1 BAG OUT

I got one of the 2 bags out, that I shouldn't have in the first place. But hey. The receiver was happy and so was I! I've noticed that some of the measures I have taken to improve my life are working well. Like my folder where I put things for school. Each child has his/her own section and anything of importance, like address lists, instructions for school projects or anything else goes in there. It might all be in there helter skelter, but at least I only have to look in one place (the folder) and don't even have to look through all of it, as each kid's section is divided from the rest. I used to search the whole house (and every single box) for phone numbers and things like that. These days, I get the info, punch 2 holes (the hole punch is right next to the folder) and file it. And when I need it I know where it is. Maybe one day I will fulfill my need of perfectionism and sort the individual sections, but until then I will be happy, that my system works and that it makes life easier. And that I have more time to help myself get the rest of the mes taken care of!

I JUST KEPT WORKING

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I talked about just how stressful that first week was with 27 million different other things to take care of, family visiting and orientations to attend. Getting the kids to do homework and starting all the extracurricular activities again. She told me of all the things she had to do and then she said:"But  I simply kept working day after day and I got it all done." I am not sure I wanted to hear that. But lets face it. It boils down to work. I can spend years blogging about all the things I plan to do, but unless I actually get to work, nothing will ever get done. 

I am taking life one day at a time. I refuse to get upset about things that are left undone. And I focus on accomplishments. One of my biggest accomplishments today was taking care of 2 little things. Putting the laminating machine away and taping a  squished puzzle box into shape. It took less then 5 min but those are the little things I like to do "tomorrow". Eventually "tomorrow's" things are so overwhelming that I want to stay in bed. 

My hope is that focusing on the little tasks right in front of me will help me stay on track and not let little jobs pile up again until you need a month to work of your to do list. 

My neighbour went through her children's closets and dumped her stuff on me. I was stupid enough to take it, but I already found takers for it. I will be fine. And one day I might simply refuse to have stuff dumped on me. 

5 a day: do clothes that I got yesterday count? A pair of socks (extra dirty with a hole), paper, paper and more paper

surface of the day: I started a few, but didn't finish a single one.

FORGIVE YOURSELF AND START OVER

Seriously. Sometimes that's the only thing left to do. Some things you can't fix, you usually don't get to do things over so one thing I have to learn is to move on. And moving on means to not fret about it anymore. Today I wasted my morning dropping something off. It was supposed to be a trade, but the toys I would have gotten in return where no where to be found(and obviously hadn't been looked for). Maybe I just shouldn't trade things with a potential hoarder, but I was going to buy some toys of her and it would have been a great deal. Except for wasting at least 3 hours on it. And not getting what I wanted. 

But here is were the real trouble starts. I was annoyed with myself when I came home and went off to pout. As if anyone cared. Not even I did! SO I spent the rest of the day telling myself that I was stupid and never could get anything right in the first place. I also assumed that it wasn't even worth it to at least try to make use of my afternoon. 

So all in all I wasted an entire day. Lets face it. The morning was at least partially out of my control, but I have to take full responsibility for my wasted afternoon. TO make sure I will not make the same mistake tomorrow and waste ANOTHER day I decided to forgive myself and move on!  

WORK, WORK, WORK

I did really, really well today. I worked and worked and worked and got a lot of things done. I admit, no dehoarding, but I feel good about myself for getting maintenance done, cooking delicious meals and thanks to James the downstairs is cleaned up. This week, might not be as busy as last week, but new things keep popping up and next week is filling up already, too.

I figure the only way to stay sane is to take my friends advice and simply keep working until things are taken care of. Ohm and read a chapter of a good book in between jobs!

THE PICNIC BLANKET

I watched an episode of the US show "Hoarders". The hoarder insisted that nothing "new" was to be thrown away. New was the equivalent of "in the box still". No matter if the stuff was ruined. Mouse droppings on it. And it was so obvious it had to go. not to him, but to me.

