I received my Country Woman magazine in the mail this morning.  I love this magazine because they have a variety of things to entertain me from recipes to patterns for a fabric purse (made from placemats), to stories and pictures.  This month, there is a section entitled: GET ORGANIZED!   They must have written this just for me!!!!   Do they have a secret spy camera in my kitchen cabinet??? Or perhaps in our bedroom/ office/craft room???  Where ever that darn thing is, I have to find it!  LOL

The author talks about her tip to creating PEACE in the household with organization. 

P: Put like items together

E: Eliminate items you don't need, use, or love

A: Assign a home for everything

C: Contain within designated spaces

E: Execute these steps periodically

I really do believe this article was written especially with me in mind.  And especially Eliminating items you don't need, use or love is directed to me!  I am guilty of keeping things for the memories they have.  My father was HORRIBLE at this as well.  When his mother, my grandmother died, he kept her winter coat and purse.  A guy keeping a coat and a purse!!!  They had memories to him.  Well that is fine, keping SOME things for memories, as long as they bring GOOD MEMORIES!  I on the other hand chose a cookie jar (Smiley the Pig....I love it) and her rolling pin!  Those bring so many good memories for me of Grandma, cooking and baking in the kitchen. 

But through the years, I know I have saved things.......that don't have such good memories.  Are you like that too??? For instance, what about those size whatever jeans you think you might get back into some day???  LOL Get rid of them!!!  By the time you do get down to that size again, that pair of Jordache jeans with the zipper and bow on the back of the pants leg will be so out of style!!!  Or how about those guilt Christmas gifts we keep??  You know the ones.  We didn't like them when we opened them, but we keep them around just in case Great Aunt Mary should come by one day and asks you....."What ever happened to that gorgeous (read here gaudy) peacock figurine I gave you last year for Christmas???"  Send it on to Charity and next time sweet old aunt so and so asks you about it, tell her a little white lie that it broke and you hated to see it go.  LOL  Or better yet, use it as a White Elephant gift next year for Christmas on the OTHER side of the family!!  (We do this.  LMSO  My side of the family has a card game in which everyone puts in a gift of $10 or less.  After everyone has a gift in hand, you draw another car and on and on until all cards are gone.  Each time your card is called, you can steal a gift from someone else.  It is hilarious.   So when we get gifts from hubby's side of the family, we put them in that gift exchange the following year! LOL)

I know several of you have said Fly Lady is "TOO MUCH".  All her reminder emails, etc. are a little too much for me as well.  But I love her, her ideas and support and encouragement.  So when I was at the library, and saw her book: Sink Reflections.  I am reading a section now about decluttering (what is that like) and she goes to explain what the 27 fling boogie is( you pick up a trash bag, set your timer to 15 minutes and grab 27 things in the house that can be thrown away.  You aren't supposed to think about it, just put it in the bag, and then directly take the bag to the trash)  She also talks about going through a room and doing something with the items that you don't want, use or love out.  You put things in a box of where they go, to the trash, to charity, etc.  I have these wonderful thoughts of putting everything on the backporch and having a large garage sale and making a little extra money with it.  But Fly Lady knows me well, and suggests that we give it to someone else and give it a whole new life instead of hanging on to the clutter till summer when we can have a garage sale (that most of us never get around ot having! LOL).

So one of my goals for this year, is to room by room, get my house organized and decluttered.  Fly Lady says you can not organize clutter.  LMSO  WHAT A LIGHTBULB MOMENT WAS THAT!!!  You can only move it , toss it, or donate it.  So, I am going to work on a 27 fling boogie now and then, and gradually my house will become one in which everything has a place, and that item is there.  No more will eb the days of trying to find my favorite black shoes, or hunting for the scotch tape.  No more will be the days when you buy another pack of razors because you can't find the ones you just bought a week ago.  No more are the days when I buy another spool of thread because I can't find the color I need, and then after finishing up the project I find the first spool!  LMSO 

My house isn't bad.  I don't want anyone to think my house is a disaster area.  Friends also say how nice the living room and dining room looks (because I am diligent at keeping them clean), and no area of my house is ever really dirty.  It is just the stacks of fabric and computer games that need sorted through and organized (and some will be donated), the boxes of whatever that needs stacked neatly and labeled.  The upstairs closets that need cleaned out and stuff tossed away!  (Because if we haven't needed it in 3 years, why are we keeping it up there??)  When my mom and dad died, and we went through their house, I was horrified, not by dirt, but by THINGS they had.  THings they probably hadn't seen since moving in the house 20 some years ago.  Things they didn't remember buying, or receiving.  Things that they didn't want to give up because it was easier to just put it in the closet, in the basement on a shelf, or in the attic area above the garage!  I promised mysefl then, that my children wouldn't find such a mess when I died!!!

Besides....the clutter we have in our homes is not helping us.  No, it is hurting us.  Clutter in the home makes us depressed, makes our family think you don't care as much about taking care of it or them, it can make you sick if you aren't careful about dust and mold, etc.  And if these things and items we are keeping mean SO MUCH to us, then why are they not put up, protected, or put on display so we can enjoy them.  My SIL has a quilt from each grandmother that was made for them when they got married.  (I have the same.)   Hers are in a box in a storage area, well kept, but hidden.  Mine are here and there.  We use them, we hang them on the wall on quilt racks, and lay them over the bannister for all to see.  I love the quilts and I want them taken care of until I can hand them down, but I don't want them hidden!!  But on the other hand, I have certain things that are put away because, I HAVE A 2 1/2 YEAR OLD!   LOL  I know better than to put china or crystal out somewhere where little hands can grab it and break it.  It is on display in my china cabinet and someday when Noah is older, we can use it.  Until then, it is look and don't touch.  LMSO 

Well all.  I am finally off to declutter my sewing area.  LMSO  Another words, this email was my pep talk to myself.  I hope perhaps I pepped you up to clean, declutter and organize as well though!  This email was my sneaky way of putting off the task of organizing the craft and sewing area.  Hopefully it won't even take as long as I think.  In my head I think it might take me 3 weeks to accomplish this.  So, if I am not online for a while, could someone please page my hubby and tell him to look under the pile of fabric and notions or under the sewing table for me???  LOL  :)