Make Room for the New by The FlyLady, Marla Cilley
Our homes did not get cluttered in a day and they are not going to get clean overnight. This is just a simple little fact of life. We wish we could just blink our eyes and the clutter would go away but that only happens in our dreams. This past week I had the pleasure of spending a few hours with a precious family. They are just like the rest of us.
A few years ago the wife was a FlyBaby. Things were going well when life happened and she was involved in a car accident. Her injuries were just the beginning of the clutter coming back into their lives. As she was healing from the car wreck she finds out that they are going to become parents for the first time. Wow! This is always an exciting time in our lives.
Mother Nature takes over and we begin nesting. This is so much fun until we get overwhelmed. Those nine months go by so fast. Our whole family is excited about the birth of this new grandbaby. Well meaning family members start cleaning out their storage areas. They find those baby items that they had put away. Before you know it, your home is filled with lots of stuff for the baby. Let's not forget that you have been buying things too and the UPS man has become your friend. By this time there is no place to put another thing. When the delivery comes it just gets piled in the living room on top of all the other stuff that is in bags and boxes. Eventually the mountains of stuff avalanche in to every room in your home; where do you start?
Since the baby is due in just a few days, I feel it is best to get the baby's room ready. I understand that you are overwhelmed so this is when you need to ask for help. It could be your husband but he is probably as overwhelmed as you and doesn't want to upset you in your delicate condition. This is why I was called in to help this family.
I was so proud of this family, they already had the baby's room emptied and they were ready to start setting up the bed, changing table and other baby related stuff. The trick here was to not pile but to place things in the room where they were going and in the process to get the boxes out of the house.
Having a truck handy to load things is great. Everything that is give-away needs to go out the door as it is boxed up. All the trash needs to go out the door as a bag is filled. You will find that 90% of the stuff is trash and give-away items. The rest of the stuff is a pile of indecisions.
Each time you purchase something or an item is given to you; you need to ask yourself some questions. Where am I going to put it? What am I going to get rid of to make more room for it? Do I already have one? Do I love it? Once the questions have been answered, you can see what decision to make. When you catch yourself throwing things on a pile that is your first clue that you are putting off making the tough decisions.
Clutter even if it is useful clutter can overwhelm us. As it takes nine months to give birth to a precious new baby it also takes time to get rid of your clutter. It took me nine months to give birth to my new way of living. I have stopped the collecting process and am in a continual decluttering lifestyle. When something new comes into our home, we already know what is going away! Everything has a place and everything in its place.
It doesn't matter how or why the clutter came into your home, commit today to start getting rid of it one bag or one box at a time! You can do this!
For more help getting rid of your CHAOS; check out her website and join her free life coaching at www.FlyLady.net , listen to her channel http://www.blogtalkradio.com/channels/flylady show or read her books, Sink Reflections published by Bantam and her New York Times Best Selling book, Body Clutter published by Fireside. Copyright 2010 Marla Cilley Used by permission in this publication.
