Clutter creeps in so quickly, y’all.
The house looked good on Saturday. So good that on Sunday, I could completely ignore the blankets I’d put out for my son and his friends. They were still piled on one of the recliners.
Sure, it was irritating when someone else claimed the “only” recliner before I could get to it, but we managed. (We’re good at managing.)
Ignoring the blanket/sheet pile helped the shoes, the books, the boxes and the TRASH collected over the week escape my Slob Vision as well.
Even the shoe ON the coffee table.
Did not see it.
But last Thursday, I had a perfect solution. Someone was coming over. I’m excited to start a one on one Bible Study time with a woman I’ve only recently met. She’d never even been inside my home.
That’s great motivation to take the 15-30 minutes needed to make the house look better. Still “lived in” but way better. And it was purposeful motivation. I actually suggested that we meet in my home. Hosting a church home group on most Sunday nights has done wonders. It keeps me from letting the mess get more than a week deep.
I figured adding in a Thursday guest would make that even better. Mid-week motivation. Yay for that!
But it’s like the rare occasion when I’m asked to sing a solo in church. When I’m asked, it sounds like a GREAT idea. Sure! I’ll do that!
And then the time comes, and I always (like ALWAYS without fail) wonder what in the world I was thinking when I made this commitment. The nervous feeling in my stomach and wobbling in my knees and lack of air in my lungs make me question my own sanity. How in the world does it still sound like a good idea even though I know from LOTS of experience that I always get this icky feeling? Every single time!
I always regret saying yes in those few moments before.
I always tell myself that next time I’ll say no.
And then I sing (or clean) and I’m (almost always) glad I did.
Really. I spent 30 minutes cleaning the kitchen, clearing the dining room table, and picking up the living room. 30 minutes I’d have justified skipping if the doorbell wasn’t scheduled to ring.
I dreaded it, but it wasn’t that bad. I’m almost giddy that my house looks (and feels) so much nicer.
And I’m reminded (again, for the forty-eleventh time) what a good idea it is to invite someone in.
Note: I honestly don’t think I’d have noticed the PUMPKIN (from before Halloween) if not for the picture. I was surprised when I saw it in my viewfinder.
Another (obvious) note: I have issues.
One last note/rationalization/explanation: That’s a dog toy on the floor.
--Nony
The pink thing is the dog toy? I wondered! I have to do a quick pick up and put away today, too. Things are out of control.
Even without someone coming over, i have a reminder in my phone to take a picture of something – living room, kitchen, bathroom even. I then try to write a blog post about the picture taken, and it always inspires me to CLEAN or DECLUTTER something. Every trick helps!
Being a seamstress, I have my own clutter issues. The den (in the back of my house) is my sewing room. I had cardboard boxes of fabric stacked so high that I looked like I was auditioning for ‘Hoarders’. I couldn’t afford to properly containerize my mess all at once. I bought one metal shelving unit with wheels every month and bought baskets at the dollar stores. I cleaned up just enough to load on the shelves. Every month I would buy one set of shelves on wheels and baskets and load it with supplies. I kept rearranging the room to make it more efficient. Now, that room is so inviting that it draws me in to sew. Before Christmas I made 5 surgical scrub hats and a poncho. This month I have made some chemo turbans for my friends with cancer. The nice thing is that as soon as I sew these items, they go out of my house.
What a nice thing to do, Linda! Have you ever checked to see if there’s a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit near you? When my son was born, weighing 1 pound, 14 ounces, the hospital relied on donations from people who made tiny little easy on/easy off clothes, hats, and mittens for all of the babies. Just a thought if you need another idea to help use up all the fabric. 🙂
I, too, struggle with the tunnel vision of clutter! I get so used to seeing things as they are (a bit messy around my home!) and it just all blends in. It’s easy to not “see” things when you’ve watched them accumulate through the week!
I love reading your posts so much! Not only are you funny, but you are so good at reminding me that it’s ok not to be perfect. Thank you!
Bahahaha, the pumpkin! Priceless!
That would have been awesome to try to explain! “So, Dana, whyyyy do you have a pumpkin on your hearth?” “Pumpkin? Ummmmmm…”
I can so relate– I love having people over, just so I can enjoy the clean house the next day! And I have three pumpkins sitting on the kitchen counter.
Hahahaha!!! Your three pumpkins made me laugh!
I laugh at your posts and think.. Wow.. She thinks like me!! I Thanks for being real, your encoutagments help!!
Nony,
I just love you, and your hilarious Notes!!! I’m always left crying laughing!!!
