My husband has been out of town this week, (which is oddly like a week off) and you should have seen my house this morning. It was a wreck. And I don't mean one of those "wrecks" where the mom says, "oh, my house is a wreck!" and it's a few magazines on the coffee table, 10 toys strewn across the living room floor, and a few dishes in the sink. To me, that's pretty much spotless. No, this was a serious MESS. I couldn't see the counter in the kitchen, much less the sink, every flat surface in the school room was covered, and currently there are major piles of laundry taking over my bed. (Remember Seinfeld's relationship with Newman? That's me with laundry.)
Thankfully, I was able to get most of it cleaned up today, and I was relieved. In the past, when I was regularly depressed, stressed, and negative, I didn't really care. I was a little surprised today to feel like a weight had been lifted when I got most of our messes cleaned up. Sure, things are still a little cluttered, but I'm okay with that.
In my introduction post, I mentioned that my mind can be a scary messy place. Lots of opposing thoughts, lots of ideas that just end up wasting time... I'm very distractible if I'm not careful about things. If I don't have a schedule or a checklist or something, things tend to fly out of control in big ways... and that can ultimately lead me back into feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and depressed. Not a good thing. I've found that it really helps if I can come up with a plan of attack for cleaning up an already out-of-control house, or a plan to keep on top of even the smallest details. For the house, I usually make a list of priorities, then tackle them one at a time. That way, I'm able to focus on one thing and get it done. If I get distracted by kids or other more pressing things, I can always go back to that one task. I will eventually get it done, cross it off the list, and go on to the next thing (waving my "small victories" flag along the way.)
Here's another example: I need to make a grocery list every week, and I mostly get the same items each time. But you know what really bugs me? Making out the same list every single week. It drives me nuts. Same items. Every week. And yet, I wrack my brain trying to remember those same items, every week. "Am I forgetting anything?" I imagine myself going down the rows in the grocery store. "I think I'm forgetting something..." and I usually do forget something. Ugh.
So instead of torturing myself every week with the grocery list, I put my list on my computer. I keep a running list of current needs on my refrigerator (that way I don't have to log in every time I need to remember something), make a list of needed items for next week's dinner, and then edit and print my "groceries" Word document. It's SO much easier this way, and a lot less frustrating. (Now, the perfectionist side of me does rear its ugly head from time-to-time, so I won't tell you about my very intricate budget document, groceries price list on Excel, or the monthly menu plan.... or the time it took to put all that together... or the fact that I don't use any of it as much as I thought I would.)
I make charts and lists and plans to make my life easier, and they really do. At the very least, they help organize my thoughts. I'm often distracted by too many obligations, children, and details flying at me at once. When something pops up that is like a thorn in my side, instead of living with it and being frustrated about it all the time (like I used to), I decided I could probably DO something to remove those little irritating annoyances. In my mind, it's not about being ultra-organized, but about being a pro-active problem solver to make life more pleasant for everyone involved... but mostly for me. :)
