Clutter vs. Contentment

From Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer:

"Contentment
is not something
that accidentally happens to you,
it is something
you actively decide upon. 
And you lay hold of it,
re-deciding
every day
that enough
is actually
plenty."

Amen and amen. Enough IS plenty. In fact, we have more than enough in this house, and it is more than plenty.  When does the blessing of prosperity become a curse? When you have so much stuff that you don't have enough storage space to put everything away.  When you don't want to get rid of it, even though you never use it.  When clutter steals your peace of mind!  When six people step over the same toy/piece of trash/clutter/thing repeatedly and no one cares enough about it to pick it up and put it away.

There was a day when our family of five lived on the road in a 30' travel trailer. All we owned was what we could carry with us, with the exception of some seasonal things that had been stashed in a warehouse somewhere. Even then we had too much. Then we moved into a two bedroom apartment, and we acquired a bit of furniture.  And then we moved into a two bedroom house with a full basement, and we accumulated more furniture and enough other stuff to fill the house up.  Five years later, we are in an 1700 square foot house with all our accumulation and ADDED accumulation over the years.  I think we had PLENTY about eight years ago!  Truly the Lord has blessed us, but we have not been very wise stewards.  You don't have to say, "Yes!" just because something is free.

So.  Does anyone have any tips for de-cluttering?  I am not talking about the three-bag method: keep, toss, and give away.  I am talking about how to do it and still maintain healthy family relationships.  I am talking about how to go through your children's bedrooms and throw away all the "precious" stuff that is really worthless, without them feeling violated. (It's simple to throw away someone else's junk.  I have my own closet full of "valuables"...)  And, do we really need stacks and stacks of scrap paper just in case someone wants to color or make a project? How long is it practical to hang on to old clothes that could be made over into something for my younger kids?  Why do I still have the entire set of PowerGlide Spanish books and cassettes, when we have never used it?  Why am I hanging on to an entire shelf of old A Beka books, just in case? And stacks of CD's we never listen to?  Why is my closet full of clothes that are too small for me, just in case I lose some weight?

When did I quit trusting the Lord for our DAILY needs??!?!

I do not want my kids to be held hostage by STUFF when they are wives and mothers.  Anyone have some good suggestions for training children to use stuff, but not love it?  Oh, I hear you.  I have to set the example.  Okay, but in the meantime, do I just  leave town with the girls and let Dad go through the house with a dumpster? (I know someone who did this. It's tempting, lol! And scary!)

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow:
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 
Matthew 6:33,34