Rules for Minimizing to Better Organize Your Life

 My house is taking over my life! It's a mess and it makes me feel like I am always behind. I am embarrassed to have people over and I can't do it all myself. I resent others in my home for not caring, not picking up and not being more aware of the importance of an organized life is to me.

Does that sound like you? I know it was me. Most of the time I was raising the kids I was frantically trying to teach them they should pick up after they are done with things and they still don't do it. Obviously, my priorities are not anyone else's.

So how does that affect you?

When you need to feel peaceful when you enter a room....and your stomach goes into a knot, how does that affect your heart?

Believe it or not, your heart is stressed out. It beats faster when you are stressed out and it works harder. 

Are these pictures making you feel a need to clean?

You want to organize this mess?

Your kids room looks just like this lego land?

So what are the rules of minimizing so that you can get a handle on your home?

Wait no longer. Here they are...




RULES FOR MINIMIZING

• Pull out and sort items from closets and drawers first (so pick one...just one right now)

Get 5 Bins, boxes or bags and label them: Keep - Sell - Give - Fix - Toss

Decide as you look at each item by asking yourself what you want to do with it. If you are having trouble deciding... as yourself:

• Do I love it? Yep...keep it! Nope...toss it, sell it or give it away
• Need it?  Yep...
• Can I live without it? Yep...Toss it, sell it, give it
• Have I used it in the last 12 months? Toss it, sell it, give it
• Will I use it in the next 12 months? Not sure? Toss it, sell it, give it
• Why am I hanging onto it? Good question! Memories ... we can discuss this later
• Is there another way I can keep this memory alive?...more details later- keep it for now
• Can someone else use it? yep- pass it on!

Place it in the corresponding bin, box or bag until all the items have been looked at. Yes, you can have an "I am not decided" pile but remember, in order to actually be successful, you have to eventually put things in the right category today.

Whew....after 20-30 minutes you should be done with that one thing. If not take a break. Then get started in a few. Burn out is not the goal here.

So memories...are important to you. We make our lives over time and we enjoy looking back at pictures and mementos to feel what we felt in that moment again. Do you need them all? Are they making life more difficult or more enjoyable? Do you have to dust them? Do you have to guard them against breakage? Do you have to lock them up? Take out insurance on them? Are they possessing you more than you are possessing them?

Here are some thing s to ponder:

• Pictures- can be placed/arranged in frames, on a CD, in albums and given as gifts. They can be duplicated and shared with other family members, given to the children if they are old enough, passed down while you are still in charge of it. Remember that some photos of where you went, vacations etc that you took early in life may not be anything that anyone else will ever want. Thin those down to the most enjoyable to reflect on. Enlarge, print and hang them on the wall or share them with the library, church, schools etc for their walls as appropriate.
• We are a society that is drowining in our "things". We need them, or we say we do. We know for sure we want them. Here is the bigger question to ask yourself, what is the benefit of keeping them? If I had 5 minutes to collect the things that mean the most to me...what would they be? Some people have had to make that very decision as either fire, mudslides or flooding was moments away. So take even 20 minutes to decide what they would be. Why not go a step further and put them all close enough together so you could grab them if you needed to.
• Nick-nacks etc.- are items that are abundant. Too abundant. Trophies, cheerleading gear, ice skates, yearbooks, We hate to throw it out or give it away because it might hurt someone's feelings. So, here is what I did. I asked my children what they wanted if I died and I gave it back to them right now. I don't need it, I enjoyed it long enough, let them have it now, why wait until I die and maybe someone else would end up with it or throw it out. 
• Clothes- ugh...I had enough for a 365-day vacation! Shoes for 600 feet when we only have 2? Here is what I did, I picked out 10 of my favorite outfits. I know we have to have seasonal clothes, but in the future, I will buy short sleeve shirts and then buy sweaters with long sleeves so I can wear my shirts all year round. I kept only the shoes I love. Only the dresses I love. I don't even wear dresses anymore. So, I may pass them on later. But this is where I started. I threw out my holy underwear:) and socks that didn't match were shrunk or stretched out. 
• Shampoos, lotions, potions, polishes, brushes, sharpeners...men are just as bad as women. Read the label and if it is safe to use, keep it, if not toss it. Ask yourself, if your skin absorbs it will it make me feel healthy? Yep...keep it, if not toss it. Too many little things everywhere make it hard to organize...just start getting thinned out in these areas.
• Towels, sheets, pillows, blankets- Keep your best and throw the rest in the GOOD WILL.
• Movies, Music CD's, games etc- Let someone else enjoy them. Donate to an after-school program at the YMCA/YWCA, library, hospital, nursing home, a family with kids.

There are lots more things you can get into and get rid of, trust me, it comes in as fast as it goes out some days. But keep plugging along and 7 days a week may eventually seem like just enough:)

Blessings! Let me know below what your biggest struggle was and let me hear how you overcame it.

Happier on Weekends -- During the week

It's a general consensus that we are happier on weekends than on weekdays. 

