Spring Cleaning

So a few posts ago I was pondering over which of my "What If..."s I was going to select at small group to focus on for the next week and check back in on next Wednesday. As it turns out, I didn't pick any of the items I mentioned in that post. I actually decided on "What if I finally cleaned out my closet?" (Which is good, cuz I was going to try the whole getting up earlier thing anyways and I already failed at that this morning. I'm going to keep trying, but that would have been a disheartening start to my What If adventure.)

So why did I pick this item on my list? Basically I'm hoping it will be a catalyst to help spring board the rest of it. I have admitted before that I am a hopeless, helpless pack rat. But that doesn't mean I'm happy about that fact. I really don't mean to hold on to so much crap, it's just that every time I try to start cleaning and throwing stuff out, the mountain of clutter is just so overwhelming that I get disheartened. Plus I get a crippling case of the "what if..."s (and not the good kind like this small group study... the bad kind that makes me think I'll immediately find a need for whatever it is I threw out right after the trash man picks it up.)

All this junk doesn't really do anything, though, other than get in my way and stress me out! Any time I actually feel like doing something productive, like painting or baking, I look around and realize that I would only be adding to the mess unless I clean up first, and my energy and enthusiasm for my would-be project just get sucked right out of me. I have actually attempted to declutter a number of times and just not gotten anywhere for all of these reasons. So I'm going to try one more time, with the hope that knowing my small group is expecting an update in a week's time (I promised them trash bags full of give-away clothes) I'll actually get somewhere. Granted, after agreeing to that I realized that the only time I'm going to be home and able to make any progress is tonight from about 5-6, Sunday evening for an hour or 2, and Monday evening from about 5-9. But hopefully if I really buckle down I can start making some headway.

I actually ran across a few really inspiring/helpful tips online today at Miss Minimalist. One entry zeroed in on a nasty habit I have of organizing rather than decluttering. Of course I want whatever I'm left with to be organized, but I'm going to try really hard to actually GET RID of stuff, because the simple fact is, no matter how organized I am, I currently have more stuff than I have space right now. The other tips were for how to keep my place decluttered after my purge. Hopefully by following a few strategies such as "one in, one out" and "one-a-day," I will feel inspired when I come home rather than bogged down with more work.

When we each announced what we would be working on in small group, we were asked "How will this change your story?" I am HOPING that if I can actually make some headway here, I will feel more at ease in my own home, keeping my home clean will take less effort, and I'll finally be able to just start whatever other projects I feel like without having to spend hours tidying up first. I'll feel more organized in general and, as silly as this may seem, better equipped to take on the world. If I can take on the monster that is my closet (and linen closet and desk drawers and storage closet) then just maybe I can tackle everything else on my growing-up list!