Anyone who knows me well at all, knows that I am a lousy housekeeper. It’s not a fact that I’m proud of, believe me. I wish I was better. It’s something I’ve struggled with for years. My sister in law keeps an immaculate house - with 3 kids and a husband, and a dog, and company constantly in and out of the house. It’s just part of who she is. It’s NOT part of who I am. I didn’t get the “good housekeeping gene”. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying that she doesn’t work hard at it. She does! But I could work day and night and never have my house half as clean or organized as hers.
As I look around my house - really look, I see scarcely a surface that isn’t piled with crap. It’s one of my biggest vices. Paperwork, and dog stuff - that’s a good share of it. Half the time I really don’t even notice the junk that is piling up. Don’t worry - it’s not one of those houses that has rotting food in the corners, and 4 dumpsters worth of trash - nothing quite that dramatic. But the place could certainly use a good overhaul. I blame my undiagnosed A-D-D for my inability to tackle the job. It seems overwhelming at this point.
So Wednesday, after a grueling night at the E.R. clinic, I decided to unwind by watching Oprah from earlier that day. She just happened to be doing a show on the “Clean Up Your Messy House” Tour - moving across America helping others, just like me, get it together. Peter Walsh is the head dude, helping people clean up and clean out. I felt a little encouraged as I watched him pop in on unsuspecting Americans whose houses looked remarkably like mine - some even a bit worse.
As Peter explained, you do things in small increments. Ten minutes a day, that’s all - and commit to 6 months. Well, of course I had to do the math. That’s about 30 hours of work. And of course, I should see a significant difference by then. So I started a few days ago, and imagine that I should be able to see a pretty big difference within a month. I can’t wait!!!
As his Grandmother said, “What’s the best way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time”. Although I don’t condone the eating of elephants, I get the picture. And I think for me that is the key - don’t look at a whole room, it’s too overwhelming. Just look at one little corner, or one little table, and spend 10 minutes on it. It seems DOABLE that way! I’m Excited!!!!!
Normally, you KNOW I would have taken tons of pictures to share with you, but I’m a little embarrassed by the mess I’ve made so I’ll only share one for now. It’s a table in my office / den. It sits behind the computer table, and as you can see, it’s pretty much unusable. (The fluffy stuff under the table is for the “two terriers” to land on between parties).
Maybe when I’m done with the project I’ll share more pics, but for now, I just want to challenge anyone else who feels the way I do: that the job is just too big to tackle. They just started this “Clean Up Your Messy House” project, so jump on board. It’s not too late. Peter will send monthly e-mails with tips to make the process easier. It’s painless - I promise!!