Interestingly enough I had a picnic blanket on the patio. Basically new. Used twice. Ruined by mouse droppings. After 4 weeks I finally threw it away. Why is it so obvious when I see other hoarders and so hard to do the sensible thing when the things are mine?

surface of the day: basket full of kids' clothes in various sizes

7 a day: picnic blanket (obviously), old swing, kids' clothes, 2 books

I THINK IT'S MONDAY

It is, isn't it? The last week brought enough excitement and appointments to last me 3 months. It also brought some anxiety. Anxiety brought her friend "trouble falling asleep" who brought his brother, "waking up in the middle of the night". So when it was time to get up (which it wasn't necessarily just because I woke up) sometimes it took some serious concentration and a few seconds before I knew which day it was. 

This week still brings more excitement then I want to handle, but in comparison to last week it is pretty tame. I spent the morning staring at the ceiling and cleaning up the laundry room so the service guy could stare at my washer and tell me it is fine. 

I spent the afternoon trying to get a few things done at least. I did. Not a whole lot, but enough to have made a dent. 

I am happy, because I got a few things out of the way that were blocking me mentally and are taken care of now. I do believe that by procrastinating we are wasting a lot of energy that could be used for other things. Now if only I could get myself to stop procrastinating to stop procrastinating.

Tomorrow is another day that is already raising my anxiety levels, but I made a plan on how to survive it, so as long as I can get myself to stick to it, I should be fine. Wish me luck! 

SLOW MOTION CLEAN UP

Today the 10 min sounded way too long. Even putting away 10 things felt like too much. I finally got myself to do 5 things. I am not sure how many times I did it, but I ended up doing it often enough to see a difference. And I cooked twice. And best of all I got a few things done that I really needed to take care of that I had been procrastinating for weeks. I am learning to be okay with days like today. When all I did was to keep going. 

surface of the day: kitchen counter top

5 a day: out of date school stuff

WAY TOO EARLY

I woke up some time after 4:30 this morning. By 5 am I was getting restless, by 5:20 I gave up and got up. I dreamt about moving house and the previous occupants were still there and the 3 of them had a running commentary on how I did things and how much stuff the kids had thrown around in the living room in the few hours of our living there.

As I was lying in bed trying o fall back asleep I started cleaning up the downstairs mentally. I started at the front door and thought of what I would do with every single item lying there. It was a little scary. I simply imagined a spot and could pull all the things out of my memory that are lying there. Maybe that'S what prevented my falling back asleep.

I eventually gave up. Got up. Realized there is not a whole lot of things you can do at 5:30 am with 6 people sound asleep. I folded some laundry, started the washer and dryer. Checked my mail, continued the mental clean up, read a little. By now it is almost 8 am. I am happily picking away at my mess.

I have started the slow painful progress of simply putting away one thing after the other. I am hoping that I won't come across to many things that need to be thrown away today. I just don't feel up to it.

MONDAYS ARE OVERRATED

All of last weekend I told myself that on Monday I will make a new start. That everything will be better. That I will be more efficient, that the house will be cleaner, that it will be easier to part with things. Because Monday was the day to start over. But hey. The house is still a mess, I accomplished less then I planed to, I started yelling at the kids around 5 pm. So yes, Mondays are overrated. Maybe everything can be new tomorrow. Uhm. No. Taxi Tuesday. Not really the day to work miracles at home.

I did take care of a few things that I have been avoiding over the last couple of weeks. My 10 magic minutes still work for me, but I think I will have to add a little twist to make them more efficient. Of course I will let you know what it is once I implement it. Now I am thinking of just dividing up the rooms over certain days and to have a weekly focus room for decluttering. We will see. That's the problem with being a perfectionist. Things can always be better!

surface of the day: kitchen counter (twice!)

5 a day: truck loads of paper with kid'S art, a bagpack, a single sock with a hole in it.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

There is this hoarder forum where I hang out and get my spirits lifted when I am low. Today a new member joined. Very dispirited, asking for advice on how to get started. One of our experienced members among other things said that everything takes practice. And when you sit on the couch doing nothing you get better at doing nothing.

OUCH!!!!

