A one-time cleanup won’t solve the problem–any more than a crash diet will cure lifelong bad eating habits. ~ Peg Tyre
Inertia sets in. It happens when the dog days of summer arrive. When the temperature soars above the century mark, and you can fry an egg on the pavement, there is no working in the garage! To heck with clutter, all we want is heat relief!
Our momentum for de-cluttering was in high gear, but then we went on vacation, there were work issues, the temperature climbed. In the blink of an eye, the de-cluttering stopped. And, while we weren’t looking — stuff started trying to pile up again. It isn’t as if we are back to “square one,” but it makes me realize that de-cluttering has to become a daily habit.
I’ve listed for myself ten things (that I can do at my leisure this evening) that will help me feel as if I am re-gaining control of the clutter. I have to “get my groove back.”
- Gather the newspapers that have piled up since vacation and get them to the recycle bin. Why did we think we would read them? It’s old news!
- Corral the craft projects I’ve been working on in the last few weeks (I know I should work on only one thing at a time, but I get excited). I’m making afghans for charity, but that yarn needs to be in pretty baskets instead of spread out on the coffee table.
- Set the timer for 10 minutes and waltz through the house with a laundry basket picking up anything that doesn’t belong in that particular room. If I don’t find time to put it away tonight, it can be my first chore in the morning. But, the house will look less cluttered at the end of 10 minutes!
- Papers have gathered on my desk again. They need to be chunked into a basket, so that I have a desktop. At least, I think there is one under there.
- A ten minute timer to sort through the refrigerator and chunk any out of date foods (and condiments we will never use) is about all I can handle. Did I think we would ever really eat that exotic French relish? Not this Texas gal, so it’s time for it to say, “Au revoir.”
- In the kitchen, I can take a few minutes to throw away some of the butter tubs and jars I keep saving (for what earthly reason, I do not know). I save them because my mother saved them. Her mother probably saved them, too.
- I think I can sort my sock drawer in about 10 minutes, too. I have a whole bag of lonely socks with no mates. If I haven’t found them by now, I’m not going to find them.
- While I’m in the closet, so to speak, I’ll gather 10 garments I never wear, bag them, and get them in the car. Tomorrow, I can drop them in a donation box.
- I’ll gather the trash and re-cycled materials and get it outside to the trash cans. That will signify to myself that I am once again ready to “toss the old to make way for the new.” Wait a minute–the goal is not to get a bunch of “new!”
- The car is parked beside the trash cans, so I’ll take five minutes (no more in this heat) and gather any trash in it. After 5,000 miles of road trip, I believe I could find some trash in that car.
That should get our world back to the point it was before our inertia settled upon us. Theoretically, that should take me less than an hour and a half. Most of it I can do while watching television. Isn’t multi-tasking grand?
This journey began on a separate blog (you can click here to read About Out Of Chaos), but that wasn’t really simplifying was it? I moved all of the posts to This Eclectic Life under the category Out Of Chaos. I’ll be adding more from time to time. I hope you join me.
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