Another Stab at Order

I'm on a cleaning binge, which makes my family VERY happy!!  I've joined a Women's Book Study Group and we're exploring the book, "A Mother's Rule of Life".  The book tackles the complicated subject of bringing order to every aspect of our lives as mothers.

The more I read, the more I'm energized to get organized.  This is a perpetual odyssey for me.  I feel like I'm on the hunt for The Holy Grail.

I haven't really accomplished huge amounts yet, but the little things that I've been able to tackle have left me with anticipation of still more to come.  Yesterday, I cleaned out Daelyn's closet.  It began as a simple hunt for empty hangars to use for the clean laundry.  But his closet was so disorderly, I decided to neaten it.  Well, if you're going to take the time to neaten it, I reasoned, you might as well get rid of the things that don't fit any longer.  The really good news about this task, though, is that I bagged up all his ill-fitting clothes, included several bags that Don packed up last year and a bag of shoes that the children had gathered that no longer fitted, and delivered them to a friend's house.  She has several young boys and will be able to use some of the clothes.  I encouraged her to pass along what she didn't need, but FOUR BAGS are OUT of my house!!!  YAY!!

The day before, I tackled Don's side of our bathroom counter.  I plan on finished the bathroom today.  Before that, I tackled the Den, which now is able to be used once again.  If I get any extra time today, I need to begin working on the living room, which still have the refuse from the Yard Sale several weeks ago, untouched.

The key to organizing, for me, is not just to clean, but to get RID of stuff.  We accumulate more stuff than you can ever imagine.  So the four bags leaving my house was a huge victory to me.  A friend of mine has suggested that we go to a Second-Hand store that specializes in children's items to rid my living room of the nicer items that didn't disappear in the Yard Sale, such as the changing table and the crib set.  Maybe we can tackle that next week.  I hope so.

It feels good to bring order but I can only keep order if I spend some time at home, which seldom happens.  This has been a good week; lots of days home to clean.  But that's not always the case.  The point of "A Mother's Rule of Life" is to arrange your life so that, even if nothing else is accomplished in the home, order still prevails.  We'll see how well it works for me.  I'm only on Chapter 3.