3 Keys to Having an Organized Home

Part two

As I said earlier, but it bears repeating, in the 40 years that I’ve been helping women who were desperately disorganized, there has been a common thread that connects them. It’s a thread of love, caring, compassion and creativity and a desire to have an organized home and a happy family. Many have told me personally they didn’t think they could get organized. Many had given up, until a light went on in a blessed AHA moment.

Be sure to read Key #1 Decision if you haven’t already. 

This blog is about commitment. I hope you’ve done the assignment for Key #1 and are ready for Key #2. The women I’ve met over the years who suddenly realized it was possible to have a clean, cozy organized home, discovered a dormant spark just waiting to be ignited. The spark is usually flamed because of commitment.

Key # 2 Commitment

Once you’ve made your decision to have an organized home, be committed to it. The best way to stay committed to anything is to go into it for the right reasons. If you got married because your husband was a good dancer and he looked like George Clooney, you’re probably not still married to the handsome hoofer.

I was 35 years old when I finally made the decision to get organized for the right reason. All my futile attempts prior to that were based on trying to make my husband, my mom and my friends think well of me. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”

Stop the habits that got you to this place where

you want to lose weight.

 When you decide to lose weight by eating healthy; until you establish the new habits to support the lighter body you want, you’ll have to stay alert to the way you were eating and what you were thinking when you created an overweight body. In other words, you have to stop the habits that got you to this place where you want to lose weight, and establish new habits that’ll get you that healthy body you want.

 A habit becomes a habit when you think and do something over and over (about 21 days) until it’s automatic. Once it’s a habit, good or bad, you no longer have to think about the action in order to do it. When you are establishing a new habit, you have to be mindful of the thought that created the old habit in order to be successful at changing.

 I had to strip my kitchen of the stuff that was making me fat

I was 65, when I lost 35 pounds, so don’t give me any guff that you’re too old to lose weight. I knew I’d be trying to talk myself into my old ways of thinking (and subsequently eating) every time I opened the cupboard or the refrigerator, so if I wanted to eliminate that constant self-bickering, I had to strip my kitchen of the stuff that was making me fat. (For me, carbs were the culprits.) I dumped all the sugar, flour, rice, pasta, ice cream, corn and any processed foods like bread and cereal. That way I removed the possibility of those arguments and reduced the chance to talk myself into eating something to one place, the grocery store!

You can’t eat it if you don’t buy it

 

Many give up on getting organized,

then a light goes on in a blessed AHA moment!

 

Over the next three weeks, I’m going to share with you a major key to having an organized home. You won’t want to miss any of them. Each key has a simple assignment, I hope you’ll follow. Each assignment will prepare you for the next key and in the process you will have that AHA moment

In 42 years helping women who were desperately disorganized, there has been a common thread that connects them. It’s a thread of love, caring, compassion and desire to have an organized home and a happy family. Many have told me personally they didn’t think they could get organized. Many had given up, until a light went on in a blessed AHA moment. Flylady was one of those women.

They were moms carrying the burden of being disorganized, and having low self-esteem because of it.

 

With the 3 elements to success in this series of blogs, you will have that AHA moment. These women I’ve met over the years who suddenly realized it was possible to have a clean, cozy organized home, were stay-at-home moms, moms who worked outside of their homes as doctors, attorneys, writers, bankers, artists, teachers, nurses, singers, computer geeks, ministers and a thousand other vocations. These were moms who were successful at jobs outside their homes and successful at being wonderful mothers. But they were also moms carrying the burden of being disorganized, and having feelings of low self-esteem, desperation and worry.

Key # 1 Make the Decision

With a decision to have an organized home, it’s good to know what you think that means to you. If you want perfection, you already know that’s not going to work for you, so give it up! If you want immediate change, you know that’s not going to happen either. So how about a decision to gradually get organized just to please you?

"I don’t know where to start!"

3 Keys to Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolutions

Okay, it’s January 21 and I’ll bet you’ve fallen off the wagon when it comes to the New Year’s resolutions you made for 2015. Don’t feel guilty! Most of us haven’t been true to the personal vows we made as we woo hooed our way to an exciting new year.  

The most in-depth study I could find on the science of New Year’s resolutions was conducted by researchers at the University of Scranton. It showed a sharp drop off in how long New Year’s resolutions last. Seventy-seven percent of the woo hooers studied, made it through a full week, then 55 percent of those stuck with their goals for a month. Six months later, only 40 percent of those who had made a New Year's resolution were still losing weight or not smoking or being nicer to their kids. I question this research! I don’t know what percentage of those in the study were SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) but I’ll bet my nose and both my eyes that they were all BOPs (Born Organized People). If they’d surveyed SHEs, who are genetically disorganized, 75% would have quit in a week instead of hanging on, and by June, 99% would have bit the dust!

Think about it. A genetically disorganized person would NEVER sign up to be in a study like this in the first place. If you’re a SHE you know you love the drama of a grand vow just because it’s more exciting to think big and choose a huge make-over than to say something like, “In 2015 I’m going to keep the laundry off the couch,” or “I’m going to lose five pounds,” or “I’m not going to leave leftovers from restaurants in the car.” (I’ll tell you my resolution and why I’m still sticking to it, later on in this blog.)

So here are the 3 keys I chose that I think can help us with our desire to do better.

