De-Clutter and De-Stress

Ever notice how calm you feel when your house is in order? Everything is picked up and resting in its proper place, easy to get to when you need it. There are open spaces on the floor, clean countertops, neat bookshelves. You have a sense of serenity when you look around your home, satisfied that all is well.

Now think about how you feel when the house is a mess, clutter everywhere, the papers you need to find right now are in one of many giant stacks of paper lying around, instead of neatly filed away in the cabinet. Your pulse quickens as your stress level rises. It's hard to focus on what you need to get done, because all around you are reminders of the mess you're in.

Yesterday I made a conscious effort to clean away the clutter from my bedroom. I figured I couldn't fault my son for keeping a sloppy room when mine looked no better than his. I pushed myself to keep going, breaking the task up into small segments of time, focusing on one area at a time. At last, it was done, and I felt a tremendous sense of contentment wash over me. Now everytime I walk into that room I am happy, calm, peaceful.

Try it!

Off to a Good Start

Now that the first full week of January is behind us, how did you do? Did you make any progress toward your goals? If not, what kept you from moving ahead? Did you lapse back into the same old bad habits? What can you do differently to avoid falling into that trap again?

I did pretty well this week. I made a plan for writing a certain amount of time each day and I stuck to it. I promised myself that I would not use my writing time for laundry, dishes, cleaning or any of the other distractions I face working at home. I fell short in a couple of places too, mainly because I had a vague objective with no plan to achieve it.

For example, I want to master this social networking thing. I have pages on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Live Journal, CafeMom, etc. I signed up for these to promote my writing, but I find I am overwhelmed by the thought of dealing with so many websites and constantly updating each. So this week I will visit each site and evaluate which sites are worth keeping and which to chuck. Then next week, I will post a blog or comment on each site I decide to keep. I will set aside a specific time each day to do this and I will succeed.

This week try setting a specific task for yourself and make a plan to accomplish that task. Write it down - committing something to paper can be powerful - and check your plan each day to see how you are doing. Drop me a line at the end of the week and let me know how you did.

You can do it! You can eat less, exercise more, argue less, study more, stop procrastinating. You can change your life! Good luck!

Keeping It All Straight and Stress-Free

Every home with children needs an information center - some sort of system for keeping track of all the appointments, lessons, practices, etc.

At our house, we have a combination white board/bulletin board where we keep track of everyone's whereabouts. The bulletin board holds fliers, permission slips and anything else we need to keep track of. The white board has a line for every day of the week, Sunday through Saturday, listing all the events for that week. I use a different colored marker for each person, so one quick glance tells me where everyone is. Next to the white board I keep a calendar and the boys' sports schedules for a quick reference.

Some people use chalk boards, poster boards, monthly, weekly or daily schedules. Find a method that works for you and stick with it. That way you won't miss out on any important events, and your life will feel more organized and far less stressful.