That hit home. Really. I mean, how true is that!? I never looked at it this way. I am practicing AVOIDANCE! I am practicing the very thing that I know has kept me from being successful all those years. I got all fidgety, jumped up from the couch, ran around in circles and finally allowed myself to calm down. Time to practice something else. Our coat room, my very personal nemesis, as all the things that come into the house kind of find a "final resting place" there,was my training turf. I decided to just go and deal with one item after the other. Kind of a slow motion clean up I guess. So I cheated a little. A few things simply got transferred to the third dresser but all in all I did a good job. 

I found Christmas cards, a 7 month old birthday card, I found things the kids had told me they wanted to keep in June or July and they were still lying there. I decided if it has been lying here for 2 full months now and nobody cared to retrieve it, I can just as well get rid of it. Nobody will ever miss it. I went through 4 of the drawers. Cleaned them out. The only things allowed back in are things that actually belong in there. I also realized that I have an EMPTY DRAWER in that chest. Can you imagine? And empty drawer in a hoarder's house?

I am not done yet. But getting done was not the point of the "exercise". The point was to DO something. To be active. All in all it went well. I'll have another "work out" tomorrow!

surface of the day: 4 drawers, top of 2 dressers

7 a day: kid's art, paper, admission tickets for all kinds of places, 2 rings,

OUT IT GOES

I have a big trash bag full of baby clothes going to a new home. I also have some cleaning supplies out. With it went a few bowls and a baking pan. Volume wise more is going out that came in. Plus, the stuff coming in is being used, the stuff going out hasn't been used in a long time. 

I am am 100% back to normal health wise. (Ignore the nagging pain in my jaw, will you, I guess that is normal by now) and I feel the need to get back on a functioning schedule. I know routines help me stay sane. Sanity is precious. 

I might even get back to blogging regularly once my routines are back in place!

I'M STILL HAPPY

It's a challenge when you step into a pile of sand in a room that you vacuumed 2 hours earlier, or when your clean bathtub is covered in mud. Gets me back to feeling that none of this makes sense. But hey. The kids have done well doing little jobs. And I am getting better at throwing things away. Left over food, usable paper and other little things.

Doing my 10 min routine, I can tell that I am making good progress. I have returned to the original version of it. Start with morning routine (sort laundry, air out house) 10 min of laundry (washing, folding, what ever is necessary) then start at the bedroom right of the stairs and work counter clockwise.  The reason this works so well for me is because I keep my clean areas clean. And I can easily see if I make progress. Today I made it all the way through 2 bedrooms and the bathroom and was 15 min ahead of schedule, even though I only worked a little more than 1 hour for the last 3 days instead of 2. Once more we can see that persistence is key.

I have identified and gathered a few things to leave the house, and also packed them up. I will now happily go to bed. Stayed up way to late again!

BEING HAPPY

Some say being happy is a choice. I agree. It is. It just sometimes is a choice that's hard for me to make. Today I decided to focus on being happy. That for me included to not judge. Not judge the kids, my house, myself. Going back to no expectations. Ah. So hard at first. It becomes easier with a little practice. Today I feel light and happy. I have a good book to read, the washer is running, the kids are happy (for the moment). And I feel like throwing something out. Hm. Let's go find something to get rid off!

MY FAVORITE DRUG

We all have a "drug" we turn to when we feel overwhelmed. Mine is computer games. Pretty much anything. Candy Crush, Farmville, any kind of Bubble shooter. I'M IN! I also know WHY they are such a comfort to me. Playing those games presents me with a chance to prove myself. When I finish a quest or pass a level I get told just how awesome I am and with some games you even get a little reward.

But lets face it. They just steal a lot of time. Sometimes I try to justify and tell myself that I will only play at night when James and I are watching a movie. Wow. Multitasking wasting time. Try to beat that. Well. Guess what. I have tried putting together photo albums or ironing while watching TV at night and it works just fine. I know we all deserve a break, and it is perfectly fine to take them, but if you end up not taking a break but running away from life you have a problem.

Today I decided to just stop it. I decided that more than once and never really did. But today is different. Different because I deleted every single game app from my FB account. That was an hour ago and I am already showing withdrawal symptoms.  I know I am in for a few really hard days. I will just have to keep myself busy.

I CAN DO IT! If I use all the time I spend gaming on decluttering this place should be spotless in just a few weeks!