It is very evident from my household (Leslie’s) that we are back-to-school. I woke up this morning and noted that my family room and kitchen looked like a warzone; there were dirty glasses, clothes, bags of chips, a cereal bowl with dried milk, liitle piles of school papers (that probably need to be read or signed!!!#%!), mail, sports equipment sunscreen, backpacks, and shoes. And yes, I’m having people over for lunch in three hours and I can see the dust bunnies peeking out from under the sofa.
What to Do with a Mess Like This?
I suggest taking an empty laundry basket and move around your home and just start picking up all the piles and things that are not in their place and put them in the basket. Go from room to room and do not take time to distribute all the items. You have to centralize this operation and the launhdry basket now becomes the ‘distribute’ box. If you have the urge to leave the room to put something away, DON’T. Put it in the ‘distribute’ box instead, and then carry it along to the next stop. Advise the inhabitants of your household that they have 24 hours to clarim their things from the ‘distribute’ contrainer or it will be purged.
Purge with a Purpose
When deciding to purge an item, the real acid test question is: Will anything happen if I toss it away? Unless, it has some legal ramifications, go ahead and throw it away!
Most people in our part of the world are buried in a daily inflow of information and have an excess of ’stuff’. Some are better than others at managing their things and some are hoarders. Oprah recently did a segment with a women who was a hoarder and had 75 tons of stuff, yes, tons, removed from her household so she could live a normal life. Her husband was keeping bank statements and receipts that were more than 35 years old! This was an extremem case of not being able to let go of things or purge.
A Place for Things and Everything in its Place
I find it really handy to have containers or place baskets at entries to put shoes in if you don’t have a nearby closet. Have a dedicated basket for school papers that need to be signed. A container for your mail and a basket and shredder next to it are ideal for quickly getting rid of junk mail.
I like to save the nice heavy department store shopping bags with handles and put them in my closets and next to my son’s chest of drawers. As he grows out of clothes that are still useable to someone else, they go into the donate box. Letting go of things and giving them to people who can use them makes the world a better place. Remember, one of our sayings…Goodwill vs. Landfill.
Back to School – Back to YOU
As you organize your house with all these great tips from Leslie, your life can also be de-cluttered from the schedules of summer with the kids.
How do you re-discover YOU?
Back to you starts with de-cluttering your thoughts from coordinating and planning for others’ needs (kids, family vacations, summer camps, visits from/to relatives, etc.). When my daughter, who is now 19 and living independently year round, use to go back to school I would find my body and mind needing some extra down time to catch my breath and check in with me. This was my first summer without her, AND I now have time to write about my experience. I recommend (and you may have heard me say it before) taking 30 seconds of silence to breathe at least 3 times per day. Note your thoughts without judgement and say hello to your body.
Purge Inside Too
When you have noticed your thoughts, you may find that it is thinking that does not serve you…negativity. John Gottman, in his marriage research, shows that relationships need a 5-1 ratio of positivity to negativity to be successful. Positivity starts on the inside. Negative thoughts are USELESS and it’s time to say bye bye if it is self-critical or self-sabotaging in any way. Read Byron Katie (anything by her) or “Excuse me, Your Life is Waiting.” by Lynn Grabhorn to get some funny and insightful thoughts on how to generate positivity in your life.
Containers for Your Thoughts
One container I often use with my clients is the Gremlin container. Your gremlins are the voices of self-sabotage and negative thinking that we ALL carry with us. There is a great book “Taming Your Gremlins,” by Richard Carsen. He even has a Taming Your Gremlins Institute where corporate executives learn how to put those bad thoughts in cages. When you notice the self-bashing routine, play with putting those thoughts in a Gremlin container. I had a creative client that actually made clay figures to represent her Gremlins and would take the figures, verbally tell them they were not needed, and set them in a drawer or box. Letting go of negative thoughts is one of the greatest contributions to your inner peace AND World Peace.
