Clean

I've been working on something. Something big. I've been learning how to make my house CLEAN ENOUGH. Not spotless, just liveable, so I'm not embarrassed if someone stops by. To do it I neglected most of the house for roughly 4 months (the book I read, the one that helped me accomplish this feat, estimated it would take me 6. I thought, no way, I can get it done in 1 month. Ha ha). Then I carefully considered each item that I own. Let that sink in for a minute. Every single thing. In every cupboard, on every shelf. I catalogued problems, repairs, needed remodeling projects. I considered whether the things I had were things I loved, or if I kept them because of guilt or frugality or some other reason besides actually wanting to keep them. I also examined whether or not the things I owned had a place where they belonged.

A concept that is completely shocking and new to me is this: If I don't have room for it, I can't keep it. This is causing me to get rid of things like my eliptical machine, furniture, clothing, books, records, 8-tracks, and even MY CD'S. If you know me, you know that in high school, I had all my cd's in a book (they probably numbered about 200, they had grown significantly since) and I would tote it to my car and back again anytime I went anywhere. More recently the cd's were making me crazy since they were always being left face down on the countertop, microwave, kitchen table, craft table, in the car, and on and on. So I sold the bulk of my music at our yard sale for $20. Now I get to start over with a digital music collection.

I still have work to do. Some of the projects I want done are too big to do now. I have not done the outdoor areas of the yard, cars or garage yet. I set up new systems for dealing with clutter and some of these systems still need adjusting. Here are some of the things I changed:
*a new mail/paper sorting system- i sort the mail each day
*laundry system ( and family chore system- these are integrated.) So far, I've got the dirty laundry down, if anyone has any pointers on how to get the clean laundry actually put away- please share
*I collected swimming gear in one bag (thanks Shanalee for helping me see that this needed to be done)
*I collected gift wrapping gear in one closet
*my home office is in the hall closet
*bill pay/letter writing center
etc.

I went so fast and now I'm running out of steam, so maybe writing this post will help me to remember how far I have come so I can keep going. Once I get through everything, the house should run so much smoother, I can't wait.