20. Scrapbooking Lower Cabinets 
21. Scrapbooking Upper Cabinets 
22. Filing Cabinet 
23. Front Porch 
24. Back Patio 
25. Shop 
26. Shop, Pt. II 
27. Shop, Pt. III 
28. Shed 
29. Shed, Pt. II 
30. Shed, Pt. III 
31. Front yard / Back yard 
32. Minivan 
33. Jeep 
34. Truck 1 
35. Truck 2 
36. Kitchen Cabinets 
37. Bookshelves 
38. Attic 
39. Attic, Pt. II 
40. Attic, Pt. III