Prior to getting married, I lived with clothes on the floor and my queen-sized bed as well as in my closet and drawers. I cleaned enough to be sanitary, but was never tidy. During college, my textbook and research piles could have made small coffee tables. My purses and bags overflowed with extra pens, highlighters, gums, and snacks for class. I was constantly searching for things, but justified the stress and mess by saying I never had time to clean. After I got married, I knew things had to change. Suddenly, I was in charge of an entire house and two people’s belongings. Thankfully, I was good at keeping a clean kitchen and hated dirty floors, so these tasks seemed pretty easy. Unfortunately, my tendency to pile and put off routinely caught up with me.
My husband and I are now in our second home at our second military base and I am trying my hardest to keep myself organized. After several months of falling off the bandwagon, I discovered a book called, “One Year to an Organized Life” by Regina Leeds. I’d like to invite you to come along with me on a journey of organization and self-discovery. It won’t be easy and it will take dedication and repetition, but I bet if we try hard, we can do it!
The guidelines for this will be pretty simple. I’m reading the book. You are welcome to read the book also. Each month covers one organization area. This could be a room in a house or something like your finances. I won’t necessarily be going in the same order as the book, but I will use one of their areas each month. The first week of every month is time for journaling. The author has you look at your life and your past and determine how that will effect your organizing. The journal also gives you a chance to write down ideas and brainstorm. Each month has a habit to ingrain in our brains. Each habit is an action that you have to accomplish 21 days in a row. If you mess, you have to start over. Since I’m not going in order with the book, for the last two weeks of March, I’ll be doing the first two weeks of the kitchen section, which looks at the basics of organizing. Then, I will be moving on to the bedroom section.
If you’re ready to give this a go, decide on a new habit with me. It will overlap a little with April, so don’t go too over board. My habit for the next 21 days is to make my bed every day. This is a pretty simple one, but one I need to work on.
I hope you’ll all come along with me to get ourselves a little more organized over the course of the year!
