Am I In a Cult?

I think I have found my new calling in life--master declutterer.  Is that even a word?  It is now!  My last blog post detailed the organization system called "Mind Organization for Moms" hereafter and forever referred to as MOM.  This system has been life changing for me as far as getting all that was in my HEAD out of it and into a system for me to keep track of.  My emails are organized into folders and my projects/responsibilities are all assembled in my file/cubby system.  Here's a pic:

I cannot begin to tell you what a relief this system has been for me!  Then, a few weeks ago I struck another gold mine.  This:

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Decluttering-Organizing-ebook/dp/B00KK0PICK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

My apologies to all of my family and friends that have had to listen to me go on, and on, and on, and on about this book but holy cow people!  This is it!  (At least for me--I know there are some haters out there.)  I also fully recognize that it sounds like I have "drunk the kool aid", so to speak.  Totally worth it.

The basic premise of the book is that we need to keep the things that "spark joy" and let go of the rest.  But it's SO much more than that.  This book spoke to me. For so long I have been spinning my wheels on the home front.  Sure, compared to lots of people we were doing ok but you all know what a disaster my laundry room was not to mention my chronic pile of clothes on the tub. 

 LOOK AT MY TUB PEOPLE:

AND IT'S LOOKED LIKE THAT FOR 15 DAYS!!!! (Forgive all the caps but this is BIG!)  And not only that but following the book's philosophy I have gone over nearly all my house and everything has a place!  No longer do I spend an hour looking for spray paint I bought, or band aids or batteries, or the right light bulb.  Literally, everything has a place.  And it's one place and a place that makes sense.

I'm not going to take the time to explain the whole system because to catch the full vision you really need to read the book and it's totally worth the $7.99 on Kindle.  Forget waiting for it from the library--my sister was #424 on the waiting list...)  But the biggest thing for me was sorting by category--not by room.  For years I have "decluttered" or "organized" going room to room.  And I would make a little progress but usually it was just me moving a stack of things from one place to another and never really finding where stuff "belonged."  Or I would purge a little but hold on to things "just in case I might one day need 50 blinking mickey necklaces." (That is actually true--I found those in my closet).   According to the book, the author recommends starting with clothing and getting ALL of your clothing in one place.  That included all shoes, purses backpacks, coats, etc.  So that's what I did. I pulled every article of clothing I owned out of the closet/drawers/baskets and this is what I came up with.  Frankly, the pictures don't do it justice.  And this was two weeks after I had "purged" my clothes!

I then set about going through the items one by one, only keeping those things that "sparked joy."  (It's hokey, but that's what she calls it--I think it's a weird Japanese translation thing...)  Do you know what I discovered?  I discovered that I had 4 almost identical gray cardigans! Why?  I had 8 similar black t-shirts--yet I only wear the same 2.  I had shoes with tags on them that were a "good deal" but that I never wore because they hurt my feet.  When all was said and done I donated 3 bags to Goodwill, one to my sister and another one was full of trash.  The result?

And the best thing of all?  I'm putting things back where they belong!!!  This is amazing!  And once I started I couldn't stop.  I woke up early in the morning--early(!) to begin KMing (that's what the cool people call it I guess) my home. I had 7 identical paint rollers yet could never find one to use.  Who needs 7 paint rollers?  I'm never going to have 7 people helping me paint I'm sure.  My home is clean, I've donated LOADS of things, sent furniture to new homes and "tidying" my home is so much quicker. I no longer feel guilty when someone stops by or when I want to watch TV instead of cleaning.  

So to all of my fellow spastic moms who feel like they can't ever get it together, I'm telling you--this may be your answer.  It seems to be for me and while I'm not perfect I cannot tell you how much better I feel.  

So I don't care if this may be some weird Japanes cleaning cult.  I'm in.  Now who wants to join me???