All this diet talk is making me hungry!
Recently, I read a book by Peter Walsh (Oprah's organizing guru) called, "Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?" It's a really great book for gaining balance in your life so that you don't overeat. I don't generally overeat, but I do have a huge problem with clutter. My kids seem to walk from one room to the next dropping stuff and then acting as though they were never in that room. ARRGHH!! Anyway, Peter Walsh is a rock star. I listen to him on XM radio. What I love about what Peter does, that's different from other organizers, is that he tries to get to the emotional reasons behind the clutter.
Apparently, shopoholism is a problem! Who would have thunk? And I do believe Peter thinks you can have too many shoes!! I know, scandalous!
Anyway, he came on the radio the other morning and my ten year-old goes, "OH NO, IT'S PETER WALSH, I HATE THAT GUY! TURN HIM OFF!"
"Seth, I love Peter Walsh. Why don't you like him?"
"Because every time you listen to him, you make us clean something!" LOL
It's true. When I'm out of balance, my house is a disaster. So I'm taking the rest of the week to do a sweep through the house of excess stuff, and I'm going to schedule one day a month to make sure I don't get overrun. An obvious problem area is books. I thought about getting a Kindle so that I didn't get over loaded with them, but I read too much in the bathtub. I have been getting rid of everything I'm done with reading, and I'm being harsh with all the kids' stuff. I've done my kitchen, my pantry, my closet (since reading Peter's book) and next comes the dreaded kids' rooms.
I just let the maid go because I hate having to be out of the house when they're here, but cleaning isn't my issue. I'm sort of a clean freak, but the clutter! It's like if my kids see a horizontal space, they have to cover it with crap!! Any suggestions? Other than following the four of them around all the time?
And what about you? What physical manifestation does your stress take in your life? How would a friend know you needed a break?
Labels: Organizing, Peter Walsh
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15 Comments:
It's so hard to keep everyone else's clutter picked up. I can so identify! With the kids I tell them that anything they leave out I will take away. Harsh? Maybe.
Does it work Georgiana? And what do you do with it? Do you take it away for good?
It does, as long as I'm consistent. With the little ones I put whatever they left out on top of the refrigerator for a day. Since they're 3 & 4 they get a warning first. My oldest just needs a gentle nudge every now and then.
When I'm stressed my eye starts twitching. It's been twitching a lot lately. Maybe it's because of the FOUR jobs I'm doing instead of the ONE that I want to be doing?
Suzanne, that happens to me too!! I think magnesium helps. Honestly.
I love Peter Walsh!
Two things that help me with clutter - first, having a place for each item to go. It's hard to put things away when there's nowhere for them to fit. Second, baskets. I think baskets work wonders - it's a great help with my toddler and her jillions of toys.
When I'm too stressed, I get sick. And cranky. And my right shoulder aches and throbs. So I guess when I complain about those things, a friend might know I'm stressed out!
Oh I have issues with the overeating and the clutter (especially the kids stuff)! And when my house is cluttered, it does stress me out! I'm always trying to figure out how a working single mom is supposed to do it all!
Hey, Kristin, if you haven't heard of her, check out Flylady at www.flylady.net. She believes clutter is emotionally-based to and so many people suffer from CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome).
She devised cleaning into zones, with one zone per week, plus there is daily house blessing. Even though cleaning may not be your problem, she has great suggestions for clutter, especially with kids.
I started her system about six or seven years ago and it's helped so much. I care for six children daily in addition to my own and my house is almost always presentable. I still have hot spots to take care of, but her 15-minute timer method works so well for me. I don't subscribe to her e-mails anymore, but I do have her habits ingrained in how I do things in my house. Huge time saver.
Lisa
Kristin,
I was going to mention Flylady, too. Just reading through the site gave me some inspiration and ideas. If I understood the whole "fly lady" term, it might help even more, haha. Maybe I just didn't read far enough!
I have mixed emotions about the emotional reasons behind chaos, so I applaud you landing there. My thought is that if I go down that road, I'll just end up annoyed at myself and defeated...I would do better to just get a grip and get to it!
All that said...my biggest clutter is finding a way to throw away all the papers and art work from school, Sunday School, etc. I haven't developed a philosophy yet, but with my oldest in her second semester of Kindergarten, it is obvious I better come up with a rationale to throw stuff away, and quick!
I've been using Fly Lady. Seriously, I had never noticed the reason the sink looked better when the maid left was simply that she dried it with a towel! Seems so obvious, but until Fly Lady, didn't notice.
My biggest issue is my daughter. She is very anxious by nature and soothes herself by filling up grocery bags full of random crap from all over the house. MAKES ME INSANE!!
If you find the cure for kids and clutter, please tell me what it is.
Both of my kids are in la-la land most of the time, totally oblivious to everything they have dropped.
The more free-spritied the kid, the bigger the mess.
I'm just pure evil. If it's cluttering up stuff, it goes in the garbage no warning, no retrieval. Needless to say, there's not much clutter in my house. But, I'm also not a pack rat. I hate "stuff". I'm quite black and white. Yikes!!! Rereading this I look harsh.
What stresses me out it too many "little" things to do and remember. Like return the dvd to rental, books to library, shred cheese for tacos, feed the fish, etc. etc. all needing to be done in one day. I'm a project person not a tasks person. Too many little things send me into a tizzy and then a tearful tornado of stress! :) lol
Dawn, I have those la-la kids too. So fun! I think my biggest deterrent is when I'm fatigued and I just can't do it all. Then I feel overwhelmed. So that's where I am this week, but the good part is I'm also too tired to care. : )
This is a hard one for me too, especially since I work from home. Even if I pick up the night before, a tornado seems to blow thorugh in the morning to throw off the day. Ultimately my way to declutter is to throw things away--or sell them on Ebay!
One of my kids' teachers has a good attitude though and always says, "Excuse the mess...we live here." Lol...
My girls are close to teens. Yes, they have the huge habit of dumping and running. I have been trying the last month for them to clean their rooms. Moving furniture to provide more storage and getting rid of the essence.
The problem is the little trinkets and odds and ends. We have socks everywhere, they never can find matches.
I am trying to teach them before more stuff comes in, get rid of something!!!!!I start a giveaway pile.
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