Everyday Life and Happiness

This morning I was not feeling the happiness.

Why?

Because everywhere I turned in my house there was clutter. Gym shoes here and piled up dishes there…it was then that I realized that this clutter cycle had to end. I sat down with my cup of coffee and started to think about the role that clutter plays in our lives and how it prevents us from being happy.

Does this sound like you:

• Do you feel hopeless when you look around your house and see nothing but clutter?
• Are you stressed just thinking about where to start cleaning?
• Do you constantly perform “fire drills” when you learn someone is coming over unexpectedly?
• Are you buried under a mountain of your own stuff?

If you have experienced any of the above then you and I are in the same boat!  Clutter weighs us down. When I look at my clutter it doesn’t make me feel happy, in fact it has the exact opposite effect. What is this clutter of mine you may be asking? It is a bunch of things like hand-me-downs from my mother who passed away that I am holding on to for no other reason than they were her things. It is every single school assignment brought home by my children which I kept because I felt guilty getting rid of the hard work they did; even if I couldn’t tell what the heck the fingerpainted picture was supposed to represent!

But there is good news for us!  I have decided to take control of my home again in my pursuit of happiness. This week I’m starting a Clutter Busting Challenge!

What is a Clutter Busting Challenge?

This is my way of getting myself out from under the mountain of stuff that our family has and never uses.  It is also a way that I can make our home feel happier and lighter to live in for everyone.

What will be involved in this Clutter Busting Challenge?

Each week there will be a task, nothing HUGE mind you…I’m a working Mom who doesn’t have oodles of time to spend cleaning. Each task is designed to help build upon the last one until I get into the cleaning/decluttering habit. Heck, anything is doable in small chunks!

So this is Week 1 of my Clutter Busting Challenge!  For one solid week I will:

Make sure all dishes are washed and put away before I go to bed

Okay…but this seem so insignifigant!  How is this going to help me be a happier person?

When I come downstairs in the morning, the first place I usually go is to the kitchen to get myself  a nice BIG cup of coffee. Typically there will be dishes out from last night’s dinner which were never put into the dishwasher. So, while the coffee is brewing I’m already feeling overwhelmed having to deal with things that should have been done yesterday.

So I go to put the dishes in the dishwasher and…AARRGGGG!!!  The dishwasher is FULL of dishes – and not dirty dishes, but CLEAN dishes that were never put away!  So, this means I have to empty the dishwasher BEFORE I can begin to take care of the dishes that should have been done yesterday!  It leaves me feeling cranky and cursing whomever was in charge of doing the job in the first place!  Ummm…Julie…that would be YOU.

So this is this week’s challenge – keep my sink free of dishes and make sure all dishes are put away before I go to bed each night.

Simple, right?

You bet it is!

Ready…Set…GO!