Things Finally Reached the Breaking Point

Have you ever read the exhaustively titled Shel Silverstein poem, Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out?

It's about, well, a little girl who wouldn't take the garbage out. Obviously.

Sarah's problem starts out innocently enough, with a little garbage strewn here or there. But, before she knows it, it starts piling up. Before she realizes it, it touches the ceiling. It touches the sky. And eventually, after all the neighbors move away and nobody comes over to play, poor Sarah exclaims, "Ok, I'll take the garbage out!"

Really, there is no better metaphor for my struggle with home organization.

I'm a perfectionist and a procrastinator. It sounds paradoxical, but that combination is the Perfect Storm for shoddy home maintenance. I procrastinate a job because I don't have enough time to do it perfectly. When I finally do decide to do it, it's usually long overdue. I reach a breaking point where I can't take it a minute longer -- something has to be done!

I'm ashamed to say, "neat and orderly" has never been my forte. I'm pretty distractable. A lot of times I make more messes in my attempt to clean up just one. In my head, the concept of "put away what you take out" seems simple. In reality, I can't seem to do it consistently.

And, if I had problems keeping things neat and orderly before kids, you can only imagine the struggle I have in doing so with kids. You've got the baby paraphenalia (exersaucer, swing, bouncy seat, baby toys), the boy paraphenalia (10,000 Matchbox cars, Rescue Heroes, superhero costumes), and the older girl paraphenalia (My Little Ponies, Polly Pockets, more books than you can count).

To make things more challenging, there's additional clutter coming home every day in the form of school papers. I did a little computing and figured that new papers are being dumped on my desk at a rate of about 30 sheets a week.

So, in the midst of my growing chaos, I had my Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout moment. I finally said, "Okay! I'll clean the house out!"

I've got to stop the madness, you see. (Does anyone else ever feel this way?!?) We don't really need 10,000 Matchbox cars. A handful would be more than sufficient.

So, I've been busy clearing out. And with every bag that heads to the trash, with every box that goes to Goodwill, I am feeling the pressure ease up just a little bit. Little by little I'm taking on the pantry, the clothes closets, the craft closet, the makeup drawer, and the like.

Less stuff = less work = a simpler life (hopefully)

Ahhhhh. I'm feeling better already.