Not that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed JOY week. Of course I have, it is just that we have had all this talk about laundry (here and here!) and the fact that if I were going to study one of these virtues twice in my cycle, order week would be the one I would pick!
You see if I actually lived my life in order, something I truly aspire to do, I wouldn’t want to visit the topic so frequently. However, this is just not the case. In previous weeks I’ve shared BEFORE photos of my messy pantry, closet and garage and have been thrilled to reveal the AFTER photos at the end of the week. Sadly I could share the very same BEFORE photos (ok, the garage is not THAT bad — LOL if you remember from last week that is a huge slippery slope…) and play that same game again.
Things go out of order all the time. It is a fact of life. I think part of my problem, in addition to not setting up systems that actually work for me, I believe that I can create some version of nirvana in which all of my clutter and mess miraculously take care of themselves.
It really is ridiculous. I actually paid someone to come and clean my house Friday. I am writing this on Sunday and my house looks like a bomb was dropped. OK I have a four year old. A VERY imaginative four year old who is forever designing our environment into jungles, restaurants and parade routes. This certainly causes a mess but honestly I can’t blame it all on her.
I am a slob and this tendency runs deep. So deep in fact, that my mother, upon meeting my husband for the first time, felt  the need to tell him about  making me close my childhood bedroom door for fear that my mess would flow down the stairs and invade her whole house. She really thought  he should be warned!
Thankfully for Rob, my social nature combined with my vanity keeps things moderately in check. You see, I would never want you to know that I am willing to live in squalor. I will invite you over to provide the perfect incentive to clean things up. It is amazing how in 30 minutes prior to a play date I can create a cleanliness tsunami. Â It is something I just haven’t been able to muster on my own . Please don’t ever “drop by” because I may not even open the door, but with proper notice you are always welcome. Your planned visit is always invited… once or twice a week please, then it will be possible to keep my home reasonably clean!
Order week here on the blog is the same thing for me. By telling you about my messes my vanity requires that I do something about them. I like that you are out there holding me to my word. The things I tell myself I want to accomplish all become reachable because I tell you here that I am planning to do them. Â So thank you and thank you for order week!
Let’s get started!
I have 5 things I want to accomplish this time out:
- Paring my seasonal wardrobe down to that magic number of 40 items. (Last time out I made it to 75! Follow my progress on Twitter: #WardrobePurge)
- Creating my version of that clean closet,
- Orderly toys, which means sorting through the bins and donating the ones no longer used and tossing any broken ones.
- A joyous laundry system. Charity showed me it is possible, I just need to create it.
- Getting better acquainted with my calendar AGAIN! I just haven’t made using my calendar a HABIT. Things still slip through the cracks. This needs to be a priority!
How about you? Care to play along with me? Have anything you want to clean up this week?Â
I am such a mess! Fortunately, I married a man who is great at cleaning and willing to do it. I help, but without his encouragement, who KNOWS where I would be! Unlike you, I am not super social, at least not when it comes to my home, so nobody ever sees it and that makes it easier to toss aside for later. I just saw an amazing scrapbook room over the weekend and I am seriously considering finding a way to compensate this woman to come organize mine for me. For reals. I need help! I’ll be watching your posts this week with hope and likely a bit of jealousy. LOL!
Wishing you tons of luck in this! (Keep motivating me!!)
I certainly hope you achieved your goals with this! 🙂