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How about those "Messies"?

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Posted by: JeriRose12

I live with one and I are one.... sigh . Deep in my heart, I am a "cleanie" like my mother.... DEEP in my heart. Just like deep in my heart I'm a health food fanatic, while I buy my healthy bread one day and my icecream the next day.... double sigh . Anyway, back to being messie and that dirty word that starts with an "O" -- ORGANIZATION.... !!! Hey, I WANT to get organized, but I'll do it tomorrow.... Or I write a list of WAYS to get orgazized or of stuff to throw away or of stuff I need to buy to get organized.... Then, I either lose it (in my disorganization) or throw away the list, because I DO need to get rid of stuff.... . As to buying the stuff to get organized: wouldn't I rather get a movie of some new praise CDs, so I have MORE stuff to organize? Or that icecream ( )??? Oh, dear! Oh, bother!

Anyway, HELP!!!

I still haven't put all my stuff away in new apartment, and there is a pile in the middle of my bedroom floor. Not exactly that I don't know WHERE to put it, just have too much stuff ( ? hey, who wants to admit that???). So... what's to be done?

I know people are in dire need on here in many areas, and I have prayed in and continue to pray for those needs. But some of us are messy to the point of painfullness and have too much stuff to the point of craziness. And excessive material junk (let's call it what it is) is a sign of emotional junk, and basically, that we aren't whole in Christ. We keep all this stuff around as a security.... Do you know that Graham Kerr told us that there are 20,000 storage units in Washington State alone???

So.... I'm starting a thread for messy people trying to get organized (GASP!) or trying to avoid getting organized.... but know they need to.

Tired of hunting high and low for keys and it makes you late for work, church, etc.? Tired of losing those bills that you stuck "somehwere" until your paycheck came in? Then, you are always paying late because "out of sight, out of mind"? Tired of wondering where you put the toothpaste (and I thought somebody had pilfered mine a day or two ago!!!). Tired of not knowing where you last kicked your shoes off and now it's time to go and they are nowhere to be seen (lost in that mess)? Or your purse is who knows where? Or.... Well, you know what I mean if messiness is a problem for you.

This thread could be real fun, a place to get a laugh, a place to relax and share with your friends.... We can, then, pray for each other to get a handle on this. I keep telling myself "God is a God of order." Then, my brain tells me, "But you're not a person of order." In other words, is there any hope or are we destined to be messy until we go to heaven? My sister's friend (a definite "Cleanie") said, "You can't get out what God didn't put in." But can we get better? Can we improve? Can we at least not be losing everything important or have some kind of routine to keep it from piling up around us? Speaking of piling up, let's not get started on the dishes or laundry.....

~JeriRose~
Finding HIM in 2004


Posted by: akabezalel

Go to organizedhome.com

Best place on the web to get help, encouragement and a plan to keep your house organized and clean.

Sunny03 and I are both members, I have been doing the Grand Cleaning Plan for 3-4 years.

It also has a sister site called organizedchristmas.com that gives you a nine week plan to be ready for Christmas by Dec. 1... it works too.


Posted by: JeriRose12

Hey, thanks for the heads up! I will check it out!

Going to look for it now!

~JeriRose~
Finding HIM in 2004


Posted by: JeriRose12

I signed up over there. I was reading an article called "The ABCs of the Storage Shuffle." I hope I can throw out something! Just threw a piece of "nasa" material that is used in temporpedic beds. Why do I need that little piece of what the whole matress will be made of, when what I really want is the matress? Anyhow, pray I get RID of some stuff! It's all "good" junk, because it's MY junk....

~JeriRose~
Finding HIM in 2004


Posted by: StarChilde

I confess... I am a pack rat... I KNOW I need to get rid of *stuff*, and I have been "meaning" to do it for some time now... it cost me almost $1000, to store my *stuff* for 2 yrs... so yes, a thread about that would be WONDERFUL!!! And by the way JeriRose... I have to share something with you... want to tell ya by phone...THEN will post on here... so looking forward to talking to you~!


Posted by: akabezalel

Did organizedhome.com help you JeriRose? the hardest part is getting started and identifying what is trash and what really is important to you.

What is really important to you is time praying for people, you do not want to be distracted or drowning in junk. You cannot minister or focus on Jesus if you keep thinking you should be cleaning something!

I am one of those crafty people who can do literally anything creative (except knit) and a piece of foam from nasa would have been something I would have kept too... ya NEVER know when you may want a good spongy thing!

BUT... I have cut out all my crafts except the 3 that I actually enjoy doing for myself. I also kept only things I do use, like the sewing maching and serger, because I do sew when I need to repair something or when I have the time to make something for the grandson, but ya know something? I have bought 3 patterns and fabric since he was born and they are still in bags waiting....... So I now resist that urge to buy fabric. I have cut my books back to a few reference works and a shelf of Bibles. My husband on the other hand, when I asked him to thin his books handed me a whole whopping 3 out of an entire book case!