1. Pick just one goal. Here are some great examples to choose from.

Get more sleep

Cut out sugar

Have more fun

Eat more vegetables

Cook more at home

Let go and let God

Walk outside

 

 

We want to get organized for several reasons. We think that if we get organized, we’ll save time, money and energy. That’s true. Disorganization causes us to spend time looking for our stuff, more money because we buy stuff we already have but can’t find and energy just being overwhelmed, discouraged, and angry with ourselves.

By establishing just a few simple habits, we can train ourselves out of many of our messes and save time, money and energy. Our brains were wired for establishing habits, and when we have a healthy brain, it takes about 21 days to establish a habit. So I think it’s logical we should take care of our brains first.

That’s why I chose these 3 important habits to establish, because they’ll lead to health and a healthy body makes for a healthy brain and a healthy brain leads to well-being.

1   Go to bed early

Do you think you’d be happier if you got more sleep? Do you think the world would be a happier place if its residents all got more sleep? Here’s an excerpt from Chapter Three of The Sidetracked Sister’s Happiness File entitled Early to Bed Early to Rise. It’s a letter from Napoleon’s teacher.

Eiffel Elementary School                                                  June 6, 1777

7312 Rue des Hors d’Oeuvres

Paris, France 10046

 Dear Mr. and Mrs. Bonaparte:

I think you are probably aware of some of the problems we are having with Napoleon at school. I believe they began early in the year when some of the other boys teased him about his size. I have spoken to the other children and their parents about the importance of being kind to those who are different. However, I don’t believe that the teasing is the main reason for your son’s troubles. I think Napoleon needs more sleep.

During class I often see his head on his desk, and although he stays on task and has no problem understanding the work, he is often listless and irritable. Perhaps you, as his parents, could see to it that your son gets to bed at a reasonable hour so that he will be able to cope better in class and on the playground.

Sincerely,

Morrie Chevalier    (Third Grade Teacher)

P.S. Napoleon is a good leader and when he gets the other boys on his side he is able to make them do whatever he wants. (Good or bad.) I truly believe that more sleep will help him to blossom into a fine citizen. Perhaps this summer you can establish a routine bedtime for him.

 

Think of how the course of history might have been altered if the Bonapartes had heeded Mr. Chevalier’s advice.

Are you like Napoleon and not getting enough sleep, either? I’ve found that the best way to get more rest is to have an earlier bedtime and make it a habit. You can purchase the Happiness File by clicking on Napolean.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to stay in a good mood as much as I can and what I’ve noticed is that first you’ve got to catch yourself in a bad mood and then you have to want to get out of it. I discovered, sometimes it’s just plain fun to wallow. But wallowing never helps the reason for the wallow in the first place. Sooner or later, like the line in that old song says, “Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.”

Would you agree that happy feelings run at a higher frequency than say guilty or angry feelings do? Have you ever noticed when you’re happy you’re kinder to others, more compassionate and understanding and you have way more energy?

Staying in a good mood takes living in the moment and watching how you feel and being selfish about how you feel. So here are 7 ways to get out of that bad mood as soon as you find yourself in one.

1. Pick out a happy feeling and feel it

When you’re in a really bad mood, take a minute and think of a happy time. You have many to choose from, so just pick one. Once you’ve picked one, dig it up. Remember the people and the circumstance. Hear the laughter and feel the love. We SHEs have such a grand ability to pull into our mind’s eye any occasion we wish to re-experience. 

How to stop worrying and doubting.

When you doubt, you’ve stopped trusting the power that created the Universe. Such a silly thing to do when it’s put that way, don’t you think? If you plugged a lamp into the socket, and the light didn’t go on, you’d figure the bulb was burned out or you hadn’t paid the electric bill. In other words it would be something on your end that caused the light not to work. You would never doubt that the power of electricity was no long effective.

So when you doubt yourself or have doubts about some event or other person, the problem is on your end, because the power that created the Universe has your back and there is nothing to worry about. So how do you fix your end of this deal? I’ve come up with 5 ways to get rid of doubt so you can stay hooked into the joyful source of your life and see the truth that all is well.

1. Put yourself first

The most important thing to do when you feel doubt is think something that makes you feel good. Sometimes it helps to go outside to summon happy thoughts or read spiritual material that fills you with positive energy, or look through a travel magazine and focus on a dream vacation. Only you, know what will cheer you up.

I hope you read Part 1 yesterday on ways to stop being a loser. The losers I wrote about here in Part 2 take a little more thought.

 

If you want to fully enjoy your life, you might want to eliminate a few things that could be getting in the way of your joy. I call them happiness sappers and with just a few changes you'll eliminate stress and be on your way to the joy you were born to experience.

 

1. News: News is just official gossip. My definition of an investigative reporter is: an authorized, nosey gossip. I stopped watching or listening to the news after 9/11. I figure Terry, who was a television reporter, will inform me if I need to pack up and head for the hills.

2. Gossip: Since I’ve cut out the official gossip, why would I want to indulge in any unofficial info? 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Calendar that’s too small: A big happiness sapper is having a calendar that’s so small you can’t read your personal shorthand. “3pmTk grm Dr. rmb t tk nts.” A month later when you're trying to figure out what the heck you’re supposed to be doing on that day, chances are you'll never figure out you're supposed to take Grandma to the doctor at 3 p.m. and you need to take notes. Say goodbye to little-squared happiness sappers.

 

What I realized is thinking I don’t like change is a lot of hooey! I do too like change! I love clean sheets, fresh towels, and the change in seasons. I like the time when day turns to night, night turns to day, each different day of the week, the growth in goodness of my children and grandchildren, new stuff like cars, shoes, books and such. I love a change of scenery, a vacation, and even “the change of life” had its very good qualities.