Before the migraine hit, I was starting the enormous task of cleaning out my room and closet. It's definitely a project and a half. We just have too much 'stuff'! Our house is already full of people! Add in everybody's stuff (both used and unused) and it's all just too much to organize!
Organization is always something on my mind and at least once a month I
My room is the black hole of clutter. Honestly, whenever someone doesn't know where to put something or something needs to be stashed away out of site...into my room it goes for weeks(or months..or years!) at a time!
I mean, really, if someone doesn't use something for years(!) isn't is time to get rid of things!(And, yes, honey, I'm talking about those physical therapy books you haven't cracked open since grad school!)
Are you wondering what my latest inspiration for clutter cleaning was?
On Tuesday, I worked in the morning, which always leaves the house even crazier than usual. In the early afternoon, I dropped off Ellie and Sarah for the afternoon at a church activity and picked up a co-worker's 7 year old daughter for an hour and a half because she didn't have a babysitter. Since our visitor didn't have the girls around she had to settle for playing with Luke and Kate.(which didn't hold her attention.) And, since she was in a new house she was, of course, curious and wanted to see what was behind all of these many doors that contain our large clan!
It should be noted that our visitor is an only child that lives with her mom....which is a very different dynamic than our house of 10!(i.e., way less 'stuff'). Some of the notable comments made by our adorable guest were:
guest: "Why are there toys on most of the floors?"
me: "Because we have a lot of little kids who like to play in different rooms and we do one big clean up at the end of the day.(the extended answer is really....most of a clean up...except the family room because I don't have to look at it at night! That room gets cleaned for company.)
and....
guest: (following me into my bedroom when I needed to get a diaper for Kate)..."Don't you ever make your bed?"
me: "Yes, but I had to work this morning and haven't got a chance to."(and my inadequate self started to rear her ugly head!)
guest: "Are you a neat freak?"
me: "Not really." (But, thinking in my head, "Ummm....no. Did you really have to ask?")
guest: "My mom is a neat freak. I'm glad we don't have so many people in our house so that she had all these messes to clean."
...I'm sure she's glad, too!lol
Once our guest left, and my tired and unorganized self tried to take care of a crabby baby, a needy 3 yo, Peter, and manage to start dinner with none of the older kids home to help, it was a struggle not to just give in to feeling like a complete failure and be discouraged. So, I pulled out a couple of old friends that are in the form of books that give advice for parenting and organizing for the large family: A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family by Mary Ostyn and Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman.
I'm trying to get some fresh inspiration for the old clutter problem.
I need to simplify...I need to figure out ways to make our budget work better....I need to be more sacrificial so I can lose some weight...and I know that in some ways they are all tied together.
I wish I could just have Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey just come over to my house, go through all the financial muck, and tell me exactly what to do and how to do it! Oh....and I want it to be easy and stress free, too!:)
It's not like we're is some terrible spot or anything, but I'm just tired of somehow managing to squeak by(often by borrowing from Peter to pay Paul), and feeling anxiety every Friday when I play, "How to try and make the money stretch everywhere it needs to go and figure out who can wait until the next pay week!"
Honestly, it's exhausting..and stressful.
Have I mentioned stressful, yet?
I am a firm believer in God's Providence. We have gotten through times that we never should have with some fancy money shuffle work, a surprise gift, or an offer for unexpected help.
I know that I have to do my part as well, though, and I'm just not as organized as I could be with keeping track of our money. And I'm definitely not good with making goals with our money because there's never much left over!(and what is leftover just usually gets sucked up by that car repair or medical bill we weren't expecting!)
Anyway, if I'm not making sense then I blame it on the effects of the migraine! Focusing on words doesn't feel good yet!
I'm trying to take baby steps...on clutter, finance, and personal weight goals. I'm trying not to have a self-defeatist attitude and give up before I even get started because, honestly, all three of these areas feel impossible to get a handle on!
It's a good thing that "With God all things are possible."(Mt 19:26)
