Making Changes

For most of my life I have had a method to my madness, an order in my chaos, a...well, you get the picture. I have always had a mess and it has never bothered me too much. Until recently. I now have two kids; a five year-old daughter and an almost-two-year-old son. I keep my house clean (I scrub floors, dust, clean toilets, showers etc.), but it is cluttered. My daughter entered preschool this past August, my son turned hell-on-wheels around 10 months old when he learned how to walk. They are both extremely loud, fun, loving and, like most kids, they test my patience on a daily basis. I knew I was in desperate need of a change but since my husband and I purchased our dream home right after my son was born, unfortunately being a stay-at-home mom was not an option. Although I am still pushing or either that or finding a part-time job before my daughter enters kindergarten, I have to do something different. I am away from home the whole day for work, three days I end up at my parents' house and to get my kids to leave their house is like pulling teeth. One evening a week I take my daughter to gymnastics. Basically, like all moms, I am BUSY. I thought buying a bigger house would help alleviate the clutter but really, it just spread it out. It grew. People decided that we had room so they could buy bigger things and my kids are my parents' only grandkids and they, along with my brother and sister, are very generous. It is actually a quality I cherish about my family. But it is taking its toll on my kids. Especially my daughter. She is starting to seem ungrateful and entitled which is not how I was raised and it is definitely not the way I want my children raised. While helping my dad pick out a Christmas gift for my mom at a local bookstore a book on one of the feature shelves caught my eye. "One Year to an Organized Life" by Regina Leeds. It has a row of yellow rubber duckies on the front of the book. For anyone that knows me, I spent a good chunk of my life collecting rubber ducky junk and because it is a book on de-cluttering and organizing, it is almost ironic and a sign wrapped in one package. The book is pretty straight-forward. It tries to slowly incorporate organizing and de-cluttering into your life. So far I am on the first month which is getting to the root of your un-organization and trying to create a schedule that works for you then you tackle your kitchen. I like to jump in head-first but the book stresses the importance of the first two items so that is where this blog comes in. I am bringing it back after a two-year hiatus. I know the root of my mess. It is my mother, but not in a bad way. My mom grew up in a large family that didn't have much of anything. They made their own clothes and didn't have indoor plumbing until she was at least in her teens. It wasn't uncommon for the people in the area but you see what I am saying. Basically, if they had an extra button, they saved it and if someone gave you a gift, you cherished it. Unfortunately, in today's throwaway world, that doesn't work so well. My mom taught us the way she grew up. You don't take anything for granted. That being said, I am very proud of myself for throwing away the blender we got for our wedding (almost 8 years ago). We have used it maybe twice...maybe. A piece broke off when we moved and after that it didn't work so well. We found out the one time we used it in the last year. As of tonight, it is in the garbage. It feels good. I may replace it eventually, I may not. We will see. I also cleaned out a cupboard in my kitchen where I keep some medicine for easy access. This weekend I plan to do a lot more and finish up the kitchen. Tomorrow and Friday I am going to get rid of the things I don't use anymore, then I am going to reorganize my kitchen to make it more efficient. I am also going to go through my bath towels. Not because the book tells me to but because we have a shit-ton of them and I got sick of washing two loads of towels and trying to find places to put them. How many towels does a household of four people really need? I guarantee you the magic number is not 25.