I think it’s fair to say that I am not a neat person.
(If my dad were here, he’d laugh at the understatement.)
Most of the time, this doesn’t bother me. I can go about my life and not have everything be super organized. I have my way of doing things and it works for me. For example, I am super-messy while I create but I always clean up between projects. I can’t start something new if my desk is a mess. I tend to let the dishes pile for a day but will almost always put them in the machine before I go to bed. And while the piles on the tables do sometimes bother me, they don’t upset me enough to actually use my time to clean up.
However.
I’ve noticed lately that there are a few exceptions. I have this teetering pile on my work desk and each time I touch it, I feel frustrated that it’s such a mess. I always tell myself I need to rearrange it and get a system, but I never do. And since it’s a pile right next to me while I work, I use and see it often and feel bad about myself and my lack of organization several times a day.
Same thing goes with laundry. When there’s a pile of unfolded laundry sits in my room (which happens often with 2 kids under 7) each time I walk by it, I feel an overwhelming sense of defeat. And since this laundry is in my room, I see it several times a day. Especially, at night right before I go to bed, I look at it and feel sad that another day passed without my folding it.
As I pay attention to these little things that lower my spirit often, I’m learning that resolving them takes less time and energy then postponing them. When I do sit down and fold the laundry, it takes about 15-20 minutes and I am done. I feel uplifted and competent. There aren’t that many things that can give me a sense of accomplishment that quickly.
The best part isn’t even the sense of accomplishment. It’s getting rid of that “ugh I can’t believe I’m such a loser” feeling these little things give me throughout the day. Things that take away at my spirit little by little. Getting rid of these comes with a huge reward.
So I’ve decided to pay close attention to each little thing that makes me feel defeated next week. I will write it all down. And then I will go through my list and try to either them eliminate permanently or create a mini-routine around them to ensure they don’t get to the state where they bug me.
Let’s see if it works.
If you have things that get to you in your day, maybe you can do this exercise along with me.
I do laundry almost daily since I cloth diaper my son. I listen to good audiobooks or podcasts(like paperclipping round table) while folding laundry or doing dishes. I LOVE it! Sometimes I find more chores to do to continue listening.
With laundry, I can only let it sit for so long in a basket before I have to get it folded in it the proper bedrooms. It drives me nuts otherwise. Piled up recycling stuff (cardboard, etc) drives me equally insane.
I do! I do! I want to do this exercise along with you! although I haven’t decided what they are, but there are plenty of candidates. It is too late to think through this right now. :>
Me, too! I mean, I can completely relate! Thanks for the reminder and the idea of a way to take little steps forward toward resolving some of the messes.
I AM going to do this along with you! What an awesome idea, thank you! My clean pile of laundry is on the couch and keeps getting bigger…
I live in a house built in 1942 and totally renovated. There is no room for laundry to pile up. There is very little room to even fold laundry. Before moving here, I had the same problem. Laundry existed everywhere. Now everything is put away. Maybe that’s the answer…no room!