Sunday, August 31, 2008

Getting rid of the clutter!

I know not dealing with the clutter that takes up room in my house is just eating away at me. I know putting things to one side to deal with later just makes things add up. If you think about it it shows all over you too.

With out dealing with it sooner it leaves time for dust to settle leaving it all the more harder to deal with. Learning that baby step and taking things slow, tackle one thing at a time.

So I wrote my list, first I just wrote down the things that bugged me most. Then I put them in order of which one needs to be done first. Thinking of daily life and when I am in the moment of getting tings ready what is the obstacle that is standing in my way and would make life just that much easier?

My bedroom was the number one. When we first built our house we had put our big desk in our master bed room. Then it got out of control trying to use the computer or do things at the desk. The desk was more of a dumping ground than anything. So, we got a laptop this past Christmas and got rid of the desk.

The problem wasn't completely solved because then there were the boxes that held all the stuff from the desk just sitting there in the corner waiting to be sorted. Of coarse the longer it sat the more we added to that pile of needing to be sorted stuff.

Yesterday was a great day. I had my list and I knew what I wanted to do first. Taking my new tools that helped me with food, I put them to use with cleaning. I hung a sign to remind me, I am cleaning the BED ROOM to be a bedroom not storage! So anytime I was tempted to give in and say I'll put this here and do it later, I'd look up and see it and it reminded me how great it will feel to have space to walk and have a bed room again!

To think all this is stemming from the basement, if I had never cleaned it out and started to organise things down there I wouldn't be able to find more storage space for thing. Now I can bring the al the clothes and sort them out in the basement were they wont be in the way and we have plenty of room to do it in now. We had 4 baskets of clothes that were either too small for the kids or needed to be stored for Gabby to use as she grows, even my pregnancy clothes. Do you know how great it felt to get the size 22 pants and frumpy clothes out of my way? I can't believe the amount of weight that has been lifted yet again.

Not only for tackling a couple of things on my list but for getting the scale out of my house! I even found an old scale it felt so great to be able to through it away! The other one I sent it of to my hubby's parents house. He's not ready to let it go yet. In time I am sure he will understand, I think we have gotten much better at complimenting and encouraging one another.

I also wrote myself reminders on my list. Things to think of because I know sometimes what I am thinking when going threw old things. How long has it been since we used this? Think, can you truly say you will use this with in the next year? You don't have to though everything away, you can put it in a yard sale, or simply donate it, just get it out!

Tackling one or two things once a week, or when I know I can handle it and not get over whelmed. That is key, because that is how the piles started in the first place. You go in all gunning for it and use up all your steam before the job is done and done right the first time.

Now I can take these feelings to the next thing on the list, just remember how great it feels to be getting things in order and get rid of the extra baggage.

Thank you for reading, and I hope I may have been of some help to others out there with clutter problems.

Be Well
Jamie

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your words and experiences are very inspiring, especially when you give yourself credit during times you feel like breaking down. That really spoke to me when I read it tonight and I have to remember to do it myself.
And another thing I just have to say: you have an incredibly luminous smile! I absolutely love it! You could light up a room with that thing :D

Shannon said...

It's great that you are using the tools you have learned from Paul's program to enhance other areas of your life. It does have a spill-over effect, doesn't it?

I don't think any of us would have thought that when we first started down this road, but my, how it changes everything!

It's evident that not only have you physically lightened up, you are also lightening up other areas of your life. You were very keen to recognize how large of an impact your environment has on you.

I think it's great that you are restoring a sense of balance to all aspects of your life. Keep it going girl!