Getting a grip is a slow and somewhat overwhelming task for me. I have this tendency towards chaos in my everyday life, everywhere I go some kind of mess seems to follow. I prefer organization, but I just can't seem to keep it up.
Somehow, this weekend I had a breakthrough and was able to make some headway in achieving a semblance of organization in my life. I downloaded Quicken and got all of our finances straightened out, cleaned out my purse, vacuumed the house, made a major dent in the laundry, organized the linen closet, and managed to tackle the horrendous mess that is my kitchen counter.
It seems like our kitchen counter is the hub of the house and attracts clutter like none other. Somehow every evening when we get home a pile of schoolwork/artwork/bills/junk mail gets set on the counter and of course does not get immediately managed, so by the end of the week it's a horrible mess. I asked my wonderful husband to take a stab at the counter while I was doing dishes and he did a great job of making piles: kid's artwork/homework, bills/papers to file, junk mail, toys, books, etc. So, after that I get to sort through all the madness and make heads or tails of it all. The first step towards order makes the whole thing look like an explosion all over the place while making sub piles. Basically, it comes down to keep or toss (ie: recycle). I filled up the recycling bin fast with envelopes, old grocery lists, unnecessary receipts, etc. Then the hard part, how to go through all the paper that the kids bring home? What qualifies as a "keep" vs. a "toss"? Usually, I keep his homework packets with examples of his work, and special art work or projects where he has drawn figures or written cute things. My recent favorites are my kindergartner's stick dinosaur, bird, pig and cow (those are adorable!) Everything else has to go, I just don't have the space to save it all. So, after the kid's stuff is managed, then I get to filing the papers that need filing and putting away anything thing else. The thought always comes to mind, why can't I keep this clean?
The answer is: I don't know.
Perhaps I don't try? Well, I am going to make a one week resolution to keep this counter clear. (You're probably thinking, yea right, we'll see how that goes!?). But, really I would love to be able stay on top of things before they pile up and make me have intense anxiety. I really am sick of being 3 weeks behind on my time sheets and not being able to find things. If I just took an extra minute (or few minutes) to manage things before they get out of control, then life would be a lot simpler.
It's times like this that I wish my mom were still around to ask how she did it all? She seems like super woman to me now that I am a mom. She always had everything under control, but unfortunately, I fear that she was never very happy due to her strict routines an neurotic need to keep everything in order. I guess I might just have some kind of subconscious need to do exactly the opposite of what she would do in order to keep myself from ending up that way? Who knows, all I know is that I would like to be able to keep myself organized for a week.
Starting today, Monday, January 24th, 2011, I will do my best to keep 3 major things in my life under control. This includes: my kitchen counter, my desk, & my purse. I am not going to try to take on my whole life, because it would be setting myself up for disaster. Anyhow, I will let you know how it goes.
