Keep It Simple, Sweetheart: Thoughts from the front-line in the fight against entropy The Big Picture: KISS #1

 Keep It Simple, Sweetheart: Thoughts from the front-line in the fight against entropy

The Big Picture (KISS #1)

As a young Mom and a pretty freshly minted keeper of my own home, I did the best I knew how. But there are things about keeping house beyond the chores that I wish I had understood. In writing this article and any future articles, I will keep my younger self in my mind's eye and try to think of what I might say to her. These are the shoes I walked in.

Oh Dear Me,
You feel like your house is always closing in on you. You're not an intervention-level hoarder or anything, it's just that there's so much stuff and you can't discern what to do with it and so you just pile it up in another corner, on another shelf, in another closet, in another box. Getting ready for company is a monumental task, and finding something you need is nearly impossible half the time. You keep things more or less clean from crumbs and mold and such, but it feels like an incredible effort all of the time to do it, beyond just the fact that dishes and laundry are always piling up as they are wont to do. Every time you need to mop a sticky mess, it's a huge deal to move things up off the floor. When you need that important piece of paper, it's no where to be found or else you have to shuffle towers of paper to get to it. When you want to do that craft with the kids, the materials are too hard to find, even though you've been stashing all the supplies for years from the recycling bin and the tag sales and the craft store discounts- you can't lay hands on them when you need them so you find yourself either buying everything full price, last moment, or not doing it at all. You feel stressed all of the time and little tasks like finding a corner of the counter that isn't covered in stuff takes several hours; so you skip making a salad yet again.

What is Clutter?

Clutter is what gets between us and what we really want in our lives. So before we can even figure out how to shovel our way through our homes (and cars and offices, and storage, and purses, and calendars), we have to know; What is it we want in our lives?

I can't answer this for everyone, but I can share my own priorities as they are in my life presently. Others will have different lists, based on their own faith, the shape of their families, the season of their life, their own careers and interests. Mine look like the following.

I am a Christian. I want time to rest in Christ. I want to honor Him.
I am a wife. I want time and space to enjoy my relationship with my husband.
I am a mom. I want to be able to minister to my kids without undue frustration or obstacles.
I am an artist and writer. I want to be able to create whenever possible, and I want it to be more possible, more often.

Of course the list goes on. I am a daughter, sister, friend, teacher, student, home keeper. I have many more interests and ambitions. But when I keep my list pared down- this is Simplifying. The ironic thing is that when I simplify what I focus on, there is enough breathing room in life to do much more. This is an exercise in admitting limitations which is, by definition, seeking humility.

 Physical clutter is a manifestation of mental clutter and emotional clutter. You can battle with it and make inroads, but without looking at who you are, who you want to be, why it's building up and what it is about the clutter that's impeding you, it will just happen again. Begin with a very simple list of what matters to you right now.  You don't have to get fancy with it, and it should be short. Meditate on that list and start looking at the stuff in your home and the things on your to-do list in light of those priorities.

Easier said than done, I know. We'll talk again soon.

KISS ~n<3