Mamas know all about re-prioritizing.
Whether it’s the big and noble stuff like adjusting your vision of the mom you dreamed you would be to the mom you are capable of being, or the little stuff like shortening an already short list of must-have items from the store when your toddler falls and puts a gash in her knee.
Or maybe it’s the heart-wrenching stuff like making a tough decision when your son’s baseball team unexpectedly makes it to the championship, but the championship happens to be scheduled for the same weekend you had planned a much-needed family getaway, and put down a non-refundable deposit.
Or to be totally un-poetic, I sometimes say that parenting is like having a stomach virus. Don’t make any plans that can’t be changed in an instant.
I’ve accepted the naturally required re-prioritization that comes with this mama-job. Sometimes, I even feel like I’m good at it.
But I get really really . . . really tired of the re-prioritizing that I have to do because I’m a slob.
Last night we started up our church home groups again for the fall. We started having them here around the same time that I started the blog. It was a big step for me to commit to having people (potentially-bathroom-using people) in my home on a weekly basis. But it all worked together well. My blog-induced-focus helped me stay on track and be able to open the door each week, and having a reason to see my home through others’ eyes on a weekly basis helped my focus.
But with summer, things got out of control. I have worked hard in the past few weeks to get back on track, and am doing so much better. However, when I went through the house yesterday (thinking I only had to pick up a little here and there), I was shocked to see more clutter spots than I expected to see.
Everything in me wanted to devote this entire week to conquering those spots.
But alas, the bug man’s coming.
We’ve had more than a few bugs appear lately, and so I’ve scheduled someone to come out and . . . well . . . annihilate them.
The problem? Ummm, these guys spray along the edges of the walls. The same edges where clutter seems to magically collect. Which means, I have to do something about my master bedroom. And my kids’ bedrooms, which while not as bad as they could be, belong to people who inherited the gene from me that makes them think that a cleared middle-of-the-floor is a cleared floor.
Deadlines are good. I am going to be forced to get some major stuff done before the bug guy comes next Monday. But if I hadn’t let things pile up, I could be spending this week doing the other things that need to be done. Or even better, if I could keep my house under control, piles and edges and everything . . . I could be doing something fun this week!!! Like painting my entryway!
When I let things get out of control, they control me. I don’t get to prioritize the way I really want to. It becomes not about what I want to do being at the top of the list, it’s about what I have to do being at the top.
But here’s my little project for the morning. Nothing like the threat of lethal chemicals being sprayed on your kids’ baby pictures to get you tackling the impossible spot.
For some reason, I get emotional looking at these before/after pics. When I said “impossible,” I really did mean it. I had such a huge mental block against the clutter in this area. It was my last resort dumping ground for way too many things. But since I worked in this spot a few weeks ago, this time it felt much more possible.
I’ve had that magazine basket (which I love) for over a year now. But it was on its side under the pile of stuff. Neither serving a purpose, nor being enjoyed.
I struggled with the magazines in the pile. They represent ideas. Ideas of all the things I dream of doing once my priority list is no longer full of decluttering projects. I tried shoving them all in the basket.
Didn’t exactly work. (Like my blue toenail?)
So, using my fairly-recently-acquired understanding of the purpose of containers, I started to go through them and make decisions about which ones to keep. The familiar overwhelmed-by-clutter-head-pounding started. So I decided that since I can look up specific projects on the Internet, and keeping the magazines was solely for the purpose of page-flipping-inspiration, it didn’t really matter which ones I kept. So I did a chuck-a-chunk. I just pulled out two big handfuls, not even paying attention to which ones they were . . . and stuck them in a trash bag.
Very freeing.
I may donate the ones I’m getting rid of to a teacher, or I may just throw them away.
Shell says
Good job – on tackling the corner, on the magazines and most importantly on the realization of how much "stuff" is controlling your fun.
