So, I set a goal for my house. And every day it has been difficult to make progress on it. There have been babies crying, children screaming, beds calling, husbands beckoning. And here I sit.
If you were to plot out my goal on a timeline and place me somewhere on the journey from the beginning to the end, I would be about a millimeter from the beginning.
And I have decided that for this season of my life: that is OK.
You see, I am a rule-loving lady. I love when there are parameters. I love when there is a straight line to walk.
(That is probably why I just plotted myself on a timeline)
And Step By Step Decluttering has given me some ground rules for this decluttering project I am working on. I talked about my favorite one last time. But now that I am toe-deep into my BIG project, I am thankful for another rule (or two, or three). Because these rules are really getting at the heart of the reason we stop decluttering – discouragement! And the discouragement doesn’t have to come from an outside source. I have got plenty of that in me all by myself. But Sarah’s rules give me permission to avoid negativity, be unapologetic about the stage of life I am in, and move forward – even if it is in tiny steps.
And tiny steps are not my usual stride. I usually like to take a project and work on it inexhaustibly until I am done. I just plow through.
But this one, at this season in my life, is going painfully slow.
And, I tell myself again, “That is OK.”
Yesterday, I printed out the worksheets that come with Step by Step Decluttering. I sat down and set a timer and filled out the You Are Here worksheet. It was great! And it gave me a number of epiphanies.
And what I loved about it is it made me sit and answer questions about my biggest clutter mess. How I planned to work on it. What kind of obstacles I might face. And (here’s the best one) what kind of encouragements I could seek to get me through!
Like I said, it was great! Because I need encouragement – big time! I need to see progress. I need to celebrate the small stuff.
And that is, in part, why I started this Hope for Homemakers group – for encouragement.
I figure there are lots of homemakers out there who feel just like me – you want to get things done in your home, but you need some help. You need some encouragement. You need someone else walking a parallel road saying, “Hey, you can do it!” Or, “Good job!” Or, “You can do it!” You need someone who looks at the tiny step you took today and says, “It matters.”
So, here’s my YOU ARE HERE (not sugar-coated at all)
And here’s another YOU ARE HERE
Only it has gotten better. And it has gotten worse.
The big step I took: I moved the leaves from our dining table (yes, they are in there on the floor, you know amongst all that junk) into a perfect spot in the garage (it took me 9 years to find that spot, but I have finally found it!)
The set-back: I can no longer open this closet door and the light bulb in there burned out.
But I am not going to get all down – I am going to celebrate that the leaves are in the garage and I am moving forward. And I am going to keep spending a little bit of time in there each day and each week until I get this space the way I envision it.
But I need a little help. I need some encouragement along the way.
Want to be there for me (I somehow can’t get the “Friends” theme-song out of my head as I write this)? I will be there for you, too! Here’s what you need to do.
» Join Hope for Homemakers (on Facebook).
» Get the book Decluttering Step by Step. And print out the worksheets.
» Pick your project (I talked about how I picked mine here).
» Share your YOU ARE HERE in the Hope for Homemakers group – before pictures.
» Watch all the encouragement from other homemakers flow in!
I do hope you will join me! I sure could use the encouragement!