That is all.
Oh, and I wish that I lived by you so that I could get in on that Bible study group!
Carry on,
~G
I guess my photo is cut off. I can’t see a pumpkin!
The pumpkin is in the top picture. In front of the black sign. 🙂
Its amazing how clutter is. I’m the same way.
If our house is getting out of control, we invite people over to force us to clean. Seriously. The only issue is once you know somebody well enough to show them the mess, it means you need to find somebody else to invite over.
True!
There really is nothing like company to motivate, is there? LOL about the pumpkin!
How’s this for an idea (please, please take this in the spirit it is intended…)
I’m beginning to think that you should take pictures of your house every day. It seems that you see the things in pictures that your Vision doesn’t register naturally. If you take a picture (you don’t have to keep it) you can see what is accumulating earlier and maybe start to train your Vision to see it earlier or more naturally…
Does that make sense?
Just a thought…
I’mma gonna go put my blankets away now…
That doesn’t work. I threw out my camera in a cleaning attempt. 🙁
I got to the end of your post and thought, “What PUMPKIN?” Had to go back and scan the photo to see what you were talking about. Never saw it. Oh if you could see what the room I’m sitting in right now looks like……It’d take a brand new unopened box of Glad bags to clean this place up.
Okay, I am fully aware this is going to come off wrong but it is honestly not meant that way; it is honest curiosity because my roommate can’t “see” anything unless it is pointed out and even then she doesn’t care.
So, how, why, what causes it, etc.? The voluntary blindness, the “I don’t care” mentality, the “I will do it later” mentality and so on? Is it something that can be fixed?
AGAIN, this is not meant to be mean in any way. It is just curiosity and my desire to understand. Maybe I can learn something here that will help me tolerate the dirty slob I live with. (Yes, there is a difference between being dirty and being a slob.)
If you really want to understand, I suggest you read this: http://www.aslobcomesclean.com/2010/10/defining-normal/
And if you REALLY REALLY want to understand, start here: http://www.aslobcomesclean.com/new-here/
I smugly remembered putting away my wood block pumpkins, like WEEKS ago, then I saw the date on the post. Nah, you beat me.
I clean the best when my MOTHER is coming. Still isn’t good enough for her, but I just tell her 1) it’s a LOT better than it was and 2) I live in a home, NOT a museum. Plus my house gets untidy but it isn’t filthy.
Good news is though in the past few days even without her scheduled to come, I cleaned my table off after watching your table cleaning video the other day and now NOTHING can stay for long on it. And my son spoke up yesterday and said, “I think I want to set the table for dinner!” It was a cool feeling! To eat dinner at the table together. 🙂
Oh. I love this!!!
Great reminder. I avoid inviting people over for this exact reason, but I’m always glad I did afterwards. I also think that taking photos of my rooms would help for the same reason you noticed the pumpkin – seeing things in a viewfinder changes the way they look. The camera adds 10 lbs…of clutter! 🙂
Nothing works so well to get a fire under my bottom as the threat of company coming! I have slob vision too. I JUST DON’T SEE IT! Taking a picture really does work. I should do that more often. Working from home, I’m simply immersed in it 24 hours a day so I don’t get to see it from the outside often enough. I shudder to think of what others might see that I don’t!
After reading the post about the invisible pumpkin I saw a pumpkin in my house that was still there from Halloween. I didn’t see it. Shall I put it in the compost? It’s time to decorate for Christmas.
I had a great moment with one of my sisters (the one that likes to do genealogy with me). She came over for the first time since Coronavirus Circus, and had finally seen my new office and the projects ready to be attended to. We had some photos that had been given to my mother, framed, that I was trying to figure out what to do with. Should I send them back to the giver?
Thankfully, my sister was in a decluttering mood and said, “Nope. Take the picture out and toss the frame.” And then we did that a few more times.
What a relief!
Then she took charge of Mom’s city history photograph collection, which Mom had organized into nice photo boxes. And by the end of our time together, she had decluttered a BUNCH of those, as well! Yea!!!!!
In other areas, while we were moving furniture to remove carpet from several rooms, I was able to declutter huge amounts of things. Old clothes from my marine boys (yes I got permission from them, first) , old tapes and cd’s, several remote controls, a craft item, some books that I finally finished reading to the kids, AND a book I had planned to read, but decided it was never going to happen…oh! and I giant tv!
Still a lot more I can do, but it sure feels great knowing many, many items have disappeared from my home. PHEW!