Decluttering

It's not you, it's me. I haven't been as on top of the blog as I once was for many reasons, but mostly because I've been working on a couple of projects in-house. You see, our lease is coming to an end, so we're trying to decide whether to extend it or to do what we've done almost every other year since we were married in 2005, and move again. I hate moving. Still, there's something about the grass looking greener, so I've been trolling craigslist, emailing homeowners, and the like. We looked at a couple of places last week. Not to buy, of course, but to rent. We don't have a half million dollars to spend on a condo, thank you very much. The best we can tell, we'll probably stay here. This place is working out fine, even if the CVS across the street scoffs at my use of coupons. There's no "good reason" to move again.

One of my beefs about this place, though, is that there isn't much storage. We didn't realize until we lived here that the place boasts neither a coat closet or linen closet -- so we've been creative. I spent the first 8 months using this as an excuse for piles and things under the bed, overflowing closets in the kids' room and things stashed in the closet on the far side of the stackable washer and dryer (which I could always somehow retrieve, even at 9 months pregnant). Formerly self-diagnosed with OCD, this always bothered me but I didn't see a way around it. There was no better place for the stuff, and I didn't have time to deal with it since half of my days are spent answering Kathryn's questions and the other half spent nursing Jonathan. I figured I'd keep up with laundry, dishes, and dinner. I got trapped in this survival mode of sorts, and figured we wouldn't be here too much longer anyway, so what could it matter?

Then, after I had given up but before I admitted I had, I overheard a friend telling another friend about FlyLady. I was intrigued, and since it's easier to read bout someone else's organizational method than to actually organize, I looked it up. It seemed so manageable. Just 15 minutes of decluttering a day and a commitment to shine your sink, wipe down the bathroom, and make your bed (and wear your shoes all day, but I don't do that part). I didn't sign up for the email list because I have commitment issues, but I've checked the site for the daily projects almost every day, and am seeing some progress. I'm finding that storage isn't as much of an issue once you get rid of the junk and only have to store the stuff you'll actually use.

I'm telling you all of this because one of the things I realized is that it's not that I didn't have time to clean and organize, it's that I spent too much of it complaining or blogging or blogging about complaining. While things are far from perfect here, I'm with the FlyLady, "cleaning imperfectly still blesses your family." And I need to try now. Even if we end up moving again. Which seems unlikely right now, but something amazing might come up, so you never know. I just hung up the last 2 pictures in our bedroom yesterday, so we're officially moved in now, for the record.