Stream of Consciousness Sunday: Order Amidst the Chaos

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I hate wasting my weekends on cleaning, especially as summer is slipping away. It would be better for me if my cleaning was simply a finite list of tasks: clean the bathroom, dust the living room, mop the floor. But I can’t get to those tasks until I clear aware the clutter. It’s been a battle for the last two years and I’m finally facing it head on.

Here’s my 5 minute brain dump…

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I’m usually the last one to jump on board with a trend. But maybe it’s because I’m so hyperaware of the trends through social media that I tend to buck them. My husband, on the other hand, gets an idea, gets on board and then tells me about it.

Recently he ordered the Whole 30 diet book and he started telling me about it. Whoa, I said. I know all about the #whole30 #paleo #whatever movement and I can tell you this right now. I don’t have the willpower for ANYTHING for 30 days. He insisted he was going to do it and I agreed to support him and join in occasionally. But there the book has sat, collecting dust.

He did order another book that I had recently heard about, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It’s another trend (see #konmari) about organizing your life and elimination all the things in your life that don’t “spark joy.”

We both hate clutter and yet we both produce so much clutter. I knew we needed this book but I knew my husband would never read it. So I plowed through it and I’ve started. I started where you’re supposed to. Clothes, including hats, shoes, accessories. I’ve tackled my closet, my drawers, my son’s clothes, and my husband even did his own, based on my urging.

I can breathe again in my room. It still needs a LOT more organizing and eliminating but after dropping off 8 full garbage bags of clothing at Goodwill yesterday (and there’s more – I just couldn’t fit it in my car), I feel lighter. And I can’t wait to use this same technique on books, toiletries (a blogger’s bathroom is always full of so many samples), the kitchen, and yes, my husband is even looking to finally clean out the garage.

I’m hoping to eventually be surrounded by things that only spark joy but I’ve got a ways to go.