The Clothesline Tidying Challenge
I love the idea of a tidy house. We always want what we can’t have and all that. Since having children, my goal of living in a clutter-free home has become more and more unattainable, as half the Smyths catalog has taken up residence in my sitting room.
I try to tell myself it’s because our house is too small. And it is small – two bedrooms, a sitting room, a kitchen, a tiny bathroom upstairs, and an oversized downstairs toilet (which even after 8 years in the house leaves me wondering how anyone could possibly have thought it was more important to give that additional space to the spare loo rather than to the kitchen). Anyway, into a small house, add two kids and their toys, a husband who is a self-described collector, and me who can’t seem to let go of anything, and what you end up with is stuff everywhere.
We seem to be constantly battling to keep it under control. During my first maternity leave, I tried Fly Lady with her routines and her incessant emails, but there’s no way you’re going to keep all this stuff under control in 15 minutes a day. So that didn’t work.
We struggle on instead. Every so often we do a big clear out and it seems like we’re making headway, but then the clutter starts to reappear again.
And then last night, I spot a challenge from The Clothesline: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Challenge. She had me at Magic. I was intrigued. Imagining some Disney style magic with little cleaning animals to come to our aid, I clicked through to read about this supposedly “life-changing” book: The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
I wasn’t convinced. I laughed at the challenger and all the tidying she had ahead of her. But curiosity got the better of me, and I bought the book anyway. I’m currently 47% of the way through the book and it’s starting to sink in that this is going to involve a serious amount of work. And the skeptic in me feels like running a mile from any life plan that involves making sure my socks have an opportunity to rest. (Seriously. It’s all there in the chapter about organizing your clothes.)
But I’ve already accepted the challenge and there’s no turning back now. Step 1: Read the book. Half way there already. This is easy.
There’s still time to get on board. Head over to The Clothesline to read all about it and then let us know how you’re getting on.
I’ll be dying to hear all about how this is going in 2 weeks. I need some magic to keep my house tidy!!!
Good luck to all taking the challenge, I’m really enjoying these posts. I think I might have to buy the book just to satisfy my curiosity, eventhough I know to solve the clutter problems in my house I’d need to evict my husband!!!! If you do get a visit from a team of housecleaning Disney animals please send them to me next!
I’m far too lazy to go reading the book but I really really want my house to be gutted. I am hoping it works for you and you start doing nixers. Let me know when that happens xx
I started it last Feb, and got rid of about 60% of my clothes and accessories. It was like a weight lifted, and since then I’ve bought maybe 5 items, which I needed, but waited until I found the right item. I am still working through stuff, but basically consider it a way of removing “it’ll do” from your life, and instead focusing on the best option.
The process of tiding up to get rid of some clothes sounds very interesting, I think I will give it a try. thank you for the tips.