At my house, we’ve been on a mission lately: Clear the Clutter! As my mom’s health declines, it is apparent that she will need to move in with us soon so that I can help with her caregiving. She’s put up a valiant fight and has maintained her independence for a long time but as the cancer spreads in her body, she is losing some of her abilities and it is time for her to let us support her.
My mom lived with us for six months in 2013 while she went through her cancer treatment. It was easy to move her in then because we had just moved into our new home four months prior. Everything was clean and clutter free because we had done a big purge when we moved from Tallahassee to Houston. We were surrounded by only what we loved and needed.
Fast forward four years and it’s a different story. We’ve accumulated a lot of stuff. To be fair, our daughter is now 5 ½ and our house is overflowing with everything Frozen, Dora, Princess Sophia, Doc McStuffins, Legos, and more!
I’m fortunate to have an amazing professional organizer, Liana George, who has helped us implement many systems in our home over the past few years. Without her help, my house would be overflowing with junk!
But I’ll sheepishly admit that there’s one piece of advice that of hers that I haven’t followed very well and that is: Schedule time each week for organizing and decluttering! And boy, now I’m regretting that I haven’t followed her advice.
Of course, I give similar advice to my clients about their self-care… I tell them that every day and every week, they HAVE to carve out some time for self-care. That it’s foundational for success and essential for a happy life.
So is organizing and decluttering regularly really essential for success and happiness? I’m sure Liana would say YES!
What I do know is that when my space is clean and clear, my life flows more effortlessly.
Can you relate?
Remember, when you keep your home and office clutter free, you get lots of great benefits:
- You decrease stress – so you don’t lose things.
- You save time – it doesn’t take as long to find important items.
- You save money – by not buying something and then realizing you already had one!
- You feel comfortable inviting people over at any time – because your space feels good.
- You can relax – it’s hard to chill out in a chaotic environment but a clutter-free one is divine!
How about you? Are you a weekly organizer? Monthly? Quarterly? Or are you like me and you’re “pressure prompted”– when you’ve got an event you’re hosting or company coming to visit, do you save it all for the last minute?
For me, organizing is not likely to happen weekly (sorry, just being honest here!), but now that we are scrambling to purge and declutter before Mom’s arrival, I’m thinking I should at least put it in my calendar for a monthly or quarterly purge…Lesson Learned!
Revitalizing Action: As you think about your own home and office, do you need to schedule some time in your calendar to do some decluttering and organizing? Start by making a list of the problem areas that you want to tackle. Then prioritize them by choosing one small project first (cleaning out a junk drawer or a pile of papers on a counter). In my experience, once you’ve had success organizing a smaller space, you get motivated and inspired to tackle bigger projects! Then, after you’ve made your list, pull out your calendar and block out the time to actually do the work. Let me know how it goes! And if you really need help, call my friend Liana!
Here’s to clearing the clutter!
Elizabeth