Little By Little — It’s Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

The Little By Little Method To Getting Organized Even When You’re Sick

I have embarked on a new project of getting organized this fall, one that takes into account my personality type — the “messy” & time challenged Organic Freedom — and my physical limitations. First step, as it always seems, was to deal with the laundry. That’s been going so well, this week I actually only had the delicates and towels to do. I DO thank God that my family isn’t as quick to put their laundry in the chute as they are to make a mess of my tidiness efforts.

But my efforts have finally been paying off. I’ve been taking baby steps, so it’s been hard to not see the mess and the tasks left unfinished. This would be an intolerable project for many other Pixie Types, especially the get things checked of their lists Classics, Smart Structures and Organic Structures. It has been hard even for this relaxed Organic Freedom to see the process and not push myself beyond my limits to finish the task at hand. Instead I’ve been concentrating on maintaining the strides I’ve already made and not letting the tiny pockets of mess keep me from getting discouraged or giving up entirely. It both goes against my natural inclination to lose track of time and over organize everything including the smallest detail.

My key to success? Being sick all the time. Seriously it’s the only thing that has stopped me from going whole hog and organizing and tidying till I’m exhausted. I guess that’s one good thing about having chronic illness is that my starting point is already exhaustion, so add in the aging process and presto! — my physical limitations have finally forced me to stop before I’m finished. I must admit, it’s not as gratifying as a perfect finished “After” photo, but I’m making do. And I’m making progress.

My boudoir needs a broom and a garbage bag, and sort through a few things. However, what used to be a complete mess, a catch all room, is now a fully functioning closet. I now have room to get dressed in there. Plus the kids can easily get to the laundry chute now and when I’ve got the energy to make a path in my 5 year old’s messy bedroom, I will have a chair to put in there. I’m hoping I have the energy to complete this project this weekend.

In the meantime, I’ve started bring up the Christmas decorations from the basement. I go a little bit mad for Christmas so it takes a long time to get everything up and out and tied with a bow even when I’ve been in the best of health. We also like to keep our live Christmas tree for the 12 days of Christmas, so we don’t get a tree for another week. My goal is to have everything else up before we trim the tree. Right now everything is in flux, but that’s another strategy I use to my advantage. I’ve got lots of little projects brewing all over the house. It looks worse than it is. In fact I was able to tidy everything up rather quickly earlier this week when my 15 year old told me with an hour’s notice that she was hosting one of her school clubs.

So very slowly, and surely, by the time Christmas and New Year’s roll around I will have all my Christmas decorations up and resplendent, and I’ll be done with my closet, finally my small, yet tidy oasis from the world.