Energy Draining Irritations

Small irritations can drain us of our energy.

Sometimes there are small things in our lives that irritate us, things we really don't have to live with. Case in point. We were living in the basement apartment of a duplex with a door at the top of the stairs that led to the other apartment. It was left open more times than not. That meant our heat escaped. That meant our privacy disappeared as our conversations all migrated up the stairwell. That also meant the poor relatives upstairs had to hear our four boys!

I was forever yelling up the stairs at the kids to "Close the door!"---or running up myself to shut it. Good exercise---but not at my convenience.

Then the idea came to me. I should price a door-closer. Pricing them I found I could get one for ten bucks. Ten bucks to rid myself of a daily irritation. Sounded like a deal. I bought the door-closer, had my handy husband install it, and life had one less irritation!

I smiled each time the door closed by itself.

It was illuminating. It was liberating. It made me think about what other areas of my life could benefit from small changes. What small irritations are unnecessarily robbing you of your energy?

Developing Effective Habits

We need to develop habits that deal effectively and efficiently with the clutter issues in our home if we wish to free ourselves from the clutter addiction cycle!

Paper piles in my home office are my number one clutter addiction.

I save papers because I need them, because I might need them, because they are good references, because I like the idea they write about. I save papers and I file those papers. Well, I used to file those papers. Now I have an embarrassingly tall stack of papers hidden in a deep drawer of my desk that I'd not had the time to file.

I'm busier. I'm at the point where I don't want to carve out time to deal with stuff---in this case paper piles---that aren't absolutely necessary.

Times have changed. Reference papers are nearly obsolete. I've got the power of the internet at my fingertips. I don't need extensive files of reference papers. I'm ready to purge the files. But first, I need to deal with the papers that are continually bombarding my home office so that when I do carve out the time to deal with that embarrassing drawer of stacked papers that I have a habit in place that will keep it from happening again!

I've developed a great habit of opening all the mail at the kitchen counter where I toss all envelopes and junk mail straight into the trash and sort the remaining mail into piles of:

1. Papers to be shredded.
2. Bills to be paid.
3. "Other"
   

Sound great, right? Except for the part where these piles end up stacked together and quickly dropped in one pile on my desk. As each day goes by the pile seems to grow exponentially.

I need to develop habits that deal effectively and efficiently with the clutter issues in my home. More specifically, I need to develop habits that deal effectively and efficiently with the paper piles in my home office!

I've started a new habit this week. I'm taking an extra few minutes after checking the mail, but before starting supper, to:

1. Shred the papers that need shredding.
2. Place the bills in the folder of bills to be paid.
3. Stick any important school papers to the fridge with a magnet .
4. Place any book orders in the "Orders to Fill" file.

I'm sure as the week continues I'll find there's more to it than that, but at least it's a start in the right direction! It brings a peace of mind knowing there isn't a growing pile!

We need to develop habits that deal effectively and efficiently with the clutter issues we see in our home if we wish to free ourselves from the clutter cycle!

What effective habit are you going to start this week? I'd love to hear about it! And yes, I'll admit next week how this new habit is coming along!

What's My Clutter Mentality?

I remember helping the missionary lady moving into another house... .

Recyling took on a new meaning...

...as I surveyed the numerous re-washed empty jars waiting for their chance to be recycled as storage containers for buttons, screws, paperclips...or whatever. Did she really need that many?

...as I picked up the stack of washed, dried and ready to re-use Ziploc bags. Were Ziploc bags really that precious?

...as I saw the spare parts for this and that. Sure they were organized in labeled containers---but did she need all those spare parts?

I remember...because I was that missionary lady.

Out of necessity (or at least it seemed that way at the time!) I was a pack rat---but a very organized pack rat!

Sometimes, in my mind, I'm still living in the middle of the Amazon jungle, hours from town, hours from stores---and programmed to keep a three month supply of everything I might possibly need on hand!

But things are different now. Walmart is around the corner as is Lowe's and Home Depot. Jars are in abundance. I don't need to save them anymore. Ziploc bags are still a wonderful invention---but not so precious. Spare parts? If it's a cheap part and my chances of ever using it are low to nil? Maybe it's time to not be so much of a pack rat!

There's something else different now. I'm busier. I was busy before but I could carve out time to keep the "stuff" under control. It's getting harder to carve the time out. Besides that, I don't know if I want to carve out the time to look after "stuff" unless it's "stuff" that I really need!

We need to change our mentality on what needs to be saved and why! Don't you agree?

Are You Addicted to Clutter?

Clutter is the nemesis to organization.

Cluttered homes take unnecessary time and energy. So why do we grasp so frantically to stuff that weighs us down? Why do we keep clutter in our lives that, rather than energizing us, leaves us frazzled and drained?

Could it be that we are addicted to to our stuff? Could it be that we are addicted to clutter?

It's time to quit the clutter addiction!

Contrary to what the media tries to convince us of, more is not always better!

When we find our home bursting at the seams we need to take action. If we are to live sanely organized lives, we need to take charge of our stuff rather than allowing our stuff to take charge of us! If we are to break our addiction to clutter,we need to begin by de-cluttering our homes!

However, before we start the great de-cluttering of our homes and lives, I think there are two things we need to consider:

Do we have a handle on why we personally have all this clutter?

Do we have a plan on how we are going to maintain it on a daily basis?

Let's hear your thoughts! (I'll admit mine later!)

Keeping Sane with an Insane Schedule

If the need to keep sane with an insane schedule describes you, join me in my continuing journey of keeping my sanity in the midst of an insane schedule.

There was a time I would have described myself as organized. I would have said that for the most part I could tell you where what was in my house. I could quickly retrieve whatever document you needed from my organized files. I knew what my schedule was for the next month, probably the next year. I could honestly say I didn't remember being late on a payment.

I loved organization. I loved to organize more than I loved to clean, yet still, my house was clean and tidy. And I kept it so with my busy schedule. At least I thought I was busy. Granted, I was busy--but sanely busy.

The challenge came when I moved from what I call being sanely busy to being insanely busy. Maintaining the same level of organization with a time crunch became a monumental challenge.

The challenge was to find a way to streamline my organizational style in such a manner that I could turn an insanely busy schedule into a sanely busy schedule.

In the days that follow I will be writing of the many aspects of organization. Your input is always welcome!