Clutter Be Gone!

Written By: Jodi on May 12, 2007 No Comment

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This isn’t the first time it’s happened, but I have currently reached my limit for enduring clutter in my home. I’m a packrat who married a packrat and gave birth to two more packrats and I just can’t take it anymore.

Now, lest you think we live in squalor, that is not true. I don’t think they’d ever put me on “Clean Sweep” or “How Clean is Your House?” If I have enough notice (2 hours would be nice, thank you), I can get the house picked up and clean enough to let ‘outsiders’ in without cringing in horror. But the daily experience of not being able to find things I know are here, having to shift piles from one place to another, and general navigation around ‘stuff’ is simply not okay with me anymore. I am not a clean freak or a neat freak and I’m not going to be a dictator about this – but I think our family deserves an environment that is better than what I can only describe as chaotic. I’m raising messy children and I think my future daughters-in-law will thank me if I nip that in the bud now and at least give my boys a basic understanding of how to pick up after themselves and not create needless work for others.

If you know me at all, you’ll know that I tend to jump into things quickly, then tire of them even more quickly. So I’m trying to make a plan that will work for me and that I can stick with. I want this to be a permanent thing, not a temporary fix until the next time I reach my limit. I’m also a researcher, which usually means trips to the library. This time is no different. Here are some books I have been reading and gleaning information from as I begin “The Great Clean-up of 2007″:

“The Clutter Busting Handbook: Clean It Up,Clear It Out, and Keep Your Life Clutter-Free” by Rita Emmett

“Help, I’m Knee-deep in Clutter!: Conquer the chaos and get organized once and for all” by Joyce I. Anderson

“Living Organized: Proven steps for a clutter-free and beautiful home” by Sandra Felton ( Of Messies Anonymous fame – www.messies.com)

These are library books that I’ve found to be helpful so far. After going through this before (too many times to remember), most of this information isn’t new to me – but so far I haven’t been bored to tears and have found these to be motivating and containing good ideas along with giving me things to think about as I prioritize what to keep, what to get rid of and how to keep from adding to the mess as I’m trying to clean it out.

I also just purchased these books:

“Organizing Your Home & Family’” by Sandra Felton

“30 Days to a Simpler Life” by Connie Cox & Cris Evatt (Recommended by Unclutterer.com)

I haven’t had a chance to look at these too much yet, but hopefully the will also be helpful.

I’ll try to document my progress here if anybody wants to follow along. We are having a garage sale at some point soon, hopefully, so that is helping with the motivation too. So far I’ve sorted through the kids clothes and found a lot to put in the sale. I need to go through their toys and they are VERY reluctant for me to do so. Ha. Today I went through a bunch of our DVD’s and video tapes and pulled some out for sale and others that I can transfer to DVD and get rid of the video tapes to save space. I’ve also gone through a lot of my clothes and cleaned out my part of the closet and other clothing storage areas.

I won’t tell you how long it’s taken me to accomplish that little bit, but, hey – it’s progress, right?