To that I say.... pffffftttt....only if you work Monday thru Friday. 

When I had to work on the weekends, I was anything but happy!

As a matter of fact, I was mandated to work a double shift on a weekend (short handed to boot) and that is where I quickly and firmly drew the line. 

So how do you get that weekend feeling during the week if you work on a weekend? It's kind of tricky but it can be done and it's better than you think!

So let's say, it's Wednesday and you are off. You are tempted to sleep in right? So figure out a way you can do it. It will take some bargaining I am sure, but do it if it will make it an awesome day.

Next, want to stay in your pajamas all day? DO IT!

Want to jump out of bed and go to the gym? DO IT!

How about making a massage appointment?

Get your haircut?

Take a drive and surprise a friend for lunch or supper?

Go shopping for yourself when everyone is at work?

Anything that you would love to do on a weekend...DO IT!

Bubble bath...ride your motorcycle...play your guitar, your piano, your harp

Take a walk, swim, run, ride the horse, play tennis or golf

Eat out...go to happy hour at 4PM...get the best parking spot somewhere you always don't

Sit on the porch, watch the sunrise, drink your coffee slow and watch rush hour traffic whiz by

Smile alot 

The possibilities are endless.

Grab your weekend when you can. 

To Every Mom ...Pray at the Wishing Well

I used to try to do it all. When my girls were small, I wanted to be the best mom ever. I was always thinking up things for the kids to do that were creative. Crafts, stories, plays, pretending, games. One of their favorites was fishing for prizes out of "the wishing well". They would throw their fishing line down from the top of the stairs, over the railing and after I tugged a few minutes, they would pull in their line with their catch. Which usually consisted of a sample of shampoo, a gumball machine toy, any little gadget that I could find around the house that they hadn't seen before. It was always fun to see their eyes light up over hardly anything at all.

In those days, I appreciated that beautiful innocence of childhood. It was so easy to please them and to keep them excited about life. Each day brought such wonder and delight. Everything being brand new...every experience their first. I wanted an 8th day of the week. Time was flying by and every minute I was loving it.

Then life crept in. I didn't know I could have stopped it. I didn't realize I didn't really need things. Not the things of the world. Not more stuff. It only made life more complicated, more work.

I don't know how women do it today. I thought life went fast enough back then, but today it's on fast forward and it's stuck there.

If you are a mom today...God loves you, God blesses you, He sees what you are trying to do. Think like your child. Believe like your child. Go to the well and instead of wishing, pray there. God will hear you. He will give you what you need to do His work in caring for your kids, your spouse, your home, your family and you will want an 8th day of the week. You will want extra time to enjoy your life.

Simplify your life. Don't over complicate it with more stuff. Kids should learn to be creative. They should learn who they are and what interests them. Let them learn to work with you and do the jobs you need to do around the house. Life goes by in a flash and as we get older...1/2 a flash. Make it last.

4 Tips to Make it Through the Week

Hmmm...feeling like this zebra and it's not over yet??
I have had weeks where everyday felt like it was "goundhog day".

It doesn't really matter what is causing the week to be an overload...or does it?
Tip 1
Take an inventory of how much crap you have on your plate
Tip 2
Decide who put it there, if it was your own choice, did it make sense to do it this week or could it have waited? Postponing things can actually give you more time to focus on it and give you better results.
Tip 3
Decide who put the other items on your plate (see, I can be proper) and do they have the right to do it. If they do (like it's your boss) is it going to make sense to do it this week or not? If you have a good relationship with your boss ( I don't think I ever did) then you will probably feel it's ok to discuss the deadline date of the project. However, if you don't feel your boss is approachable, you may want to watch how someone else ( the one with the brown nose) is doing it and learn it, do it and teach it! No joke. Even if at first it's out of character for you, eventually you can learn any skill. Learn this one. If they are chatty...be chatty. If they are always asking advice on personal matters...do it. If they are inviting them out for golf, a beer or dinner, get with their program because obviously it works. You need it to work too.
Now, if you don't have a boss or someone who can put things on your plate for you...shame on you. You are your worst nightmare. Quit it already! You work for yourself. You manage your home, run the carpool, have clients, meetings, appointments that you schedule for the most part. Be kind to yourself.
Tip 4
Lastly, Stop juggling. Juggling takes hours of practice and leaves little time for anything else. Life is too short. You are missing the intermission. You know that time you take a pee, get a drink, eat, exercise, have family time....yeah. Don't fill your schedule like there is no frickin tomorrow. Let me guess... that tomorrows schedule looks alot like todays. So schedule thoughtfully.  Deligate. Breathe, get your stripes back. See ya on the flip flop! 

Be Blesssed!

Soon it will be

• the holidays
• somebody's birthday
• somebody's anniversary
• new baby
• new house
• new job
• retirement
• party
• tax time
• fundraiser
• dinner
• graduation
• religious observance

Yep...we go from one event to another in our lives don't we?

