Decluttering From a New Perspective

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You may have noticed that I haven’t blogged or sent out a tip newsletter for the past several weeks. It’s not because I have given up on building this blog or my website. I haven’t. Sometimes life takes an unexpected detour and it takes time to adjust.

I have been diagnosed with breast cancer and will be undergoing surgery tomorrow. After that I will have a round of chemotherapy followed by radiation. I’m telling you this because the next 9-10 months of my life will be in upheaval. The doctor calls it a temporary inconvenience. The last time I had a 9 month temporary inconvenience was when I was pregnant with my youngest son. He turns 23 in August. That “inconvenience” had a good end result. With some luck, at the end of this one I will have a clean bill of health and a rebirth of my spirit.

I plan on continuing this blog and my newsletters during this time. I cannot promise that the “Decluttering Tip Newsletter” will come out weekly or the “Organize By The Month News” will be out by the first of the month, but I will do my best. I also plan on writing articles for my website plus e-books on different areas of decluttering and organization.

I have spent the last 25 years reading, researching, and practicing many ideas and systems to keep control of the clutter. It doesn’t come natural for me so it is an ongoing process. It started when I found a book in the store called; “Sidetracked Home Executives” by Pam Young and Peggy Jones. I was a new mother and full time employee back in the early eighties and chaos was beginning to take over my home. Their system helped me keep some control over the growing clutter that came with a growing family. The one downside to their system is that I didn’t have a built in buddy like they did. My sisters, mother, mother-in-law, and most friends were either born organized or didn’t want to admit they had a problem. I had to go it alone.

Six years ago I found Flylady and a whole world of SHE’s. I wasn’t alone anymore! With lots of new friends (flybabies), both locally and online, I found the support needed to motivate me to dig even deeper to release the “hard to let go of” clutter. With most of the clutter gone I have been able to pursue my passion of writing and share my knowledge and experience with others.

Since my home is in good shape (not perfect) it has been a lot easier to keep it under control as I deal with the emotional part of my health crisis. However, with this new detour in my life I am finding a new perspective on what is clutter. Many things I thought were important to keep don’t seem so important right now. At the end of my newsletters I sign off with the statement; “To a lighter load along the way.” That has taken on a even deeper meaning. Life is precious, very few “things” are.

If you have read this far, I thank you. This blog will continue to focus on decluttering and organizing. So will my newsletters, articles, and e-books. I will be creating a new blog that will be a diary of my journey through breast cancer treatment. I will let you know when that is started for anyone who might be interested.

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice Scissors

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

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July 4th Fun

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July 4th is this weekend and there are many fun and safe ways to celebrate. If you didn’t receive my July newsletter then you can check it out on this blog. It’s located on the sidebar under Newsletters. I have included lots of links to sites that can give you ideas of how to celebrate this holiday with your children.

If you are having a barbeque with the traditional hot dog and baked beans then there are lots of recipes for you to try. Ice cream and/or watermelon for dessert are also summer time favorites.

If you are getting ready to send your children off to overnight camp then check out the best way to pack them up.

Planning a vacation this month? Then make sure you pack everything you need and not one thing more. Many airlines are charging for each piece of luggage now so you don’t want to take any extra suitcases if you don’t have to. Check out the July newsletter for ideas of what and how to pack light.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

P.S. Be sure to sign up for the for the weekly Decluttering Tips Newsletter and the monthly Organize Newsletter. One sign up for both newsletters. Sign up now so you don’t miss out on all the great tips and information!

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Summer Reading-Simplicity

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Summer is a good time to slow down and really think about how you can simplify your life. I took out a book by Elaine St. James, “Inner Simplicity” to read about ways to regain peace in my life. Her books are easy to read and get me thinking about how complicated our world has become and what we can do in our individual lives to slow it down.

“Doing too much and having too much get in the way of being able to enjoy the things we do want in our lives, and to simply be who we are.” By Elaine St. James

Check out her books or any book by your favorite author and take some time to slow down and read. Be inspired to declutter both the physical and mental things in your life that are “too much”.

