How resourceful are you? Would you keep an organized, neat home, even if you didn’t have extra funds to work with to buy beautiful bins or clever containers at your favorite got-it-all store or even the Dollar Store? After years of working at our local women’s shelter, I’ve had the joy of watching women graduate, but I’ve also seen them face the challenges of discovering that new limitations exist when they move out to rebuild their lives. When women work to overcome addictions or chronic homelessness, they may graduate from programs that helped them find new life, just to find they lack adequate resources to make a house a home. Many women find themselves in efficiency apartments with tiny bathrooms and kitchens and limited storage.  What can they use to create a peaceful, organized space when they start a new life?

Do you have creative ways to use your available resources to make your space an organized and even beautiful place to live? On a scale of 1-5, how would you rate yourself in keeping life in order? We know God loves the principle of order (1 Corinthians 14:40) and that we’re blessed when we manage our lives peacefully.

Monday night at Serenity Shelter, we took a laundry basket full of empty boxes out of my pantry, along with a few refrigerator containers, and we applied our creativity to make useful storage containers. The rule was that we could only use the scraps we brought (ribbons, scrapbook paper, magazines, leftover embellishments), scissors, and glue guns.

 

How to make a small space organized

1. Be Clean – Simple can be peaceful when we keep our belongings clean.
2. Be Clear – We all agreed that countertops are key, along with floors, seating, and  … the kitchen table!
3. Be Creative – Women are rock stars when it comes to using what we have to make something beautiful!
4. Be Categorized – Kitchens & baths are easier to manage when we group like items.
5. Be Clutter free – Some of us confessed our urges to hoard our favorite things, but we agreed we need to limit our excess.

Look at these pictures of some of the containers we made from common kitchen items most of us routinely throw away!

If you have a local women’s shelter, you can help support women in their journey to new life.  Here are some ideas:

How to help a woman start her new home

1. Give a housewarming shower for a woman transitioning to life on her own; you will help AND bless her.
2. Help gather basic furniture items and have them delivered to her home; she probably doesn’t have access to a truck and/or helpers.
3. Fill a laundry basket with key kitchen items needed to prepare a meal and deliver it to a shelter for the next woman to “graduate.”
4. Provide gift cards for the staff to give to women ready to transition to life on their own.
5. Buy a bag of cleaning supplies and give them to her so that she can make her home a clean & peaceful place.
6. When you clean out your closets, consider giving your excess to your local shelter to meet the needs of those with limited resources.
7. Invite a transitioning woman to your church and “adopt” her; it’s not easy to re-enter church life. Embrace her.
8. Offer to spend time helping her move furniture or put up pictures; she may not have a hammer or screw driver to hang her decorations.
9. Sit down in her home to visit; you’ll know more of what she needs when you see how it feels to be in her home.
10. Leave your expectations outside when you drop by; she is on a different journey, and God will meet her where she is.