I don't know about you, but without my calendar I would miss almost every important one. Not because I don't care. But because we are spinning through life like a top. 

Occasionally I let myself take a breath. Not feel guilty about it and re-center myself. Saying...it's ok to take a minute here. Sad but true. That is why an 8th day of the week got it's name!! I need one. When I tell people to schedule time with me and send them to my online scheduler, I am not doing it to put them off. It's because I really don't know what my own schedule is unless I am told. 

So, my question to you today...yes you...not the next person who reads this article, but you...my question is, how do we get off the merry-go-round? How do we balance our lives and slow it down so we can enjoy it? We run around like chickens from one thing to another, trying frantically to get it all done and squeeze in some fun ones...but it always seems to leave us spent either  emotionally, physically or financially. (Or all 3)

Today is the day I want your ideas on how we can slow it down, how you do it. Or how you wish you could do it. I need ideas to help myself do it. Mostly because there really isn't an 8th day of the week.

 below!!

Always in Beta!

Some days I wonder what has disconnected in my brain. I can hardly believe I used to multitask with such speed and efficiency and now...I need an 8th day of the week. How does that happen? Hmmm...  Or should I ask when did it happen?

I have decided that transitioning from being a kid to being an adult is more fun than going into mid life. Well, honestly I guess I am past that too. Geez, I think I am old. I have to stop thinking that. I can't really tell how old anyone is anymore. I always guess wrong. Maybe because I don't choose to remember how old I am.


Now that I have succeeded in feeling like an old lady who swallowed a fly, I don't know why she swallowed a fly...I think she'll die.

I have to pull myself back up by thinking of some of the great things that I have noticed about mid life. Hmmm...well, what comes to mind is feeling more comfortable in my skin. I actually have my own personality now. I am not looking at everyone around me to determine how I feel about myself. Day by day I have learned to be myself and not worry about what others think of me. That is a really freeing feeling. 

Something else I have been able to recognize is that others see us so different than we see ourselves. I can be my harder on myself than anyone else can.

I think in the last 5-6 years, I have felt like I have been redesigning who I am and what I want to accomplish . I used to get in that frantic...OMG...I have to hurry up because I'm getting old and my time is running out. But since I learned that there is all the time I need. That time comes from me. I haven't felt that way. It seems good to take that lid off and release that inner pressure. Sometimes the things I think about are the worst case scenarios you could ever dream up. I'm putting in for a tune up on that. I hate when I do it and I am just so conditioned that I really have to catch myself and say...stop it!

Now that I am always in beta mode...every day seems exciting. It's ok to go with the flow and not fight the current. Stop pinching the quarter and relax a little bit. I guess I have been a caregiver so long ...too long...but my respite is finally here. I appreciate every day and I wish i had been able to figure out a way to do it sooner. Hey, but I did it! I got my bow hunting license and I am going for my gun course in October. Who knows I may even trek into the woods. I sold my motorcycle...but you never know, I may see one I just have to have yet!

I feel like every day is my 8th day of the week. That one extra day you can just put your feet up, shut off the world and say ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I AM HAPPY!!!

I AM HAPPY!!!  When was the last time we actually said that to our self?
Is it because we don't think about it? We don't feel it? We don't want to know the truth of it?

If we need our mouth pulled up at the corners like this little monkey in order to smile...how do we expect our life to be happy?

Happiness is different for everyone so I can't recommend something magical that will get you in the mood. Here is the thing I can do, get you to ask yourself the questions and once you do that, maybe you can see what you need to do more of.

I can also share with you what has been my own experience. Let's take the last 3-4 months in reflection. I can easily do that because I keep a little bit of a log book on what I do on a regular basis. I started doing this, when my kids were knee high to a grasshopper.

It's fun to look back at the special times. It was(and still is) a way to review what I have learned and it helps me formulate a new approach to things going forward. I know that sounds kind of analytical. But honestly, all those journals, all those calendar entries (my loving daughter made me read them one last time before I threw them out) are my life. It's how I became me. It's my journey.

At times I know I needed an 8th day of the week. Many times!! Even over the last few months, I have moved, taken on a new management responsibility, maintained my home business expansion project, started a meetup, had a few yard sales, worked with a coach, taken a bow safety course, kept up with my blogs, helped family, had a baby shower, made the duck in a bucket cake, making a baby quilt, cleaned, cleared, patched, painted walls and mowed into the night. It makes me tired just writing it down.

Through it all, I never lost sight of the importance of enjoying the moment. Just every once in awhile, expressing how happy I was to still be here. So happy it makes me to help other people. So happy that I have a husband that is faithful and devoted. Happy that I still have one parent. Happy my kids are healthy and happy. Happy for the possibilities that tomorrow brings with it.

Despite the need for that 8th day of the week...I hope you tell yourself how happy you are too. There is plenty...no more than enough...way too much even of the negative thoughts that we are bombarded with daily from our environment. Think and be thankful...Be happy!