What if there were such a thing as a real fairy that came to your home right before you woke up in the morning, and was like a magic servant who helped you have fun throughout your day? At night, she’d leave just as you slipped into bed in order to get an eight hour night’s rest.
What if when you got out of bed in the morning this magic fairy was back to make your bed for you and had your house slippers right by your bed so you could slip into them on cold, autumn mornings? What if when you brushed your teeth, that same magic fairy rinsed the sink out and hung up your towel?
What if when you prepared breakfast, this marvelous, magic fairy cleaned up after you every step of the way and when you were through eating she put your dirty dishes in the dishwasher?
What if your fairy was right there when you purchased something with your credit card and made sure you put the card back where it belonged and put the receipt in a special home for credit card receipts?
What if your organized fairy was with you at the grocery store and reminded you to use the cloth bags you got when you were in an especially “green” mood?
What if your fairy had a stopwatch mentality that helped you get chores you don’t like (but have to do) over quickly?
What if she had a check list of rules like: start your day with God, fill car with gas when it gets to half a tank, balance your accounts every day and get at least eight hours of sleep each night?
You could have this fairy if you wanted her and she is free. See the fairy’s name is Habitha and when you establish habits that serve you it’s just like having a magic friend.
Before I had my magic friend
This morning I was thinking about the specific day I told my first husband that I no longer wanted to be married to him. It was certainly a crossroads in my life. We’d been married for 15 years and for most of that time, I’d been what I thought was hopelessly disorganized. But, because of the home organization system my sister and I created, I was able to leave that life-style and my first husband behind and thrive by being organized.
In that specific memory, I’d just come home from Portland State University where my sister and I had taught our get-organized seminar to about 250 students! (I’d only been organized for nine months.) What prompted my words to my ex, was when he picked our youngest child, Joanna, 4 years old, up by her wrists and lifted her hands to my eye-level to show me her dirty fingernails. He said, “You have no business teaching a get organized class when your kid’s fingernails look like this!” I grabbed Joanna by her waist to release the abusive pressure on her little shoulders and wrists, and said, “I don’t want to be married to you. I’m through!”
When I think back to that time, my ex’s attempt to continually find fault with me as I improved with the system, was something I needed to learn can happen so I'd be able to help others who were married to a critical spouse. (As it turns out, many are.)
I’ve shared this memory because it took me back to my slob days when every room was cluttered, the kitchen could easily have three to four days’ worth of dirty dishes, the laundry room buried in weeks’ worth of dirty laundry and my husband spent 15 years dealing with a pigsty of a home. I was a full-time, stay-at-home mom, with three children and the only thing I was missing was a set of good habits.
I mentioned Habitha the magic, good fairy you can have, but like in “The Wizard of Oz,” you need to know that there’s a wicked Habitha too. If you’re overwhelmed, then the bad Habitha is probably alive and well in your home. She’s there to whisper, “Just leave that, we’ll clean it up later,” or “Let’s do that tomorrow,” and “I’m too tired, it’s not fair that I have to do that.”
The bottom line is we have all established habits and our homes reflect which fairy is assisting us. Think of Good Habitha and Wicked Habitha. Maybe it’s time to invite Good Habitha into your home and kiss Wicked Habitha goodbye.
Love,
PS The 3x5 home organization system is so easy to use. It could be the doorway to letting the Good Habitha join your family!