February 15, 2012
We are drowning in our own mess. I am not a hoarder - you can see my floors. But this morning I woke up and realized that no matter what I do, we have things and clutter and papers and, well, CRAP everywhere. In honor of this, I give you Paul Foreman's De-clutter Your Life Mind Map. This is the chaos I feel like we live in.
I have tried everything to feng-shui us into a more peaceful and clutter-free lifestyle. We've done the Clean Sweep thing in a very private, off-camera way. Every 3 months we purge through toys, books, clothes etc and I pass on stuff to the neighbors or cousins and haul the rest to the Goodwill. To no avail, the stuff magically appears again and again.
How is this happening? Maybe our little house is shrinking? Or maybe little clutter gremlins come in at night and put everything donated/tossed back in the house? Or maybe I am in some sort of strange Twilight Zone episode called the "Clutter Creatures" where all the stuff left out grows legs, roams around the house and has clutter babies - yikes!
I know I should be grateful - we are blessed with luxuries that many do not have. And I am grateful, believe me! I know that part of the issue is that we buy too much. I get that and we have cut back. We started a family budget recently in hopes to start saving for a new house someday. (Probably a bigger house with more rooms to fill ...sigh....) Since our budget was implemented it has gotten better. But the other issue is that the things don't get put away or back where they should - unless I do it myself. Another issue is that I work from home now all but 1 or 2 mornings a week so I get to look at all the stuff everywhere. I then begin to hyperventilate and pour myself a second or third cup of coffee. Yes the issues really are that I am doing it all and I have to look at all that I refuse to do.
I do recognize that I have an issue with throwing out certain things. I can purge the toys and clothes that have been outgrown - easy. The things that I have trouble with tossing are stuff that is perfectly good. Those decorative candlesticks that I might want to use someday or old Christmas ornaments that I didn't put out this year, but next year, you never know. The Longabergers haven't sold on Craigslist yet but they are WAY to valuable to toss or donate, right? How many glass vases does a person really need? The tan towels that we have replaced don't have holes in them so they aren't quite ready for the rag pile yet. Or am I really going to reuse or renew the wine bottles I have emptied? OK fine I can recycle those. But how did I become this clutter pack-rat??
See I grew up in a house where everything had a place and there was a place for everything. We had a VERY tidy home. The toys were put away each night. The DRESSERS were actually used to hold clothes, no really! We didn't leave the clean clothes in laundry baskets for an entire week until we needed to use the laundry baskets to tote dirty clothes. We never had to wash a uniform the day of a game. Even the refrigerator was organized! We never found a tupperware container housing a science experiment in the back of the 'fridge. Ahhh the good life.
You would think that my mom was a stay-at-home Goddess and simply waited on us hand and foot, right? NOPE. From the time I was 5 years old, she worked outside the home as a art teacher, went back to nursing school, and then worked as a nurse And when I thought back to this time in my life, I realized that we all pitched in together to achieve this tidy lifestyle. I was expected to pull my own weight - put my own toys away, make my own bed, put my own clothes in the hamper. I had to pick up after myself. My mom did not pick up after me even when I was elementary age like my own kids now. Hmmmmm.
So I need your tips, tricks and suggestions on how to whip this house (or really the inhabitants) into shape. Please comment on anything to help us organize and keep those clutter monsters at bay! Even if it is what NOT to do - I need help!
Here's one for you: Through a friend, I found a pin on Pinterest called Clutter Jail. It is from imom.com and there are other great tips on this site. Clutter Jail is AWESOME! I explained to the kids what was going to happen. If I find a toy out of place or not put away at the end of the day, I place it in Clutter Jail. Once the kids figure out that their toy is in the jail (the tricky part of this process) they have to do a chore or task or pay to bail their item out of jail.
It is working! I think. We will know for sure when Steve gets home from Vegas and I explain to him that his newspapers and magazines may be incarcerated too. :)
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