Girls Write Out
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
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?

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Kristin  
posted at 12:56 AM  
  Comments (15)
 
 
Delicious Delicious
15 Comments:
At 8:46 AM, Blogger Georgiana Daniels said...

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.

 
At 9:43 AM, Blogger Kristin said...

Does it work Georgiana? And what do you do with it? Do you take it away for good?

 
At 9:55 AM, Blogger Georgiana Daniels said...

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.

 
At 9:58 AM, Blogger Suzanne said...

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?

 
At 11:06 AM, Blogger Kristin said...

Suzanne, that happens to me too!! I think magnesium helps. Honestly.

 
At 11:36 AM, Blogger Mary @ Giving Up On Perfect said...

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!

 
At 11:53 AM, Blogger Michelle V said...

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!

 
At 12:54 PM, Blogger Lisa Jordan said...

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

 
At 1:27 PM, Blogger Beverly said...

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!

 
At 3:33 PM, Blogger Kristin said...

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!!

 
At 4:31 PM, Blogger Dawn said...

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.

 
At 5:03 PM, Blogger Jaime Wright said...

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

 
At 6:25 PM, Blogger Kristin said...

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. : )

 
At 12:05 PM, Blogger Julie Carobini said...

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...

 
At 7:45 AM, Blogger Amy said...

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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The Authors
Kristin Billerbeck
Kristin Billerbeck is a proud Californian, wife, mother of four, and connoisseur of the irrelevant. She writes Christian Chick Lit; where she finds need for most of the useless facts lulling about in her head.

www.KristinBillerbeck.com

Colleen Coble

Colleen Coble writes romantic suspense with a strong atmospheric element. A lovable animal of some kind--usually a dog--always populates her novels. She can be bribed with DeBrand mocha truffles.

www.ColleenCoble.com

Denise Hunter

Denise Hunter writes women's fiction and love stories with a strong emotional element. Her husband says he provides her with all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too.

www.DeniseHunterBooks.com

Diann Hunt

Diann Hunt writes romantic comedy and humorous women's fiction. She has been happily married forever, loves her family, chocolate, her friends, chocolate, her dog, and well, chocolate.

www.DiannHunt.com

Hannah Alexander

Cheryl Hodde writes romantic medical suspense under the pen name of Hannah Alexander, using all the input she can get from her husband, Mel, for the medical expertise. For fun she hikes and reads. Out of guilt, she rescues discarded cats. She and Mel are presently taking orders from four pampered strays.

www.HannahAlexander.com

 
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