Man these days fly by fast and if I was more organized, I would proably get my blogs out quicker. You know, school, working out, work, life in general gets in the way and the things I want to make time for – I don’t. I make excuses for not getting them done when really it’s nothing more than good old procrastination. So…my first new you solution is getting organized what needs to be organized and – simplifying the parts of my life that keep me from doing what I want to make time for.

Organized. Ha! What a concept! Getting organized is a seemingly impossible task, but in order to stop breaking one of my 12 commandments, Plan Ahead and Be Prepared, I need organization. I live in a house that is bursting at the seams. This house literally feels like it has shrunk. With the accumulation of stuff, in 34 years of marriage, I am in serious need of decluttering and purging. While my husband was active military, the decluttering and purging was easy. We moved every 3 – 5 years! Then he retired and we bought a house and we have lived in it for 12 years! That is the longest I have lived anywhere!!!

Now – before you get the picture of me as some kind of hoarder. I am not a hoarder – unless maybe it comes to books, scrapbooking and craft supplies. I am usually a fairly organized person. There is – most of the time – a place for everything and everything in it’s place. My husband gets so frustrated at me. He leaves a glass sitting on the counter for 5 minutes – while he goes off to get something and when he comes back? It’s gone.

“Where’s my glass? He says, “I left it right here just a few minutes ago.”

“I put it in the dishwasher,” I reply.

Don’t leave stuff sitting. I can’t stand it

Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines organization as arranging things or ordering things so that they can be found or used easily and quickly.

But for my sake – I am going to define organization as simplifying. I have too much “stuff” in this house… and probably most of it is “stuff” I don’t even use or know I have. I need to simplfy life – so I can feel less overwhelmed and frustrated. So I can have more time to do the things I want to do – like blog and scrapbook. So here’s what I have done so far:

1. I rented a storage unit to move all my booth inventory into. Time to separate business from home.

2. I am starting to tackle my “hot spots” – the place where everything that comes into             the house gets laid down, which is my dining table.

3.  I decluttered the linen closet and got rid of 8 used bed pillows that nobody was                         using. I had no idea why I was even hanging on to them. I would rather buy a new                   bed pillow if I needed one.

4. I have a tote box sitting on the couch – full of stuff waiting to go to the thrift store. I               need to stop procrastinating and get it there

Cleaning my linen closet was a good feeling. I felt happy. Is feeling organized one of the keys to happiness? Some experts say that your home is a mirror of your emotional state. I have to tend to agree. When I feel depressed, overwhelmed and frustrated, I don’t feel like doing anything. When I look at my table piled high with crafts and boxes, I just sigh and shake my head, then go to my bedroom and climb in bed. It’s depressing. I should be cleaning it but I dont feel like it. The next day, I see it still sitting there and I feel guilty, which starts the cycle all over again.

The amount of clutter has nothing to do with how it affects us – it is what we are doing with what we have.  I just want to be using my clutter. I want to be using my piles of scrapbook paper and ink pads and embellishment. I want to be reading all the books I have stacked on my bookcases. I want to be using my bedpillow when I lay my head down on it at night. I don’t need to hang on to extra bedpillows. I really need to put the craft stuff piled on my table away so I can use it and I need to pull out a book and start reading it. Then maybe I won’t feel so overwhelmed and frustrated.

Wish me luck. What are some of your best ways to get organized and simplify life?