Coming Clean

So, it's just after my extended deadline for a clutter free home promised to myself in an earlier blog session... Labor Day weekend has come and gone and while I cannot write with a clear conscience that my home officepurge is complete, I can write that I'm the closest I've ever been to having closets, cabinets and drawers all organized working space, instead of the places you hide your clutter behind.

For years, she posted a comic clipped from a newspaper dealing with clutter - if memory serves, from Family Circus. It showed a couple standing in front of a messy basement with a caption suggesting they should really do something about the mess. The last frame shows the closet door being closed with a caption that read something like "how's that?" I think that is how I've been dealing with my life's clutter - in fact, I've joked with my neighbor Carrie that I should get decorate with all lucite furniture, so I would no longer be able to store shameful mess hidden behind closet and cabinet doors. While I'm not completely cured from clutter (there are a few lingering spots that require my attention still and a few places I've let slide back to my old ways) my house in most definitely showing signs of organization.

Last night, a my friend Terra stopped by meet my new kitten and pick something up. She arrived about 10 minutes after I got home from work. There was no time to straighten up the house before she arrived. I gave her a quick tour of my place, since it was her first time there. And, for the first time in I can't tell you how long, I was comfortable showing someone around my home and not apologizing cluttered rooms. It wasn't spotless, there were things lying around in a few rooms, but I hadn't needed to throw things behind closet doors in a frenzied rush when I arrived home, or closed doors to certain rooms (like my until recently dreaded home office) to avoid them being seen. I was pleased with myself for having reached a stage of organized where I wasn't offering up excuses for myself. I felt good. Really good.

So, now my new goal - by year end - is to have all the little spots [my coat closet, linen closet and office file drawer to name a few] that still require some work before they're "show ready" completely organized and streamlined. I want to feel that feeling and keep feeling it every time I re-enter my home. It's a lofty goal for me, I'll admit. But, goals are great things to have in life. And this is a goal I used to think was something I could never attain. I used to wish I could be more like people I know who live in tidy, organized spaces. Now, I see that I can be that person and I'm working to make it happen.