Decluttering

While I was out of commission for 2 weeks, my parents had to come take care of me while Andy was at work :/ Although I was over joyed to have them there, I was a bit embarrassed to have them see our house. Andy and I have not been the best at keeping the house picked up, especially with our busy schedule, which probably caused me to get sick. We try to keep the downstairs picked up in case anyone pops by (which we welcome, by the way!), but unfortunately that meant that our room was the throwing area for all "miscelaneous" items that didn't have a home.

The first day that I was too sick to move at all, my dad came over. Dad has always been great at taking care of us when we were sick because of his calm demenor and overall knowledge of how to make us get better. Dad is also very organized. He is too sweet to ever comment on the state of my home, but I knew instantly that when he came to check on me and asked me where certain cups went that he was trying to clean the kitchen. Due to a lack of voice and energy to speak more than a few words, I couldn't speak my appologies and pleas not to tackle the mess that had become my kitchen.

The next day, Mom was on Kel duty. Bright and early she showed up with her Mom Bag of goodies, such as Gatorade, soup, and some chocolate :) She was concerned with my fever, and if I was forcing fluids or not. Once she was sure that I was hydrated and resting soundly, she too went to work on my house. What dad had not mentioned the day before was the face that our room was barely visible. I think it was a task too overwhelming to him, and he didn't want to disrupt my sleep. Mom, however, saw the sea of clothes, and as all good Moms do, went to work to help her daughter.

I too ashamed to paint this picture for you, but let's just say, it was not a pretty picture. While in and out of conciousness, I saw mom carrying loads and loads and more loads of laundry out into the hall to the laundry room. She didn't say much, just picked things up. By that afternoon, my room was a whole new place! The following day, she gave me a few tips to help me keep up with my clutter. We went through all of my drawers and my whole closet, and got rid of anything I didn't need ( I had A LOT of socks!), or hadn't worn recently. We sent 5 trash bags to Goodwill!!!! In my weak state, I encouraged my husband to do the same, although he was a little less enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. He still humored me, though, and we donated about 3-4 bags of his stuff as well!!!

Since then we have made it our goal to do our laundry once a week, and clean up after cooking EVERY time! Our room has been consistantly picked up every day since Mom and Dad left. I feel a little embarrased to coment on how messy my house is, but I think this is more common than I think, especially with busy working people!

I tell you all this because Oprah had Peter Walsh and his decluttering team on today!!! The visited homes and cars across America, and helped them declutter their homes! Here are some of the tips that I remember from the show:
*Throw away any trash or items that you don't need or want any more.
* Organize like items into containers, and sell or donate any duplicates or items you don't need.
*Flat surfaces, such as tables and countertops, are not storage places, so they should not have
random items on them.
*Organize your space into Zones, such as for food, books, clothes, craft supplies...
* Take 10 minutes at the end of each day to organize, and put everything in it's place.

You can check out Oprah's site for more info!!