This morning I was feeling anxious and overwhelmed again with the clutter. It doesn’t seem to matter how many hours I spend decluttering, throwing things away, recycling and putting things in their place, the space in the high-traffic areas fill up again so quickly.
Take the kitchen and dining room as an example… after going for a walk this morning, I started tidying the kitchen at the same time as trying to cook a roast chicken dinner. I suppose you could say that I spent more time cooking than clearing up, but we have to eat.
I need to get to the bottom of how this stuff accumulates. I had it so under control a few weeks ago. It’s not like we’ve bought much into the house. It must just be that things are just moving around like chess pieces on a board as I declutter other areas.
I decided to make a list of what makes me feel less overwhelmed and more motivated, and then pick something from the list to kick me into action…
- Tidy something that’s annoying me
- Empty the bins and sort out recycling
- Walk around my garden seeing the progress that I’ve made
- Talk to my mum and dad whilst I’m pottering about the house, or sit down to Skype them
- Exercise whilst listening to audio books or music
My progress today
I had already done point 5 from my motivating list above Exercise whilst listening to audio books or music, which always works for me. After Sunday lunch, I picked point 2 Empty the bins and sort out recycling and this gave me a good start in the dining room.
I was able to deal with the bags of stuff by the back door and add to them by emptying the bins from around the house. This motivated me further and I ended up doing some vacuuming, cleaning and putting items away in their designated places.
At 10pm I actually felt like I had earned a rest. My kitchen and dining room are still not how I would like them to be, but I felt like I’d been productive enough to have a rest.
Being kind to myself and asking for help
I must be kind to myself and remember that this week wasn’t a typical week as it was my husband’s birthday and we camped in the garden for two nights. There was bound to be more to deal with than normal.
I was also very good during the day and had short breaks when I needed to, and also sat down for an hour to Skype my mum and dad. I even had a long chat with lady next door when I went to put some empty shopping bags in my car.
I also need to get better at delegating. The girls were busy all day with homework and but they still helped a bit. I also found a couple of small jobs that my husband could do.
The main thing is that I now have my list above to motivate me to make a start, whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed.
Until tomorrow…
Sandra
Sandra Madeira 
You have a beautiful area in which to walk. There will be times when you just can’t figure out where all the crap is coming from, maybe a trash audit or a room audit, Take each item that has accumulated, figure out where it is supposed to be, how it got there and maybe there is a better place for it. I found this helped me figure out my kitchen table problem which was a dumping ground for everything (it also helped me figure out that I was not the worst offender).
Thank you. I’m applying the room audit to the utility room today. I’m picking up one item at a time… I think that most of it doesn’t belong in there but I need to find a permanent place for it all or throw it away.
I was surprised to find so many things could have been put away as I walked in the house in just as much time as it took to dump them on my kitchen table and once I started the habit of doing that a lot of other things fell into place.