Kimmie says
We had new carpet put in the den today. The den of no return. It's where things go because I don't know where else to put them. We had to take EVERYTHING out. Now. I need to make sure EVERYTHING doesn't go back in….know what I mean? :0)
Dawn says
Great job!! Tomorrow I am tackling the huge paper piles in our den/office/craftroom/overflow…wish me luck. I think I am going to take before and after pics too – I know it'll make me appreciate all my hard work even more.
Sweetpea101506 says
YAY! Great job Nony! Totally love the blue nail polish!
Mama Hen says
Whew, I know you must feel good to have that done. I have little paper piles all over the house. You are an encouragment for today.
Ann says
Hey Nony, going thru your old posts and found this ( I used to be a magazine “hoarder” in the biggest way) I discovered that if I haven’t read it in 3 months, I probably wont AND a friend turned me on to a website called “Pinterest” which is used like a scrapbook for categorizing any projects, ideas, recipes or whatever from the internet… No more piles and boxes full of magazines I will never get around to dissecting… its waiting in cyberspace instead of my home!!! I pinned YOU there for the rest of the “slob” world to find and treasure as much as I do!!!!
Beretta Fleur says
I have an “Ultimate Magazine” that is a binder of fashion and decorating ideas. I keep it with my art and craft stuff. Another I keep in the kitchen for Recipes and Holiday Meals. It keeps magazine stacks low.
When I see something I like, I tear it out of the magazine and put it in the appropriate binder. Using Pinterest for ideas and subscribing to Emails of my favorite mags also limits my desire for printed stuff.
Oh… and for the issue of stuff piling up by our bed? I traded our nightstands with drawers (clutter catchers) for minimal speaker stands – just large enough for water or morning coffee and the TV remotes. It may not be ideal for you, but it was cathartic for us!
McLisa says
“When I let things get out of control, they control me. I don’t get to prioritize the way I really want to. It becomes not about what I want to do being at the top of the list, it’s about what I have to do being at the top.”
This is sooo true and really hit home for me. It’s frustrating trying to be patient, knowing that time will come … just not soon enough for me.
Sarah says
You have no idea what your blog does for me. I had another argument w the hubs last night about why I can’t keep up w the house. I’m working on it and you give me hope and N I’m-not-alone feeling of being understood. Thanks for having the courage to do this.
jacqboo says
Makes me smile to see this accomplishment 🙂
Jennifer says
i have a magazine basket that i keep in my bathroom. i also used to struggle with which ones to keep and how often to chuck them. since i mainly kept them in the bathroom as something to do when…. y’know… i decided to fill the basket instead with books that don’t otherwise get read. now there’s only room for two magazines…. the two i get each month on my regular subscription. and now i follow the one-in-one-out rule. each magazine gets chucked after the new one comes in, whether i read the first one or not. because really, if i haven’t read a magazine in a month, what do i have the subscription for?
Judith says
This reprioritizing sums up my weekend so far 🙂 I’d made a very tight schedule including all the weekly cleaning, extensive cooking because my brother was coming over yesterday evening, eye measurement and choosing new glasses yesterday morning and clothes shopping this afternoon then dinner with my ex and preparing for the work week tonight. Except that I was having my eyes measured for a reason: my desk work is currently wearing me out because I keep having to squint at my screen so Friday I did only half of what I meant to do because I was so tired. And yesterday I needed a long break coming from the optometrist because my eyes had had to adjust to different strengths of glasses during an hour. So I barely cleaned, cooked something simple and had a great time with my brother anyway. I turned off my alarm clock in order not to wake him up too early and woke up at 11 instead of the expected 8! But because he was around I was still in clear-up-straight-away mode and I got so much done around the house this afternoon! Last week I was stressing about why I couldn’t find romance and an old friend said ‘you worry so much about everything that could go wrong that it ruins your vibe, people don’t feel relaxed around you’ and I’m afraid he was right. He advised me to focus on finding grace rather than worry about the future. So I thought I’d have to pray about it a lot, or think really hard about how to ace this grace thing. Turns out, grace is what happened this weekend: follow the flow, do what is needed that you actually can manage, and I ended up really being there for my brother AND I got to make quite a bit of progress in my house. Thank you for showing me the way in this process Dana 🙂