No more Chaos.
Chaos.(n) chaos, pandemonium, bedlam, topsy-turvydom, topsy-turvyness (a state of extreme confusion and disorder)
This was my life. I knew in order to be able to write more, research more, and have the time to do so while I stay home with my two beautiful kids, I would have to end this.So I spent the weekend cleaning out the clutter, if you will.
I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of person that will sit down to write, or work, or read, and within a few moments, I will get the overwhelming urge to go straighten my closet, or know the toy boxes are over filled and in my living room now.
Then starts the mad dash, run around, tidy this, do that, make another pile for later, then I’m too exhausted to really get back my creative energy.So I stopped it. I made the choice to streamline our house over the weekend, and throw the gunk away, started in closets, then drawers, then piles. In the meantime I had my 7 year old Daughter start making piles in her room, so I could make my way into the den of craziness and help her get more organized as well.
Some tips for others, I have a hard time collecting mags, I mean we adore them, we get all sorts, writing, literary, political, kids mags, home mags, handyman, you name it, we read it, they were taking over our lives and space.So I sat down over a period of days and went through them, any with content that will be great to look back on, like our current political messes, and Iraq War I saved and put in magazine holders like these:http://www.amazon.com/Rattan-Magazine-Holder-RTS-320F-Beige/dp/B000FRYI9M/ref=sr_1_15/103-2932174-1405413?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1189438032&sr=1-15
The others I paged through and tore out recipes, crafts, decorating ideas, tips, and all the goodies I like to save for ordering special gifts on line for friends and family, and I used old photo albums and 3 ring binders to file away what I wanted, tossing the rest out of my life.
For now on I’ll do just that as they come in the mail, and then let my kids go through and do the same for future crafts and collages.
Then we hung a few things to make life easier, a spice rack we’ve had sitting cock eyed and taking up needed counter space in the kitchen, I went through the bathroom and tossed all the half bottles of crap I never liked after I bought, or saved for who knows what. I then did the same to our desk and work area, and we switched out manuals and how to’s for our more creative and meaningful books and mags to inspire us.(My husband is a writer,an artist, an IT guy, and an SEO among many other things!)
We sorted all mail, files and piles of stuff into the kitchen into a file bin where everything is clearly marked, making finding, saving or tossing a much easier task.
Already I feel more flow, and already I can sit down and be busy without worrying about piles and chaos in the house.
If only I could organize my two and a half year old son now. ;)
Do you have any tips for streamlining and organizing your homes? How about tips to help writing and blogging be more efficient? What do you do to save or make time for friends, family and working at home?
Everytime I do laundry, I go through the clothes in my sons’ draws and remove everything that they have outgrown. I also use the laundry basket method of organizing erroneous stuff in the house…I take a laundry basket into the living room, and I put everything that goes into my oldest son’s room in there and take it to his room…I do this room by room until everything is where it needs to be. I use the plastic drawers on wheels in my oldest room so that when I am helping him clean his room, we just roll it around with us…cars (Hot Wheels and such), dinosaurs, and blocks each have their own drawer. He knows which drawer carries which object, and he goes about doing it himself.
After reading how YerMaMa spent her weekend I am not only filled with admiration, I am also exhausted. I am going to go and lie down.
My streamlining tip of the moment - don’t unpack after you move. It’s working pretty well for me. (Oh - and I got rid of a ton of stuff before I moved, too).