And then there was the time I thought I'd get organized...

Or there were many times. Or something. I've tried a few things that have worked and a few things that haven't worked and I've drawn some conclusions and came to some realizations.

1. I know how to be tidy and organized and keep my home relatively clutter-free, I'm just not doing it for some reason. I keep going back to what I read in One Year To An Organized Life about how my house got to the state that it's in (a state that I'm not particularly happy with, but isn't atrocious) and keep reminding myself that instead of analysing it and agonizing over it to just DO something about it.

2. I did the 52 weeks of organizing challenge over at I'm an Organizing Junkie. Part way through I stopped blogging about it partly because life went sideways and partly because I figured that the time I spent fiddling around with pictures and writing was time that could be better spent decluttering, organizing or cleaning something. I've been keeping track of the list and I updated it last and I've managed to cross a bunch of things off. I might actually get to cross most of it off eventually.

3. When I first had J, a friend of mine told me about FlyLady stuff. It sounded like it might be a good way to get myself into a routine. Life was super different - I wasn't working and I was home with an infant all day. But FlyLady didn't work for me...it felt too rigid and too inflexible and too commercial (buy our special feather dusters etc). So I stopped doing it. And that was okay. It took me a bit to get to the "that was okay" part because I kept thinking I'd failed, except I hadn't. My house was clean, my family was fed, we had our own routine that didn't start with a shined sink and require shoes in the house. And really, I took some good stuff away from it. And we have a routine now. I just don't always remember to follow it.

4. We have too much stuff. We don't have enough space. I've been getting rid of stuff (go see...it's not all the way updated but I have now officially tossed,returned, given away or recycled over 250 things...) I know I can live with less stuff - I used to live in 500 square feet and I didn't have too much stuff, I just had better control of it, so I should be able to control stuff in 950 square feet. Maybe. I didn't have a preschooler with all the multitudes of things that preschoolers come with when I lived in the Hobbit Hole.

5. I discovered the UnFuck Your Habitat website. It's to the point, there's no excuses, there are before and afters, there are cleaning tips, there is no harassment about shoes in the house. It's awesome. I check it regularly. And the biggest thing I've taken away from UFYH is that small steps are good...20/10s and 45/15s are good. Marathons are BAD. MUST remember that.

So, we're in a week of doing little projects at our house. I'm hoping when I'm done the piles are gone (or at least noticeably smaller) and maybe we'll have some newly painted walls...We'll see...

So that time that I thought I'd get organized? It turns out it's not a one time task - it's ongoing and requires maintenance. Huh.