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“I am often reminded of the early mountain man who roamed freely throughout
the Rockies far before that area was settled. He was able to move unencumbered
along beautiful mountain trails where very few people had ever been able to go.
Years later in his life, he had obtained more possessions and wealth. While traveling through the area in a wagon, he was forced to take a desert road instead of his beloved mountain trail. As he gazed at the beautiful mountain peaks in the distance, he realized that his quest for a few material things had changed the course of his travels and the course of his life.” by Jim Stovall

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

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Staying Organized When Chaos Reigns

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Last week was one of those weeks where my plans were thrown out the window and I had to deal with some minor and not so minor emergencies.

First my dishwasher went out on Tuesday morning. The water inlet valve broke so there was water in the bottom of the dishwasher. I shut off the water from under the sink and scooped out the water from inside the dishwasher. I checked it later in the day and the water had filled in again. The shut-off valve under the sink had corroded and continued to let a little water through. The plumber couldn’t come out till the next day so I scooped water out of the dishwasher twice a day so it wouldn’t overflow onto the floor. Minor problem.

Wednesday morning the air conditioner went out. Being that St. Louis can get very hot and humid this time of year, this was a little bit more than a minor inconvenience. So I waited for the plumber to show up to stop the leak and started calling to set up some bids for the A/C replacement. Because the A/C was 20 years old and the furnace was 16 years old I was prepared for this to happen. I just didn’t plan for it the same week the dishwasher broke and my husband was out of town.

Then I had a health issue come up on Thursday evening that I have to deal with. As they say, when it rains, it pours.

Well I now have air conditioning. The plumber had a problem with installing the new dishwasher and will have to return with a part next week. Oh well, my hands work well as a dishwasher. At least it is comfortable in the house now.

As you can see I have been a little too busy to write any posts this week. We all have crazy things happen to us and have to prioritize what we do with our time. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when so many things go haywire at one time. But we have to stop, take a deep breath, and realize it will all work out.

As Annie sings in the play “Annie”; “The sun’ll some out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that the tomorrow there’ll be sun!” I always think of this song when things get me down. Here is a recording of the song.

I plan on getting my “Decluttering Tip Newsletter” out tonight and the July issue of “Organize By The Month News” by this coming Sunday. If you haven’t signed up for these newsletters then please do so now. (On the right sidebar) There are lots of links in the Organize newsletter for fun things to do on the Fourth of July. You won’t want to miss this issue.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

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Mindfulness in the Home

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I was thinking about mindfulness and how it can apply to home organization. So I decided to look up the meaning to see if was a good word choice. The definition depends on whether it’s used in reference to Buddhism or psychology.

The more general meaning of mindfulness is paying attention to what is going on at the current moment of our life. In other words, paying attention on purpose in the present moment without being judgmental. Hard to say, even harder to apply.

Mindfulness is usually referring to our thoughts and learning to control them. When chaos is all around us in the form of clutter then our thoughts are not usually nonjudgmental. They are more about:

  • Who made the mess?
  • How did it get this bad?
  • Why am I the one who always has to clean it up?
  • How did so many things accumulate so fast?
  • Why can’t anyone let go of these things including me?

On and on the negative thoughts swirl around in your head.

Learning to pay attention on purpose to these thoughts can help us learn how to control them. When we are aware that our surroundings are causing these negative thoughts then we have greater freedom to respond instead of react.

Many times we are on auto-pilot as we go through the day. If we do this while cleaning a bathroom or washing the dishes then it is okay because we have created good habits to take care of these necessary jobs. But if we put the mail on the counter to “deal with later”, or leave the snack dishes and games, etc. out in the family room to “deal with in the morning” then we are on auto-pilot in a bad way.

These are the times we need to practice mindfulness. We need to learn to pay attention on purpose in the present moment so we can take care of our environment.

So next time you start building or adding to a hot spot, stop and take a deep breath. Get off auto-pilot for a moment and become aware of your current thoughts.

  • Do you dread dealing with the mail?
  • Are you too tired to clean up the family room before bed?

When you become aware of the thoughts that are causing the bad habit then you can take the steps needed to change it.

Janice

 

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