Saturday, November 9, 2013

Oh, How Do I Change??

Some people are born organized. Their houses are not necessarily spotless, but are definitely tidy and neat. There is a place for everything and everything in its place.

I tried to find the picture of my room from when I was younger, but SURPRISE, I couldn't
I settled on a my present day mess
Then there are those folks who live in such disorganization that it constantly looks like a tornado hit the house. All manner of knick knacks cover any surface that had once been clear
. There is rarely progress in cleaning because there is constant catch up. If an item can't be found, (like a purse or a pair of shoes) it is likely those items have actually put away properly.

Unfortunately, I fall into the latter category. I have never been particularly tidy. When I was a youngster, my mom took a picture of the disaster that was my room in hopes of me actually "seeing" what other people saw. It didn't work.

Thing is, I HATE being disorganized. I've read dozens of books, I've tried websites, routines, pretty much everything short of hypnosis, but nothing sticks. I even "hired a very organized friend to teach me his ways.

I want to change, but HOW? I don't want my kids to grow up thinking this mess is ok. We're not hoarders or anything even close to that. I have no problem getting rid of  things (which I do regularly). My house is just constantly cluttered and messy. I'm not talking toys, though most days it looks like the living room threw up LEGOS everywhere. There's just stuff...everywhere.

Some folks are totally ok with being messy. It's who they are, they have a system of organized chaos. Not me. I just have chaos. I really think if I could stick with a good routine, things might be different. Part of me wants to get rid of everything. I mean EVERYTHING that isn't a basic need and start from scratch. Being a minimalist doesn't sound half bad. I just don't know where to start. HOW do I change who I am?

It takes 28 days for a new habit to stick. But I don't know if I've got 28 days of patience left for this mess.

The Bible says in Proverbs to train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. This lifestyle is NOT how I want to train my kiddos, but how, OH HOW do I change?

2 comments:

  1. While I don't have any real advice, I think that doing one small change per month might be the best approach. Like, I don't know, putting your clothes away every night for a month. Then, once you feel that's a habit, move on to clearing off the coffee table every day at a certain time. When I try to change something huge all at once, I only end up feeling defeated and depressed, and giving up!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I read about a mom who would do a 20-minute "shakedown" (her term) every evening to see how much she could get put away in those minutes. She set the timer and scurried around picking up, putting away, doing dishes, making beds, whatever. In your case, involve your kids! Set a timer and all of you do it together. You can call it the shakedown or the Ince Shuffle or whatever!

    ReplyDelete