I am now in the process of reclaiming my daughters bedroom for storing crafts, books and stuff, I am turning her old room into a guest room/changing room since my husband and I sleep different hours and it is hard to change clothes in a room and not wake someone up! And once in awhile I need to sleep when he is asleep and I can do that in a guest bed without disturbing him, right now I sleep in my computer chair and I get a stiff neck when I do that. We don't have a couch or loveseat, I really wish we did.

I know that sounds wierd, but we have these two little dachshunds (Sunny & Puddin') that we taught to sleep with us BEFORE he got the job he does now and they disturb him enough that he is tired if I come to bed with them on a work day. He works security at the airport, and he needs to be alert and rested in order to handle the baggage that comes through the security station.

I am also taking the babies stuff up to his room, he no longer lives here so I do not need toys all over the living room and since he often spends the night with Gramma he has his own room to keep his stuff in. Now if I could only get his Mommy to come back and finish moving out! The house is beginning to look like a home again.

Just like Salvation, the choice to have a clean, clutter free home is yours to make.

Do you want to cling to the clutter?

Or do you want to rethink each item and decide what you really need, want, love or cherish and throw away or give away the stuff that clutters your life?


Posted by: StarChilde

Thanks Carol for sharing that. I haven't been able to go through stuff as I want to, with everything going on... for example... I just spent 6 hrs. up at the hospital to talk to a doctor, who wanted to talk to me...and she didn't tell me anything new! I was thinking "why did you want to talk to me in my head." She reconfirmed that Bren is slowly dying... & giving me the choice of taking him to a hospital 200 miles away, since there have been a few things that I was unhappy with his care here... it is not an option to go 200 miles... the costs, nowhere to stay... not to mention, hubby is going to day treatment center, and finally starting to integrate and interact with others again... it'd be hard on everyone to go to another hospital 200 miles from home, simply because I am disatisfied with the way some things are being done.

I started going through Bren's room and closet yesterday, as I need to have it ready to make into a storage room of sorts, office for me... etc, as Bren's bed will be in the living room.That way we can set up the dining room area for dining! I plan on getting rid of at least half of what I own, if not more. We will be moving when Brendan passes away, may as well move to Colorado then. I get rid of half of what I own, then won't have to get as big of a moving truck.

flylady.net & mymessyhouse.com are also great organizational websites.


Posted by: akabezalel

Susanne, I am sorry to hear the actual words that Bren is dying. You have my prayers and condolenses.

Prepareing for a move is the best time to thin things out, especially since you already have stuff in boxes from your recent move. You can open the box, take out what you want and send the box straight to the Goodwill station.

When I do a big clean and declutter i use several boxes, it is called the 4 box method. You get four boxes and mark each one... #1 is KEEP... #2 is TOSS... #3 is PUT AWAY... #4 is GIVE AWAY... or #3 could be boxes with the name of a family member on it for them to go through and put away. Big secret to this method is when you finish for the day... do something with the boxes! Empty into the trash the TOSS box and keep it for the next time, Tale the GIVE AWAY box and go straight to Good Will or place in a gathering place for the truck to come for them. Ask for your box back.

KEEP HUSBANDS and KIDS OUT OF THE GOODWILL BOXES or they will end up emptied back into the house!

Put away the stuff in the PUT AWAY box and write down on 2 3x5 cards what is in the KEEP storage box and file one card and tape the other card with the contents on the end of the box so you know what is in the box when you are looking at it. SEAL the box and keep the family out of them.

If you know an Avon Lady the boxes they recieve their product in are great for storing stuff and usually they are glad to get rid of them... I use them in the costume shop at church to store one complete costume per box, we have several Avon Ladies at church so I can have lots of boxes . I also use them in the basement, they are a good size for a woman to lift and they have lids not flaps and they stack really well. For permanent storage of things like pictures or Holiday decorations I would recommend Rubbermaid or similar water proof container though.

This makes me sound like a real household executive! The truth is I have been fighting this battle for years and I am only now beginning to see light at the end of this tunnel. My biggest battle now is getting my husband to let things go and getting the house to where I can maintain it while doing everything else too! And I fall short on keeping up with cleaning, there are always other things I would rather do than clean and I usually do. So I have to get some stick-to-it-ativeness somewhere.


Posted by: StarChilde

thanks carol and God bless~ I will answer what you said more tomorrow... my foot needs propped up higher than my heart and I just can't figure out how to do it and still type at the desk ......

ain't that the mental image! ..anyhow...will write more then~ *hugs*