With 100 days to go before the end date of my challenge, I want to feel confident that I’ll achieve my goal by New Year’s Eve without putting pressure on myself. My goal is still worded as follows:

I have a clear and organised space in my home, my garden and my mind

My 2020 challenge and daily affirmation

After taking the girls to school this morning, I sat quietly in the lounge for a change rather than the conservatory. I liked the way that the sun was shining through and it felt warm and cosy. I set my timer for 24 minutes, sat back and allowed the random thoughts to pop in and out of my head. I sometimes find it difficult to do this when I’m not relaxed and today was one of those days.

I’ve learnt recently that it’s really important to have me time when feeling even a little bit anxious, stressed or overwhelmed. I decided not to start any clutter clearing until I had thought about which direction I was going in and what was a good use of my time today.

I had my notebook to hand so I wrote down all the cluttered areas that were still bothering me around the house. I closed my eyes and mentally walked around the house imagining how I felt as I saw each cluttered space.

I then went through the list and ranked them 1 to 3, with 1 being the images that made me feel the most anxious. I felt better doing this because I knew that focusing on the ones ranked as 1 would make me feel happy. We all know that there’s no fun in achieving stuff that doesn’t make us feel happy.

The two on my list that I wanted to move forward today were and ‘clearing space in the garage’ and ‘clutter in the kitchen’. I knew that I wouldn’t get much done in the garage, so I planned to spend only 45 minutes in there clearing space and then move on.

As I opened the garage, I spotted the mound of charity bags and instantly knew what would make me feel good. This Thursday I am booked in to take ten bags to my local charity shop. So, I decided to get the ones ready that I wanted to take and rebag the ones that were ripped. This particular charity shop also doesn’t take certain items e.g. anything electrical, so I wanted to take those out of the bags.

I quickly went through each bag and as I tied them up for good, I put them near the garage door ready for them to exit the garage on Thursday. I made some labels – 1 to 10 – and attached them to each bag. All organised! It felt really good and I can’t wait to free up the space.

How symbolic was the hygienist appointment?

As I sat in the chair, I thought about what was about to happen and was hoping that it wouldn’t hurt my gums. As she scraped each tooth I could only feel mild discomfort (she was very gentle but thorough). I couldn’t help relating the plaque to the clutter in my home and my mind. As the plaque left my mouth, I felt lighter. It was being taken away from me and all I had to do was sit there and go with the flow, much like I’ve been experiencing as a result of having the me time sessions.

I imagined going with the flow over the next 100 days and just letting all the clutter melt away. I always get clearing done so much quicker when I detach myself from it and just get out of the way.

When the hygienist got to my sensitive tooth – the one that broke in half last April – I braced myself. I didn’t need to though. It felt like the strongest tooth. This also felt symbolic. I related it to how I feel when trying to part with the clutter. I stand strong and try and be brave as I donate items or put them in the rubbish bags.

The hygienist did a really good job of ‘decluttering’ my teeth 😁 and then spent ages afterwards giving me tips and advice about how to clean my teeth properly, what I was doing wrong, and when to use floss vs. mouthwash.

I took in all of the information and will be spending more time in the evening now looking after my teeth. I’m pretty good at following instructions so let’s see how long I keep it up.

I have to have a filling tomorrow

It was important that I had the hygienist appointment today to clean the area next to the broken tooth, as I have to go back to see my dentist tomorrow for a filling. I’m feeling grateful that I was able to get booked in at a time when appointments are rare. They can only see a few patients a day now because of the amount of sanitising they have to do in between patients.

All going well, I will be able to eat on that side of my mouth again soon.

Dinner and the kitchen

I didn’t get much space cleared in the kitchen today as I decided to use the mince up in the fridge and make a meat pie. It turned out well and the girls liked it.

Kitchen clutter will move to the top of my list tomorrow along with the usual housework that I now do as part of my Wednesday routine.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra